Digital Newsroom Skills Test: Video Test

If you asked many young boys what they want to be when they're older..the answer would very often be a professional footballer.
With huge amounts of money not only being paid to the players themsleves but also being invested in the set up of Youth Academies at Football clubs I spoke to Elliot Cox, a young and aspiring footballer currently on the books at Queens Park Rangers FC.

I quized him on the sacrifices he has to make as well as what he would do if football failed plus his ambitions for the future.

Digital Newsroom Skills Test: Map Test

Using my Google account and Google maps I have been able to create and design my own map of stories from the Lancashire Evening Post mainly focusing on Preston. Within my map are four stories from the 24/11/2009 edition of the newspaper with online articles to match.


How to use it?

The map has four markers, each representing a different story, and by clicking on the marker a bubble will appear with the story accompanied with additional links to related stories.



View Lancashire Evening Post Stories in a larger map

Digital Newsroom Skills Test: Image Test

For one of my University modules, Digital Newsroom, I had to do an image test to show that I can edit and upload photos succesfully to my blog.

I chose to take a photograph of Preston North End's football stadium called Deepdale using my digital camera.

Original photograph. (below)

The original image is resized to 100x100 pixels to create a thumbnail image (below).

The image below is cropped to 400 pixel wide by 300 pixel high version in jpeg format and shows the two floodlights of the stadium along with the Bill Shankly Kop and beside it the National Football Museum.

The image (below) is cropped to 200 pixel by 500 pixels. It shows the main floodlight of the stadium from the original photograph and the entrance to the National Football Musuem.

Digital Newsroom Skills Test: Data Test

The cost of the War on Terror

The War on Terror began almost as soon as the 9/11 plane attacks happened and in October 2001 the official invasion of Afghanistan was launched by US and British forces. Reasons for the invasions were said to have been that the Taliban government of Afghanistan failed to turn over Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind 9/11, and al-Queda leaders operating in the country.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq began on March 20th and ended on the 1st May of the same year. It was led by US forces but heavily backed by British forces under Tony Blair’s labour government and marked the beginning of the current Iraq War. According to Blair the reasons for the invasion were ‘to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.’

As the pressure now mounts on current Prime Minister Gordon Brown to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq I have come up with a bar chart representing the amount of British soldiers that have died since the War on Terror began using the data-store section on the Guardian website.

To view the data yourself and more visit the Guardian data-store website at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/sep/17/afghanistan-casualties-dead-wounded-british-data

To read the Daily Telegraph's story on number of deaths in Irag/Afghanistan reaching 300 visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/3453048/The-300-British-dead-in-Afghanistan-and-Iraq.html

The hand of Henry

After tonight's game that saw Republic of Ireland fail to qualify for the World Cup next summer losing on aggregate 2-1 thanks to a great peice of handling play by Thierry Henry, who's reputation as one of the best strikers in the world is sure to be heavily tarnished.

Personally I am struggling to come to terms with the incident, not as an Irish fan, not as a passionate football fan or as an Henry hater but as someone who is a firm believer in fair play and sportsmanship.

The Vince Lombardi ethic of 'winning at all costs' is certainly the mindset Henry took on board when he touched then patted down the ball before passing for Gallas to head in. While accepting that footballers sometimes handle the ball as an instinctive response and throughout the post match coverage hearing the phrase 'other players would have done the same', which may or may not be true and cannot be proved, it questions the integrity of professional footballers.

Thierry Henry could have stopped - turned to the referee and simply said, 'sorry ref handball there, no goal'. But as he turned and headed for the stands it was clear with his celebrations the thought of owning up to the crime he had committed hadn't even crossed his mind.

The impact of the winning goal aided by the hand of Henry is huge - it's sent a team that didn't deserve to qualify through but has also destroyed the dreams of the Irish players of playing in the World Cup.

The goal will also once again spark the on-going debate on the need for video technology in the game for decisions such as the one that presented itself tonight.

Defender Sean St Ledger said: "Now is the time to use them it's costing a lot of people their dreams. As a boy I wanted to play in the World Cup and the other boys are the same."

I am very intrigued to listen to what Henry will have to say for himself as I'd imagine are many others. I suspect he will deny the act of cheating but with such an obvious example he may own up.

If he admits to his action then it will merely be for the sake of his public image because if it were an act of honesty and fair play then he would have done it at the time. The admittance and dare I say perhaps proposed apology is sure to come across as an insult to Irish fans.

The hand of Henry will be compared to the infamous Hand of God by Diego Maradona to knock England out of the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal under the great Sir Bobby Robson and as someone of only 19 years of age I cannot imagine what my immediate reaction would have been if I had been alive to see it.

Formula One 2009: A Season Review

A timeline review of the 2009 Formula One season I created using the software Dipity.

Sam R. on Dipity.

FA Cup Preview: Northampton v Fleetwood Town

Ahead of Fleetwood Town’s trip to Northampton in the first round of the FA Cup I spoke to centre half Steve McNulty who claims that going to the game as underdogs is a good thing. McNulty, who snatched an 87th minute equaliser against Alfreton in the Blue Square North on Saturday, said:
“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. They’re expected to beat us and it’s going to be a tough game as they are a League Two side but we’ll go and enjoy the day and see what the outcome is.”

Town travel to the League Two side after beating Kidderminster Harriers 3-1 in the qualifying fourth round replay and McNulty feels Town are more than capable of stepping up to a team placed two leagues above them, he said.
“The step up to League Two is not too much different. Non-league football doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves, it’s a really tough standard.

“They (Northampton) are obviously going to have a lot more experience than Fleetwood in terms of league football. It’s going to be tough because their players have been in the league for years, but we have enough experience to put up a good fight.”

McNulty wasn’t part of the Town team that narrowly missed out to Hartlepool last year in the second round but did play for Barrow who were edged out 2-1 by Middlesbrough in the third round. Having played against Premier League opposition McNulty insists that ‘anyone can beat anyone’ in the FA Cup.

He said: “At the end of the day the FA Cup is all about dreams and about who wants it more on the day. I played against Middlesbrough for Barrow last year and they battered us and could have scored five or six but it went right down to the wire in the end and we were unlucky not to get a draw.”

Over one thousand fans travelled to Town’s fourth round qualifying game against Kidderminster and McNulty is hoping that there will once again be a strong turn out from the Cod Army. He added: “We took a good few to Kidderminster so hopefully we’ll get a few more going down with us to Northampton and getting behind the lads.”

Sir Alex Ferguson: Best in Europe

For many managers the achievement of 100 European victories would rank highly among their accomplishments but compared to all of Sir Alex Ferguson’s other triumphs the feat of recording such a tally would hang merely off the underside of his trophy cabinet.

His success as a manager is phenomenal and is reflected by the amount of silverware he has won during his 22-year stint at United. While he often receives huge amounts of criticism from opposition supporters and some members of the press for his 'mood swings', he is without question the best manager in Europe. And as Rafa Benitez so loudly drummed on about last season ‘it is fact’.

As well as the countless trophies he has with United, he has been acknowledged as manager of the year the most times in British football history and is the most successful domestic manager ever in England.

His current 22-year service to United is by far the longest of the managers around today and is second ever to the legendary Sir Matt Busby, whose statue stands outside Old Trafford.
Why is Sir Alex such a good manager? Well, only the players that have played under him can truly answer that question but it is clear the legacy of Fergie works.

The ‘my way or the highway’ approach, where no one player is bigger than the club, is often blamed for the departure of big-name players. The likes of David Beckham, Paul Ince, Paul McGrath, Jaap Stam and previous inspirational captain Roy Keane have all left the club after reportedly getting on the receiving end of Fergie’s infamous ‘hairdryer treatment’.

As well as recording his 100th European victory with United, Fergie also maintained their impressive run of not losing a European group game on home soil for eight years.
The last time his side lost a Champions League group game in Manchester was in October 2001, when they lost 3-2 to Deportivo La Coruna. The United team included the likes of Denis Irwin, David Beckham, Roy Keane and, of course, current United veterans Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

However, there was an element of danger that the record might have slipped as Wolfsburg took an early lead in the second half when the Bundesliga champions' Dzeko lept well to nod his side ahead.

But the comeback from United was all too familiar for a Ferguson side. They controlled much of the second half with the injured Michael Owen’s replacement - Dimitar Berbatov - producing a flurry a clever flicks and passes.

Giggs continued his recent good form by pulling one back with his 150th goal for the Reds - the Welshman performing as if he was still one of Fergie’s trainees to inspire a United comeback against a dogged German side.

There is no doubt that Manchester United will challenge for the Champions League title again this year and Fergie is sure to win many more trophies - however long he remains at United.

He is a manager with a long list of achievements that will forever grow. The question is: How long until Sir Alex is standing alongside Sir Matt Busby outside Old Trafford?