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updated as opposed to a newspaper to which has to be bought, read and then by that time, the story may already be out-of-date.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?

Man Drought?

There has been something playing on my mind since I heard it. I was driving home from work one day, listening to the local radio. Usually, I generally tune out the talk, as it's never very interesting, however this particular day, I heard the word "Man drought" which immediately caught my attention, being a single gal, this is not something I want to be true! As I listened in great anticipation, I discovered that people from the Catholic Church and others, are worried that women these days are being too picking, and should instead marry young before they lose the chance. Do we settle down on almost perfect, or wait for Mr Right?

VS

Here are some statistics:

"Out of 1.34 Million men in the surveyed age bracket (25-34) only 86,000 are single and well off. Statistically speaking, there are fewer available men who aren’t in a relationship, married, bat for the other team, a single parent or earning enough (more than $60,000)."
(http://www.powerfm.com.au/coast/index.php/shows/luke-lum/18627-man-drought-the-church-says-yes)


Now for all of you people in a relationship, you'll probably be laughing, because well lets face it, this isn't your biggest issue! But for us single people, this is a little scary. I know for a fact that I am extremely picky when choosing a guy, and I know my friends and many others are the same. But can you really blame us? As we grow up what are the stories we are constantly told? The typical princess is in distress, and her perfect prince comes and sweeps her off her feet and they live happily ever after. The prince.. was perfect, so why should our guy be any different? Most of all, none of those 'princesses' in all the fairytales had to search for their man, but rather the man would heroically find them. Whilst we grow up, and discard the teachings of a fairytale, how much do we really let go? Do we unconsciously wait for our 'Mr Right' to come along and sweep us off our feet also? Not only are we bombarded with fairytales teaching us of these perfect princes, but every second movie is based on a perfect guy finding the perfect girl as they fall deeply in love and live happily ever after. No one wants to think that they now must settle in order to even get a man at all.


"Concerns about a "man drought" in Australia are not new. BBC News reported in 2008 that there were 100,000 more females than males living in Australia, and the gender imbalance was especially bad in Australia's coastal cities. The imbalance was caused by thousands of Australian men in their 20s and 30s leaving the country to travel or to find work, according to the BBC. "
(http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/catholic-church-says-australia-suffering-man-drought-warns-dont-be-too-picky)


So are we being too picky? For me, I would probably have to agree, but I think expectations are important in order to distinguish between the studs and the duds. Actually I have been told a time or two before that I have extremely high expectations, but there is so much hype about finding your 'one true love' that people have to be picky or they will settle for the first man that says 'I love you'. You are constantly told, 'Oh you deserve better", "When it's right you will feel it", "Don't settle" etc etc, but how do we know what is right? What we deserve? What is the person for us? I mean it isn't a simple decision, but rather this decision will impact us for the rest of our lives. That constant human thought "What if there is something better" constantly plays at the back of our mind. But how dangerous is this thought? This leads to people cheating or dumping their significant others in search for something more. So how do we know which person to settle on, or which person to let go? It's a difficult thing, but it has grown even more difficult with this not-so-recent theory that there is a man-drought! Maybe we should stop expecting our 'perfect princes' and come to terms with the fact that we are no princesses, (Not in the way that the princesses are in fairytales) we are not perfect, and we should not expect as much from our guys. We all have our faults, and I think if we constantly search for a faultless guy then we certainly will miss out on some really good guys.

Here is something to ponder on: do you have a guy in your life, who has been amazing to you, but you've always thought, he can't be the right guy for me? Take a step back and think, if he treats you right, makes you laugh, makes you feel on top of the world, maybe he is your prince, maybe just not the prince you were expecting. Don't turn him down because of his faults, but instead appreciate the person he is.

Ladies don't like men comparing them to barbie, or to models, these false unattainable images of females. Yet, are we doing the exact same thing by comparing them to the 'perfect guys' in movies, fairytales and other  

LETS END THIS MAN-DROUGHT!

News Values: Lecture 9!

So we might hear about news values, but how many of us really understand what it is, and what implications do they have on what is brought to us through the news?

Out of all the events that occur around the world- and trust me there are billions of untold stories that never make the news- but who decides what is newsworthy? What factors influence this decision?

NEWS VALUES:


First and foremost, is it important to know: what are 'news values'?

"The degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story and the attention that is paid by an audience."

News values are all about 4 fundamental things, these are the important influences on what stories make it, and what stories don't:

1) Impact: what affect is it having on the audience? Good? Bad? The targeted type of affect?
2)Audience identificate: how well will the audience relate to it- this is important because people are often most attracted to the things that appeal to them, and what appeals more to someone then something they can relate to, something that has a connection to them in some way.
3) Pragmatics: Ethics, facticity, practice/practical and current affairs.
and lastly..
4) Source influence

A further definition by A. Boyd (1994) "News journalism has a broadly agreed set of values, often referred to as newsworthiness.."

Whilst the news values may vary, it is a universal concept.

Most people that undertake a journalism course hear the well known saying "If it bleeds, it leads." and whilst many of us might find this terrible, it couldn't be closer to the truth. Think about the last couple of newspaper front pages, or the headlines on the news today/tonight... what were they? Well, there is usually two dominant things. Local events, or tragedies. Which leads to the next phrase "If it's local it leads." These are the two major things that make something newsworthy, which comes under the first two of the above dot points, impact and audience identificate. We, as humans, are naturally attracted to certain things. The stories that intrigue us, or the stories that relate to us. The last news headline that I can recall, was about the local Brisbane lady who had disappeared. This story was a hit for tv news, radio news and of course newspapers, but why was it so newsworthy? It satisfied both phrases. It was a mystery, a normal lady, just like us, had disappeared. It immediately leads us to the worse scenarios... could it be murder? Suicide? Is she lost somewhere, hurt, scared? What if it had been someone we had known, what would we think? Not only this, but it was a local story. It relates to us because it is so close to home, it could have been any of us. I realise there was a follow up story but that is up to you to find out what happened, if you haven't already heard.

There are many sets of news values which determines the newsworthiness of a story, each varying on the type of news channel, whether it be local news, world news, entertainment news or social news. Each have a particular audience in which their news stories much reach out to and attract. There are stories everywhere, but it is finding the one that satisfies each of the set of values of news, that will make it to the top of 'must publish' list.

Next time you read a newspaper, or watch the news on television, or even listen to the radio...
listen and look at what is making the top stories, do they prove those two phrases to be true, are they stories about death, murder or tragedies, or perhaps local events? What things have been classified as the most newsworthy of all that is happening day-to-day?


Hmmm