Published four times a year, the LIP invites people like you to contribute the kind of work that you want to produce. In turn, we publish the kind of work that you want to see. In order for the LIP to develop, we need to hear from as many of you as possible – that’s why we’ve included a questionnaire in this issue. Completing it will only take a couple of minutes, and when you do, you stand the chance of winning a whole bunch of goodies.

We want to provide as much exposure for our network of freelance writers and contributors as possible. So if you know of likeminded people who you think would be interested in reading and contributing to the magazine, point them in our direction.

Where better to start this new phase of the LIP than with a look at the media itself. The recent BBC/Reuters We Media poll found that 61% of those questioned trusted the media more than their own government. And yet, as Alice Fordham observes, the UK is still typified by a lingering distrust for those who deliver us our daily news. More and more emphasis is being placed on the importance of citizen journalists and bloggers, such as Tim Worstall who explains the relevance of the perceived ‘revolution’ in journalism. The threat of democratising the press is perhaps not as new as some may think. Laura Keynes discusses how the life of a hack in the 18th century wasn’t much different from today.

In a world in which political opinion is increasingly shaped by media representation (see Tom Wipperman), the views of Dr Phil Edwards of the BNP make for fascinating, if nauseating reading. With press officers like Edwards, who needs enemies?

Our impressions of the wider world are frequently mediated by the glare of the cameraman’s lens. Alex Masi’s photos accompanied by text by Leo Warner illustrate that what the media don’t show is often as important as what they do. The phenomenon of ‘unrecognised villages’ in Israel demonstrates how mass media attention can actually distract from other injustices, which, for whatever reason, are not deemed as newsworthy.

The question of what to show and what not to show, especially in sensitive situations is a concern for both journalists and broadcasters alike. The balance between honest reporting and respect for those caught up in the horrors of war is a difficult one to strike, as The Times war correspondent, Anthony Loyd explains. Honesty and integrity are two of the main tenets of all good journalism, yet are often the most challenged. Al Jazeera’s Head of International and Media relations, Satnam Matharu tells the LIP how even media organisations like Al Jazeera are not immune to misrepresentation in the press.

Writer and media expert, Philip Meyer, has suggested that extrapolating from today’s declining print news readership, the last reader will pop his or her paper into the bin in 2040. The challenges against publications are tougher now than at any other time in history. With your help, the LIP will continue to take bold steps into what is already a vastly overpopulated, media-saturated world, confident that the value we place in our writers and the quality we present to our readers make the challenge one that is well worth tackling. You are welcome to join us.

One of the stranger side effects of Venezuela’s ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ has been the explosion in breast implants. They cost around one thousand dollars a pair, and business is booming. With the bulk of the government’s funding dedicated to first aid centres, run in the vast majority of cases by Cuban doctors in the country’s poorest slums, investment in hospital care has plummeted, resulting in a surge in demand for private healthcare. These clinics plough their windfall profits back into their plastic surgery business, keen to pander to the crudely seductive narcissism of the only country in the world that has produced a Miss World and a Miss Universe simultaneously. Twice.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

…What was most shocking was that all of the prejudices about the fashion world, all the clichés, were based on truths. It is truly amazing how such a mess of an organisation could put out such a glossy product. The employees were all plummy and a little dim; the majority were blonde – one particular department resembled a convention for rather well-dressed Aryians. Did they all have names like Henrietta and Pindy? Mostly. Were they all nasty? Not all were nasty, though most were rude. Some were gentle with the work experience girls, but access to such enlightened souls was limited. Unsurprisingly, those secure in their positions took the time to smile and engage in pleasantries. But the less powerful the position, the more unpleasant the woman holding it.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

Dr Phil Edwards meets me in the teashop by Grantham station, where he gestures towards a black girl sitting in the corner. ‘I thought you were her!’ he laughs. ‘I thought – bloody hell, what have I let myself in for!’ But as we make our way to the local Wetherspoon’s he assures me: ‘I wouldn’t have minded if it was you – I’ll talk to anyone. And besides a lot of them vote for us anyway. We’re very misunderstood, the BNP’.

On arrival at the pub, he ushers me to a quiet corner at the back. ‘I’ve done interviews in places like this before and they’ve tried to kick me out when they’ve overheard the conversation,’ he says. ‘Not that it’s any of their bloody business.’

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

So, this blog revolution then, empowering of the citizen journalist and speaking of truth to the powers of the dead tree press: how’s it going? Well, to be honest we had better start by abandoning those lazy clichés: blogs are a method of communication, pure and simple. That’s it, tout court. We can have fun discussing what that method is being used for, who is using it and why, but blathering about revolutions and empowerment isn’t going to get us anywhere…

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

Going by choice to someone else’s war is a way of escape. You find yourself very removed from whatever the roots of your life are. Heroin is another escape and the two fuelled each other. The war ended, I came home and was stuck with just heroin. I think it’s trite to say that war is an addiction but many of the same qualities become apparent in one’s life in war as with an addiction.

From drugs and war, you can often get the same adrenalised rush, there are the same essences of escape, the same unhealthy manifestations in character and behaviour in the two experiences. It’s a comparison which can become contrived, it’s just something that happened to be going on in my life at the time.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

The LIP: Why did you start ST?

I think that the literary culture in this country has always been very, very complacent and very dominated by certain values. It gives me great pleasure to shake it up. But also I think in the 80s there were certain voices, like gay and lesbian writers, or black writers, which clearly weren’t getting published. It’s less the case now. I don’t think that you can say that it’s a disadvantage any more in terms of getting published to be black – one could argue that it probably helps. But that certainly wasn’t the case twenty years ago.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

Two propositions are held as evidence that access to the media is increasing and that people are more empowered to articulate their views and opinions. The first is that the Internet offers a chance to partake in debate and the production of ideas. Despite taking into account the self-censorship that Google has undergone in China, and the efforts of the CIA, FBI and other law enforcement agencies to shut down militant Islamic websites, this statement is broadly true. People today can access millions of words of information in seconds, from the comfort of their living room. Intriguingly, it is said that a fourteenth century English peasant would have encountered less information in his or her lifetime than one issue of The Guardian today.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

…Something of an over-determined character, Giles Coren is a man with fingers in numerous pies, and is unashamed to admit that writing fiction (and perhaps watching cricket) are the only passions in his life – the rest, the journalism, the television presenting – they pay the bills. ‘That’s the only reason for doing TV. With the exception of that bird with the fat tits who got sacked from the Big Breakfast, one can just turn up and read the autocue. They couldn’t put words of more than two syllables on the autocue for her. Whereas I can read. So long as I keep my beard reasonably trimmed and do my hair nicely, I’m fine.’

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!

With ten years worth of releases in the record bag, Stones Throw has forged a reputation for itself as a label which is happy to take risks in order to put out records regardless of their commercial potential. ‘I don’t think I ever thought hard about the Stones Throw sound or anything like that’, Wolf comments, ‘I put out what I like.’

The result is a roster of artists which includes, to name a few, Oh No, MED, Gary Wilson, the late, great, beat tape genius J Dilla, and of course Madlib – in any number of his guises. Indeed, it’s Madlib’s helium-breathing alter ego Quasimoto’s first album, The Unseen that Peanut Butter Wolf rates as one of his favourites from the last decade. ‘I really like that record’, he reflects. ‘It was an exciting time for me. There was all this stuff that Madlib recorded in his bedroom and then we mixed it down in my bedroom and neither of us knew what we were doing from a technical standpoint. I think that the passion for the music is what made that sound different to an extent’, he adds.

You can read the full version of this article in The LIP Magazine Media Issue. Order Your Copy Online!