Session 2 – Digging in the dirt

Aim

Using the links provided research old news stories from the 20th century. Make every effort to explore other avenues such as archives – library back catalogues of newspapers or online sources.

Objectives

1. (All) Source 3 separate stories from the past between 1900 and 1999 via links provided or from Nottingham Library using their Microfilm system to browse the Nottingham Post Newspaper archives.

A)Church League for Women’s Suffrage – Thursday 1st January 1920 – Notes of the Month (3rd note down)

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0002224/19200101/001/0001

Reflecting on the previous year, it has been a time of adjustment in our new found electoral power. The right to vote has proved a strange and exciting prospect for women and many female voters all over the country are now realising the weight of their impact on Parliament. Recent reports from the press prove that the women’s vote has been the determining factor in many by-elections. The member of the house for Durham for example, who is known for continually championing women’s rights, was voted in on a majority female vote, inspiring even more women, particularly in the working classes, to look to the future and use their votes to make gradual but genuine changes in our current political sphere.

B) Birmingham Daily Post – Thursday 28th December 1967 – Beatle Hits Back at TV Film Critics

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002135/19671228/372/0019

The Beatles highly anticipated, first TV feature film, “The Magical Mystery Tour” aired on BBC 1 on Boxing Day, the critics however were not left under its spell. The fantasy feature was heavily criticised for it’s lack of plot but Paul McCartney retaliated, stating “It was better to be controversial than boring”. He continued, “we tried to present something different for the viewers but according to the newspapers, it did not come off.” Paul then went of to mention that a possible flaw in the film is that the ‘magical’ element wasn’t focused on enough but the group are not discouraged by this, intending to make more films in future and learn from any mistakes. The young Beatle jokingly assured reporters that any future plots would be “very thick”.

C) Microfilm – Nottingham Post Archives – September 21st 1998 – Boys’ 6-mile slog after bus blunder

Two Stagecoach bus drivers are now facing disciplinary action after 3 children were issued the wrong tickets and were made to walk 6 miles home.

Shirebrook residents Liam and Aston Darby (aged 10 and 11), and their friend Mark Baker (aged 15) went for an afternoon of swimming at Water Meadows as they do every weekend during the summer holidays, only to have to walk 6 miles home from the water center along busy roads, including the B6047 which doesn’t have a pavement. Beverly Darby, Liam and Aston’s mother was understandably furious, stating “Anything could’ve happened to them whilst walking home”.

The first driver’s mistake was issuing the children with £1.05 single tickets from Shirebrook to Mansfield instead of £1.00 child return tickets. The second driver told the boys that their tickets weren’t valid and turned them away from the bus, forcing them to make the long journey home as they didn’t have any more money. Tony Hills, the assistant operations manager at Stagecoach’s Mansfield branch said “The first driver should’ve pointed out that the return was cheaper. The second driver claims that the children had got off the bus before he could tell them they were allowed to stay on. Now we have traced them both they will be dealt with under our internal disciplinary procedure.”

2. (All) Consider what this news fall under. What is the story?

a) The story the article telling is about working class women seeing the very real difference the women’s vote is making to parliament and being inspired to vote themselves. In the case of this article it is difficult to determine whether it is hard or soft news as the story is political in nature but because the article is set out as a review of the previous year and therefore isn’t ‘breaking’ news. It is very formally written and feature important facts relating to the story, for example when talking about the member of the house for Durham’s win, it is for this reason I feel it is classed as hard news, despite not being ‘up-to-the-minute’ reporting.

b) The story in this article is Paul McCartney’s response to poor film reviews after the release of Magical Mystery Tour, capturing the musicians charisma. This would’ve been big news during the time as anything Beatles related sparked reader interest during their height of fame. This article would definitely be considered soft news as it serves purely to entertain the reader and is based in celebrities ability to draw in a large readership, as oppose to being an important, informative piece of writing. This article also uses a more relaxed writing style than the previous article, a definite sign that it is soft news.

c) The story in this article is that 3 children had to walk 6 miles along dangerous roads after 2 bus drivers made mistakes regarding ticketing. This article is quite formally written and includes lots of facts and quotes suggesting it should be hard news, however as it is a small matter that doesn’t affect anyone other than the people in the story it would be classed as a human interest story and therefore be soft news as it is more entertaining than informative.