We immediately identified the range of stories our audience would like to see in our newspaper by the results from our survey. Therefore we were aware that we obviously needed to include local news. Although we felt that it was necessary to include national stories as it would aim for wider audience as a result, therefore differentiating our newspaper from other well established newspapers. Trying to show a similar topic range, we produced stories that related to news relevant to the news at present. As a result we researched into current news and came up with stories that would appeal to most readers as they are main headline news. We came up with different ideas (shown in the plans) but came up with the final ideas as the current news in our area changed our plans on many of the articles providing us with accessible information to the produce the articles. We therefore came up with the idea of three local stories and two national:
Local
Sainsbury’s-
· The refurbishment of the local store, offering a wider range of products.
· Will show the changes being made and how it will affect the local community.
Metro-
· Development plans that are looking to be put into place in the future.
· Will state the plans and explain about past and present plans.
School-
· Current weather conditions causing the closure of our school, creating much talk on the new school.
· Argue the fact it is a new building and discuss the problems.
National
University fees-
· With the current rise in university fees, showing the public’s disagreements with the many protests going on around the country.
· Will discuss the rise and the countries protests against it.
Tax bands-
· Shows in some areas of the country a misunderstanding in which band you are in.
· Therefore shows an alternative to which you can check to see if your house has been placed in the right house band.
Once we came up with the final stories, we decided on how we would produce them. We found the best way to do so and manage our times to finish our other tasks was to split up the articles by each producing two articles and writing one together. Therefore it shows we both have had input into this project and shows that we both shown our own skills to research and write our own articles. Adding our own individual characteristics to the newspaper. As a result we decided that we would both write a local and national story therefore having to do two different types of research. My two articles were the development plans for the metros and the much debated topic of the increase in university fees. Therefore my partner was writing the articles on our school and the housing tax bands. Resulting in us co-writing the article on our local Sainsbury’s undergoing refurbishment.
For my first story I looked at the writing of the local transport in the area, doing many research on the internet I found the developing plans for my areas local metro network. Therefore I was able to write about these plans and shown a non bias opinion to these. This article shows the plans for the future and whether or not they are likely to be completed. This article will be featured on the second page of our newspaper as one of our short stories.
Article- Development plans for the Metro system in Tyne & Wear:
Time for change?
With the newly modernised and updated stations along the metro routes, there are many more plans set to be completed. The plans are being split up into phases; the first and second phase have secured many investors and private developers, the proposed developments of the ‘all change programme’ is set to refurbish 90 metro stations and modernize 45 more, with structures such as bridges, tunnels and overhead power lines being looked at for repair and maintenance. Additional plans to meet other goals, for instance new park and ride facilities, doubling of lines and the rebuilding of stations, this being the second phase and is expected to cost £255.3 million, with this development already on its way to completion.
More plans are being added to list of ‘to dos’, and with the introduction of a third phase they are looking to secure funding for this. This will enable them to add a new fleet of metro car trains, a new signaling system and a new generation of ticket machines with more overhaul and maintenance of structures, track and overhead lines, and further station improvement that will be required. The reason why they are lacking this funding is due to the fact that the metro fleet will be almost 40 years old when replacement begins, even though from the original design the fleet had an expectancy of 30 years. Therefore due to the lack of funding plans are scheduled to start in 2019.
Although there has been suggested extensions and improvements in previous years that haven’t yet undergone any changes. For instance, in 2002, Nexus unveiled an expansion plan to extend the metro system by adding new sections using ‘street running’. This would provide a cost effective alternative to current metro services through areas that it doesn’t reach, using a high-end tram system. This plan listed a number of routes from; Tyne dock to east Bolden, Blyth and Ashington, Killingworth and Cramlington, to an entirely new track involving tunneling and bridging in the west end of Newcastle.
Time for change?
With the newly modernised and updated stations along the metro routes, there are many more plans set to be completed. The plans are being split up into phases; the first and second phase have secured many investors and private developers, the proposed developments of the ‘all change programme’ is set to refurbish 90 metro stations and modernize 45 more, with structures such as bridges, tunnels and overhead power lines being looked at for repair and maintenance. Additional plans to meet other goals, for instance new park and ride facilities, doubling of lines and the rebuilding of stations, this being the second phase and is expected to cost £255.3 million, with this development already on its way to completion.
More plans are being added to list of ‘to dos’, and with the introduction of a third phase they are looking to secure funding for this. This will enable them to add a new fleet of metro car trains, a new signaling system and a new generation of ticket machines with more overhaul and maintenance of structures, track and overhead lines, and further station improvement that will be required. The reason why they are lacking this funding is due to the fact that the metro fleet will be almost 40 years old when replacement begins, even though from the original design the fleet had an expectancy of 30 years. Therefore due to the lack of funding plans are scheduled to start in 2019.
Although there has been suggested extensions and improvements in previous years that haven’t yet undergone any changes. For instance, in 2002, Nexus unveiled an expansion plan to extend the metro system by adding new sections using ‘street running’. This would provide a cost effective alternative to current metro services through areas that it doesn’t reach, using a high-end tram system. This plan listed a number of routes from; Tyne dock to east Bolden, Blyth and Ashington, Killingworth and Cramlington, to an entirely new track involving tunneling and bridging in the west end of Newcastle.
These plans would benefit the metro services greatly as these lines have the highest potential ridership, due to the struggle in gaining funding for this project and for the improvement of the existing system, these plans are highly unlikely to ever begin construction and if they were to be started will be in the long term. As a result the main aim and funding of public transport is geared towards the bus system instead of metros. With this in mind, many plans will not undergo development and the metro needs further backing from investors to complete these plans for improvement to make passengers journeys safer and easier.
As i had completed my local article i then began to research information for my second article, university fees. As it has recently been on the news it was easy to find many articles relevant to my piece. Taking into consideration many peoples views on this topic i was able to create an article that shown relevance and opinion with this much debated subject. This article will be used on our front cover of the newspaper and as a result will be one of the main focul points on our page.
Article- Rise in University fees across the country:
Students face rise in tuition fees
Students will be forced to pay thousands more for their university education under proposals to raise the tuition fees. It has been reported that the student funding calls for universities to be left to decide what to
charge.
A highly controversial option for the Government and in particular the explosive exposure for the Liberal Democrats, who campaigned against tuition fees during the General Election. Their favoured option of a graduate tax was ruled out by ministers as many classed it as unmanageable. An obvious radical change needs to be made to the funding system, with graduates paying a higher rate of interest on loans, more places being made available and universities effectively competing for students.
As a result many believe there shouldn't be a fixed price for higher education because all universities are different and provide a range of courses. Now pressure will be forced upon the university as they have to persuade the students that these charges for their choice of course represent the value for money. Therefore proving or having to improve their standards of teaching and that these admission costs are fair, as well as contributing more to supporting the students through different policies.
Under these plans, universities can start to vary what they charge but it will be up to students whether they choose the university. The money will follow the student who will follow the quality. The student is no longer taken for granted, the student is in charge. Although a well awaited backlash over the increase in fees, became apparent through the many protests throughout the country by students. Forcing the decision that the criticisms of their recent promotion of this plan are in fact correct and that this idea would not be best pursued.
Together we began to write the article on our local Sainsbury's, as it was under current construction. For this we decided to recieve inside information from this project and set up an interview with one of their managers. Therefore we got taken through all their plans for the project and got to ask them questions that would help us write the article.
Students face rise in tuition fees
Students will be forced to pay thousands more for their university education under proposals to raise the tuition fees. It has been reported that the student funding calls for universities to be left to decide what to
charge.
A highly controversial option for the Government and in particular the explosive exposure for the Liberal Democrats, who campaigned against tuition fees during the General Election. Their favoured option of a graduate tax was ruled out by ministers as many classed it as unmanageable. An obvious radical change needs to be made to the funding system, with graduates paying a higher rate of interest on loans, more places being made available and universities effectively competing for students.
As a result many believe there shouldn't be a fixed price for higher education because all universities are different and provide a range of courses. Now pressure will be forced upon the university as they have to persuade the students that these charges for their choice of course represent the value for money. Therefore proving or having to improve their standards of teaching and that these admission costs are fair, as well as contributing more to supporting the students through different policies.
Under these plans, universities can start to vary what they charge but it will be up to students whether they choose the university. The money will follow the student who will follow the quality. The student is no longer taken for granted, the student is in charge. Although a well awaited backlash over the increase in fees, became apparent through the many protests throughout the country by students. Forcing the decision that the criticisms of their recent promotion of this plan are in fact correct and that this idea would not be best pursued.
Together we began to write the article on our local Sainsbury's, as it was under current construction. For this we decided to recieve inside information from this project and set up an interview with one of their managers. Therefore we got taken through all their plans for the project and got to ask them questions that would help us write the article.
Article- Current refurbishment to the local Sainsbury's:
Sainsbury's: Set for Impovement
Sainsbury’s has undergone major construction in past months, remodelling the entire shop and extending on the original building. Due to the competition from other big supermarket chains nearby, Sainsbury’s felt that in this area they needed to increase their market share as it has the opportunity to receive a lot more business due to the fact they are situated in a catchment area. Their aim is to introduce non food products to the store for instance, clothing, entertainment, electrical, home ware etc. They believe that the sales potential from these new areas of retail could provide a greater profit.
To mirror the success to that of the Durham and Washington stores, they feel this well awaited 2 year extension plan will follow suit. Ensuring that the in store prices will stay the same therefore not reimbursing the building costs of the project. Increasing the store space an extra 10,000 square foot with the introduction of a mezanine floor added for even more space. Primarily seizing the opportunity within the area, aiming to boost profits of the store within the new areas of the store. With the inclusion of non food products they believe this will receive more interest from customers, made apparent from other local store figures.
But is this 10 million pound investment worth it? Many customers in the area like the familiarity of the store and although it is being updated, would like it to be kept the same. As it does not include the product ranges of clothing, electrical etc, it doesn’t tempt the consumer into buying other products and therefore allows the customer to get what they need and that’s it. Although this is obviously seen as strength to Sainsbury’s as it encourages them to buy more products with the new range being available.
Updating the image of Sainsbury’s is an extensive task, priding themselves on the quality of the company and their products they knew that this refit had to be done. Although reducing the car parking by 96 spaces was a big ask, as it caused disruption trying to relay the new spaces, the weather did not help with this phase. Keen to build a new image to the store the petrol station also undergone refurbishment, although cutting back on products in there, as they feel that there was an insufficient profit from the amount of items stocked. Much debated topic surrounding credit card machines and whether or not their will be the installment of ‘pay at the pump’, but we can confirm that there will be no credit card stalls at the petrol pumps as in their opinion it keeps the personal, friendly atmosphere.
Sainsbury’s is due for completion on the 23rd February, with a weeks closing from the 16th February. This ensures that they can complete the internal moves as the entire layout of the store is changing, and therefore would be unachievable if the store was open.
Aswell as this we had the inlcusion of two more stories, written by the person i worked with. These were again one local story on our school and a national story about the house tax bands. Bellow are the aticles she had written, again short stories.
Article- The closure of Monkseaton High School due to extreme weather conditions.
£21 million down the drain !
Article- The confusion of different tax bands awarded to similar houses.
Aswell as this we had the inlcusion of two more stories, written by the person i worked with. These were again one local story on our school and a national story about the house tax bands. Bellow are the aticles she had written, again short stories.
Article- The closure of Monkseaton High School due to extreme weather conditions.
£21 million down the drain !
On Sunday 28th November at approximately 3am, Monkseaton High School head teacher Dr Kelley was alerted by North Tyneside Council security that there was a problem in the building. Many members of staff were called into the school to find out that 3 of the 100 roof panels had been leaking leaving many areas of the school damaged by the amount of the water that had got in. Later on that day the architects come to assess the damage and put a time scale on how long the repair would take.
Due to the severe weather conditions earlier during that week it therefore put a hold on the repairs, as it wasn't safe for people to work on the roof. With the repairs on hold, it meant that Monkseaton High School would be closed for the week to all students and many members of stuffs.
Still after the week off, the roof has only got temporary replacement panels on. The permanent solution will be put in place during the Christmas break and assessed at the same time. This decision has been put in place for the student benefits meaning that there would be not more education loss due to the damage. Monkseaton High School feel that it is worth noting that the work that has been done due to the damage has not cost anything to the school or council.
This story was a last minute inclusion and we decided to change to this option as it would be a story that many people would read due to the major talk in the area on this topic of the new build. Costing around £21 million, this was therefore a shock to here the news that the roof panels had collasped, causing major disuption with the closure of the school.
Article- The confusion of different tax bands awarded to similar houses.
What's Your Band?
'Many properties have been placed within the wrong council tax band. Council bands were based on what homes were sold for on a set date: properties within England were set on the 1st April 1991 and the 1st April 2003 for properties in Wales. Property owner’s can have the home tax band reviewed and could end up having a reduction and a refund on any difference due. There been a snapshot survey held by consumer champion website, finding that one out of seven properties, selected at random was placed in the wrong band, making a high per cent of 14 per cent of properties could have been placed in the wrong council tax band since the early 1990’s. Refunds on properties have been running into several thousand pounds and still more to come. You can check your council tax band on voa.gov.uk and find more information about inquiring about getting your tax band reviewed. Beware of getting your property reviewed as it cannot just lower your the band but could make it higher or just leave it unchanged. For more information telephone 0844 2380162.
Although in these articles we dont show anecdotes from local residents, this is often the main basis of the articles. Therefore we worked around this and used our research as the opion from local residents to try and include differences and reason behind the stories. Although with some of our stories we felt it was unneccessary to include them, as they would be irrelevant.
Aswell as this we decided to include an advertisment that would link with our article writing, as it engages the reader to write in and 'Tell us their story'. With the newspaper being based locally, it extends readers paticipation by them being able to provide us with their own stories and we being able to write about them, therefore being realistic. We felt this was a good inclusion to the paper as it gave another aspect that we believe is unique.
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As we created a local newspaper, on the news and events in our area. We decided to use current stories that had truth behind them, therefore the research to write them was easy to find and annotate. As well as this we felt that having the interview at Sainsbury's was good with writing the article as we got the answers to the all the points we needed to create the story. Overall i think the stories were a success and are suitable for an actuall newspaper as the sarticles could show genuine readers interest because of their subject matters.
