Karen’s interest in the media world began back in 1995, when she started her degree studying Media and Communications. Like all media degrees at the University they involve aspects ranging from TV to film, journalism to public relations, but the part of the degree that interested Karen most was radio.

“I was supposed to be a station producer on Utopia FM,” says Karen, thinking back to her days as part of the Sunderland University radio team, “but on one shift no newsreaders turned up so it was left to me. I was terrified. My voice was shaking.”

And it was from there that Karen started to work on local stations as part of her work experience. “A journalist at local station Sun FM heard me and offered me some work experience,” she continued.

We were talking about beer trophies (things you have stolen from a pub) and one listener had stolen a fully decorated Christmas tree! It’s such a pleasure to talk to the listeners; you couldn’t really call it work.

Once she finished her degree Karen moved to Leeds for a few years and returned to her native North East in 2000 where she started work for Galaxy FM. Karen started as a newsreader, but she didn’t stay in that role for long.

“It soon became obvious that Steve needed someone to keep him in check in the mornings,” Karen explains, “and that someone was me. We’ve been doing the Breakfast Show together since 2001.”

The show has become a major success for Karen and is the big break in her radio career. This year the show has celebrated its seven-year anniversary.

Being a radio presenter has its good and bad sides. Being part of the breakfast show team means that late nights out on the town are a rare occasion as Karen has to be at work at 4am every morning to start at six. But Karen has had good experiences along the way.

“My job has taken me to some amazing places,” she says, “inter-railing around Europe, attending the New York awards in the big apple was amazing and also presenting the show live from Arizona, we were there giving listeners a chance to win holidays out there. It was the month after September 11th so America really wanted to give tourism a boost.”

Karen also gets to meet a lot of famous faces along the way, from interviews for her show to schmoosing with celebrities at awards ceremonies. And its not just local celebrities she has met. Although Newcastle legend Sir Bobby Robson is her favourite, she’s also met Destiny’s Child.

Karen has her favorites for many different reasons as she explains: “Jake from the Scissor Sisters was totally wild and stripped down to his underpants in the studio, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made me cry with laughter and Destiny’s child were very showbiz and glamorous.”

But it’s not all about the celebrities and the lifestyle the job brings, Karen is unlike most people in the North East and is lucky enough to be in a job she loves where she gets to present to the people of the North East where she grew up and wouldn’t change for the world.

The callers are a great feature of the show as presenters are always unaware of what they are going to say. “Speaking to the listeners is one of the best parts. People have brilliant stories and can be really funny.

“One story that sticks in my mind was when we were talking about beer trophies (things you have stolen from a pub) and one listener had stolen a fully decorated Christmas tree! It’s such a pleasure to talk to the listeners; you couldn’t really call it work. It’s by far the best job I’ve had. Bar work, waitressing and a trainee insurance broker. That was the dullest by far, it was soul destroying. One of my better jobs was working at the Sea Life Centre in Tynemouth as a children’s entertainer, apart from having to dress up as Sammy the Seal.”

Karen hopes she would still be at Galaxy presenting the breakfast show with Steve as it has become such a well know and well listened too show around the North East. She said: “I absolutely love it and Steve and I have become the heritage breakfast show in the North East.”

YouTube has fast become the most popular medium for ‘ordinary’ people to get their voices heard and to produce films of their own, with a good chance they will be seen by hundreds, if not thousands of viewers. As a result, some new, YouTube directors have entered into the consciousness of popular culture, such as the haphazardly nerdy Star Wars Kid, who has been featured on ITV’s Moving Wallpaper and Emmy award winning satire South Park.

YouTube personality, The Angry Video Game Nerd is one of the most subscribed video makers on YouTube with millions of views for his videos. As a result he has gained attention from countless websites and even MTV. New Jersey resident, James Rolfe is the mastermind behind the character, who reviews retro video games for the NES, SNES and Atari as well as a host of other consoles and, using colourful language and crude but clever humour, tells the audience how utterly bad these games are. His comedy and geeky charm has won him fans worldwide and he now has a DVD out as well as a line of apparel. The question to ask is, what spurs these filmmakers on, as they are often not working for a fee? Could it be just sheer enjoyment of film- making?

“My initial audience was no one, and that’s a good thing, because my early movies are real bad.”

James’ love for film, especially early horror and B-movies, inspired him to make his own when he was the tender age of ten.

“Everything was done with the bare essentials of what I had available, which is the case for anyone making home movies at that age,” says James from his poster covered New Jersey apartment. These films were made using a Super-8 home video camera with his friends. They would dress up in bits they found around the house and make movies about fighting monsters, aliens or just anything they could think of. James often starred in his own movies as well as directing them, though the early ones had a lack of script, but he didn’t mind because it was really only himself and his friends who watched them. “My initial audience was no one, and that’s a good thing, because my early movies are real bad.”

Over time his movies became more sophisticated (they even had actors with lines) as his budget increased. The Angry Video Game Nerd was actually born before YouTube existed.

“You can trace the roots back to the 1980s,” James says, “I recorded my own commentary back then as well. I would point the VHS camera at the TV screen and give tips and critiques to games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Castlevania, Metroid etc.”

However, it wasn’t until 2004 that what would turn out to be the first two Angry Video Game Nerd videos were made, under the name The Angry Nintendo Nerd. They were reviews of the games Simon’s Quest and Jekyll and Hyde for the NES where he formed his trademark swearing barrages, his favourite being the scatological phrases.

“It’s the ultimate form of exposure. Before there was fast-speed internet I wouldn’t have ever imagined being able to upload your videos online to be so easy,”

In 2006 James discovered YouTube and learned how easy it is to upload your own videos for all to criticise. He uploaded some videos and received good feedback from those who saw them and he quickly realised he was building up a fan base.

“To me, when I got the first fan email, the videos were a success already. But from there, it’s just increasing every day,” said James.

As his popularity soared online he was spotted by Screw Attack who contacted James offering him a place making videos for their website. Screw Attack is owned by the colossus that is Gametrailers.com, which is in turn run by MTV, who saw much potential in this twenty-something director. Now he’s known throughout the world and recently released The Angry Video Game Nerd DVD volume one. Because of this vast amount of exposure James became a star in his own right and chalked up over 205 movies to show for it. So what’s the secret to his success?

“I guess it’s a blend of organized critiquing, raw humour, nostalgia for the past, decent production value, but with an honest home-made feel at the same time, and probably the swearing too.”

The internet and, more specifically, YouTube has been a significant determining factor in his rising stardom on the web.

“It’s the ultimate form of exposure. Before there was fast-speed internet I wouldn’t have ever imagined being able to upload your videos online to be so easy,” he says, “before, it was all about sending your film off to film festivals. You had to pay money just to submit, and usually you wouldn’t get in. It was a complete waste.”

James is so big now people are copying his style of film making on YouTube, mimicking the trademarks of The Angry Video Game Nerd.

With more and more people signing up to YouTube everyday, it is likely that the future stars of cinema and television will come from those who just have a passion for entertaining and want to share that with the world. Of course, there is some rubbish to be seen but that’s why there’s a star rating system and the ability to add comments. Feedback is essential to making a good video (or tearing apart the feelings of a not-so-good director). It is also a fact that there is a broader range of views and topics on internet video than television. After all, where else can you find a cyborg Jesus destroying video game consoles whilst screaming obscenities? And with people like James Rolfe becoming famous on YouTube, where cash incentive is replaced by passion, it’s no wonder that the internet is killing the video star.

In the UK, The Guardian picked up on new research carried out by Max Boykoff and Maria Mansfield at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, reporting on the coverage of climate change in the tabloid press (.PDF). They analysed 974 articles published between 2000 and 2006 in the Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Express and Daily Mirror, and found that:

UK tabloid coverage significantly diverged from the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change. Moreover, there was no consistent increase in the percentage of accurate coverage throughout the period of analysis and across all tabloid newspapers.

Findings from interviews indicate that inaccurate reporting may be linked to the lack of specialist journalists in the tabloid press. (Boykoff and Mansfield, 2008)

These are in line with findings in another paper, by Neil Gavin at the University of Liverpool, presented at the Political Studies Association conference in Bristol, September 2007. Gavin found a similar paucity of content in the tabloids, which was, again in line with Boykoff and Mansfield, that tabloid coverage has been consistently low over the period. It’s worth a closer look at the issue…

For example, between 2000 and 2006 the Sun and News of the World published only EIGHTEEN articles on climate change, of which only SIX addressed the subject directly. That is 18 in 2550 days… less than one story every 140 days. Both Boykoff and Mansfied, and Gavin, pick up on the ‘contrarian’ or ‘lampooning’ tone of the tabloids. For example:

” [a] NoW story with its headline in August 2003, ‘Global Warming is a Load of Hot Air’ (17/8/03) [mirroring the title of Boykoff and Mansfield, ‘Ye Olde Hot Air’]. This item lampooned a ‘misery guts’ German scientist (’…ze German boffin…’) who expressed concern about heat-wave temperatures across Europe.” (Gavin, 2007)

One aspect of good news is that both sets of authors identify coverage in the UK broadsheets is growing, and is generally consistent with the science, unlike the tabloids. Problem being, the tabloids reach many more millions. However, as Andreadis and Smith identify, the UK quality press, at least, is streets ahead than the US coverage, particularly in quality. And now, following research from the Pew Centre’s Excellence in Journalism programme, also in volume.

As reported across the US bloggers, the research shows that at the NYTimes and the WSJ, Just 2% of Front Page Stories Focus on Either Science or the Environment. Much of the focus was on the Wall Street Journal, and its change in coverage since the takover by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp. Here’s the table that assesses the pre- and post- Murdoch era:

Matthew Nesbit at Framing Science comments:

Yet apparently at the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times, during the three month period analyzed, editors deemed that even coverage of lifestyles, entertainment, and sports were more headline deserving than either science or the environment.

Given the absence of front page coverage, is it any wonder that climate change legislation is stalled in Congress or that climate change and other science issues are barely mentioned on the presidential campaign trail? Or that in polls, climate change ranks dead last among 22 issues as a political priority?

The EcoTechDaily also picked up on the story, with a strong headine line that the media had abandoned the environment. It feels like it sometimes. They highlight the differences between the NYT and the WSJ, but really, the difference is within the newspapers, between other areas of news and the environment:

These media are abdicating their responsibility to the issue of climate change and the environment. However, the EcoTechDaily, taking a leaf from Grist.org and others, turns to a positive note about the green revolution happening online where at least the next generation of leaders, if not the ones we have now (corporate, political and cultural), will be getting most of their news. Sites like Grist.org, Green Options, the EcoTech, and others, are utilizing new media to correct for the biases and failures of the mainstream press.

Next up: what we need is an analysis of the top 10 non-print associated websites with the 10 top print websites.

References
Andreadis, E. & Smith, J., (2007). Beyond the Oozone Layer. British Journalism Review. 18, p.50-56.
Boykoff, M. & Mansfield, M., (2008). ‘Ye Olde Hot Aire’: Reporting on human contributions to climate change in the UK tabloid press. Environ. Res. Lett. 3 (2008) 024002 p.1-8.
Gavin, N., (2007). Global Warming and the British Press: The Emergence of an Issue and its Political Implications. Political Studies Association ‘Elections, Public Opinion and Parties’ conference, UWE, Bristol, September 2007.

Since then, though, they’ve become more a part of the social and musical fabric of the city, collaborating with local musicians, attending shows and, in the case of Brendan Benson and Little Jack, dating some Nashville gals.

Thus, this first live gig in support of their second album is less a showcase for the sceptical, more a chance for a ‘local’ band to warm up in front of friends before hitting the road.

His accommodating colleagues allowing him to go to places the sparseness of the Stripes would never allow.

From the opening seconds of ‘Consoler Of The Lonely’, this isn’t a warm-up so much as a white-hot branding iron of intent jabbed into the hide of the world. The crowd – many of whom have been camped outside the Cannery Ballroom for 12 hours in unseasonably cold weather – roar their approval of Jack’s skeleton-themed Manuel suit (the tailor behind glam-country classics worn by Gram Parsons, no less). Indeed, for all those democratic intentions, for all Brendan’s prodding of the audience (“You’re kinda quiet for a Nashville crowd!”), for all that new songs like ‘Attention’ show off one of the best rhythm sections on the planet, the White Stripe is still unquestionably the primary focus here.

Switching between piano (‘You Don’t Understand Me’), acoustic (‘Top Yourself’) and, of course, his furious, unpredictable, physical electric guitar playing (‘Blue Veins’, ‘Steady, As She Goes’, pretty much all of ’em), you can’t take your eyes off him, even during the likes of Brendan-led encore opener ‘Many Shades Of Black’. He’s clearly relishing this more conventional and now well-oiled set-up, too – his accommodating colleagues allowing him to go to places the sparseness of the Stripes would never allow.

Or to put it more simply, making it easier for him to show off. So what with Jack hinting last December that he and Meg may never play another show (not to mention the grin on his face for much of tonight), it’s beginning to look like the only way most folk will get to witness his firecracker solos (and even more explosive showmanship) in future is with his ‘other’ band. But as closer ‘Broken Boy Soldiers’ leaves The Raconteurs basking in a swelling wave of feedback as they take a bow together, that doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Through a mix of furious networking and artistic fearlessness, the former Santi White has become a totemic figure for the current crop of genre-bending acts currently blowing raspberries at the parameters of pop. During her short career as Santogold, she’s collaborated with some of the producers at the frontline of 21st century music, from Timbaland via futurestep visionary FreQ Nasty to Mark Ronson. By sheer dint of these associations, she’d been mentioned in the same breath as MIA, James Murphy and Crystal Castles even before unleashing her first single.

Yes, stylistically she veers wildly from track to track, but no, she doesn’t forget her duty to cohere for the listener.

The four tracks to be found on her MySpace page last year showed an artist in transition, embracing everything from planet-bashing baille funk to ‘Parallel Lines’-tipping new wave. The eclecticism that has served her so well on paper however left some doubting her ability to make a cohesive album. She reacted in a recent interview, warning against the dated thinking that dictates all songs on an album should sound the same. “Everyone’s over it,” she surmised.

Before she was Santogold, the 32-year-old was a music biz veteran. For a time she was an A&R for the ‘urban’ department of Epic Records, a pop songwriter for hire (Lily Allen, Ashlee Simpson), the leader of ska revival band Stiffed, and an MC for Spank Rock. All these musical personae come into play one way or another on ‘Santogold’, which, yes, stylistically veers wildly from track to track, but no, doesn’t forget its duty to cohere for the listener.

Music is their radar. And it is forever sending them off in completely the wrong direction. Once you’d pieced together its unconventional concepts (New Zealanders in New York? An Office-style comedy with big musical numbers in the middle of each episode?), last year’s Flight Of The Conchords quickly became cult viewing. Spun out of a BBC radio show and much-lauded theatre act, the songs weren’t just tacked-on either – the Conchords arrived bearing instruments and built their sitcom around them. Bret McKenzie even had a previous 2004 album, ‘Prototype’, released as Video Kid – “a character trapped inside an electronic arena, where love and escape do not compute”. These two believed in the lost art of the spoof song.

But in the land of comedy records anyone who can sustain interest, let alone laughter, for nearly 42 minutes, is king.

The pair sing about their characters’ sad inadequacies, flights of fancy and super-banal musings with a laser eye for genre, mimicking everyone from Bowie to Marvin Gaye. What sets them apart is a real intellect for using the conventions of a genre against itself. It’s not just about clever wordplay, they genuinely understand the ironies of music’s dynamics. There’s the awkward pause after The Hiphopopotamus states “my lyrics are bottomless” on ‘Hiphopopotamus Vs Rhymenoceros’; the continual use of the ‘radio edit’ silence in between varieties of fruit on ‘Mutha’uckas’. There’s also an ability to inject the most trivial stuff into the most grandiose genres: the po-faced Pet Shop Boys rap about second-hand underpants (‘Inner City Pressure’), the ‘What’s Going On’ parody (‘Think About It’) whose spiralling lyrical contortions gradually bring us to “little slave kids making sneakers… which don’t seem that much cheaper.”

It’s got flaws, definitely, with the inclusion of a few too many lady-loving ballads at the expense of a more diverse fare like, say, ‘Albi The Racist Dragon’. But in the land of comedy records anyone who can sustain interest, let alone laughter, for nearly 42 minutes, is king. Somehow, even after you know all the punchlines, the tunes are solid enough to still bear pressing ‘repeat’. Oh, and the bit in the ‘Space Oddity’- spoof ‘Bowie’ about “receiving a transmission from David Bowie’s nipple antennae” will always spur laughter of the kind that ejects milk from the nose.

While Newcastle fell short of its prized first place in 2008, dropping two and a half points to 97.5, it was even better news for Sunderland, whose overall score for the quality of its provision shot up from 69.5 to 75. This score is an aggregate of all the survey measurements, provided by the Guardian, for the overall student experience on media and communications courses.

Oxford increased its gap over Cambridge as the country’s leading university across all subjects. Bolton remains bottom.

Newcastle and Sunderland remain way ahead of the other HE providers in the North East. Newcastle came third overall for media and communication programmes, while Sunderland came well within the top half of the league table (32nd out of 74) with Northumbria (45th), Teesside (68th) and Cumbria (74th) all trailing behind.

Lecturer in Journalism at Sunderland University, Alex Lockwood said: “This is fantastic news for the university and is a reflection of the sustained growth and hard work of the people in the department at Sunderland. Not least the students, who have put a huge amount of effort into the university’s radio station, it’s digital magazine, and its research.”

Lockwood added: “And well done to Newcastle. After the season they’ve had, they needed some good news.”

More information can be found at Unistats.com

Aimée Grandidge, 21, currently in her last year at Sunderland University studying Film and Media studies, founded a Cheerleading squad called the Sunderland Stars less than two years ago. “Cheerleading isn’t all about looking pretty and dancing,” said Aimee. “It’s a hard core gymnastic sport which takes dedication, strength and determination.”

Aimée decided to start the squad after going to watch one of her friends train at Newcastle. Aimée thought that Cheerleading looked fun and exciting. After her first year of University she decided she hated not being part of a sports club and did not feel like anything that was on offer was right for her.

Aimée went to visit her dad who lives in New York, in the summer of 2006 and did some researching into cheerleading. She watched lots of videos and bought a book which coaches on how to stunt and jump. Over the summer she asked some of her friends if they would want to help her set up the Cheerleading squad. After emailing the University and them expressing their excitement about the sports society, Aimée began to prepare for freshers fayre, where sports societies and clubs enroll new members.

Cheerleading is a sport that uses organised routines made from elements of tumbling, dance, jumps and stunting to cheer on sports teams and compete in competitions. It is a sport that has wide participation and the typical stereotype of a cheerleader does not take into account the athletic talents required to compete.

Sunderland Stars in local club Blu Bambu

Currently Aimée’s squad consists of 22 girls cheering at American football games and competitions. But she knows it’s not all fun and games.

“It takes a lot of dedication to do cheerleading as a sport,” said Aimée, “and people don’t give us a lot of credit. When they think about cheerleaders they stereotype us as dancing around with pom poms in short skirts. It really aggravates me when they say that because the truth is a lot of the girls who have joined have dropped out because they find it such hard work and there are only a few people who make the grade.”

The typical stereotype of a cheerleading has been perceived by films like ‘Bring it on’ that trivialise the skills needed to be a cheerleader.

“In our first year we took a lot of stick off other sports clubs and societies especially female ones,” says Aimee, “and it seemed that before anyone actually gave us a chance to prove ourselves we were rated as rubbish. I think this is because people expect cheerleading to be easy, but in reality its not.”

The work that goes into performing stunts, jumps, tumbling and dance is gruelling. All the cheerleaders have two training sessions of three hours a week and regularly attend extra tumbling classes for two hours a week. Aimée has coached the squad using a coaching guide-book, as she’s found it impossible to attract a cheerleading coach in the North East who does not already coach other competing squads. But that has had its benefits.

“All of the girls on the squad are really close and I think that’s due to the amount of teamwork that goes into it,” Aimee continues. “In a basic stunt everyone has a part to play not just the people who are getting lifted and look cool, if one of the lifters or spotters mess up the whole thing collapses so you have to work together well.”

“I didn’t think that the university’s morale was very high and I thought that maybe the support of a cheerleading squad would encourage this. I love being a cheerleader, I’m proud that I started a team which anyone can join and meet new friends, learn new skills and it’s so much fun too. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

Varsity is a sporting event that happens ever year between all of the University of Sunderland’s sporting teams and Teesside University. Last year, Aimée’s squad lost by 10 points due to not including a basket toss which she has told me is being included in the upcoming competition. Varsity is being held at home on 12th March and the Sunderland Stars are competing against Teesside Wildcats who have a coach and have been cheering for five years.

“I really want to win so that we can prove to other teams that we are sportsmen,” says Aimee, “and that we have a skill and aren’t just blonde bimbo air headed cheerleaders like they assume.”