BBC Radio 1 - Pass the pasty

New BBC radio 1 breakfast show Greg James fulfilled a listeners wish to try a cornish pasty. Sarah revealed to the host that she had never tried the cornish delicacy before so with the help of BBC radio 1 listeners the world famous chough bakery pasty embarked on a journey all the way up to Aberdeenshire in scotland to be tried by Sarah herself. And after 19 stops in four days the pasty finally reached the long awaited customer with which she replied with after taking her first bite "This is brilliant".

Media DIRT 3B

Year 13 Summer work

Big news and current events (2016/2017)

POLITICS

·      23^rd June 2016 – David Cameron announced when the UK will vote on whether to remain in the EU. He did this due to the concern about international organisations that needed to be addressed. The situation had been unsustainable which made the referendum inevitable.

·      The day after it was announced that Britain would be leaving the EU David Cameron resigned from his position as priminister. The following contenders were running for leadership: Theresa May, Michael Gove, Stephen Crabb, Andrea Leadsom and Liam Fox.

·      11^th July 2016 – Theresa May was selected as conservative party leader, then two days later she was elected to become prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II.

·       The general election resulted in a national turnout of 72% from 382 voting areas. Leaving the European Union won by the majority of 1,269,501 votes (3.78%) over those who had voted in favor of Remaining as a member of the European Union.

·       June 2017 - Corbyn was once viewed as a “political dinosaur” who was going to lead labour to electoral extinction however he exceeded expectations with a clever general election campaign which made him a charming candidate.

ROYALS

·       April 2016 – The obamas visit kensignton palace

·       12/15^th May 2016 - The Queen made her milestone birthday after becoming Britain’s longest serving monarch - surpassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria the previous year. Her actual birthday took place on April 21^st with her reign being through over more than six decades.

·       October 2016 - Prince harry and Meghan markle made it official to the public that they were dating.

·       2017 – Kate middelton announced to be having a third child with prince William.

·       2017 – Prince harry and Meghan markle announce their engagement after dating for around 15 months.

·       2017 – celebration of the 70^th wedding anniversary of the queen and duke.

TERROISM AND HATRED

·       22^nd march 2017 – Westminster bridge, a terrorist attack took place outside the palace of Westminster in London. The attacker was a 52 year old called Khalid Masood who drove a car into pedristrians and shortly after ran into new palace yard after crashing his vehicle into a fence was then armed with a knife leading to injuring more than fifty people and killing six.

·       3^rd june 2017 - Eight people were killed in central London when three attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and launched a knife attack in Borough Market. The attackers were shot dead by officers who arrived on the scene withing eight minutes of the attack.

·       on 19 June 2017. A van was driven into pedestrians in Finsbury Park, London, by Darren Osborne, injuring at least eight people. This took place just a few weeks after the London bridge attack.

·       22^nd May 2017 – twenty-two people were killed and hundreds where injured when a bomb was set off at the end of an Ariana grande concert. To pay tribute the singer put on a concert called one love machester to raise money for the victims of the attacked which featured famous singers from all over the world.

SYRIAN WAR

·      Since 2011 this war is still ongoing and seven years later the death toll has hit over 350,000 people. Before the Syrian war started there were lots of conflicts over unemployment, corruption and political stability which led to civil warfare. Many extremist’s groups have been able to flourish such as ISIS.

SPECIFIC UK ISSUES

·      2016 – junior doctors strike to protest against contractual changes brought in by the government. There had only been one other strike like this over the past 40 years which was in 2012.

·      July 2016 – Andy Murray wins wimbeldon against canadin player Milos Raonicwhich claimed him his second wimbeldon trophy.

·      November 2016 – sexual abuse scandal involving the abuse of young players at football clubs involving barry bennell. which then led to further revelations being revealed about past professional football players were abused by former coaches and scouts.

·      January 20^th 2017 – Donald trump was selected to be the 45^th president of the united states beating Hilary Clinton. He lost the popular vote but won the college vote 304 to 227.

·      April 11^th 2017 – charlies gards parents were told by a judge at the high court that his life support machine will be turned off which led to them recieveing 490,000 people who signed a petition for Charlie to receive ‘miracle’ treatment in the US.

·      12^th June 2017 – Grenfell tower, deadliest structural fire in the UK since 1988. The fire caused 72 deaths whilst 223 people escaped. It burned for around 60 hours until it was fully extinguished.

·      October 2017 – METOO campaign, started off on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment mainly in the workplace. The hashtag shortly followed after the sexual misconduct allegations against harvey weinstein. s

Social context

Disability – over the past couple of years the awareness of disabilities has risen in the media. There has always been an ongoing issue of non-disabled actors playing disabled roles but now a significant increase of disabled people are landing key roles regardless of their disability which has made a positive impact for the media as a whole. For example, the actor peter dinklage has a restricted growth disability (dwarfism) but that didn’t stop him from winning a golden globe and emmy award for his performance as tyrion lannister in the hit tv series games of thrones. Another actor who has done this is gaten matarazzo who plays dustin in the hit Netflix series stranger things he has brought positive awareness to his rare genetic disorder called cleidocranial dysplasia at only 14 years old. His disability doesn’t directly relate to his character dustin shows that he can achieve key roles despite his disability.

Regionalism – at this point in time the most popular shows for the younger to middle aged demographics to watch are reality shows. The most popular ones being made in Chelsea, towie and gerdie shore. Each show demonstrates what the ‘typical stereotyped’ person who lives there is like. In this case made in Chelsea stars are portrayed to be posh, snobbish characters who live the lavish lifestyle. This opinion was challenged when Georgia toffolo went into im a celebrity get me out of here and proved watchers of the show wrong when she won queen of the jungle after roughing it for several weeks. She had won the hearts nation and had also shown that girls aren’t just for shopping and makeovers when she explained her love for politics after meeting boris johnsons dad in the jungle. The made in Chelsea show is in contrast to Geordie shore, where the geordians are known for partying, drinking and having sex. However people who have moved on from the show such as Vicki pattison and charlotte Crosby have shown that they are successful business woman despite what others may think with both girls landing fashion deals, social media promos and fitness guides.

Class – the ABC1 demographics are the upper/middle class of society these are people such as lawyers, nurses and social workers. In the lower demographics are people whom the social media refer to as ‘chavs’. These people are stereotyped in a negative way and are usually portrayed for being rude, drug addicts who wear tracksuits and carry knives around. They are constantly recieveing bad press and judgement due to the increase of gang attacks and knife crimes here in England. This typical person is shown in the film “Kingsman: the secret service” whereby eggsy played by taron Egerton is seen as a ‘chav’ and is looked down upon to have no potential in acheieving such hign honourmanship due to him being a chav. Throughout the film he constantly proves people wrong about his outward demeanour and shows you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Age – the current millennial generation(younger) are facing challeneges that unlike generations before will not understand and describe as ‘over-exaggerated’. This generation has been taken over by technology and social media which has been portrayed badly in the media as the ‘head down’ generation. Which has caused questioning and doubt that this younger demographic is going to destroy the world in the future. Compared to the elderly who are now seen as vulnerable, incapable people.

Gender – the metoo campaign is a hashtag that started on twitter about the movement against sexual harassment and assault this spread virally in October 2017. Gender identity issues have increased by almost six times in the past six years according to the nhs this could be due to the greater awareness the media has been making. A point where gender identities were addressed was in the latest big brother where coutrney act and india Willoughby entered the house which caused an uproar in the media as people are still unclear on gender identities which was a big topic that both housemates addressed in the house.

Ethnicity – one of the most controversial music videos was released in 2018 called “this is America” by childish Gambino. It had taken over the media by storm due to all the hidden meanings behind gambinos video. In this video childish Gambino plays America himself and portrays how the media use entertainment as a distraction from the violence that is happening in the world. The song and video mainly evolves around gun shootings and how the public aren’t doing anything to change that which is what he wanted the message in his video to be, that we shouldn’t be blinded by whats happening but start making a change instead.

Sexuality –

                 Netflix: Thirteen reasons why, the character Courtney crimson from the hit Netflix show finds it difficult to express her true emotions in the first series of the show and is embarrassed when she confides in Hannah baker for help and ends up kissing her which then led onto Courtney feeling ashamed and annoyed at herself for having feelings for girls, despite her having two dads. This caused questioning throughout social media as at the end of season two crimson received a happy ending rather than recieveing a tragic ending which is what frequently most lesbian characters have “typically”received in tv shows in the past.

               Netflix: Sophia Burset (Laverne Cox) in Orange Is the New Black is transgender woman. The show is increasingly popular, and her story line grabbed the media as she took the change from male to female, and her journey was very heart felt and emotional.

              TV DRAMA: Rana - Coronation Street. Her change from heterosexual to lesbian took the nation by surprise as she is a Muslim. In the show, her parents disowned her but others accepted it and the media took this as an opportunity to show that this can happen and although Muslim guidelines are strict about adultery and sexual relationships, she should be allowed to be her own person.