Flood risk concern: Wychcroft Campaign

CAMPAIGNING residents are concerned about the risk of flooding in the Magdalen Lane area if a housing development is permitted at Wychcroft are happy that their appeal to ‘crowd fund’ an independent engineering consultant is gaining support with £500 being pledged towards the estimated £1,000 needed.

A Planning Application for permission to build 28 homes on Wychcroft, Hedon was refused by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council in December 2015. However, the Applicant of Birstall May Ltd has now lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate against East Riding Council’s refusal.

Margaret Murray, who is one of the residents leading the campaign group said that they dispute some of the information in the original planning application about flood levels in 2007. “Photographs taken at the time show how much water levels rose in 2007 and these levels have not been adequately reflected in the planning documentation. The Planning Application submitted includes a sophisticated flood alleviation plan which is claimed to avert the possibility of flooding caused by the development. This is what we dispute most strongly.”

Residents say that they were flooded out in the big flood of 2007 with disruption to normal life lasting for up to a year, they fear building on Wychcroft is going to remove the natural flood plain increasing the flood risk to local residents, which could be a disaster for all involved.

The residents have launched a financial appeal to employ an independent engineering consultant to review the proposed flood alleviation scheme. “This crowd-funded appeal for around £1,000 has been successful in raising over half the amount in pledges,” said Mrs. Murray on Saturday (14th May 2016).

In this essay I will be comparing the journalistic styles and techniques of Dan Rather and Glenn Greenwald. Two journalists who have one fundamental difference between them, the years they started their careers in journalism. Dan Rather (born October 31^st, 1931) became a journalist in 1950 as an Associated press reporter in Texas. He spent nine years working in printed press before entering his career in television. He reported on local news stories and accidents, where he built up knowledge of journalism and broadcasting. In 1959 he started his television career and had reported on a serious Hurricane threat to Texas, in his autobiography he explains the difficulty of the job before technological advances.

“back then, television stations did not have their own radar systems, and there was no modern computerized radar that combines the radar image with an outline map. So he took a camera crew to the U.S. Weather Bureau office with a WSR-57 radar console located on the 5th floor of the Post Office Building on 25th Street in downtown Galveston” 1

This contrasts with the early career of Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) who started his formal career as a Litigation Attorney in 1994, before later becoming a contributing writer for Salon.com, a controversial media website which investigated the 2001 Anthrax Attacks and candidacy of a CIA official being up for Director. The website soon generated thousands of hits due to Greenwald’s controversial stance and won’t-back-down attitude to corruption and cover-ups.

Similarly, Rather and Greenwald’s stance on corruption, lies and cover-ups in the media give them the inspiration to write and cover news that would seem too sensitive to publish by others. For example, Dan Rather is well known for his interview and suggestion that former President Richard Nixon being attached to the Watergate scandal first hand. Rather interviewed Nixon while he was still the White House Correspondent, as the interview was ending Rather said

“Thank you, Mr. President. Dan Rather, of CBS News.” The room filled with jeers and applause, prompting Nixon to joke, “Are you running for something?” Rather replied, “No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?”

it has been interpreted that in his question, Rather accused Nixon of not cooperating with the grand jury investigation and the House Judiciary Committee in relation to the Watergate scandal. Rather’s tough coverage of the scandal continued until the truth was finally revealed to the public. His integrity as a journalist pushed him to seek the truth for American citizens.

In contrast to Rather’s uncomfortable interview, Greenwald became a figure of controversy in the media, he was writing for the Guardian in 2013 when he was contacted by the NSA whistle-blower, Verax aka Edward Snowden. He was unsuspectingly falling into one of the biggest lies ever told by the American Government. In his research, and through the help of his anonymous source (Verax) he uncovered the truth that the NSA and GCHQ were tapping and monitoring the phone lines of American and English civilians. This became one of the biggest news stories of the generation, and due to social media and the internet blew up globally. Greenwald perused the story even after been issues death threats and intimidation from the Government, making Greenwald a journalistic hero.

Although even now in an age of new technology and advances to how News is delivered to the audience and designed to be easily digestible over the internet, television remains America’s number one source of news.

“according to a recent poll from Roper Starch Worldwide. When asked where they usually get most of their news, 69 percent of adults cited television versus 37 percent for newspapers, 14 percent for radio, 7 percent from “other people” and 5 percent from magazines, the study noted.¹ Only 2 percent of the general public mentioned on-line sources for news. Among households that have Internet access, television was still the top source of news (59 percent) with on-line services mentioned by 15 percent.” 3

Facts and statistics like these show that television is still as prominently watched now for News as it was when Dan Rather was reporting. Rather was the living symbol, in conservative circles, of the power and presumption of the media….Rather had been working on an inquiry iand in January CBS put in for an interview with Bush — an extended sitting, the network said, to be edited down to five minutes or so of tape for a “profile” of the vice president. Although it has been said critically that Rather had embarrassed himself with an opinionated attack on the Vice President, trying to hide his outburst with a cloak of cool professionalism.

The way in which Rather and Greenwald approached sensitive subjects is extremely different. Rather holds himself with a professional demeanor in his interview while asking questions which may seem less than professional, to trick the interviewee into conversing about something they did not intend to. This is a journalistic technique to get a new answer, as they possibly will be thrown of by the manner in which it was asked. Though this technique had many Bush supporters question his journalistic integrity, as he was so opinionated.

“Don’t allow yourself to be flattered that this big star is talking to you; alternatively, don’t allow your dislike of them or resentment of their wealth, beauty, brains or success to tempt you to write what you think will be a definitive demolition job. When printed, it will invariably say more about you than it does them.” (David Randall, P 89)

The true differences in the two journalists comes from their writings, Greenwald writes for Salon.com and shows no fear as he writes about the type of topics the broadcast news usually chooses to be “too touchy”, Edward Snowden (the NSA whistleblower) had said that the articles Greenwald wrote about the political situations in America where what persuaded him to send him the NSA files. In this 2016 article, he writes about his experiences and knowledge of the security of American citizens.

“Using encryption software was something I had long intended to do. I had been writing for years about WikiLeaks, whistleblowers, the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous, and had also communicated with people inside the U.S. national security establishment. Most of them are concerned about the security of their communications and preventing unwanted monitoring. But the program is complicated, especially for someone who had very little skill in programming and computers, like me. So it was one of those things I had never gotten around to doing.”

In this extract Greenwald knowingly writes about topics which have before put him in danger from the Government and even had him fearing for his life. This disregard for his own safety in place for the truth has had some say he is one of the greatest journalists of our time. Along with being an author on The Guardian and Salon.com, his knowledge in the Legal system is extensive as he studied Law for many years, these combined talents make for sincere and honest writings. When he writes “I…also communicated with people inside the U.S. national security establishment.” It conveys a professionalism and that he is a well-respected and trusted journalist, whom many people seek out to voice what they see to be wrong-doings when they realize that their story may come with severe repercussions.

Dan Rather has years of experience in journalism, political debates and topics of National Security. He was the anchor of CBS News when he was decided to be the most professional political correspondent to be the interviewer for major political issues. This was proven as Rather interviewed the Vice President at the time, George Bush. During this interview Rather became frustrated as the Vice President clearly avoided questions, resulting in an iconic TV moment where Rather stated: stated: “We are told [the documents] were taken from Lieutenant Colonel Killian’s personal files” and incorrectly asserted that “the material” had been authenticated by experts retained by CBS. The authenticity of the documents was challenged within hours on Internet forums and blogs, with questions initially focused on alleged anachronisms in the documents’ typography.

In his most recent article posted online, Rather uses the popular online storytelling website Mashable.com as the first Presidential Republican Debate was close, Rather posted some pre-debate analysis. The piece is structured in the form of a drinking game. It laid out things to look for, predictable GOP buzzwords and one-liners from Trump. The Mashable post is the second act to Rather’s career, one which should see him step foot into digital soil and cooperating his own production company (News Guts and Media) an interview show he hosts on ASX TV. Rather, now 83 and still calling himself “a workaday reporter”, is a throwback to another era and a product of a different time, back when serious men with voices suitable for TV delivered news report’s that much of the nation would tune in to watch. So this transition to online journalism comes at the peak time to break out into the internet.

Similar to Greenwald’s unashamedly honest article on whistleblowers, Rather’s piece on the Presidential Debate is hilariously accurate and more like a Buzzfeed article that a true journalistic piece. But with added personality and knowledge of political debates, Rather creates an intriguing and synical article.

“If you took a swig of alcohol every time President Obama’s name is mentioned with a sneer of disgust from these candidates, you will likely find yourself passed out before the first commercial break.

One thing that has made it so hard for any of these people to stand out from the crowd is that they actually agree on most things policy-wise. But what they agree about most of all is that President Obama isn’t just the worst president America has ever had, he has single-handedly moved this country backward in almost every category that once made the United States great.”

Speaking from the heart and being opinionated, Rather sounds similar to Greenwald in the respects they are not afraid to speak their mind as long as it is what they see as the “right thing to do”, but this could be equally troubling as they are both Republican supporters.

Gone are the days of the communal TV experience, as even Rather admits his news consumption tools now include the iPhone 6 and a tablet, the way he gathers the news hasn’t changed. He plays with the knowledge that the 2016 presidential campaign will cost upto $5bn plus saying “Who’s giving what to whom, and for what in return?” Also musing over celebrity journalism, even lumping himself in at times, saying practitioners too often ignore the “Dickensian side of society”.

In conclusion I believe both Rather and Greenwald are equally respected journalists with integrity and cover stories and situations which are to be handled with the upmost professionalism. Though each can be taken the wrong way, coming across extremely right-wing in a journalistic setting which should be unbiased and not contain one’s own political stance. Yet in the age of online journalism, boundaries are not set with how far a journalist can go in terms of bias and freedom of speech. Obviously they are to be taken seriously, yet with a pinch of salt. Their writings show knowledge of Law and Political proceedings, Law being Greenwald’s specialty and Politics being Rather’s from years of broadcast journalistic reporting on debates and presidential candidate interviews.

Bibliography

1 On the Go.” Houston Chronicle, August 11, 1963, p. 15.

3 christopher Harper . (). Journalism in a Digital age. Available: http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/papers/harper.html. Last accessed 20/jul/2016.

“Richard Nixon: Question-and-Answer Session at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Broadcasters, Houston, Texas”. American Presidency Project. March 19, 1974. 2

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/13/i_have_been_to_the_darkest_corners_of_government_and_what_they_fear_is_light_partner/

http://mashable.com/2015/08/06/dan-rather-debate-drinking-game/#fOo_J9_Nkkqo

Daily Archives: May 16, 2016

John Baron: Subbing

Carmen: News story

#HedFest16

Carmen: 300 word story

Flood risk concern: Wychcroft Campaign

John Baron: 2000 word essay (CATS)

Line.do presentation