Cows say moo, Journalists say Tweet!

(Week Twelve “New Media”)

This week, the final week of our journalism lectures, was the one and only lecture I have been unable to attend. Being in Australia for the first time for my cousin’s birthday, I prioritised build-a-bear and cake and don’t regret it as the lecture, when I listened to it on lectopia meant more to me than it would have had I attended the lecture myself.

This is because the lecture focused on the importance of new media in the availability of news and the easy access of information via the internet and I was accessing the lecture only days later and I was already able to see it online, both the lecture slides and the audio. The guest lecturer, a blogger, emphasised the importance of tweeting and new media, the type of media we, even as students, can access just like professionals. We are so privileged, in this generation of journalism to be able to present our journalism in the same medium as professionals and have a large audience assess our work. The opportunities blogging presents me with, the opportunities I have not yet taken, shame me on a good day.

This lecture has been an eye opener, and I am more motivated to work on my personal blog which I have been running since I lived in Hawai’i but have been neglecting in favour of my studies. This lecture on new media has reminded me that taking the time and working on my blog will actually help me in my studies as I will be building up my portfolio and trafficking a bigger audience.

PI or Journalism

(Week Eleven “Investigative Journalism”)
                PI: the word often comes to mind accompanied by the Pink Panther theme song, some sneaky movements and definitely some beady eyes. To investigate a story, one has got to become a detective based on the five “in’s” of investigation (much like the five w’s of lead writing). These are:

Intelligent: Research

Informed: Be Knowledgeable

Intuitive: Know what to do

Inside: Get involved, be trusted, be intimate

Invest: Take Risks

Instead of thinking, “That sounds like hard work,” I was confused. Should not all journalism then be investigative journalism? What sets it apart? According to the words of Ross Coulhart, there is not apparent distinction. He claims that “All good journalism should be investigative journalism,” and I must agree. With any story, although the need for in-depth research may be unnecessary, the five in’s must be observed to make sure that the story is being represented accurately. To leave any of these in’s out would be discrediting not only to the story but to the journalist telling the story too. The idea of Investigative journalism offers a critique on modern day media and commercial journalism as when I compare the articles on the depth and the interesting angles presented in investigative journalism like the Global Mail and compare that to the Age or another commercial media,  I am astounded at the remarkable difference where there really should be none.

Because They Can

(Week Ten "Agenda Setting")

As our lecturer quite aptly put, the media sets agendas "because they can" (Redman, 2012). Considering that the media influence not only what the audience is thinking about, on the first level of influence, but also how they should be thinking about it too, on a second level.
Concerning the media setting family, it is actually frightening the amount of control the media has over the minds of the audience. With media gate keeping, the choices of what the media chooses to expose, and with media cutting, the choices of what is not represented in the media, the media has the power to purposefully promote a message, otherwise known as media advocacy.
Which is basically another word for propaganda.
I'm noticing now that an awful lot of how the media is portrayed contributes to propaganda in some way or another. Not everything can be revealed in the media and not every thing hidden, so under what criteria is there a selection on what the audience need to know and what they don't as the power to make these decisions is the power to control the decisions consequently made by the audience.
As a journalist, or anybody responsible for media and communication, the necessity to remain neutral and not become propaganda is a responsibility that must be upheld for the liberal values in democracy to be expressed.
I still cannot see myself being able to make these decisions but for better or for worse, I will have to and hopefully I will make the right choice.
At least, most of the time.

Annotated Bibliography

Journal Article:

Johansson, S. (2008). Gossip, sport and pretty girls. Journalism Practise, 2(3), 402-413. doi: 10.1080/17512780802281131

This document is a journal article which challenges the traditional perspective that tabloids and the simplification of media trivialise journalism by analysing the readership of trivial media and its political and cultural values through interviews with fifty five regular readers of two British tabloids, both female and male. This journal argues that tabloids provide an interlude from day to day struggles by providing entertainment and also serve as an attack on power elites whilst also bringing together the community through the building of common interests. The values of journalism that this journal presents tabloids to employ are the values of human interest and of celebrity, sport and power elite – which are seen as trivial but are ingrained into the public agenda and therefore in demand especially for commercial media as the larger viewership they get, the better business they become. The value of this journal is that it considers a new angle to the tabloidization of media and calls on legitimate sources such as the readers of the media to draw conclusions. However, as it only considers tabloids from the angle that it furthers public interest; the impression upon the reader is bias.

Podcast:

Scarlett Johansson Nude Photos Leaked. (2011, September 15).Podcast404. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqXRj_upLvM

This document is an audio podcast by a citizen journalist through youtube on the Scarlet Johansson nude photograph leak scandal. Although seemingly unprofessional, the story highlights the celebrity angle of the scandal, referring to other cases where a similar incident has occurred. The reporter also gives context to Scarlet Johansson as an actress and a partial description of the photographs in question. However, the crude content and the some of the vulgar language used when describing the photographs in the report undermine the journalistic ethics in this story. As the reporter does not provide a name or references, the content and research of the information is questionable and cannot be relied upon. The news values upheld in this story are celebrity and bad news, spun from the angle that being a celebrity means that such bad incidents happen. The reporter interestingly invites audience participation at the end of the podcast asking for their opinion on the matter, thereby increasing the interest for the listeners through interactivity. Overall, although the podcast was not very credible and the source could not be relied on, the information was clear and relevant to the listeners.

Television:

Holt, D. (Performer) (2011). Tmz : Scarlett johansson private photos leaked [Television series episode]. In Holt, D. (Executive Producer), TMZ. Rhode Island: FOX Providence. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUcqdtz4slY

This document is part of a clip of video from Fox Providence, reported by Dax Holt who is also the producer, which covers scandal of Scarlett Johansson’s nude photograph leakage from the angle of the involvement of the lawyers and the containment of the issue at the time of the incident in 2011. The reporter places emphasis on the gravity of the scandal, mentioning the unusually strong reaction of websites that usually ignore lawyers and referring to this incident as one part in a larger social problem for celebrities, listing various incidents where celebrities have been hacked and had their content leaked onto the internet. Although the content of the story is scandalous, the focus of this report was not the nude photos but on the lawyers and their involvement in keeping the damage minimal. The journalistic ethics of this story are in good taste, although by the focus being on less scandalous topics, the story is sacrificing some viewership. However, the news value of celebrity and powerful people, combined with the credibility of a known television company, namely FOX, make this story a source of public interest and the presentation of this issue as one of many similar cases of celebrity hacking magnifies the problem and therefore the story so there is still potential for large audience interest.

  

Online Article:

Smart, G. (2012, May 20). Scarlett Johansson’s naked pics jitters. The Sun. Retrieved from http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/4327429/Avengers-Assemble-star-Scarlett-Johansson-still-fears-that-people-have-seen-her-naked.html

This document is an online text article from the British tabloid newspaper ‘The Sun’. It is a brief superficial article containing one quote from the Scarlett Johansson about her on going distress over her nude photographs being leaked to the media by a hacker on her phone and the scandal that ensued from the year before, 2011. The angle this story appears to sympathise with Scarlett Johansson’s plight whilst being a follow up story of the scandal from a year earlier and serving as a reminder to the readers of the scandal which is in contradiction to the values presented in the article and leads the reader to re-examine the journalistic agenda of the article. There is only one apparent source for this story, which is the single quote from Scarlett Johansson. The lack of depth suggests that the article may be an example of churnalism where the press release has been used with no backup to create an article to stir public interest. The focus on celebrities, the new and upcoming movie, and scandalous content, featuring a description of the nude photos, stir interest in a larger group of readers through the values of tabloidization. This brings into consideration the journalistic ethics of this article, which are questionable as it can be seen that this articles churns and old story, exploiting the celebrity and a past scandal for the sake of traffic and commercial gain.  

Intercollege Rugby Finals Leo's and Kings

My first on the location reporting for JOUR1112.
Please enjoy and give me feedback!

The Journalistic War

(Week Nine "News Values")
There is a war in journalism, a war between values and reality.
News values are what sit upon the top of the inverted pyramid. It is what makes a piece of news worthy of being a piece of news. In 2002 Judy McGregor composed a criteria for news values: visualness, conflict, emotion and celebration of the journalist.
This criteria is a very realistic approach to news values, however I do not agree that the celebration of the journalist adds value to the news story at all. In fact, it might even take about from the worthiness of the news if the journalists are actively trying to celebrate themselves. The selfless desire to let the world know the news around the world is a true mark of a journalist, the idealist in me believes. However, I face the reality that the values that journalism upholds and the values that are evident are not always in tune with each other.
As I become a journalist, I want to make sure that I at least uphold the values that I believe make a worthy story and inspire others with my attitude.
Hopefully, I can live up to my own ideals.

Keep your pants on Australia!

(Week Eight "Ethics")
In the past year, I've had the opportunity to reside in three different cities, in three different countries, in three very different continents: Tokyo, Hawai'i and Brisbane.
Living on campus at a college, I hadn't much exposure to the Australian advertising industry - it is like living in a bubble- and was more than mildly confronted when in our lecture we were shown many examples of what I would consider inappropriate advertising.
I noticed this myself on the 428 bus ride towards Indooroopilly from Chancellors place when I saw a billboard advertising a podiatrist - it may have been Dr. Foot - depicting the bottom half of a feminine looking figure lying sideways so that the nude portrait was visible without showing any genitals, however evidently naked.
This was within the first few weeks of moving here and I was horrified. Never had an advertisement I had laid eyes upon in America or Japan or Brunei been so crude.
In our lecture about ethics, we considered levels of appropriateness and tastefulness in advertising. It was interesting to note from the discussion that what I had believed unbelievably in bad taste and confronting, others thought tasteful and appropriate. The ethics of advertising that I had grown up with in other, more conservative countries had sculpted my view of the ethics in media is such a way that I felt that the advertising in Australia was unethical whereas somebody who had grown up in Australia would surely feel differently.
This gap in cultural and social ethics which does not translate between countries show just how malleable ethics is and how culturally defined it is. This topic leads us down the road of some very philosophical questions such as "What are ethics?" or "Do ethics or standards of ethics exist when they are no ground rules of ethics?".
As I am interested in international relations and working whilst traveling in the future, these are important considerations - questions I need to be asking myself and formulating a personal response to. Obviously I could not apply the ethics of Australian advertising - using the foot billboard advertisement as an example - in a conservative culture such as Japan because it would be confronting and in bad taste, or in an Islamic country like Brunei where it would be offensive to their religion and values. Judging the ethics of a country and evaluating the appropriateness of media that can be used in those cultures is a skill set that I will need to develop in any field of work I intend to pursue as these problems of ethics are transferable between problems from big such as between countries and small, between communities of people.