Inside the New York Times!

The second last lecture for JOUR1111 was really interesting. We were asked to watch a really fascinating documentary called 'Page One' which shows what happens inside the New York Times. It was interesting mainly due to David Carr, a media desk reporter, whose vibrant character was brought out in the movie. The only thing that was missing in the documentary were women! Where are the women in New York Times? It would have been more interesting if they took bits of the women working in the office as well. Nonetheless, the documentary was interesting and inspiring.The documentary discusses about the sources and implications of an online pay-wall. It shows how meetings are held to decide which article goes on the front page of the newspaper. The relevance of Twitter to reporters is also emphasised in the documentary. The documentary also touches on many other issues concerning media companies like sending a journalist to Iraq. I was truly inspired by the documentary, it showed me how life as a journalist really is.

The trailer for the documentary is available on: http://www.magpictures.com/pageone/

Investigative Journalism

The great British newspaper publisher Lord Northcliffe once said: “News is what somebody, somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.” Investigations is the key of journalism. Investigative stories require a lot of time, effort and resources from journalists as well as media companies. Investigations can be done through interviews, observations and analysing documents. When a journalist tries to report on matters which an organisation or a person wants to keep a secret, it is investigative journalism. 

Dr. Redman spoke about the importance and purpose of investigative journalism during the lecture. Investigative journalism is critical and thorough journalism whereby active intervention is the key idea. Journalists have an active role to play. Investigative journalism is also the custodians of conscience where exposure is the key idea. Through investigations, journalists can reveal previously hidden information to audience members. Investigative journalism serves public interest by providing a voice for those without one. We can hear the plight of the suppressed and exploited souls around the world through journalists. Investigative journalism also serves as a fourth branch of government and its particularly important in Queensland because there is an absence of an upper house (a house of review). Therefore, anything decided in the lower house will go through and no one's there to overlook it. Therefore it is important for journalists to represent the interests of those without power to balance the power of government. 

The major threat posed to investigative journalism is the growing popularity of online news. With online news, media companies have less money to spend hence they hire lesser journalists which means there is lesser time for investigations to take place. However, investigative journalism is essential as it helps to uncover important stories that people try to hide. The future of investigative journalism looks bright with YouTube contemplating about launching a service dedicated to investigative journalism. To find out more about the service that YouTube is thinking of launching, please visit the following website. http://theconversation.edu.au/can-youtube-save-investigative-journalism-3411

News Values

The news worthiness of a story can actually be determined by news values. There are many news values that have been identified. Unexpectedness, negativity(bad news), reference to elite nations or persons are some of the news values.

On their wedding day, Prince William and Kate Middleton made the front page of many newspapers worldwide. Many people were eager to see the dress Kate Middleton wore and how the wedding took place. The news value that this article has is 'elite persons and nations'. If it was a wedding of a prince in any other country, it would not have received as much publicity as this wedding had received.

This article is about a 13 year old boy, Alfie Patten who is already a father. It made the front page because it has a news value, 'unexpectedness'. It is something out of the ordinary.

"If it bleeds, it leads. If it's local it leads." Daniel Morocombe's disappearance was big news in Queensland because it happened here. After 7 years and 9 months when his bones were found in August this year, it was also major news. The articles about Daniel Morocombe have news values such as, negativity, follow-up and meaningfulness incorporated in it.

Without relevant news values and worthiness, articles would not be of great interest to the readers. Therefore, it is important for writers to examine the newsworthiness of a story before publishing it. 

Agenda Setting

The hypodermic needle model

The hypodermic needle model shows the mass media 'injecting' direct influence into the audience.  I do agree that the media has a huge impact on public opinion. An example is what happened following the 9/11 attacks. The media gave a huge coverage of the event and portrayed Osama as being guilty for the attacks as they were told by the authorities. Many people were furious and supported the war on terrorism. The same happened with the war on Iraq. Imagine if the media had received inaccurate information, the public would have supported the wrong cause. 

The flawless faces we see on television, celebrities with perfect figures and shows that encourage plastic surgery influence us in a lot of ways. Many people are influenced to buy the products that their favourite celebrities advertise for, in the hopes that they'd get to look 'perfect' like the celebrities. The ideal images of successful people portrayed on TV are usually slim. Over the last few years, this has caused more and more teenagers to become anorexic.

There are two assumptions when it comes to media agenda setting. First is that mass media does not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it. The second assumption is that media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. 

Media can be gatekeepers. It can help in the promotion of a message (media advocacy). Media can also choose to not represent most of the truth or reality going on in the world (agenda cutting). The media follows the crowd and trends ('bandwagon' effect). For example, following the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, almost all the television channels, newspapers and magazines were talking about the wedding. The diffusion of news or the process through which an important event is communicated to the public is also an important part of the agenda setting in the media. An example is when Osama's death was announced by President Obama, it was done on a Sunday night. Sunday is usually considered as a slow news day so it was smart that the announcement was made on a Sunday so the news could get published in the papers the very next day. 


To conclude, I believe that the media influences us in many ways. There are positive messages conveyed by the media as well. For example, the messages on conservation of the environment and adoption of pets. We should definitely be aware of the negative effects of the media. We should learn to form our own opinions and not let the media create our opinions for us. 

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. 

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. 

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

My reflection of the 4th lecture

The radio has always been a part of my life. I listen to it when I'm in the car, when I'm doing my assignments, when I'm in need of company. I love to listen to the radio and naturally I was excited about the fourth lecture. It was an interview with ABC's local radio presenters, Richard Fidler and Steve Austin.

They highlighted that the radio and TV are really different mediums and that the radio is more intimate than the television. 'The radio is the theatre of the mind'.  In TV, there are visuals that can distract the audience but when it comes to radio, there is no distraction hence the audience will know if you sound fake. Steve Austin also stressed that enunciation is really important when it comes to the radio.

I learnt a whole lot of tips from their interview. Richard Fidler said that the better guests who he interviews in his show are those that people have never heard of and those he researches and finds out about. He also said he must have a genuine interest in the person he interviews so that he would be able to have a successful interview with the guest. 

From their interview, I also learnt that pre-production and good producers are really important for a programme's success. They do a lot of preparation before the interview including making the guests prepared, making them feel safe and to ensure them that the programme is trust-worthy. Richard Fidler also said that he wasn't a fan of the prosecutorial style but he said it was okay to tease guests a little and to make the programme fun by using humour. I have heard so many radio programmes in which the radio presenters are so hilarious and I always try not to miss their programmes. So I agree with him that humour helps keep the audience tuning in to a programme without fail. 


From their interviews I also learnt that it is really important to give guests their space, to let them pause and reflect, to listen more and talk less, since listening equates to respect and people respond a lot to courtesy. For up close and personal interviews, Steve Austin had a really good policy that he keeps to, "Don't do anything in radio that you wouldn't do in life." He said that you can judge if the person is comfortable talking to you by seeing their body language (if they are smiling, leaning forward, or if their voice sounds relaxed). 

They both gave really good advice for journalism students, like me. "Keep reading, be open minded, expose yourself to different kinds of thoughts and ideas, keep asking questions, expand your world view, and DON'T GIVE UP IF YOU ARE NOT NATURALLY TALENTED!" Oh I really loved the last advice! Thanks to them, I now know how to prepare myself if I want to become a radio presenter.

Guess who came to give us a lecture?! Rod Chester, a journalist at courier mail!!

NEWSPAPER SALES ARE DECREASING!!! That was one of the first things we learnt in Mr. Rod Chester's lecture. But then he made us all happy again by explaining that social media, such as twitter, is now being used to provide news as well, and newspapers are still being purchased especially in times of crisis, when people want more information. I really feel that social media is a great tool to provide fast information for people around the world, I rely on social media a lot! I found out about the earthquakes in Japan which happened in March, through twitter!

We also learnt about the inverted pyramid in his lecture. I think the inverted pyramid method of writing is very useful, as it ensures that the main message that a journalist is trying to convey is already out in the very beginning and that all the important points are being covered before they actually start on the background of a story. Hence, a reader can stop reading at any point they want and they would still have knowledge about all the important parts of the story.

The inverted pyramid

Mr. Chester also told us that it is never wise to start an article with, 'It's official'. He gave us many different examples of how we could start an article. I found all of his examples very creative. The one that really caught my attention was the 'sneaky bastard' approach. Maybe because it had the word 'bastard' in it!

His lecture was very informative and I definitely learnt a great deal!

My reflection of the first lecture!

This post will be dedicated to my reflection of the very first lecture I had in this course, Introduction to Journalism and Communication.

Before I entered this lecture, I was still wondering why exactly did I choose to study journalism? It is really a competitive industry to get into, and not everyone who studies journalism can become a journalist. And then, there was a quote which really grabbed my attention, it was placed on the very first slide! "I know of no human being who has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter." Then it suddenly hit me, all my life I have seen news reporters reporting the news, from all over the world and writing factual stories in the newspapers. Most articles never fail to grab my attention, because of the way they had been written, entertaining yet informative. There was another quote which reflects why I want to become a journalist, "I became a journalist to come as close as possible to the heart of the world." Journalists are mostly one of the first people to have in depth knowledge of what is happening around the world, they usually are the ones who have to investigate and produce the information.