Initial Final Project Proposal

September 28, 2011 nicole169

Name:

Nicole Whitlam

Title of 307MC Final Project:

Monthly Crime Magazine – Alibi, Blues & Twos

Description of subject to be investigated:

I will include in my magazine top news from that month, it will be a national magazine and the type of topics I will use are murder, top robbery and national issues such as drugs and fraud. I will also include bizarre crimes that people don’t hear about in ordinary everyday news, I will be giving brief descriptions of them and criminal profiles. My major part of the magazine will be the monthly investigative feature, this will be a double page spread on a subject people might not be familiar with, it will be on international crimes and on wider issues such as Mexico gangs and the African drug crimes. I will also include a crime watch section which will be police appeals and crime profiles.

Theoretical and methodological positions to be adopted:

I will be talking to working professionals such as the police and their press room. However I will also need to adopt the theories of professional journalists such as Chris Frost and Steve Chibnall, who have written books about designing for newspapers and magazines. I will also look at how John Pilger goes about writing investigative features.

Sources to be utilised:

I will mainly try to use first hand data from the police, these will include press releases and interviews with police and victims. I will also get inspiration from past articles, historic crime books and television shows such as Ross Kemp’s shows and Crime Watch.

Methods to be used in acquisition of sources:

I will be using the sources to collate research and information to create different articles for my magazine. I will also look at how they present information and see how what I can do with it, and how I can present it in a news form, as well as making it interesting.

Methods and forms of interpretation and analysis to be used:

I will use methods, especially in my design features, such as semiotics, to understand how the audience will choose to read my magazine instead of others on the market, and how it will reach out to my demographic. I will also need to think about what information I can use without it being libel or slander, and what information I think needs to be put forward instead of just writing out press releases and copying something that has already been written.

Plan/schedule of work:

Firstly I will need to research, which will be the majority of my work, this will include what feature I will use, a collection of crimes and how I will use them, audience research which is what is already on the market, what they look for in a magazine, I will also need to research what design features to use, once I have these I will be able to start on my own magazine. Nearer the hand in date I will need to add in my top news and crime watch features so it is as up to date as I can get it.

Bibliography:

The Newspaper Designer’s Handbook

Designing for Newspaper and Magazines (Media Skills)

By Chris Frost

Law-and-Order News: An Analysis of Crime Reporting in the British Press (International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library)

by Steve Chibnall

Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism and its Triumphs

by John Pilger

101 Crimes of the Century

by Alan J. Whiticker

The People Sunday newspaper crime features

Crime Watch