Blogging has been a new experience for me. While I feel as if I have grown far more comfortable with expressing what is immediately on my mind rather than what I think is likely to appeal to the interests of a broader group of people.
Alas the semester has come to a close, and while the completion of this blog will mean the conclusion of JOUR1111, I will not be so lucky with other subjects and as such must forego my blogging for hours of study and procrastination.
I shall endeavour to continue my blog even without the motivation of assessment deadlines, it is a wonderful way to clear the mind after all.
For now however, exams are calling and I must say goodbye to this blog and to JOUR1111, I thoroughly enjoyable subject and one that has given me a great deal.
Goodbye for now and wish me luck for the coming exams.
---------------------------------
Thursday 8 November 2012
Missed celebrations
Halloween was great this year, so I'm told. Yet another cultural event that I was completely oblivious to. Such is the nature of living at college.
I've spent my year so overwhelmed with college oriented social events that I feel as if I have been encapsulated in a social bubble of almost haughty exclusion. Real world events come and go without the slightest notice. I was out at a bar with my brother when I asked him " Jake, why the hell is there a witch standing over there". Naturally he called me an idiot and then informed me that it was Halloween.
Realisation number one. This year was the first Halloween I haven't made the effort to acknowledge in some way. Second realisation is that Halloween aside, I was paying far too little attention to current events. Prior to enrolling in the subject I barely read the news. I thank JOUR1111 for giving me an incentive to halt my time as an uneducated dolt in regard to current affairs.
Missing Halloween was something of a eye opener for me. I realised that if I am to continue living in the introverted society that is a university college then I will need to make a conscious effort to remain current. Once this subject is concluded at the end of this semester I think I shall continue to practice what it has preached. At the very least a daily reading of a few news sites should keep me somewhat connected.
Anyone would think Halloween is an unmissable occasion.
I've spent my year so overwhelmed with college oriented social events that I feel as if I have been encapsulated in a social bubble of almost haughty exclusion. Real world events come and go without the slightest notice. I was out at a bar with my brother when I asked him " Jake, why the hell is there a witch standing over there". Naturally he called me an idiot and then informed me that it was Halloween.
Realisation number one. This year was the first Halloween I haven't made the effort to acknowledge in some way. Second realisation is that Halloween aside, I was paying far too little attention to current events. Prior to enrolling in the subject I barely read the news. I thank JOUR1111 for giving me an incentive to halt my time as an uneducated dolt in regard to current affairs.
Missing Halloween was something of a eye opener for me. I realised that if I am to continue living in the introverted society that is a university college then I will need to make a conscious effort to remain current. Once this subject is concluded at the end of this semester I think I shall continue to practice what it has preached. At the very least a daily reading of a few news sites should keep me somewhat connected.
Anyone would think Halloween is an unmissable occasion.
JOUR1111-Lecture 12
Investigative journalism is something that I've previously thought is a redundant term. My notion of journalism has always valued it as an inherently investigative practice.
Lecture 12 was extremely engaging because it managed to clarify the profession of investigative journalism.
Dr Bruce first outlined the in's of journalism.
Be intelligent- Plan how a story will be approached
Be informed- Know the facts of a story, the background, the people involved and the reasons behind events.
Be intuitive- Rely on your gut feeling.
Get inside- Do not trust the source, question information.
Invest- Be willing to commit time to the story.
There are several elements that distinguish investigative journalism:
Critical and thorough journalism - Journalist is an active participant, considerable effort
Custodians of conscience- Exposing the story, testing ethics, exposing the "civic vice" to the public.
Voice of the public, make the powerful accountable- Concern for the public interest and social justice.
Fourth estate- Responsible for being the "watchdog" of the government. The fourth branch of government.
Trailblazers
Trailblazers are an example of the social monitoring and watchdog role that investigative journalism plays. Trailblazers are people who change the way things happen by setting a new agenda or changing the norms They forge a new path for society
\
Whistleblower's attempts at being honest are often suppressed by a corrupt culture. It is the job of investigative journalists to expose this.
The Global Mail is an example of investigative journalism that is available to Australians. They have the resources and invest the time into pursuing stories so that they may address deeper more pertinent issues.
Question everything
"If your mother says she loves you, check it out". This phrase embodies the mentality required by an investigative journalist. One must be willing to critically analyse the source of any information. This is the pretence and the nature of investigative journalism.
Lecture 12 was extremely engaging because it managed to clarify the profession of investigative journalism.
Dr Bruce first outlined the in's of journalism.
Be intelligent- Plan how a story will be approached
Be informed- Know the facts of a story, the background, the people involved and the reasons behind events.
Be intuitive- Rely on your gut feeling.
Get inside- Do not trust the source, question information.
Invest- Be willing to commit time to the story.
There are several elements that distinguish investigative journalism:
Critical and thorough journalism - Journalist is an active participant, considerable effort
Custodians of conscience- Exposing the story, testing ethics, exposing the "civic vice" to the public.
Voice of the public, make the powerful accountable- Concern for the public interest and social justice.
Fourth estate- Responsible for being the "watchdog" of the government. The fourth branch of government.
Trailblazers
Trailblazers are an example of the social monitoring and watchdog role that investigative journalism plays. Trailblazers are people who change the way things happen by setting a new agenda or changing the norms They forge a new path for society
\Whistleblower's attempts at being honest are often suppressed by a corrupt culture. It is the job of investigative journalists to expose this.
The Global Mail is an example of investigative journalism that is available to Australians. They have the resources and invest the time into pursuing stories so that they may address deeper more pertinent issues.
Question everything
"If your mother says she loves you, check it out". This phrase embodies the mentality required by an investigative journalist. One must be willing to critically analyse the source of any information. This is the pretence and the nature of investigative journalism.
In summary, this lecture taught me;
PR= The decline of investigative journalism
Internet research does not proved the depth of a quality source.
Journalists must be sceptical but not cynical.
The pr vs journalism battle continues to rage.
Investigative journalism requires going beyond th
Wednesday 7 November 2012
JOUR1111- Lecture 11
First week back from the mid semester break. Lecture 11 introduces the topic of agenda setting in journalism.
News values create the agendas that shape society's focal points. It is not the concerted effort of the journalism and media industry to decide what issues should be focused on by society. News values and agendas are often the unintended by-products of necessity to focus the lens of the news.
The concept of agenda setting is the idea that the media forms and shapes the public perception of reality by giving certain issues prominence in the media and thereby causing the public to place those issues as more important to the public agenda than others.
Agenda setting covers four areas.
Public Agenda- The set of topics that the public perceive as important.
Policy Agenda- Issues that policy/decision makers think are salient. i.e legislators
Corporate agenda- Issues that big business and corporations consider important.
Media Agenda- Issues discussed in the media.
The agendas are not separate entities.
These agendas are interrelated and interdependent.
The above diagram shows the nature of the agendas and the cause and effect relationship that they share.
The mass media shape our reality through the filtration of information. Were this filtration absent we would be constantly dealing with news. This is where news values affect agenda setting. News values provide the criteria necessary to filter news that reflects certain agendas.
News values create the agendas that shape society's focal points. It is not the concerted effort of the journalism and media industry to decide what issues should be focused on by society. News values and agendas are often the unintended by-products of necessity to focus the lens of the news.
Monday 5 November 2012
This last year
The university year is drawing to a close and with the stress and sleep deprivation that is sure to come with this semesters exams, I have begun to look back on the changes this year has brought.
First year at college, first year at university, first year away from home. Safe to say its been a big shift from the year before. Such a big change in fact that I think adjustment has been the dominant focus of life for the last 12 months.
It has only been recently that I have managed to truly settle into a routine that successfully balances academics, social commitment and personal health. University is enough of a change from secondary education to truly upset most peoples study habits. Add into this the overreaching social aspects of first year college. It leaves precious little time for other aspects of life; family, sleep, keeping healthy. Trying to work all of this into life is of course manageable, and it is not as if the average college kid has it rough by any means. The issue lies with the lack of balancing skills that I sorely needed during my first semester. I was constantly going from one extreme to the other. Week long study sessions followed by a three week long abstinence from anything academic. A very poor method of management that showed through in my end of semester results.
As far as advancing my education I feel I haven't really achieved much. Currently I am completing my first year of an arts degree while still having not chosen a major. At this rate I am set to become a veritable jack of all trades but master of none. Thankfully I have applied for law at QUT next year, hopefully a solution to my lack of direction.
While college is a wonderful institution I feel now, after a year of attendance, that college most definitely has a lifespan. While the social aspects are unforgettable and the friendships forged will surely be lasting ones, college students engage themselves solely with college, to the point of excluding the outside world. Three years of attendance and I'm sure I will be ready to move on to a life that is a bit less vapid and far more productive.
In summary this past year has brought me a great deal of learning but as far as real achievements that can be measured in a tangible sense, next to nothing.
First year at college, first year at university, first year away from home. Safe to say its been a big shift from the year before. Such a big change in fact that I think adjustment has been the dominant focus of life for the last 12 months.
It has only been recently that I have managed to truly settle into a routine that successfully balances academics, social commitment and personal health. University is enough of a change from secondary education to truly upset most peoples study habits. Add into this the overreaching social aspects of first year college. It leaves precious little time for other aspects of life; family, sleep, keeping healthy. Trying to work all of this into life is of course manageable, and it is not as if the average college kid has it rough by any means. The issue lies with the lack of balancing skills that I sorely needed during my first semester. I was constantly going from one extreme to the other. Week long study sessions followed by a three week long abstinence from anything academic. A very poor method of management that showed through in my end of semester results.
As far as advancing my education I feel I haven't really achieved much. Currently I am completing my first year of an arts degree while still having not chosen a major. At this rate I am set to become a veritable jack of all trades but master of none. Thankfully I have applied for law at QUT next year, hopefully a solution to my lack of direction.
While college is a wonderful institution I feel now, after a year of attendance, that college most definitely has a lifespan. While the social aspects are unforgettable and the friendships forged will surely be lasting ones, college students engage themselves solely with college, to the point of excluding the outside world. Three years of attendance and I'm sure I will be ready to move on to a life that is a bit less vapid and far more productive.
In summary this past year has brought me a great deal of learning but as far as real achievements that can be measured in a tangible sense, next to nothing.
JOUR1111- Lecture 9
Another interesting lecture, this time explaining the news values that underlie the news and media business.
When thinking of news values I had a preconceived notion that I now know was far more akin to an ethical code. I saw news values as the moral code that all news media was judged by. This lecture on the topic has corrected my misconceptions.
News values are the set of criteria that decides which of the infinite possible stories that could potentially become news are deemed to be newsworthy.
News values have four core considerations.
Impact: The immediate impact and engagement that a story will cause in an audience.
Audience Identification: The audience must feel a certain level of identification with the story. It must be related to the interests of the audience on a personal level. A degree of ownership must be felt by the audience.
Pragmatics: Pragmatics include the correct ethics, factuality currency and practicality of the news. Without appropriate pragmatics the feasibility of the story as news is doubtful.
Source influence: The influence of PR on the news story.'Journalism loves to hate PR... whether for spinning, controlling access, approving copy, or protecting clients at the expense of the truth. Yet journalism has never need public relations more, and PR has never done a better job for the media.' - Julia Hobsbawm, UK PR Executive.
While these considerations are universal, the manner in which they are applied is culturally and geographically subjective.
Newsworthiness:
To determine the newsworthiness of a story there are four elements that must be taken into account:
Visualness: The appeal of a story to an online of television audience.
Conflict: The most tried and true news value. Conflict is guaranteed to draw attention.
Emotion: Represents the human interest and emotional appeal of a story.
Celebrification of the journalist: The level of involvement that the journalist plays within the story.
The final subject of this lecture was the threats to newsworthiness.
There are several tensions in modern journalism that affect newsworthiness.
Journalism vs Commercialisation
Journalism vs Public Relations
Journalistic ideals vs Journalistic Reality.
These conflicts affecting the journalism industry are embodied by several issues.
Hyper commercialisation: This is the situation of oligopoly in the news industry that results in a biased allocation of news values. Media mergers result in a small number of companies controlling all that consumers view in news media.
PR Influence- Tabloidisation: The distortion of news through PR tactics and the use of illegal news gathering techniques.
Lazy, Incompetent Journalism: The lack of proper journalistic method in modern news results in poor representations of stories in the media.
This lecture has shown me that although news values are designed to serve the audience, modern influences on journalistic method result in reduced clarity, coverage and diversity of modern media.
When thinking of news values I had a preconceived notion that I now know was far more akin to an ethical code. I saw news values as the moral code that all news media was judged by. This lecture on the topic has corrected my misconceptions.
News values are the set of criteria that decides which of the infinite possible stories that could potentially become news are deemed to be newsworthy.
News values have four core considerations.
Impact: The immediate impact and engagement that a story will cause in an audience.
Audience Identification: The audience must feel a certain level of identification with the story. It must be related to the interests of the audience on a personal level. A degree of ownership must be felt by the audience.
Pragmatics: Pragmatics include the correct ethics, factuality currency and practicality of the news. Without appropriate pragmatics the feasibility of the story as news is doubtful.
Source influence: The influence of PR on the news story.'Journalism loves to hate PR... whether for spinning, controlling access, approving copy, or protecting clients at the expense of the truth. Yet journalism has never need public relations more, and PR has never done a better job for the media.' - Julia Hobsbawm, UK PR Executive.
While these considerations are universal, the manner in which they are applied is culturally and geographically subjective.
Newsworthiness:
To determine the newsworthiness of a story there are four elements that must be taken into account:
Visualness: The appeal of a story to an online of television audience.
Conflict: The most tried and true news value. Conflict is guaranteed to draw attention.
Emotion: Represents the human interest and emotional appeal of a story.
Celebrification of the journalist: The level of involvement that the journalist plays within the story.
The final subject of this lecture was the threats to newsworthiness.
There are several tensions in modern journalism that affect newsworthiness.
Journalism vs Commercialisation
Journalism vs Public Relations
Journalistic ideals vs Journalistic Reality.
These conflicts affecting the journalism industry are embodied by several issues.
Hyper commercialisation: This is the situation of oligopoly in the news industry that results in a biased allocation of news values. Media mergers result in a small number of companies controlling all that consumers view in news media.
PR Influence- Tabloidisation: The distortion of news through PR tactics and the use of illegal news gathering techniques.
Lazy, Incompetent Journalism: The lack of proper journalistic method in modern news results in poor representations of stories in the media.
This lecture has shown me that although news values are designed to serve the audience, modern influences on journalistic method result in reduced clarity, coverage and diversity of modern media.
Friday 2 November 2012
The Intouchables
When it comes to film appreciation I can often lean towards being a touch Neanderthal. I look to the awe of the cinema most often so that I can be easily entertained by pieces of film with little or no cognitive or spiritual value. Bright lights, fast cars, loud explosions, pretty girls and crude humour- the elements of a quality viewing.
As such it was a leap of faith of huge proportions for me to take my mothers viewing advice and recently watch a movie called "The Intouchables." There are several reasons why this movie was a leap of faith. Firstly, it is a sentimental film, recommended by my mother, secondly it is a foreign language film and finally it was played at the Gold Coast Arts Centre, notorious for its art house film options.
Against my better judgement I went to see this strange foreign language film. I was pleasantly surprised. What followed was possibly the most genuine and heartwarming story I have ever seen.
The film follows he relationship of two men. Driss and Philippe. Driss is a layabout, ex-convict 20 something year old and Philippe is a tetraplegic millionaire. Driss applies to be Philippes caretaker simply to fulfill his state benefit looking for work requirements and much to his surprise, Philippe decides to give him a trial. As one would expect the movie progresses and Philippe and Driss build a strong relationship as friends. What made this movie was in part the acting and in part the script. The character of Driss pushes his luck almost to the point where he puts the audience offside but then brings them back with humour and good will. Philippe starts as a patient and wise if disabled man with seemingly all the power in the relationship between him and Driss. Throughout the film the cracks in his confidence and demeanour show the toll that his disability has taken on him mentally.
As such it was a leap of faith of huge proportions for me to take my mothers viewing advice and recently watch a movie called "The Intouchables." There are several reasons why this movie was a leap of faith. Firstly, it is a sentimental film, recommended by my mother, secondly it is a foreign language film and finally it was played at the Gold Coast Arts Centre, notorious for its art house film options.
Against my better judgement I went to see this strange foreign language film. I was pleasantly surprised. What followed was possibly the most genuine and heartwarming story I have ever seen.
The film follows he relationship of two men. Driss and Philippe. Driss is a layabout, ex-convict 20 something year old and Philippe is a tetraplegic millionaire. Driss applies to be Philippes caretaker simply to fulfill his state benefit looking for work requirements and much to his surprise, Philippe decides to give him a trial. As one would expect the movie progresses and Philippe and Driss build a strong relationship as friends. What made this movie was in part the acting and in part the script. The character of Driss pushes his luck almost to the point where he puts the audience offside but then brings them back with humour and good will. Philippe starts as a patient and wise if disabled man with seemingly all the power in the relationship between him and Driss. Throughout the film the cracks in his confidence and demeanour show the toll that his disability has taken on him mentally.
It all seems like a bit of a fairytale, and perhaps it is a bit too optimistic for the average person. THe turning point of this film, the real kicker that sold it to me was this. It is a true story. With that I think I can thoroughly recommend this film as a heartwarming, comedic, feel good movie.
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