Public Media

I came across this image while visiting http://bigjournalism.com/dloesch/2011/08/08/what-media-bias-a-compilation-of-media-hatred/ 

I found the article, following this picture, on the website really interesting and somewhat relevant to the lecture about public media. The picture shows journalists protecting President Obama. Are journalists allowed to express their own opinion, especially in the public media to which the government helps to allocate funds? Dr.Redman mentioned in the lecture that one of the challenges that public media faces and needs to work on is, it's independence.  He stated that public media companies in Australia, such as ABC and SBS are not owned by the government. They are held in common by the people but there is obviously a tension between being a watchdog of the government while being allocated funds by the government. Public media is starting to get more and more independent though. For example, there is a website called 'The Drum' run by the ABC which allows journalists to state their own opinions about issues daily.

The purpose of public media is to serve the public and, unlike commercial media, not to turn a profit. However he highlighted that there is commercial dimension within public media. The examples are as follows. BBC worldwide makes a lot of money, SBS has the world game shop and also makes money out of translation services, ABC commercial makes money by running ABC shops. 

Public media also promotes nation building, enables the public to learn about their national heritage, have a national identity and enables people to have national conversations. In Australia, 41% of Australians get their news through public media. This in itself shows the importance of news in public media.  The News "style" of public media is mostly serious, and focuses on importance over interest. It is considered, not quick or unchecked. Dr.Redman pointed out that this is the reason why ABC usually puts up news last. They always confirm the news is true before posting information up. Hence, I believe that public media might be a little more reliable than commercial media due to the fact that it does not rely on profits. The public media does not necessarily need to rush and publish a new story to compete with other companies, giving it time to check if the story and the details in the story is true before publishing it. 

'R U OK?' -Gavin Larkin

Gavin Larkin

Just 7 days ago, many of my friends were asking me if I was Ok. I then realised it was actually 'R U OK?' day. I find the concept behind this campaign really interesting, because in Singapore we do not have such a day. The purpose of  'R U OK?' day is for people to reach out and make contact with others so as to reduce the suicide rate. I went back to read up about the day and realised it was founded by Garvin Larkin. He founded the day in 2009, after his own father committed suicide. I found the story behind how he came up with 'R U OK?' day really inspiring.


Today while I was checking out news on ABC's website, I was really shocked to discover that Garvin Larkin had passed away. He has passed away due to cancer.  I am sure his legacy will live on and 'R U OK?' day will continue to serve its purpose. Thanks to his unique initiative, many lives have been saved and will continue to be saved. I believe that he will continue being an inspiration to others.


'To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die.'~Thomas Campbell, "Hallowed Ground"

Commercial Media

Commercial Media contributes a lot to the global economy. In lecture 7, Dr. Redman spoke about commercial media. Commercial media is profit-driven and not government funded like the public media is. Commercial media also relies on advertising revenue to make money.


We learnt that there are 3 forms of commercial media. First, ones which you need to subscribe to. An example is foxtel. Second, the ones that are sponsored. And third, the ones that are subsidised by the government or by organisations.


There has been new social controls on commercial media. Journalists must be licensed in some parts of the world, such as in Indonesia. The state presses subsidies, an example is Sweden where the newspapers are subsidised. Government agency-regulating content is another form of social control. An example is in China, Facebook is not allowed.


I do believe that commercial media is controlled and a lot of propaganda is involved, for a long time now. This is especially true in the commercial media in US and some other countries. The video below shows how commercial media might not be too reliable and how they influence us in the way we think.

In Singapore, the newspapers and main media channels are also controlled by the government. Singapore journalists have also commented that they have to be meticulous in their coverage of local news. This is because,Singapore's leaders will be likely to come down hard on anyone who reports negative stories about the government or its leadership. This shows that the government controls the content delivered by the commercial media in countries like America as well as Singapore, to a certain extent. Therefore, I feel that content delivered by the commercial media is not 100percent reliable.

Web 3.0-Semantic Web (Reflection of lecture 6)

Lecture 6 was all about Web 3.0, also known as the Semantic web. The main feature of Web 3.0 is META tags which allows multi-layered questions. Web 3.0 would allow specific content delivery, so you can only get stuff you want. For example if you are into fashion and sports, you can get news only related to fashion and sports delivered to you. 

THE JELLYBEAN EXPERIMENT

Dr. Redman handed out bags of jellybeans, we each got a bag. He asked us to have a few of the jellybellys and then he asked us to stop eating and said we have to pay if we want the rest of the packet. I felt disappointed. But thank god, he was kind enough to let us have the bag of jellybeans for ourselves. Entitlement is the death of journalism.  Web news has always been cheap and available, but now it is time to pay! WHY? because if we don't there won't be anymore news and anymore jobs for journalists.
He explained that classifieds are the river of gold for newspapers. But now, ebay is killing classifieds! Therefore we need a subscription model now. 

A few online 'newspapers' such as times has already gone behind a pay wall. Members who subscribe to the online 'newspapers' will be entitled to membership privileges such as discounts for things.

Examples of online 'newspapers' that have gone behind the pay wall:
http://www.straitstimes.com
http://www.timesplus.co.uk

Ethics (Reflection of lecture 5)

The news of the world scandal, in which a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, hacked into cell phones of thousands of people, has caused quite a stir. It is a no brainer to say what the paper did was wrong, irresponsible and unethical. Recently, channel 9 news faked live crosses to the Daniel Morcombe search scene, leading people to believe that they were really near the search site and giving accurate information. This is unethical as well. Therefore the fifth lecture was really useful, as we learnt about ethics. What is ethical and what is not?

Dr John Harrison came to give us an overview of ethics. I finally feel like I can differentiate between unethical, ethical, good and bad advertisements, thanks to his lecture! He explained to us that just because something is tacky doesn't mean its wrong. There is a difference between bad taste and poor ethics. Something can have bad taste but can have high ethics, or can have good taste but is highly unethical. 

I feel that this advertisement is ethical, because it is promoting the adoption of animals and it has a pretty good taste as well (maybe a little too sexy?).

Dr. Harrison also spoke about the 3 frameworks that describe ethics. They are deontology, consequentialism as well as virtue ethics. Deontology is based on rules, principles and duties. (Example: what are the ethical duties of a journalist? duty to inform the public the truth, to be unbiased, don't hack the phones, gather your information with integrity.) The code of ethics are deotological, so he advised us to follow the cod, so we can't be wrong. Consequentialism is about getting the right outcome. (Example: You can inoculate the whole village against Malaria, even if some people are allergic to malaria, since it would be good for most people). Virtue ethics is about who you are as a person. Goodness/happiness comes from good habits and character. I think the best journalists are those with good habits and character. 

Dr. Harrison's lecture was highly informative and useful. I think ethics is a really important and all journalists should be familiar with the code of ethics. Invading other people's privacy through hacking of phones, falsifying and giving inaccurate information to the public is unacceptable and irresponsible. 

Photoshop solves all problems?

Speaking about photos and photo editing softwares, guess what I came across recently!? It's a cartoon that shows how photoshop solves all problems! 

Photosphotosphotos! (Reflection of lecture 3)

Sorrow at parting-U.S. Army Sgt. Brian Keith sits with his wife, Sara, and their son, Stephen, 6 months, before he is deployed to Afghanistan with other troops from Fort Drum, N.Y., on March 29 2010. 

Flies surround a sick girl who is a flood victim, at the relief camp set-up in Sukkur in Pakistan's Sindh province on Aug. 31 2010. The United Nations issued warnings of waterborne diseases, including typhoid fever, shigellosis and hepatitis A and E and vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever.

'A picture speaks a thousand words'. Photography plays an important role in helping to engage and further inform a reader about the story they are reading. From the third lecture, we learnt that good framing, focus, angle, point of view, exposure, shutter speed and capturing ‘the moment’ are what makes a great photo. The same applies to a great moving picture. I believe that the photos above are well-taken. They grabbed my attention, right away! The photographers managed to capture ‘the moment’ in both the photos.

There have been many developments in photojournalism. We learnt that digital manipulation is one of them. Photo editing programs such as Photoshop aid in the digital manipulation. While it may be okay to digitally enhance photos to make them look better, I believe that it is wrong to falsify images. For example, a photographer may digitally add a dramatic sunset to a beach scene, in order to produce a fascinating final image. Hence, leading people to believe that they are looking at a scene that really occurred.

Digital capture and upload is another interesting development in photojournalism. I own an iPhone, and I always snap photos, which I find interesting using my phone, and upload them at the very moment, onto the Internet. It is really convenient now that a whole lot of people own smart phones! Photos of events happening around the world can be captured and uploaded at the very instant onto the Internet. Digital publishing enables us to have access to media, through our laptops, iPads, iPhones, anytime, anywhere!

In my opinion, an article without a picture is not as exciting as one with an attention-grabbing one. Photos help articles come alive and engage readers to the story. Hence, they are very important. I would like to leave you guys with a quote which describes photography, for communications, brilliantly.

" Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution."- Ansel Adams

BoomBoomBoom, even brighter than the MoonMoonMoon!!

Brisbane Riverfire 2011 was impressive! It was my first time watching it and I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved how there were really awesome songs playing in the background as the fireworks lit up the sky. 

WHAAAAT? The tequila has been replaced by horse semen?!

Do you want to feel like a Stallion? Do you want to boost your athletic performance? Horse Semen might just be the thing you need to consume! I came across an article that claims that horse semen might very well be the next red bull. Shot glasses filled with horse semen are sold to festival goers at a festival called Hokitika Wildfoods in New Zealand. Anyone up for a glass of horse semen?