Source Evaluation

WWW.THEINDEPENDENT.CO.UK

How reliable is this source ?

Method of Research: Secondary

Type of Source: Popular Criticism

Title and Author of the Source : "'Clockwork Orange' gang found guilty of killing bar                                                                                manager"-Arifa Akbar (Reporter for The Independent)

Location of Source : www.theindependent.co.uk (issued-Thursday 15th December 2005)

Main Points Raised : 

• Title - "Clockwork Orange gang found guilty of killing bar manager", straight away linking in to what im am looking for
• Gang of youths taking part in a random violence spree much like that of the characters in the film
• "savagely beaten to death by Clockwork Orange style thugs"
• "The court heard how the girl, now 15, then kicked Mr Morleys head like a football as he lay on the ground" no sensitivity to violence inflicted on others
• The other members of the gang tried to pin everything onto the girl much like the scene in the film where Alex is arrested and tries to blame his "Brothers"
• "It was because of her they did because she wanted to film it on the video phone - people being beaten up."
• "The attacks were carried out so they could be filmed on mobile phones and later played for the attackers pleasure - without thought or regard for the injuries and consequences for their victims." again little or no sensitivity to violence, Culmination Theory?
• "The court heard their actions mirrored those of the teenagers in Anthony Burgess novel Clockwork Orange who also used code words to signal violence"

Strengths

The strengths of this source are that the article was written by a reporter who's main focus for the paper is "Arts", this includes Film and Books so it is more reliable than someone who knows nothing of the film or novel and is comparing the crime to that of either. This means she will have a more indepth knowledge of the story and crimes and therefor is more likely not to relate to the story if it was totally irrelevant. Also the information in the report is easily understandable to why they have linked this event to the film.

Weaknesses

The weaknesses of this report however is that the information in the report due to the event may have been exaggerated or tweaked to make the event look a lot worse than it first appeared for many reasons. Such as to exploit they ever concerning factor of teenage violence etc. Some of the opinions in the report may have been fueled by hate and disgust. 

Evaluation

However i think this is a reliable source as i know that at the time that there where a lot of incidents of happy slapping and there where many serious injuries. I think that as a lot of the opinions and reports in the article are from officials such as police and the court that the information is reliable. The fact that the reporter is heavily involved in film and books makes the source a stronger more reliable view.