Reporting of Court Proceedings and the Reporter – me

High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh - picture by Ron Almog

Never being to court before, meeting in front of the High Court in Edinburgh with the perspective to go in and see the court in action was very exciting at first. It had an “I feel privileged and important” feeling.

Going through security knowing that they probably know why we are there, taking a close look at the building from the inside because of course, “this is the place where they decide about people’s life.” Looking around in the corridor I am sure everyone was trying to guess who could be affected by the case, could be a witness or the accused.

We did not know what case we would get and I do not think anyone cared until the start was close enough. Then we were told that it was a case involving more people than we imagined, with 10 accused, hundreds of witnesses and at least 8 pages of evidence.

I was scared to get such a huge case for the first time. But that was not the main thing I should have been worried about.

Before this case was brought up, there was a sentencing due.

We sat in for that as well, to see it live. I did not really know what to think of seeing and hearing the decision about a man’s life, with his family sitting just a couple of rows in front of us.

Then they brought the accused out, we could hear the chains clinking behind the door and while he walked up to the place where he heard about the judge’s decision. The sound of the chains sent shivers down my spine and then I knew what to think about courts: I did not like it. I did not like the idea of one man deciding to lock up another for life and take him away from his family, no matter how horrible his sin was. I could never do it and I never want to report on it.

With this attitude, I tried hard to listen to the lawyer, solicitor and the judge but I could not pay much attention and I only heard constant muttering. My subconscious was trying to leave the room so badly I could not even concentrate for the sake of finishing my course.

When I heard words like “18 years” and “many lives wasted”, I looked up and thought: “Oh, no, is that it? Was that the verdict? Did I miss it? Did they just tell someone that he would spend the rest of his life in prison and I missed it?!”

Then I looked at the family, saw the wife (supposedly), crying, carrying their baby and others comforting her. It was an awful feeling. When they drove him away, he took one last glance at his family and tried to be strong, even smile a little.

I realised that now I am expected to write about the cold truth: he murdered a man and permanently impaired another. I knew he deserved to be punished I just could not decide what I was feeling. I could not decide that it was right for another human being to ruin dozens of other peoples’ life but then again, the murderer has done the same.

I wrote the report but decided to avoid trials if I could. I cannot stand the coldness, factualness and indifference people are showing there, which of course, is their job in a way.

In order to write a full report, I had to go through the indictment and then another thing struck me: this man is the same age as my husband and just two years older than me… What a waste, what a shame and suddenly I remembered: the judges’ words were exactly the same.

He was not so indifferent after all but I still had mixed feelings and goose bumps all over my body while writing my balanced, (cold and factual) report.

Man Who Murdered Christmas is Sentenced For Life

Edward J. Dearie - before being sentenced for life

Edward John Dearie was sentenced for life in Edinburgh today for murder, attempted murder and attempt to defeat the ends of justice.

Mr Dearie, 27, was found guilty and sent to jail for a minimum of 18 years for murdering 23-year-old Stuart Spence, causing severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment to Derek Hall, 35, and for fleeing from the law.

The “large-scale” disturbance took place in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, last year, 25 December at about 11.35pm, when Mr Spence was stabbed in the stomach and two other men were severely injured by Mr Dearie.

One of the two men could leave hospital after treatment, the other one staying in – stabilised. Later, Mr Spence died of internal bleeding while doctors were trying to save his life.

Mr Dearie was identified by severely bleeding Mr Spence back at the scene, telling police what his attacker was wearing.

Tele-sales worker Dearie being conscious of his guilt, jumped from a first floor window and fled from the crime scene and attempted to conceal himself in an attic in Irvine, Ayrshire, until police found him on 11 January 2010.

Judge William Dunlop QC told Mr Dearie that he would serve at least 18 years without parole because of his violent past, including a record for assault and carrying a hammer.

“What a waste of a lot of lives – including your own. These were lamentable and needless crimes leading to the death of one young man and almost the death of another. None of this would have happened if you had only learned from your previous convictions,” the judge told Mr Dearie while sentencing him for life.

Who is the Man?

Metrosexual man - picture from www.mahalo.com

A recent survey conducted by Edinburgh Napier News found that women of our modern world are more attracted to men with feminine traits than to those with masculine ones.

The Daily Mail’s online report on August 18th found that British women prefer masculine men to metrosexual men.

This came after psychologists from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland conducted a survey earlier this year to prove that masculine men are healthier genetically.

Dozens of studies have been carried out since then, the most recent just ended today, asking 62 women to choose which type of men they like: metrosexual, the latin-macho type or men with more masculine traits.

The manly, masculine types got 21 votes, machos 12, while the most popular metrosexual types received 29 votes from the ladies.

When asked about why this recent change occured in society Dr Calum Neill, a lecturer in psychology at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “Why do you suppose this is a recent phenomenon?

“I do think there are definite shifts in sexuation, with a much more generalised hystericisation, which have led to the increasing acceptability of the hysterical male… but this in no way suggests a shift in what women want. Weren’t women always drawn to the poetic Don Juan?”

Dr Neill’s comments dismiss the speculation that metrosexual traits were first exposed by the media, starting with actors like Pierce Brosnan and football player David Beckham.

The research, being carried out among 10 nations and five age groups also revealed that none of these factors have influence on preferences as almost all of them voted for metrosexual men.

Terrific Flights with British Airways and BMI

Snow in Edinburgh - picture by Viqe

It is understandable if a city, country is not prepared for a weather that is not usual there or just occurs every 20 years or so, but does it mean that the international airline of that place should not prepare for it?!

Hilarious…or sad…or rather annoying. You decide. Winter is usually cold with not too warm winds and – surprisingly – comes with snow.

As the airline is INTERNATIONAL they could have figured that in most of the countries they fly to there will be SNOW…and ICE…and COLD…and WIND…and TURBULENCE in the air.

I don’t want to find out the reasons why British Airways had so much cancellations as I’m sure they have their explanation but let me just ask a question: How come other airlines could fly to the very same destinations from the very same places? Mystery…

Let me tell you about our trip back from Hungary to Scotland. It’s noon on 10 January 2010 and my husband calls Ferihegy Airport if they know about any cancellations on the route from Budapest to Edinburgh. (It’s not a direct flight so anything can happen). He asks about British Airways, tells them the flight number, the departure time, etc, and they say: NO, so we’re happy and calm.

After lunch I get the crazy idea to check my emails before we head to the airport. Why?! Why did I have to do that? I could have been happy for two more hours. Okay, it’s done, I’m reading an automated email from British Airways saying that our flight from London to Edinburgh has been cancelled and that they are very sorry (I bet).

I start to laugh. The mail was sent at around 1am that morning so the airport should have known about the cancellation but that’s Hungary.

I jump up, make a few phone calls – telling our workplace that we won’t be able to work next day, checking the weather in Edinburgh and London (nothing: sunshine, melting snow, so I don’t understand the whole thing and neither could the rep of British Airways give an explanation), and trying to organize a new flight and accommodation close to London.

Luckily my aunt lives in Cambridge so we know we can stay there if nothing works out. Then we decide to go to the airport much earlier to make arrangements.

We find the right terminal and we also find the representation of British Airways there. Great. The woman is sitting behind the desk but doesn’t look at us. I assume she’s very busy so I just stand their politely and don’t say a word. Ten minutes later two guys come and start chatting with the lady who was just about to go home but realises that she has work to do so she stays.

She deals with the guys first and after 20 minutes turns to me. “Are you waiting for me?” – she asks. “Yes,” I answer. I explain our problem and in the SPEED of another 20-30 minutes our new flight is arranged. Fantastic. We get our new tickets, everything ready so now we can check in. But wait…our new flight details are not in the system; we wait another ten minutes at the check-in desk.

Finally, the lady comes back and asks if we want to send our baggages all the way to Edinburgh. I’m a bit suspicious at this point, not believing that they can manage NOT to lose them as we’ll fly with another company from London and also ten hours later, but my husband says he doesn’t want to deal with luggage at Heathrow so we say yes.

We say goodbye to the family members escorting us to the airport and look for the gate. We don’t find it for the first time but that’s just our blindness…

Fine, we’re sitting on the plane, I’m drinking Jack&Coke (beautiful combination but please NEVER mix single malt with coke especially on a flight heading to Scotland!!!), and hubby’s into Chardonnay. We get off the plane and our long night at Heathrow begins.

We have to switch terminals by bus. Once at the right place, we ask someone where we can sleep. They tell us that we can have long chairs if we’re fast enough but in the morning we’ll have to come back because they’ll have to take our photos (they couldn’t do it then as we were flying the next day and the system is not flexible enough to take this…imagine, we would have confused the cyber bugs).

We go through security, find the long chairs and we settle down like for picnic. The lady told us that all shops close at 10:30pm so hubby goes to buy sandwiches and drinks while I search for plugs. We want to watch a movie but our laptop is running out of batteries.

People sleeping at Heathrow Airport - picture by Viqe

We eat and then I exile myself a few meters away to charge our baby (laptop) and my mobile. I sit there for an hour. Alone. Fascinating. Finally, an American guy comes and we have a nice chat but then suddenly both of our devices are fully charged so I say goodbye and go back to my sleeping husband.

I wake him and we watch the film. Kung Fu Panda. Hilarious. My husband’s asleep again so I try to get some as well. I can’t. There are people sleeping around us. They make noise, they smell (just like us) and there is no other place to keep our bags just beside us. I’m not too comfortable with this…

After ten hours of suffering we get up and go back to the place where they take our photos. Then we have to go through security again (ridiculous), and we get on the plane – finally.

I’m sitting between my husband and a man who’s constantly coughing so I’m praying not to get swine flu on our way home. Once we’re airborne, another surprise comes: though our food and drinks are covered in the price of the ticket, we don’t get any on this plane (BMI), unless we pay for it?! We get so angry and disappointed that we choose to starve and ‘die’ of thirst.

We’re at Edinburgh Airport now. Home again. We promise to ourselves that we’re never ever going to fly to Hungary again only if it’s a direct flight. We wait for the baggages.

We wait but I have a bad feeling so again, I am praying. Just one, please, let us have at least one of our luggages. And we do. Hubby’s bag arrives but mine doesn’t. Perfect. What do I want to do after spending the night at the airport and going through all the aforementioned things? Claim my luggage, of course. That’s what I always wanted to do.

I knew they wouldn’t be able to make it, that it would be too much for them to handle. And it was. The lady at the BMI office is very kind, she arranges everything (I’m not the only one, at least three more people are waiting to reclaim as well), and we go home. One and a half hour on the buses on our way home and since we’re in the city, I top up our Ridacards…

We’re exhausted. We get home, turn on the heating (the flat is cold as Antarctica), take an hour-long bath and go to bed. When we wake up my brother-in-law comes over and tells us everything that happened here without us and we realise that the world has not stopped spinning while we were away.

In the evening I check my luggage on-line and I see that it’s already at the airport. I’m happy. I cook something for dinner and after that we go to sleep. Good night and goodbye nightmare-flights.

(This piece is not a general opinion about British Airways or BMI as we have had very nice journeys with them before; it is merely a bad experience.)

Converge or Die – Journalism’s New Motto

Professional journalists are afraid to lose their jobs because of the credit crunch and also because of the ever-increasing power of the internet. 

While I think the first is a real problem (as publishers, broadcasters have to cut their budget to survive), I do not consider the latter one a threat to the industry.

Csaba Balogh, a Hungarian journalist and blogger told me in an interview: “It is exactly the internet why newspapers have a future.”

According to him, journalists have nothing else to do, but convert (converge) their knowledge and professional skills and start writing on-line as newspapers are “dying”. This, of course does not necessarily mean that professional journalists are no longer needed – although there is an increasing number of citizen journalists – as they bring their professionalism and investigative initiative to this quick-changing industry. They just have to learn to write in a different style and for a different readership.

These changes might be difficult but they also open up new opportunities: journalists can add links, videos, sound material, etc and even more pictures to their articles which make them interesting and unique.

I agree with this approach and as a journalism student I am happy to see that universities have understood these changes well and adapt to them perfectly.

E.g.: in the summer I got a phone call from my University (Edinburgh Napier) and they did a little phone-interview with me and at the end they told me that the course does not simply concentrate on newspapers, TV and radio any more, but largely on the internet and blogging, offering us a multimedia education; and honestly, what would we do without it these days?

A New Era for Me

Craiglochart Campus, Edinburgh Napier University - picture by sparky2000

As you may or may not know, I started my journalism studies at Edinburgh Napier University this year. We had to write four articles to start our new career with and as I never in my life have done anything similar to this, it was quite an experience.

The first one was an interview made in Princes Street Gardens so I grabbed my notebook and my pen and went for my “person hunt”. We had to find two people, elderly or tourists. I decided that the best would be to find an elderly tourist And so I did.

The first few people I asked said that they were not interested, they did not want to buy anything Even the elderly people were not kind and this was a shock for me. Grandma and grandpa are kind… Or at least they should be…

After walking my legs off, I finally found a gorgeous couple from Germany. The interview was exciting as I had no idea what to ask from them. Imagine: I had to write an article about a person’s life story… And I am not so good in preparing in advance, in fact, I do not believe you can prepare in advance for an interview if you do not know who the interviewee is going to be.

Anyway, I knew what I wanted to know I just did not have enough experience (especially in English), to ask the proper questions. After a while I got the angle of the story and I was unstoppable.

The second piece was an easier one for me: a profile of a journalist. I felt very lucky as I happen to know a Hungarian journalist (we went to the same University and had a class together), so I could do the interview in Hungarian and did not even have to struggle too much with the questions. We have known each other for three years now and I knew a lot of things about him.

Thus, I could prepare my questions in advance as I almost knew his answers as well. This happened to be an hour-long interview which I really enjoyed translating into English. I would love to do this all my life. It was also very comfortable as I did the interview through Skype and I could look into my lecture notes to check whether I was doing the right thing.

Our third article was a Parliament report. This was the hardest as I had to cope with the different accents of MSPs and also with words I have never heard before. I did not know the politicians either, so I tried to guess their names from the vowels I heard I was not sure if I could manage but I could even get some quotes.

Our final task was a feature for the BMI‘s in-flight magazine, the Voyager. We were asked to write something in connection with Edinburgh or Glasgow. As I work in a hotel restaurant this was not really difficult; I meet tourists every single day, I talk to them, I know why they choose certain restaurants and destinations so I decided to write about something regarding restaurants. I called the head-chef of the four star hotel, and we had a chat which I recorded. The result was a 1000-word article about the comfort of hotel restaurants.

In the future I would like to make a few changes: I would like to be more prepared as luck will not always accompany me throughout my academic studies. I will also have to get used to the different accents here and this might improve by listening to the radio or going to council meetings…and if I read more newspaper my vocabulary will improve and I will also get to know how certain articles look like, what makes them interesting and what readers want.

Can Heavy Drinking Cause Pregnancy?

In Scotland it certainly does and Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and North Ayrshire are the most affected cities by this “retro” pandemic, namely teenage pregnancy.

No doubt, it is getting a bigger problem every year in Scotland just like heavy drinking – meaning more than eight units a day for men and six units a day for women on at least one day a week – especially among youngsters. Although the NHS does not hold specific statistics about this issue GPs and nurses seem to caress the idea that there might be a connection.

Shocked teenage girl holding pregnancy test - picture by bilderlounge/Corbis

Also, five out of five interviewees agreed that heavy drinking can end up in a baby. One even admitted that two of his three daughters got pregnant at the ages of 18 and 19 as a result of under-age drinking – though he also stated that it is not only drinking but other factors such as growing up early, the eager feeling to be an adult, video games, films and also music contribute to this problem.

Another factor is the social attitude towards underage drinking. Opinions of people vary considering the context and the age of youngsters.

There is also more and more pressure on young people to act like adults, to take drugs, have sexual life and to drink. Teenagers are often worried about being discriminated by fellows if they do not live this unhealthy and mostly dangerous lifestyle.

In 2001, concerns grew to reduce harmful drinking among young people in Scotland after they experienced a rise in teenagers’ alcohol-misuse. The same year Alcoholics Anonymous also reported an increase in the number of its patients – including some 15-year-old persons.

According to the Alcohol Statistics Scotland 40% of 15 year-old boys and 46% of 15 year-old girls reported drinking in the past week, while 13 year-olds’ alcohol consumption in the past week has doubled.

Over 42 per cent of young men aged 16 to 24 and 36 per cent of young women had exceeded the recommended quantity on at least one day during the previous week. (If not stated, data are from the ONS – Office for National Statistics).

The aforementioned heavy drinking is also more common among young people: 31 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women aged 16 to 24 have been drinking heavily on at least one day during the previous week.

Keeping in mind what effects alcohol may have – from significantly impairing judgement and coordination, not being able to control behaviour and/or not even being aware of what one is doing, to more major problems such as deafness, stroke or as in our case unwanted pregnancy.

68.5 per cent of people in their “bloom of youth” (adolescents) has had one or more sexual partners in Great Britain in 2007. Out of this, only 59.5 per cent used contraception. Breaking it down to Scotland: 58.6 per cent of mothers giving birth in 2007 were under the age of 20. The numbers speak for themselves…

One solution to this issue could prevention. Preventing alcohol- abuse and also pregnancy. Scotland is in a very fortunate situation regarding the latter, as contraception is free and easy to obtain; but starting with the least radical factor: alcohol consumption, the project of the Boston University School of Public Health supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has to be mentioned as they may help grasping the problem at its very roots: an Alcohol Assessment Quiz which can be found at the http://www.alcoholscreening.org/ website.

Relief from Aberdeen to Inverness

Nairn - Aberdeen & Inverness trains crossing - picture by agcthoms

Mike Rumbles, SLD, opened the debate in the Scottish Parliament on 7 October, regarding Kintore Station and Aberdeen Crossrail.

There are just 11 journeys from Aberdeen to Inverness Monday-Saturday, and only five on Sundays. If a passenger misses his train, there is good chance that he will have to wait two hours for the next one.

In 2003, a decision was made to reduce the more than two hour route between Aberdeen and Inverness to just 50 minutes, and also to open new stations to help improvement.

The reopening of Laurencekirk Station in May this year was a success and a grasp of hope for people in the Highlands, the politician said.

He also stated that the lack of interest in this case is disappointing and that Stewart Stevenson transport minister’s acknowledgement about the importance of the subject would be “a real step-forward.”

Rumbles said that the transport minister has held no discussion on the matter so far, and not even attended significant debates about the issue.

“I do feel that the people  in the North-East deserve a straight answer from our transport minister and I hope we will be able to hear it,” said Rumbles. He would also welcome funding for the project.

The Aberdeen-Inverness railway line is approximately 173km- long (107m) and is a corridor of great strategic importance within the Strategic Transport Projects Review, as it connects Aberdeen and Inverness airports as well as the port of Aberdeen with other cities on the route.

It also supports the continued economic growth of the two cities and links rural communities with industrial cities.

Alison McInnes, SLD, drew attention to the issue of largely growing traffic in the area.

Between 2002 and 2005 the rise in traffic in the region reached 4.5% per annum.

A study, taken in 2005, on behalf of the Scottish Executive, considered possible changes in the railway system between the two cities. The most important points of the survey were improving journey times and introducing an hourly service from one of the cities to the other.

SNP’s Maureen Watt welcomed Rumbles’ standpoint and called for “progress and activity,’”that is, more frequent trains and scheduling changes, after stating that it was sad that under two former transport ministers, the problem could not have been solved.

Stevenson, minister for transport, infrastructure and climate change, agreed that the current model has to be changed.

Eating In-Out?

Elements Restaurant, Novotel Edinburgh Centre - picture by Viqe

Going to restaurant wearing your bikinis or your most comfi robe? In the 21st century nothing is impossible.

More and more hotels seem to open a restaurant within their premises in recent years, however, according to Booking.com, only 65 out of 193 hotels have their own restaurants currently.

We asked Gordon Haig, head-chef of Novotel Edinburgh Centre’s Elements Restaurant, what he thinks the reasons are.

I could only meet Haig briefly, as when he is not working he is either travelling with his family to explore new cuisines, or he is just too busy looking after Johnny, his one-year-old son.

Haig started as a sous-chef four years ago in the hotel and after leaving for Holiday Inn, he became the head-chef there. Last year, Novotel seemed to be missing Haig so they offered him the same position in their kitchen and that was when he met his wife, the sous-chef.

As he has always been working for hotel restaurants, he knows all there is to know about them.

Haig calls F&B (food and beverage) a “necessary evil” to hotels, and says that nowadays they have the urge to have it, i.e.: bars and restaurants on the premises. The number one reason for this is money, of course, according to him.

Although most of the hotels do not have as much income from operating restaurants as from rooms, they (especially newly opened ones), have to have it.

Haig, who works in a hotel restaurant from which a mile radius away there are approximately 130 other restaurants, admits: “In Edinburgh there are so many restaurants, that a lot of hotels will just see it as there is no point doing it because you can make more money just by having rooms.”

Although this might be the case, there are certain advantages of hotel restaurants as well.

The upsides of a hotel restaurant from the guests’ point of view are vast: they can eat a luxurious 3-course meal in casual clothes, wet hair, after just having stepped out of the shower or the swimming pool, they do not have to care about transportation and therefore need to spend less money, bad weather is never an issue and they do not have to pay straight away as at most places they can charge everything on their rooms and only pay when they leave the premises.

This proves Haig’s idea: “People choose hotels that have a restaurant mainly because it is more comfortable.”

Businessmen often work in their rooms throughout the day and they can also find comfort in room service: ”They do not want the hassle of going out if they’ve got work to do,’”said Haig.

However, there are also some downsides of these restaurants: a lot of them are a part of a hotel chain, which results in a standardised menu.

Accor, (the company behind Novotel, Ibis, Mercure and many more) Hilton and Marriott surely have a standard menu and these cover more than 7600 hotels worldwide. This suggests that there is not a great variety of dishes (just around 40) while in a simple restaurant there are at least 120 choices according to Haig.

Standardised menus are often chosen by hotels as it is more economical. They can sign a contract with the suppliers for a year in advance and thus, they get discounts and also a standard price.

For some, these menus can be good, though. It can mean that if one goes to a hotel of the same chain he can be sure to get the same quality, taste and flavour.

Gordon Haig, head-chef of Novotel Edinburgh Centre's Elements Restaurant - picture by Viqe

Despite the downsides, hotel restaurants are suitable for groups as well unlike most ordinary restaurants as they can offer TDH (table d’hotel, French for hosts’ table) and buffet menus.

Also, if someone would like to try the specialities of a particular destination, these restaurants are flexible: they can create a special menu for certain groups if asked in advance.

Haig, however, says that it is always good to look for a small, local restaurant: “I like trying a restaurant where the locals would eat in, rather than a hotel restaurant.

“Unless the hotel has a really good restaurant, I would always go out.”

A True Story of Success – Csaba B(a)log(h)

Csaba Balogh - picture by Gabor Suhajda

Csaba Balogh has never looked back since launching his journalistic career on the world wide web. Now editor of several web journals and one of Hungary’s best known bloggers, he warns newspapers and magazines must embrace digital technology to survive.

In 2007, Balogh sent an email to the chief editor of a news website, Hir6.hu, saying that he would willingly write articles for them. To show he was serious he invited the editor of Hir6 to visit his blogs. Within weeks he was working for the website and in recognition of his technical skills, was made online director.

Balogh decided to be a journalist following a visit to the leading radio station in his hometown of Bekescsaba, Hungary. “It was totally a coincidence,” he said. The event had been organised by his mother because teenage Balogh seemed to like telephoning radio stations to request songs and she thought it would be interesting for him to see how things were in a bigger studio.

Once in the studio, the presenter of a youth magazine asked him if he wanted to go back on a Sunday to see how the programme was produced. When he went back, the presenter asked him just ten minutes before the end of the line-up to do a presentation.

“I wasn’t nervous at all as I didn’t have time to intercept what was going on,” he said. Later he was offered a job at the station.

In 2003, he joined the communications department at the University of Szeged. At the time he did not have a conception as everything interested him. “I would say that I either didn’t have an exact idea or I had/have a lot,” he said.

As blogging started becoming to be in the focus, Balogh started his own with some friends. Blogter.hu, the biggest Hungarian blog provider at the time, put his second writing on the front page as the leading article. He got encouraged by this and continued blogging and also success continued to accompany his efforts.

“One that cannot break through with the help of the internet does certainly not know his stuff,” he said. Balogh claims that the easiest way to success is through the internet as there is sudden feedback and viewers “might respond quicker then you leave the dashboard of your blog.”

The Hungarian talent also states that blogs are the future of journalism, rather than being a threat for the industry. “It is exactly the internet why journalism has a future. The same crew could publish with the help of a different medium.”

However, he admits that journalism as we knew it, is not that important nowadays as public communications, i.e.: news gathering sites and blogging, of course. He sees the importance of journalists in their relationships, acquaintances in the industry, politics and social life.

Balogh also has a slightly different view of the crisis of print journalism. According to him it is not only print, but online journalism as well, that is in a critical situation: “I think if someone thinks that it is only print journalism that’s in crisis as a medium, is wrong,” he said. The reason, he thinks, is that people prefer articles with a subjective and more frank style and those that have video and sound materials as well.

When asked about the credit crunch Balogh said: “Because of it a lot of media jobs have been cut but it also makes the companies to economize. However, it doesn’t matter if they do, I still welcome those who are good professionals because there aren’t too many.”

Balogh enjoys the freedom he has as a journalist with no specific working hours; he is an editor, writer, and content-developing advisor for Oroscafe.hu, and Mobilport.hu. Although he is looking forward to teaching at the university he studied at next year, he saya: ‘”Being a good journalist cannot be taught. Someone is either good or not.”