Media – The Orbital

30Nov

By Ilayda KaplankiranNo Comments

News, Opinion

Westernisation of the Media

What is the value of human life? What is a “dominant western ideology”? It is best described as the propagation of a rigid geopolitical identity that prioritises western values, while concealing and alienating third world countries. As you can imagine, this is a deeply embedded narrative determining the discussions and outcomes in any political or academic space . Nearly all types of media coverage perpetuate western models of journalism, navigating desirable political views, and consequently overlooking the baseless claims that they might be making or insinuating. Historically, the tendency to privilege and perpetuate narrow-minded western thought traces back to the Imperial age. During a time when minority groups were glorified, and the elitist perspective involved “saving ...

The Dos and Don’ts of Halloween Costumes in 2021

16Oct

By Beth McCleanNo Comments

Lifestyle

The Dos and Don’ts of Halloween Costumes in 2021

Ah, Halloween; a strange time of year. For some, it’s a day of celebrating old traditions, a way to honour the dead and make them immortal through our memories. For others, it’s a time where you can get discounted chocolates and binge horror movies. Regardless of how you celebrate the end of October, one thing is certain: whether they are meticulously planned or thrown together at the last minute, there will be copious numbers of chaotic costumes. However, if you don’t know where to start, here are some Dos and Don’ts to help you get your act together. DO: be sensitive to other cultures. Although we have made great strides in bringing attention to insensitive costumes, unfortunately, common Halloween attire still includes ‘Mexican’ ‘Native American’ & ‘Tribal’ outfits. These ...

27Oct

By Stephanie BagnallNo Comments

Lifestyle

Disconnect To Reconnect

No one can deny that we, on the whole, are a social media obsessed generation. The average person has five social media accounts and spends an average of 1 hour and 40 minutes browsing these networks every day, according to the latest quarterly report from Global Web Index (GWI). After finding out about these staggering statistics, I decided to take a break from social media and delete all my apps for a month. These are some things that I learnt. My levels of procrastination decreased wonderfully and it was incredible. I was doing double the work in half the time. I felt amazing. Mostly because this all meant that I had more time to do what I loved with the extra minutes that I had left over. I was painting more, writing more and feeling much more satisfied and content knowing that I...

22Sep

By Natasha PhillipsNo Comments

Opinion

The New Voices of Podcasting

The advent of podcasts saw the movement of media consumption into the online space, and changed the relationship between creator and audience. The continued decline in TV ratings reflects a change in the way that we seek out entertainment. We’re no longer satisfied by ‘what’s on’ and thus, podcasting allows for people to produce and consume exactly the content that they want, with minimal or no cost to either party. This format also supersedes the barriers to entry posed by traditional media – all you need to make a podcast is a microphone and a good idea. What has ensued is a new wave of minority voices infiltrating a new platform, affording the representation not seen in TV or radio broadcasting. Lack of representation of minority groups in traditional media still poses a significant ...

20Mar

By No Comments

Lifestyle

Diversity’s Demons

Hefina explains how to embrace your individuality ‘Be your own person’, ‘don’t let others dictate who you are’ -the sad reality is, people find it difficult to express who they want to be. The lack of diversity today is an appropriate reflection of the media’s influence on our own bodies. Often the media depicts how we should look, what size we need to be, what we should class as normal; most of us have grown up in society’s constructions, demonstrating the lack of diversity today and why this needs to be changed. There are many examples of an absence in diversity, mainly through the different industries; however, it is more prominent in fashion, especially through the form of media. It can be argued that the clothes, accessories and often even the hairstyles and make-up presented in...

22Aug

By Yasmeen FrassoNo Comments

Features

The 2016 Student Media Summit

This week saw the ninth annual Student Media Summit return to London. Hosted by the NUS and Amnesty International UK, the two-day Summit aims to educate and develop the skills of students involved in media and those wanting to pursue it in the future. Features editor, Yasmeen Frasso, talks about her experience. Walking down New Inn Yard on the morning of Thursday 18th August was a strange experience; the morning travels were filled with the excitement of actually being able to go to a place that, for the day, was not only a central hub for activism, but journalism as well. Two areas which journalist and keynote speaker, Laurie Penny, later explained to us are often largely intertwined. But, of course, anxiety also latched onto me. “Was I wearing the right clothes?” “Was I prepa...

20Dec

By No Comments

Features

An Audience with Example

Royal Holloway’s very own Elliot Gleave revisited our campus this October to talk music, careers, inspiration, advice and of course, a cheeky Nandos. O: How does it feel to be back? E: It’s nice, I’ve only been back four times in 12 years, I came back once to show my wife the grounds, she’d seen pictures of the building. It is an amazing campus. I came back a few years after I graduated to see the new buildings… I went to live in Australia after I left. It was amazing to see, and back again today with the Media students and Music students and it’s so nice to be able to talk to both of them and offer advice to both of them, as I’ve worked in both industries. O: How do you cope with relinquishing control over your music videos? E: When I first started I was just put with people, ...

Explicit media, scandal or criminal offence?

28Sep

By No Comments

Opinion

Explicit media, scandal or criminal offence?

Dozens of celebrities, including the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Ariana Grande, have been subjected to a hacking scandal via the forum 4Chan which has led to nude media being posted of them online without their consent. This is an issue that crops up so frequently in the media that we may not even register surprise at it; from Kim Kardashian's sex tape leaked by her ex boyfriend Ray-J to Vanessa Hudgens nude photos in 2007 (which Disney made her make a formal apology for). We have become so desensitised to the severity of this issue that some feel it's a topic to be joked about. Take Ricky Gervais's tweet as an example; "Celebrities, make it harder for people to get nude pics of you from your computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on your computer". This perp...