The end of an era

Whilst this has only been a short era, it's become apart of my weekly routine. I begin the week with the lecture, where I am taught knowledge from a man who has first hand experience and knowledge about what he is teaching. Not only this, but he is sincerely passionate about what he talks about, and when that 50 minutes is up, I don't jump out of my seat, relieved that it is over, like some of my other lectures... but instead I am left with a million thoughts and as I walk out of the building, I am generally thinking about what I was just taught because it was actually interesting and something that may involve my everyday life, that I may not have even considered before such as the news.

During the long drive home, I still often find myself pondering on either the content that was learned, or perhaps thinking and brainstorming about the different pieces of upcoming journalism assessment. That was one of the standout aspects of JOUR1111, the assignments were interesting, practical and hands on. It challenged us, and our creativity, and once I had finished it, I felt accomplished. The feeling of being a journalist was becoming more real.

Over the semester, I have learnt a colossal amount of lessons and tips about life. It has allowed me to question, and to be skeptical about the things I am told, not just accept them from whatever source delivers it to me. Not only do I question the source, but I now question the motive, the target audience, the position that source has taken, the lengths to which has been taken in order to get that information and the reliability of that source. It has broadened my knowledge about the world, because it challenges me to interact with different news sources, different types of media, and to switch the social commercial station, to the public media one. My entire idea of what journalism is, and the work involved has completely changed through partaking this course. Even if I don't go on to become a journalist, I will no longer just envision them as those pesky people who bug famous people with a pen and a note pad. But instead I will envision them as hardworking, sacrificing, patient, clever, sourceful and hopefully moral people. There is so much more that goes into delivering a news story, or a photo, or an entertainment piece then what people assume. The journalists have to go out and capture the moment, to interpret the moment, and to successfully convey that moment to it's audience. They are risking everything, risking ridicule, their career, their relationships and even their lives to deliver the stories to us.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the fortnightly tutorials where we further deconstruct and expand on the previous lectures. But most of all, I enjoy the news sharing time. This is a chance to find out the latest stories that I may not have heard about. My tutor, Ali, made tutorials extremely interesting with her bubbly and friendly personality.  But most of all, the essence that made her such an effective tutor, was her understanding of where we are at, as students, what we're going through and the way she talked to us as equals, as opposed to talking down to us. She was always very easy to approach, and she spoke clear and always backed up what she was saying with clips or visual aids for our better understand. She allowed us to have a voice, to give our own opinions, and often there would be an almost-debate as we discussed topics such as the photographer, Kevin Carter's famous photograph of the vulture, watches over the starving girl. This discussion in particular spiked many different opinions within our class as Ali asked us what we would have done in the situation. It was good that it was such an environment, where we can voice our thoughts, without fear of scrutiny or judgement. After just being shown the photograph, and a discussion, we were then exposed to the finer details behind the photograph, such as that the photographs were instructed not to touch anyone, or that they only had an extremely limited time to take snapshots and then leave. This changed some people's views however re-enforced others original view. It was a great tutorial, probably one of my favorites.

Something to ponder on after you've finished reading this.
If you were in Kevin Carter's, as a photographer, what would you do?

I have no idea what career I will gain, but this course certainly taught me a lot that will be handy not only if I pursue journalism, but lessons that I can take with me in other careers. For future students, I highly recommend this course. You get to express your inner thoughts and opinions, in a different way to other subjects. Whilst there are obvious limitations in what we post, we were in a sense free to become the journalists we wanted to be. We could post what inspired us, what interested us, and the stories we felt were news worthy, and we were marked on it. It was fantastic and a good way to explore our journalist side.


This has been fun. But as they say, all good things must end.

Goodbye, and thank you for your time.


I'll leave you with some of my favorite photos:

Real life Gossip Girl? Journalism in the wrong hands.

We often think of Journalism as a powerful thing. It gives a voice to the voiceless, it allows people to understand other people, events and the information they are given. Journalism allows people to voice their opinions which is made even easier on social networking sites. The additional benefit of social media is one's ability to voice their opinion with an added choice to be anonymous. This allows them to be whomever them want to be, free of judgement and ridicule and its give them a whole new level of freedom as they -in a sense- become irresponsible for the things they publish for the world to see. To be frank, Journalism is a wonderful thing, however when it's power is in the hands of someone with bad moral and intentions, it can be an extremely dangerous and devastating tool. That is when Journalism is a curse.

I have first-hand witnessed bad journalism at it's finest. At some point in your life, I'm sure you have cross paths with the popular teen drama TV series 'Gossip Girl'. A quick overview of the series "Narrated by the omniscient blogger "Gossip Girl",  the series revolves around the lives of privileged young adults on Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York City.  The series is largely based around a person who's viral blogging of the secrets and scandals of these people causes havoc, destroying people, relationships, job opportunities and entire lives.

Needless to say, this Gossip Girl claims to be helping the people, by providing information on the elite in order to keep their audience well informed of the events happening around them. This show seems to be having quite an impact on it's viewers, as just recently there has been a creation of a Sunshine Coast Gossip girl.

"Gossip Girl here, your one and only source on Sunshine Coast's elite. XOXO"

This site is purely dedicated to posting the secrets, events and 'scandals' occurring around the Sunshine Coast. The flaws of this type of journalism is already clear, however the fact that this Sunshine Coast Gossip Girl is posting whatever things people send into her is absurd. There is no checking of the reliability of the sources, or even cross checking that these 'facts' are true, but skips this process and publishes these hurtful things about people -that 90% prove to be untrue- with little consideration as to the fact that they are posting these lies to the big wide world. The implications of such are limitless. Not only are they tainting someone's life with rumors, creating a bad reputation for that person but furthermore is publishing some of people most deep down heartbreaking secrets for all to see, friends and enemies. What might seem as harmless fun, can haunt these people for a long time.

My point is that whilst Journalism is an incredible thing, and is essential for the world today, it can also be a dangerous thing when the power within is abused. Gossip Girl uses a popular form of social media, blogging, which we are all now familiar with, but uses it to destroy people rather than help them. So the moral of this story is to be careful how you use the power. Use it to help, rather than destroy. The power is yours.

What brand will you have? Final Lecture

It's sad to say that JOUR1111 Lectures have come to an end. From the first lecture until this one, I have have learnt an incredible load of information that will be useful in my future if I choose to go down the Journalism path, or whatever path I choose to go down. There were many valuable lessons about media which will forever change the relationship I have with it. No longer will I accept the news delivered to me, but instead I will be skeptical and research further to better understand the events around me.

In this last lesson, Bruce Redman summed up this semesters teachings and than introduced us to a man who has thrived in the industry.

This man is Steve Molks.

The interesting thing about this man's story is how he got to this point in life. He began doing chemistry and only later in life discovered his passion for Journalism, consequently resulting in him being in the four top entertainment journalists. 

Steve Molks was quite the character who never was at a loss for words. He made some extremely relevant and inspiring points as he spurted his knowledge upon us.

The stand out points that I gained from his words were the following:

- We each have a Brand, a style, a way in which we do things, how you control your brand, starts now. This brand will be carried with you throughout your career, this is what draws people into your work.

- What else can you add to the story- your opinion, your interpretation or perhaps a new light to the story that others may not have considered. Be bold and brave in all that you do.

- In Australia, we are lucky, because we can say what we want, how we want. We have a fair bit of freedom when it comes to our opinion

- We have access to all sorts of people, we have the ability to access and connect straight to the source via social media

- It's all about new media, creating more opportunities and making it easier to connect to the audience through the different types of media. 

- Lots of opportunities in journalism- but each takes the hard yards!

- People will be interested in what we write because of our unique opinion

-  Times are changing, the way that we understand how the information is presented to us,  whether its ratings, how things are communicated to us through news and news media, the way we interpret the information given to us, will impact the kind of writers we become, the kind of journalists we become

- There are lots of different directions we can go in journalism 

This was an extremely insightful lecture and was a helpful way to conclude the course! 

There is no place like home - Or is there?

Traveling- we all aim to do it at least sometime in our lives but where, who with, for how long and the motivation behind it will all vary on each individual. Australia is such a small part of this world, and only one, of the vast amount of cultures, available for us to experience. It is all about stepping out of one's comfort zone to explore and discover the unknown in the big wide world. I, personally, haven't done much traveling yet, the furthest I've gone would be Fiji, and it was absolutely amazing. However through traveling there I discovered something truly concerning...



More and more places are being overrun by tourism, that when people are visiting all these foreign places, they aren't in fact experiencing the uniqueness of that place, but are being met with a superficial and business-motivated atmosphere. Take Fiji for example, as I went there with my school, we went around visiting all of the traditional villages, where the locals would show us around to the most important places to them. We bathed in rivers, traveled on window-less buses, ate their style of food, slept in whatever they could offer us, we hiked 7 hours up to what is considered to be an extremely sacred Fijian place, we experienced their churches, we played games with the children in the street, we respected their beliefs, and wore skirts that fell past our knees, and proper modest T-shirts. We experienced the traditional Fijian lifestyle in all its glory. But then on the last couple of days, the teachers treated us to a boat ride to an Island which would be more touristic. I think it's safe to say we were very shocked. As we drove to this part of Fiji, where all the tourists came, it was a completely different world. People could wear what they wanted, they had all of the shops they were used to, even McDonalds, and there was not even a glimpse of the traditional side of Fiji. It had been lost to what the big businessman believe people want to experience when they go to Fiji. They clearly don't want the foreign, but instead create an atmosphere of familiarity. It felt very fake, and if we had spent the 2 weeks in this part of Fiji, my experience wouldn't have been anywhere near as memorable and special. The purpose of traveling to these places is lost, if we don't get out of our comfort zones to experience a different culture in its original atmosphere. We need to sleep in run down places, eat food that could possibly make us sick, go without the materialistic 'essentials' and to really experience what the culture has to offer - good and bad! It worries me that a place as culture-driven and traditional as Fiji has become to touristic, what all of the other amazing places will be like. I don't want to travel the world to be greeted with atmospheres that replicate my own, but I want to go out and see other peoples cultures, how the local people would experience it to be. 


So when you go traveling, don't just aim for the superficial experience, go out and experience all that culture has to offer. The good, the bad, and the unfamiliar. Those moments will be the ones you remember!

The $uperficial idealistic 'experience' VS The real experience   :

THE SUPERFICIAL AND MATERIALISTIC EXPERIENCE: 

 

 

THE REAL FIJIAN EXPERIENCE

Annotated Bibliography

 Below demonstrates a popular news story, the Italian custody battle for the four daughters, as reported via three different medians; Radio Podcast, Online Article and a Television News show.  Following this, is an article produced on reporting social drama and the limitations of such within Journalism and Communication.

Colvin, M. (Producer), & Guest, A. (Presenter).

(2012, May 16). Court rules four children should return to Italy

[Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/pm

This radio podcast reported by Annie Guest delivers a very emotive audio story of four Italian daughters whom were brought over to Australia by their mother, away from their Italian father whom, as stated multiple times within the podcast, was allegedly abusive. PM is a four-decade old institution, which is has been a credible part of public broadcasting for much of the producer, Mark Colvin’s life. Whilst the source may be credible, it engages it’s listeners though the constant use of loaded words such as ‘desperate attempt’, ‘abusive father’, ‘the mother bowed to fight on’ to encourage the audience to listen and think about the matter at hand. This proves to be the benefit of a radio podcast. The ability to include the person-in-question’s side of the story, to literally hear the voice of the person whom the story is about, to hear the pain, struggle and worry in the mother’s voice allows the audience to form an opinion about the case. It is clear with each version of the story being produced, that each median and station is desperately trying to find exclusivity to offer their audience to make it more appealing. However, this source is limited due to the fact that it solely relies on the mother’s side of the story, and fails to give viewpoint of the daughters or the father.  Despite the limitations, it does offer a range of details and is clear, well researched and corroborates a lot of the facts found within the other versions. This median is quick, cheap and allows a story to be immediately brought to it’s listeners and regularly updated as opposed to a newspaper to which has to be bought, read and then by that time, the story may already be out-of-date.

Fife-Yeomans, J. (2012, May 17). How an Italian fairytale became a tug-of-love nightmare. The Telegraph. Retrieved from  http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au

Janet Fife-Yeomans, the author of this article, brings with her much experience as a bestselling author and award-winning journalist who has worked in newspapers and television in Australia and England. She takes on a personal angle, one that the audience will be able to familiarize with, one of a real-life fairy-tale, but with a twist of mystery. The scope of this story proves to have a lot more depth than the other medians as it demonstrates that a lot more research has been used. It has everything needed for a newsworthy story, locality, mystery, violence, love gone wrong, possible abduction and is full of emotion. It is clear that this story is well researched as it goes into great detail about the father, including his mental history and reports from the daughter’s psychologist whom interviewed the girls and reported that the mother’s claim about the father being abusive, lacked physical or emotional evidence, thus add exclusivity as most other versions of the story position the audience to sympathise with the mother. This source has varied in that it offers an objective piece, it offers facts and a realistic account of the story, which makes it more reliable as it is not trying to argue a point. It includes quotes from relevant sources such as the judge, Justice Colin Forrest, which further confirms what is detailed in the story, and makes the story more credible. Compared to the other medians, online journalism has a lot more freedom, however it is clear when visiting the website that it is not just dedicated to delivering the news. Unlike the podcast, this is a platform for commercials and relies heavily on its audience for profit. The website has advertisements, classifieds, entertainment and other aspects to further draw in it’s audience. It is clear that this was an entertainment piece through the choice of fairy-tale theme to draw in consumers. 

Hansen, D. (Writer). (2012, May 16). Sisters in Battle. Today Tonight [Television Broadcast]. Sunshine Coast, Australia. Retrieved from http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/video/

The median of televising this story on the local news show Today Tonight proved to be very impersonal. Broadcasted on a free-to-air television channel, this commercially based platform is largely dictated by delivering what would draw in the audience. Whilst providing a brief overview of the four girl’s story, the highlight is that they are currently ‘fugitives’ being held hidden by their great grandmother, adding a sense of mystery and curiosity to the story. To make up for it’s lack of new details as provided by other sources of the story, the report’s exclusivity is based on the inclusion of a first-time-ever phone interview with the great grandmother whom was ‘the only one’ who knew the whereabouts of the girls.  It is blatant that the phone interview was full of prompted questions asked only because the answers were already clear. Thus the point of such was to corroborate what they were reporting, it wasn’t to hear the great grandmother’s story but rather to give the audience confirmation and to add credibility to the story. The major difference of this median and style of reporting the story was that it strongly encouraged and positioned the audience to think and form an opinion about the story. The reporter concludes by encouraging the audience to that take that opinion and to post it on their website, to create controversy and to create for the audience a feeling that they are apart of the case, and that their opinion matters, and furthering their exposure to advertisements. Television has many advantages to reporting a story, as it includes audio, images, video and has the ability to report the story as it is happening. It offers its audience    

Briziarelli, M., B. Klocke & M. McDevitt. (2012). Social drama in the academic-media nexus: Journalism's strategic response to deviant ideas. Journalism, 13 (3): 1-16.  DOI: 10.1177/1464884912443191

The three authors of this journal article, an associate Professor in Journalism and Mass Communication, a communication doctoral candidate in Journalism and Mass Communication and an Assistant Professor of Sociology, all bring years of experience and an extensive range of knowledge to the piece. This insightful source discusses the importance and elaborates on journalism when writing about social-drama. Through exemplifying through the case by Ward Churchill’s journalism piece on the dramatic event of 9/11, the authors demonstrated how dangerous and temperamental writing about such events could be. When one is searching for different angles on how to report the story, it is explicit that a journalist is often limited by the social norms, and once one breaches or offends this, as Churchill had done, a journalist may be reassessed as his loyalty and motives are questioned and his whole persona could be considered a danger to the minds of the audience. The article is formal, and draws upon many useful sources such as the anthropology by Victor Turner and a multiplicity of textbook and scholarly sources, thus adding much credibility and corroboration to this article.  

Investigation Journalism: Lecture 11!

When you read/hear/listen to the happenings and events of the world, does the thought occur to you about how this story is brought to you? When I say brought, I mean how did the journalist who authored the story get the facts, the inside scope, the pictures and the exclusivity of the story/event. Journalism isn't just  observing but it takes so much more then that, more of the person. It often involves one putting their entire life on the line for the stories. We underestimate what is involved in the journalism process, how much the journalist has to put in, in order to get the story for you to read each day.

The in's of journalism:

Investigate: This one is pretty self explanatory, the journalist in not simply just given all the facts, figures and details, but they have to go out and dig for them, to look deeper into the matter/or event at hand.

Intelligent: It requires a lot of intelligence, to not just see the service of the story, but to be able to discover the deeper levels of the story, to be able to connect the dots, to determine what people may be hiding, covering up or the things they do not want you to know, it requires intelligence to break through that shell of the story to gain the true story.

Informed: You need to know what you're talking about, you need to know the people involved, you need to know the facts, the situation and the people involved in the story. You need to be able to determine which people are pulling the strings. If you are not correctly informed then you can miss the fundamental aspects of the story.

Intuitive- you need to be able to rely on your intuition. Are the people you are talking to telling you the truth? Are they hiding something? Is there more to this story then what is being seen? However, it is not just in regards to getting the story. As previously mentioned, journalism can often wind up putting you in different, tempermental or dangerous situations and you need to have the intuition to know when to stay and when to leave. It is all about going with your gut, whilst it is important to get the exclusive details that could make your story stand out, it is more important to stay alive, to not get hurt and to literally be alive to report the story. Otherwise what was the point?

Inside- Sometimes you have to get inside to see what is going on, you need trust from the people involved in the story, you need to put yourself out there, and to get to know the people. Not only will you be better informed but you get a better account of the story from all perspectives, rather than just an outsider one.

Invest- If you are going into investigation journalism, you're going to have to invest your time, money, resources and often relationships as journalism can take a toll on most aspects of your life. There is a lot involved not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. It is important you understand what is required of you before it is too late to back out.

That are deeper meanings and purposes of investigation journalism:

1) Critical and thorough journalism: the journalist is an active participant with what's going on, they are not just observing from the side, but they are physically getting involved. They wholey commit to the story.

2) Custodians of conscience: determining right and wrong. Investigation takes societies' morals and norms and holds breaches up to public scrutiny in other words, what they call 'civic vice' is exposed for society to respond. Exposure is key, making people accountable for the things they do, and exposing them.

3) Providing a voice to those without one, and to hold the powerful to account: Social justice- power to the powerless, voice to the voiceless. With the key idea being 'Public Interest'.

4) Fourth Estate/Fourth Branch of Govt/Watchdog: important role of the media to keep the other 3 states accountable for what they do.

Expressions explained:

Fourth Estate: Journalists represents the interest of those without power to balance the power of government.

Fourth branch of government: Journalists ensure free flows of information necessary for the functioning of democracy by interrogating the judiciary executive and legislature.

Watchdog: journalists make accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life.


You may have heard the expressions:

'Shoe leather' journalism: in simple terms this means wearing out your shoes, putting in the hard yards and physically going out and finding the stories. Not sitting in an office, leeching off other sources to do the work.

'Standing back' journalism: to stand back in order to see the situation. Often when you are to close to a situation you often miss out on the bigger picture. This expression is thus a response to that in saying that sometimes whilst being involved is important, standing back and observing the situation can be just as vital.

'Taking nothing for granted'- this is an important expression and an integral part of journalism. People in a situation will give you plenty of information to work with, however this expression is elaborating that it is important not be be cynical and disregard the information, but to rather be skeptical and to question everything. To go that step further and to check out the source, to corroborate the information and to really question is reliability and credibility.

A great quote included in the lecture was:

"It is not enough or journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it. - John Pilger

This quote is an excellent contribution to the lecture to reiterate the overall messages about investigation journalism. It is not merely about just delivering an event, but rather it is about understand the event, the stories, the who, what, when, why and how. Even further, it is not simply just delivering these details, but connecting the dots in order to gain the deeper story, to break through the layers of a situation in order to find a deeper meaning behind what and why it happened. It is going beyond the surface, to discover motives, agendas, reasons, the myths involved and the overall message which equates from the situation.


Do the hard work, deep a little deeper, invest yourself into the story and being skeptical about everything, often things aren't as they always appear. It is our job as journalists to work out the hidden messages.

Agenda Setting: Lecture 10!

Have you ever looked through one of those telescopes? Where the only thing you can see is dictated by what the small circle of viewable space on the other side of the telescope. This is similar to agenda setting. Whilst you are still viewing the reality, it is only through the telescope that you see it. Media is much like the telescope. You still view reality, but as determined by what media allows us to see. It focuses only on particular things. Media is the same, it manipulates and determines the reality we see. 

We watch news to find out about whats happening in the world because we aren’t personally there to first-hand witness the events… so where do we get all our knowledge about the world? Through the media. This leaves a lot of power up to the media to determine what is important and how we view those events. Media interprets reality because it determines what stories and events are important enough for us to view, if the stories aren’t viewable, then we will not hear or think about them, and thus they are deemed unimportant. As corroborated by the quote:

“Agenda setting is the process of the mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the public come to perceive those issues as more important than others. Simply put, the more coverage an issue receives, the more important it is to us.”

 (Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, Weaver, 2008)

 The media largely influences our views, reactions and thoughts on events and issues. It may not tell us what to think about an issue, but rather it tells us the issues that need to be thought about. Whether it be the attitude we gain from the perspective given to us through the particular news story, or the images presented to us, or even the fact that it has made top news has lead us to believe that it is important and is worth our thoughts and opinions.  

If it is only every news channel, on the front page of the newspaper, if it is all over the radio, then it is made clear to us that that particular story is important, and needs to be thought about. Whereas if a story is on page 50 of the newspaper, along with a bunch of other news stories, it is clear that the agenda for this story is not as important as the one for the front page. We are told about the issues and events that are deemed important by the media. This is the agenda set by the media production of topics.

There are four types of agenda:

1)   Public Agenda- the set of topics that members of the public perceive as important.

2)   Policy Agenda- issues that decision makers think are salient

3)   Corporate Agenda- issues that big business and corporations consider important

4)   Media Agenda- issues discussed in the media

A perfect summing up quote:

“The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about”                    (Bernard Cohen,1963)

But it is not just how frequently a story, event or issue is on the news but agenda setting is a complex topic with 5 main effects on how we view reality:

The Agenda setting ‘Family

1)   Media gatekeeping: The exposure of an issue, what the media chooses to reveal to the public.

2)   Media advocacy: The purposive promotion of a message through the media.

3)   Agenda cutting: Most of the truth of reality that is going in the world isn’t represented.

4)   Agenda surfing: The media follows the crowd and trends, the media ‘surfs’ on the way of topics originally mentioned in the opinion-leading media.

5)   The diffusion of News: The process through which an important event is communicated to the public

6)   Portrayal of an Issue: The way an issue is portrayed will often influence how it is perceived by the public

7)   Media Dependence: The more dependent a person is on the media for information, the more susceptible that person is to media agenda setting.

A end thought: Next time you watch the news, listen to the radio or read the paper… look at the issues being brought to you. Is there a particular story brought to you through all of the types of media? Through the constant presence of this issue, does it make you form opinions, thoughts and attitudes to this issue, more than say a backseat issue that isn’t considered as ‘newsworthy’ as those front page stories?  Is it being portrayed a particular way? What could be the agenda behind the highlighted stories?