For my newspaper NEA I am going to produce the front cover of a local newspaper, called CIN (channel island news). This will be aimed at an audience of all ages living in the region who are interested in national and international news stories as well as stories relating specifically to the local area.
In terms of layout and design, I am going to follow the style model of our CSP (The i). This has a main image (half page) with two ‘plugs‘ or ‘ears‘ (ie headline stories from inside the paper), underneath a strapline for my paper. I will also have a masthead, barcode and other institutional details (time, date, price etc).
For my main story I am going to write about Unruly children ‘making a mockery out of the police’ in Jersey estate described as ‘like a war zone’, this is a current issue in Jersey and the police have described these teens as having ANTISOCIAL behaviour and allegedly young children are ‘getting out of hand’ on an estate, a resident has warned – despite an increased police presence in the area. Underneath the main image I will have the body article and a fictional image of unruly children being antisocial towards police. Unlike my style model I will have about 150-200 words which will form the main article (which will be continued inside the paper) which will be set out in columns, with a big drop cap on the first letter of the first word. I will also have a contents bar at the bottom / footer.
Overall, the paper will be clean, contemporary and stylish, for example, I will use sans serif font and feature more hard news than soft news (ie no gossip or celebrity news, as well as a focus on words over images). I will employ a formal register, using mature and sophisticated vocabulary. I will follow the inverted pyramid structure for my main story. I will also use a pastel colour palette – yellows, oranges etc.
body text for front page
Antisocial behaviour is very common withing the youth of today, but it has gotten to the point that the Jersey States of police have said unruly children are making a mockery out of them. The JEP has spoken to several Islanders living around Cheapside who did not wish to be identified for fear of retribution and are buying cameras to try and ‘secure’ their homes.
One resident Joshua Ligera has described the area as a “war zone” in which children were throwing stones at windows, and damaging property whilst in posession of weapons.
The States police are carrying out regular patrols on Kesington Place at cheapside and the Community Policing Team is working with residents, businesses and other agencies to try to address the issue. One of the Centeniers for the parish, Dylan Mcgarragle , said he was aware of incidents involving ‘unruly’ children who were throwing stones and running away with weapons. ‘It’s hard to pinpoint and the trouble is by the time you get there they are all gone.”
He said it was difficult to estimate the ages of those involved, but noted that some of the children were ‘certainly’ under 12 years old. One resident told the JEP the situation was ‘getting out of hand’. ‘Kids have been breaking windows and throwing eggs, throwing stones, damaging cars, pulling out knifes – the place is like a war zone. ‘Something has to be done because it is getting really bad now,’ they said. ‘We are all buying cameras to secure the properties – it’s not a safe place,’ the resident added, estimating that the youngsters involved ranged between 8 and 17 years old. Another resident said the increased police presence had made ‘no difference at all’. ‘They [the officers] are as good as gold – they talk to the residents and they do their patrols but these kids are making a mockery out of them,’ they added. A police spokesperson said: ‘The Community Policing Team are working in partnership with residents, businesses and agencies to understand and address incidents of antisocial behaviour in Five Oaks.
‘The St Helier community officer, PC Amber Jones, and other officers regularly patrol the area with the aim of preventing incidents and reassuring residents, workers and visitors that police take antisocial behaviour seriously.’
They added: ‘PC Woolley encourages everyone to report incidents of anti-social behaviour and crime to the police, or provide information with complete anonymity through Crimestoppers. Antisocial behaviour is when someone’s behaviour causes harassment, alarm or distress to others who are not of the same household as the person causing it.’
An Andium Homes spokesperson said: ‘Les Cinq Chênes is our site and we are aware of some issues relating to alleged antisocial behaviour, although it is certainly not clear that this is necessarily being caused just by estate residents. These issues are, quite rightly, being handled by the police, supported by us and other statutory agencies such as the Children’s Service.’
They explained that, as the landlord for the homes, they did not have the statutory powers to addressantisocial behaviour ‘in the way that the police can’.
‘Our powers, such as they are, are limited to eviction – but only if the antisocial behaviour relates to a tenant – even then this is a lengthy and often complex process which is ultimately determined by the courts, not by us,’ they said.
‘The message we want to give residents is that we are keen to know about instances of antisocial behaviour that impact on them and we will support the police in addressing those issues.
‘What is vitally important is that residents do take the time to report issues to the police, if possible at the time they are happening,’ they added.