In Conclusion

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.

---------------------------------

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.

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.

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

JOUR1111- Lecture 11

First week back from the mid semester break. Lecture 11 introduces the topic of agenda setting in journalism.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

JOUR1111- Week 8

Ethics

This lecture was delivered by Donna Meikeljohn . I found it addressed on of the ongoing questions that I have had in relation to journalism. That is the formation, application and the use of an ethical code.

While the term “ethical” is often thrown around and used to describe the appropriateness of media and actions, I have never actually been able to define what ethics are in depth, nor have I ever been able to decide why certain material is deemed to be ethical or unethical.

Donna first showed us some supposedly ethically questionable advertisement. I found none of these to be remotely offensive as I thought the humorous intentions behind the adverts was more than enough to rectify any possible offensiveness.

The most interesting points that I gleaned from this lecture were the paradigms of determining ethical value that Donna presented.  These paradigms encompass all ethical codes that could possibly exist. They are as such:

Deontology: These are the underlying rules and codes that we base our social behaviour around. All ethical codes make use of these base assumptions of appropriateness. As a result of this all ethical codes can be considered as deontological.

Consequentialism: This paradigm can be viewed as results focused. Ethical actions are judged by the consequential results of the actions. The phrases “the end justify the means” and “the greatest good for the greatest number” embody the rationale of consequentialist thinking.

Virtue: This paradigm of ethical thought judges actions by a code of virtues. Actions are ethical if they are in accordance with a moral code. These virtues are not set but are created by the individual. They are often virtues such as courage, honesty, temperance and prudence.

Despite this lecture clearly illustrating the paradigms of ethical behaviour and showing samples of ethically dubious material, I still find it impossible to clearly determine the exact characteristics that make me personally think something is unethical.

The most important point that I learned from this lecture was regarding public interest. The lecture taught that journalist’s actions should always be in the public’s interest.  I find that public interest should be the defining aspect of determining ethics. 

Racism, Apparently

Racism, Apparently

The start of a new semester has arrived, the ruckus of the Union elections may have eased but once again Cromwell has managed to launch itself into the limelight of controversy.  

Cromwell College has a multitude of traditions; interesting, arcane, sometimes irrelevant, they all have a firm place in the Cromwell calendar.  One of the smaller and less socially consequential traditions is the annual international dinner.

The procedure for the evening goes as such. Each individual corridor nominates a nationality. They then dress themselves up as accurately as possible to replicate the appearance of this nationality. All well and good in theory right? Just a bit of fun, Mexicans in sombreros, Chinese in straw hats, the usual cultural debacle.  Apparently not this year. No, this year it all hit the proverbial fan. One ill-fated female corridor decided to dress as Indigenous Australians.

I personally didn’t see too much of an issue. Perhaps a bit distasteful but they weren’t attempting to play at any stereotypes or to paint indigenous Australians in a negative manner. While their attire wasn’t necessarily the most politically correct, I didn’t see the potential for any harm to be done and therefore I was not expecting the huge backlash that followed.

The entirety of the college was informed that, one week after the dinner, journalists for a variety of newspapers, including the Brisbane Times and the Sydney Morning Herald had taken a very negative interest in the portrayal of aboriginals by the college.

Naturally the photos of the night were first discovered by journalists on Facebook. Classic example of social media destroying reputations. Fortunately the issue has now been resolved, but only through extensive apologies and promises of cultural awareness programs that shall soon be installed into the college.

According the various sources of outraged discussion that have been circulating the web throughout the aftermath of the incident, the main issue taken was the use of “ Blackface”. I have come to realise the cultural significance and the various negative connotations associated with the use of such costuming, I cannot however understand how previously allocated associations with a costuming method can supersede the context of an event in deciding the cultural relevance of behaviour.  There was no malice, racism or even humour associated with the dress of the corridor at the dinner. They were simply attempting to replicate the appearance of Indigenous Australians.  That was the purpose of using blackface makeup at the event, not any other preconceived representations. While there are no full aboriginals in attendance to the college, there are many students of varying degrees of Aboriginal heritage.  While their opinions of course do not represent the greater Aboriginal community, it should be noted that none of them took offense to the attire of the girls due to the fact that they understood the context of the international dinner; a tribute to the variety of cultures we embrace at Cromwell College. This fact is what I think was lost upon the general public and as such the appropriateness of the dinner was brought into question.

This incident has been resolved, the way it was handled I am not criticising in the slightest. Despite the backlash and negative media representations I still firmly believe that context is an important part of cultural awareness. The fact that we at Cromwell have offended so many harks back to the issues of a hyper connected society. We are so integrated through the use of social media, the internet and other forms of connectivity that the privacy which allowed such traditions as international dinner to exist seems to be null and void.

JOUR1111- Week 7

Public Media:

This weeks lecture introduced the concept of public media, the form of media that thankfully operates in stark contrast to the topic of last week's lecture, commercial media.

Public media serves to inform and engage the public through reporting on issues that hold significant public value. Public media is not profit driven and while it may turn a profit the proceeds must be recycled into the furthering of future public media. It is these values that I believe allow public media to provide a far more beneficial and purposeful influence upon democratic society. It aims to support the needs of the public rather than the wants adhered to by the often vapid and trivial reporting of commercial media. 

The lecture covered a variety of elements and issues surrounding public media however there were a few defining points which I found particularly resonant. 

The defining principle of public media is the concept of "Public Value". This concept underpins all public media institutions. 

To have public value media must:

Have an embedded "public service ethos".

Employ value for licence fee money.

Weigh the public value of media against its market impact.

Allow for public consultation. 

The guidelines laid in 1985 by the Broadcasting Research Unit show a further variety of characteristics central to public media. 

Geographical universality - everyone in Australia should have access to programmes, i.e; Preschool.

Universality - content should cater for all tastes and interests.

Special provisions for minorities.Have a special relationship to the sense of national identity and community.Distanced from all vested interests.Universality of payment.Competition in good programming rather than competition for numbers.Guidelines should liberate rather than restrict.

Of these guidelines I find a few of them truly embody the differences that I notice between commercial and public media.

First and fore-mostly I notice the distancing from vested interests and the way this differentiates public media from the specifically financially driven programming of commercial media. 

The second prominent indicator of public media to me personally is the association with national identity and heritage. While commercial media is aimed on an international scale that doesn't seek to address concerns and interests of a national community, public media differs from this. It associates itself with a distinctive national identity and caters its programming to address Australian culture. 

Without public media the world of journalism would be devoid of any long form investigative journalism. It is public media that investigates and uncovers various incidents that are of a concerning nature or are beneficial to the national community to be reported upon. The competition in public media is primarily based upon quality of reporting rather than viewer ratings. This results in a far more meaningful and nationally pertinent programming. 

One of the main issues faced by public media is the issue of financing while remaining unbiased and unattached to any vested interests. Due to the majority of public media broadcasters sourcing their funding directly from the government, it is financially irresponsible for them to remain politically independent The phrase” to bite the hand that feeds” can be used to describe the tentative nature that public media must take when investigating politically oriented stories. Despite this clearly significant challenge, public media remains the most nationally concerned and beneficial source of media.

Public media, while not necessarily the oligopoly run cash crop that commercial media has become, is still refuses to abandon its core principles and remains a driving force for the cause of investigative journalism. 

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Journalism is the reporting of events and issues with the purpose of informing and educating a broad audience. This annotated bibliography will analyse the different sources of media and the various ways that they can analyse and report upon an event. The event that these articles will report upon is the current dispute between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal. The sources of media used are a Chinese national tabloid, an American online magazine and an International newspaper, all of which show both contrasting opinions and similar information traits.

De Burgh, H. (2010). Chinese Journalism and the Academy: the politics and pedagogy of the media.Journalism Studies, 1 (4), pp.549-558.

Hugo De Burgh is a British media theorist and the Director of the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster. He has specialised in the area of analysing investigative journalism in contrasting political cultures, such as that of China. This article evaluates the effect of the changing cultural climate in China upon the role of journalism in Chinese society. Chinese journalism has traditionally been viewed as an extension of the state’s ruling power. There has been a constant demand for media rights to be granted to journalists so that they may criticize contrast and report on current events according to a standardised journalistic code. This culminated in the Tianmen incident.  Since this incident Chinese journalism has shifted to be a more open medium which encourages the use of the free market and entrepreneurialism. This shift however does not indicate the lack of government influence over the media. Mr Gong Xueping, both the Dean of the Fudan University Journalism School and the Vice General Secretary of the Shanghai Chinese Communist Party, informed journalism students that while they had a right to report on anything they may see fit, there was little point in criticising the government system and that they should instead target the manifestations of the systems failures. This use of Chinese journalism can be seen in the vastly contrasting portrayal of the Chinese-Philippines island dispute in the Chinese media compared to western media.

Le, Z. (2012). Manila seeks to ‘lay claim’ over Huangyan with new name. Gobal Times, [online] 07 May 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/708105/Manila-seeks-to-lay-claim-over-Huangyan-with-new-name.aspx [Accessed: 19 Oct 2012].

The Global Times is a daily Chinese tabloid under the ownership of the Chinese Communist Party. Despite this ownership its claims that is does not necessarily voice government policy. The article reports on the current dispute between China and the Philippines over the ownership of Huangyan Island. The article attempts to position its audience to strongly favour the Chinese. It quotes Victor N Arches a supposedly Filipino man, whose credentials, if any, are not mentioned. He allegedly says “the Scarborough Shoal does belong to China which discovered it and drew it in a map as early as 1279 while the official maps the Philippines used to claim the area were dated 541 years later.” ( Zou, 2012).  This statement of course positions the audience to side with the Chinese argument however it cannot be considered a credible source as it remains completely unsupported by any tangible evidence. The article describes the initiation of the dispute between nations as the result of the Filipino navy attempting to capture Chinese fishermen. This article describes a very one sided version of the events that are involved in the dispute. As such it can be likened to propaganda rather than unbiased journalism. The result of this is that it cannot be viewed as a credible source to use for insight on the conflict between nations.

Carpenter, T. (2012) The Roiling South China Sea Dispute. The National Interest, [online] 10 July. Available at: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/the-roiling-south-china-sea-dispute-7178 [Accessed: 19 October].

The National interest is a monthly online magazine published in the United States. It focuses on the US involvement in international affairs and as such takes a vastly different approach to the Scarborough shoal dispute than the article by the Global Times. The article criticises the actions of President Obama at an Economic Summit in Bali during November of 2011.  During the summit he aligned the US with the Philippines and promised to strengthen relations. The article describes these comments as implying level of involvement from the United States in the current dispute between the China and the Philippines. The article claims that the dispute must be resolved in favour of the Chinese to avoid an overwhelming hold being held over the South East Asia region by china. It warns however against the involvement of the United States in such a dispute because it could result in the aggression of the Chinese being spread upon both the Philippines and the United States. This article does not discuss the individual incidents in the dispute. This is because the National Interest is primarily concerned with the involvement of the United States in foreign affairs and as such is unconcerned with a dispute that does not involve them.

Mogato, M. (2012). Philippines, U.S. stage war games in face of China warning . Reuters, [online] 25 April. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-southchinasea-idUSBRE83O06220120425 [Accessed: 19 October].

This article is written by Manuel Mogato of Reuters. Reuters is an international newspaper renowned for its strict policy regarding journalistic objectivity. As such its article regarding the effect of the Philippine-U.S. war games on the dispute between China and the Philippines concerning ownership of the Scarborough Shoal takes an objective view of the conflict. The article gives details of the war games that were conducted by the Philippines and the US, despite warning from the Chinese that going forth with the games would increase the risk of conflict in the dispute. The article evaluates both Chinese and Filipino opinions as well as those of US representatives. It reports on the incident however does not at any point give an opinion nor a subjective insight into the events being reported upon. This reflects the distanced, international nature of Reuters. The inherent unbiased writing style makes this article the most credible source regarding the dispute.  It does not attempt to position its audience as does the article by the Global Times yet neither does it concern itself with the interests of a single involved nation.

References

Carpenter, T. (2012) The Roiling South China Sea Dispute. The National Interest, [online] 10 July. Available at: http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/the-roiling-south-china-sea-dispute-7178 [Accessed: 19 October].

De Burgh, H. (2010). Chinese Journalism and the Academy: the politics and pedagogy of the media.Journalism Studies, 1 (4), pp.549-558.

Le, Z. (2012). Manila seeks to ‘lay claim’ over Huangyan with new name. Gobal Times, [online] 07 May 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/708105/Manila-seeks-to-lay-claim-over-Huangyan-with-new-name.aspx [Accessed: 19 Oct 2012].

Mogato, M. (2012). Philippines, U.S. stage war games in face of China warning . Reuters, [online] 25 April. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/25/us-southchinasea-idUSBRE83O06220120425 [Accessed: 19 October].

JOUR1111- Factual Storytelling Excercise

The Rehab Lesson

Rehabilitation is a term often thrown loosely upon solutions to society’s problems. Is it really so easy to change a person’s character?  To alter habits that has become integral to a person’s life.

For 21 year old Jake Brown and his budding addiction to prescription painkillers, rehabilitation may have served its purpose, but perhaps not in the way it was intended. His time in a drug rehabilitation centre in July of 2012 may have yielded the right results, but perhaps in the wrong manner.

Jake had recently moved to Michigan to live and work with his uncle, the manager of a Holiday Inn. His father lived overseas and his mother in his hometown of Fontana, California.

In April 2012 Jake began taking prescription pain medication for back pain. Vicodin; One of the most widely abused opiate analgesics in the United States. Over 2 million adults across the country suffer from Vicodin addiction. Jake, like so many before him, found himself increasingly dependent on the euphoric high produced by the drug.

Each day he would consume his prescribed dosage, and then some. It started small, just one or two more than he should, just to relax. Then it became more, he would have to fill two prescriptions, he couldn’t feel one or two anymore, it became five or six pills at a time, his tolerance steadily growing. Before he realised the scope of the problem he was hooked, not like a stereotyped drug addict, he wasn’t undergoing withdrawal, but he had become reliant on the drugs to allow him happiness.

He didn’t consider the liver damage, vision problems and mental conditions that long term abuse of his drug of choice could cause.  By his own admittance Jake said, “I was taking far more than was prescribed to me”. Fortunately for him his habit was abruptly halted when he found himself caught red handed.

While at work Jake was caught purchasing Vicodin pills off of a co-worker, the result of his prescription having run out. When it came to the attention of his uncle, who was also his manager, he found himself without a job or a place to stay.

His world fell apart. His reliable job that paid for his habit had been taken away, his carefully planned operation halted in its tracks. He couldn’t understand the outrage, the disappointment that was felt for him.

When his father was informed of the situation he felt he had no choice but to admit Jake into a drug rehabilitation centre, a choice that Jake was not enthused with.

“It wasn’t effecting how I functioned in day to day life, If I hadn’t been caught nobody would’ve had to know” said Jake, however his father Dan saw the issue in a very different light. “There was a serious problem that needed to be stopped before it progressed and damaged Jakes future.” Jakes Father.

Jake was admitted into a drug rehabilitation clinic for a one month stay. It was during this time that he would be turned off recreational drug use, for all the wrong reasons.

“I felt like I’d been written off, I was surrounded by addicts of the worst kind and I didn’t belong”, Jake Brown.

Jake was immersed in an environment of experienced drug users, people whom he felt no association or similarities with. He was marginalised, categorised with the worst of recreational drug users. With his world shattered Jake had no choice but to engage himself in his rehabilitation.

“It wasn’t like I couldn’t have stopped using while I was at home” said Jake, The rehabilitation centre put Jake in an environment where he was surrounded by more drug references and users than anywhere else could have provided. “I wanted to leave, if only to avoid being in a place where I didn’t belong”.

He felt as if he’d been ostracised. Like his family had written him off as the worst of society. Wrongly accused and downtrodden he couldn’t bring himself to fight the unsaid allegations he felt were being thrown at him. He resigned himself to simply doing whatever necessary to return his life to how it was.

While Jake was successfully rehabilitated and ceased using Vicodin it wasn’t because he had been shown the consequences of his previous drug use but because he wished to avoid any extension of his stay in rehab. “Rehab was like a punishment, I just wanted to do whatever it took to get out of there”. So Jake followed the instructions of his doctors and was discharged from the clinic one month from the day he was admitted.

The process of rehabilitation attempts to not only halt detrimental behaviour but to alter the mindset that caused it to begin with. Rehabilitation failed with Jake. His use of medication may have been stopped but his mindset was merely warped by the ordeal. “I feel like the consequences of my drug use were a huge over-reaction, nothing has changed for me”. Jake remains the same person he was before rehabilitation, he beat his addiction for all the wrong reasons.

Rehabilitation is a powerful term that has become a staple of the modern judicial system. In Jake’s case, rehabilitation proved to be more of a punishment than a cure. His experience and rehabilitation can only be deemed a success if it is only the immediate future that is of concern. Were he to have been placed in rehabilitation with people who were experiencing similar drug dependency issues rather than vastly disproportionate ones, his mindset may have been changed. Unfortunately it wasn’t. “The rehabilitation centre and its treatment were unnecessary and irrelevant to my problems”.

He resumed his day to day life; he was given his old job back and moved back in with his uncle. He was still the same man however, regardless of what his family thought, nothing had really changed. He worked hard, loved and supported his family, studied well and changed his ways. He learned his lesson at rehab, a valuable one that he would not soon forget; not to get caught.

JOUR1111-Lecture 6

The topic of this week's lecture was commercial media. This was one of the more interesting lectures for me personally because of the large role that commercial media plays in my overall opinion of media today. Commercial media is the primary discourse of media that I associate with. Aside from sources of social media, commercial media is the most widely used and viewed form of media. Due to this I think that evaluating its uses, purposes and effects is of paramount importance to any aspiring journalist wishing to understand the world of modern media. 

The main purpose of commercial media is to generate audiences. In doing this they make themselves viable options for advertising companies to invest in. They charge premium prices for the privilege of advertising on their media sources and as such turn a large profit. 

Commercial Media:

Not government funded.

Profit driven.

Its main agenda is creating an audience.

Profits from selling access to this audience to advertisers. 

The main players in commercial media. 

The realm of social media is dominated by several large corporations. These are the people that choose how media is presented to us and therefore have a large role is shaping society.

These are just a few of the main players in current commercial media.\

 7 West Media

Nine Entertainment Co.

Fairfax Media

News Limited

  This is one of the issues I take with commercial media. Commercial media places profit as a higher priority than social responsibility. It is for this reason that I cannot condone commercial media. It is within their power to control media and as such should be their responsibility to place to good of society at a higher priority in their business mission. 

This was an interesting lecture that has lead me more than ever to believe that commercial media is detrimental to society through prioritising profit over audience awareness.

Family

I've always lived rather far away from my family. I'm British, so is my entire family. I've never lived in England, or Europe, no I was born in Hong Kong. I've been in Australia since the age of seven. I still don't quite understand the full story of how my Sri Lanka born, yet somehow still of British nationality, mother and English father managed to meet in Hong Kong but go figure. I've never missed the fact that my entire extended family lives dotted around the world. It hasn't ever been an issue, or even a talking point. That was until we had a family reunion of sorts. We all brought ourselves together for Christmas. Flew from wherever the rest of the family happened to be around the world and met at my aunt's for Christmas, in Dubai. Yes, Christmas in an Islamic country, yet again, go figure.

The saying of " you don't know what your missing until you've tried it" comes to mind when I think of family now. Never have I found myself among such like-minded people. The whole nature vs nurture argument comes to mind when I try to describe it. Perhaps its genetic, perhaps we were all just raised similarly, regardless it was the most enjoyable Christmas I've ever had ( which is big call because my family loves christmas more than Mr Cringle himself). I found myself talking to cousins who I haven't seen in 13 years like it was only yesterday that we'd last spoken. A strange and joyous experience.

Now we are back in Australia. My small sector of the Hilton family is back being segregated from the rest. I'm starting to see now why Mum feels so detached. Family is important, regardless of how well you can function without them, regardless of how you get on with them they are always there for you, hopefully at least. I don't necessarily think home is where family is. Home is where I am happy. If that happens to be where family is then so be it.

The point of this post is that although I was completely fine and happy without family around. It was that much more special finally getting to know them, and now that life is back the way it was, life is completely different.

Worth a read

Shantaram

It's a book that took me several years to truly get through. No, not because it is overly profound or so " heavy" that I couldn't handle its content. Simply because it is a gargantuan read and I lost the first two copies of it that I attempted to read while travelling, a mind numbingly frustrating experience when your really engaged in a book.

Now that I have read the book however I can say it is a phenomenal read. I've read more than my fair share of books and for some reason this one has stuck with me. Thats why it warrants a blog post and the others don't. The story is based upon fact and then heavily, wondrously embellished. I think this is great because the truth is always less exciting then what we imagine it could be.

It details a period of the life of its author, Gregory David Roberts. A convicted felon who illegally immigrated to India and led an extremely colorful life from there on. I won't go on to explain the story as it would be an absolute essay to give the specifics of the thousand page behemoth of a story. Rest assured however that it is an extremely accessible read and although can be philosophical, stays grounded enough to be a good story.

I thoroughly recommend this to anyone who has far more spare time than anyone these days should, such as an arts student like myself.

Election Times

The UQ Union election has finally ended. Well at least the tumultuous and interesting parts have. Right now its down to the voting booths where we can all feel like either spectators or Fresh supporters and not much else. Unless your one of the protesters of course, but so far that seems neither effective nor fun.

Before I start to paint my picture of the situation I need to make it clear that politically I'm a step below a fence sitter. I'm one of those guys who just wants things to continue how they are. Following an election for me isn't picking a side, its spectating as two teams who I really care nothing for go at it and attempt to break each other. Its riveting.

How I see it:
I'm not going to name anybody here, partly because I can't quite recall who exactly did what and partly because there is far to much tension and dissent around for me to go pointing fingers. I personally have no problem with the current state of play in the election. That is Fresh has dominated the election through some careful manoeuvring of by-laws and some rather impressive politics from their president. All of which I can merely speculate upon and have no real expertise in.

From where I stand, and what I've heard, from my extremely biased friends, Fresh hasn't actually broken any laws or the student constitution. From what I personally see, I cannot imagine the current president of Fresh making such an audacious move as to prohibit the other candidates from running for UQ Union without completely covering himself. From the various tribunals and third party investigations and their lack of  incriminating evidence, it appears that in this observation I am correct.

Ethically, I think it is wrong. Simple as that. In the sense of fair play all the possible candidates should have had a fair run. Without smear campaigns and on friendly terms. If only the world were so perfect. That was never going to happen. Ethics and politics are two very different things. I cannot endorse the actions of Fresh but I can commend them for being extremely good at what counts in this situation, winning. Another, often overlooked point is that the opposing candidates are just as cut throat as Fresh has been. There was always going to be ethical foul play, it just so happens that Fresh managed to get there first.

It may have been harsh, it may have caused an uproar, but it worked. As far as I'm concerned, well played by them.

Blogging and Me

 So I'm extremely new to blogging. I have good reason for that, I'll be honest I have a bad opinion of blogging in general. In the past the blogs that I have read consist of a collection of seemingly useless and random musings from random people. Theres a reason that I procrastinated so heavily with even creating this blog; I didn't want to be a part of the blogger group.

Hindsight is a powerful thing. I realise that what I write is just as random, disconnected, and seemingly unimportant as any other blog one could find on the internet but somehow I still find myself enjoying doing it. Its a good way to vent, a way to put my thoughts out on the internet with a total disregard for who reads it and who cares what I have to say.

Blogging seems to be an introspective activity. Its an interesting way for me to consolidate and work out my actual opinions on matters. So far, its been a bit of an experience.

On another ,slightly less introverted, note blogging is surprisingly difficult. Simply writing thoughts and opinions doesn't actually make such an interesting read. I think I need more to keep my hopefully existent readers entertained.

Anyhow, there are improvements to be made, but so far I think I could get used to writing a blog. It is a strange and enjoyable experience to have near free rein on what and how I can write. Exactly why this post came about.

JOUR1111- Lecture 5

Stained Glass window depicting baptism

The phrase " a picture tells a thousand words" is more than just a phrase to a photojournalist. It is an embodiment of their profession and a testament to the effectiveness of images in journalism.

Within this lecture, although its entirety was relevant, there were a few points that seemed particularly pertinent to me.

The lecture chose to further iterate the idea that all pictures are stories. While I was already well aware that a picture could tell a story, I now realise I was often failing to see the underlying messages in many images. By taking the approach that all pictures tell a story I can approach images with a much more analytic and open mind. An interesting fact from the lecture was regarding stained glass windows inside churches. I was previously under the impression that these were simply decorative however I now know that they were to help illiterate people understand the stories of the bible. A real world example of pictures telling stories that are often overlooked.

Pictures are an integral part of telling a story in my opinion. In the words of war reporter Robert Capa, " If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." These words show how a picture tells a story for what it actually is, or at least until it is altered, which brings me to the second part of the lecture. 

I previously thought all the whining about body image in media and unrealistic goals of appearance being set were simply puffery.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U 

This video proves me to be completely mistaken. It may be ethically incorrect to think this but I'm a guy, this is my blog and my place to say what I think. So here it is. Honestly this disappoints me. Not because of the high standards of appearance set by todays media. No, quite to the contrary. I couldn't care less if magazines make people feel unattractive in comparison to popular models. Models are meant to be good looking after all. Don't feel down that they put the rest of us to shame.  Digital modification of photos upsets me because of its implications. It means that perhaps there isn't quite as many flawlessly good looking people in the world today. I feel deceived and cheated. I really think its a bit of a deflating revelation to find out the extent of what a photoshop wizard can do these days. 

This lecture was an enlightening insight into an aspect of journalism that I am rather unfamiliar with. At this rate I feel I will come away from this course with a broad, if not completely in depth, knowledge of the varied elements and types of journalism. 

JOUR1111- Lecture 4

This weeks lecture was the sound lecture, taking the form of a series of radio interviews it successfully showed me not only the strengths of sound only journalism but the drawbacks that plague it as well.

As far as JOUR1111 lectures go, this has to be my least interesting so far. That isn't to say the quality of the lecture was anything but excellent. On the contrary the content of the lecture was engaging and the rapport of  good radio conversation can be very engaging. The issue I found was that I am a visual learner. At the very least I would like to see who I am being spoken to by. If I can't identify with the voice I'm hearing  all of the assumptions I make about the speaker and their motivations is lost and as such much of my attentiveness goes with it.

Regardless, those are simply my issues with the format of the lecture, the content was another story and here are the points I took from it:

Radio and television are completely different mediums: Radio is not television without the visual element and vice versa. The style of speech is completely different and the way that information is communicated must be changed. Compared to television, radio must constantly be introducing new topics of conversation so as to not bore the listener.

The listener is dominant: Radio presenting diminishes the power of the speaker over the listener. It is so easy to become disengaged from communication, a problem I often suffer from. The onus lies with the speaker to maintain the attention of the listener through the way they speak. I think it is the rare presenter who can truly manage to do this with someone as inattentive and easily distracted as myself.

Be sincere: When your on radio people can tell far more easily when your being " fake". Be sincere and genuine and the listeners will respond to this. I think this ties in with what Richard Fidler said about relaxing during the interview. When you have won the favour of the listener, when you know they are willing to not only listen but to allow themselves to imagine the story you depict for them. That is when you can relax and when sincerity rewards the speaker.  Even when the listener instils this trust in the speaker there is no point in which the speaker can admit to having won their attention. The second the speaker seems to be attempting to curry favour the listener is alienated irrecoverably.

For me personally I don't have much care for radio. As a listener I find myself disengaged and often sceptical of who I am listening to and why I should listen to them. I need to see the speaker to connect with them and their story. As a speaker I am someone who relies on body language, facial expressions and other para lingual methods of communication. Without these things I doubt my ability to sound anything other than stilted and disconnected.

Regardless of my negative disposition regarding radio, the lecture expanded my knowledge regarding sound as a primary means of communication. I am thankful for that but look forward to another face to face lecture next week !

JOUR1111- Lecture 3

Todays lecture was another testament to the varied and engaging nature that has made JOUR1111 my favourite subject so far this semester.  The lecture was presented by Skye Doherty. She is an extremely accomplished journalist with a long list of reputable experience behind her. I won't go into the specifics of just what this experience in the journalism field entails but rest assured she gave an extremely comprehensive lecture.

Text is the foundation of journalism.

Despite the growing use of visuals in advertising text still plays an irreplaceable role in the communication of information. While a message can be conveyed through an image, that same image is categorised, analysed and searched for through the use of text. Text underpins all communication.

The main diagrammatic element of this lecture was the inverted pyramid news model. It is succinct and logical and makes me question why on earth this was never covered during school, it would have made many a report an absolute breeze.

Skye explained that in an article it is of utmost importance to convey the key facts of the story as fast as possible. This is because statistically people will often read the first part of an article and cease reading. While this is a rather depressing fact as a journalist it is a harsh truth. Another reason for the inverted pyramid structure is that apparently when an editor wishes to shorten a story they will simply remove the excess and cut it from the bottom up. For me this is unnerving and reiterates the point that I must be concise with my writing.

The next concept Skye approached was that of news values. The reason that we don't see the local school fete taking up the front page the same way we do a brutal murder. The news values conflict, power, control, sex, money and death in its correlation of stories. This is because it is what we, as a society, have proven ourselves to be concerned with. I find this a sad fact of life. I myself must admit to falling into the norm of society and being concerned with news values. I think in a way however this is a good thing. As a journalist I do not wish to change these values but to profit from them, so holding the values as my own interests could serve me extremely well.

I found Skye's lecture to be far more resonant with my personal interests than the last. It seemed that it was really addressing the specific details of journalistic writing and as such I found it to be very engaging.

JOUR1111- Lecture 2

New News, Down to business!

At the risk of sounding clichéd, corny and like a brown nose all at once, this lecture quite literally brightened my day. I awoke at 8 am ready for my 9 am lecture, only to realise that this was semester two and my Mondays now commenced at 4 pm with my engaging and brief JOUR1111 lecture ! Such are the joys of choosing the right subjects for once.

The topics of this lecture were:

Web iterations
News under Web 3.0
and the challenges presented by online news.

"Old Media " was the first type of media that we discussed. It encompassed the pre-web period of newspapers, tv, magazines and radio. It's currently being overtaken and shut out by the dominance of new media. I feel that there is a certain degree of melancholy to this situation. That the traditional appeal of a broad leaf newspaper or the routine of sitting in front of the television every evening to watch the news is being foregone for the ease of a few mouse clicks on their online alternatives.

We then covered how the web and its uses have changed through its three distinct periods;
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
Web 3.0

What I gleaned from this lecture was that web 1.0 was primarily just information. It was mass media aimed at the general population. Not targeted nor refined it was primarily focused on companies. It was an extension of old media, an online information source surrounded by advertisements and and comparable experience regardless of the user. So at this point the web hadn't yet totally killed old media. Well done to the web, still possessing some integrity. So far no instagram pictures of peoples breakfasts.

And so things progressed, web 2.0 was born.

Web 2.0 is all about interactiveness. It is the result of the over obsession with the all encompassing social knowledge that we now desire. There is no longer a clear line between the producer and the consumer of information. The term "produser" is coined. I think this is where we began to descend towards the terrible stage of irreversibly pointless contributions to the internet. People tweeting" Good morning everybody" became an acceptable piece of information to be on the worldwide web. I think this is where we lost the plot.

So we finally reach the point we are at now. The semantic web. Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the web of the individual. The process of meta-tagging is introduced. This is a html tag that can tell what you individually search for and do on the internet. The web tailors its advertising for your personal interests. You no longer experience what others do on the internet because the web is tailored to your needs. Cool right? Wrong. At least in my opinion. I use the internet to expand my knowledge, to browse and be confronted by new interests and news sources. I don't want to be shut into a bubble of what the web decides  I would like to look at. The semantic web is in my opinion a breeding ground for gross ignorance and hyperlocalisation of news.

Imagine this, the web realises from my facebook friends, and my web searches and my use of google maps that I, reside in Brisbane. It then decides that I don't need to know about the earthquake in Japan, that is on the other side of the world after all. Is it up to the web to decide that? No . This is just my opinion of course, but then its my blog, so there.

What would our old media predecessors have thought?

JOUR1111- Lecture 1

My first lecture of JOUR1111. I’ll admit I had an inkling of what to expect from the reports of friends who had completed the course in the first semester of this year however I was still happily surprised by the laidback and conversational nature of the lecture. Dr Redman avoided spending a large amount of time discussing the mundane administrative details of course profiles and tutorial times as some of my other lectures would have. For me this was a great advantage as this is the first subject in which I don’t have a two hour lecture, and the fifty minute period seems as if it’s finished in no time at all.

I stumbled my way into taking a journalism course as is unfortunately often the case amongst arts students. I regret to say that I am not one of the lucky few, those born with the knowledge of where they wish their future to take them. I decided upon journalism as it seems to be the perfect place to make use of my ability to write at a reasonable level, and my unfortunate inability to do most other academically oriented activities, especially mathematics.

The first lecture of this course connected with me. It was and remains to be my first university lecture that was actually what I was hoping to receive from the course.  Dr Redman opened the lecture in his laidback manner, he introduced us to the idea of taking a journalism course with the words, “ You are the journalist”. This idea made me feel as if I wasn’t just taking a university course, I was taking an internship into a career that I wish to pursue.  Words like this legitimise the course and help me motivate myself to do my best and as someone who often lacks motivation, I am extremely thankful for that. This lecture continued to motivate us through further quotes such as “ Journalism is the first rough draft of history”. As if I wouldn’t want to be a part of creating history ! The concept of both studying and of doing journalism appealed to me immensely. I have already worried that my time at university would be simply discussing things I wished to be part of. Dr Redman managed to lay my concerns to rest immediately. The remainder of the lecture was a quick walkthrough of how to use blackboard and the course profile, sadly a tedious necessity.

I came out of this lecture anxious and excited for a second semester at university. After a relatively misguided first semester in which I couldn’t settle on what I wanted to do, I felt that I have truly found my niche of tertiary study.

I look forward to another hopefully engaging lecture next week. Let’s hope it continues like this !

10 Day Media Use Diary

10 Day Media Use Diary

The use of media is a significant factor in the average day of most Australians. There has been a shift from the simplistic producer and consumer roles within the the realm of media. I have recorded and de-constructed my current media use over a period of ten days. The results show the accessibility and functionality of modern media outlets as well as reflect the nature of my college accommodation and its influence upon availability of certain media outlets.

10 Day media use graph( In Days and Minutes)

Media use is dictated by the lifestyle a person leads. As is seen in the above graph my personal use of television is comparatively low compared to other forms of media. This is due to the college environment in which I live which gives me limited access to television and a large amount of access to on-line sources of media.

I have recorded my online media use in three separate categories. Internet browsing, in which I categorised recreational use of the internet to browse miscellaneous websites. Internet research contains all online media use that is related to university assessment and research. Social media use records the use of Facebook, Twitter and blogging, my only currently used social media outlets.

The result of my large access to online, "new" media sources is an elevated amount of internet browsing, internet research and social media use. The correlation between the use of these three media sources reflects the level of multitasking that I generally have when using the internet. On days 4 and 5 when I was working on an assignment my level of internet research was expectedly elevated. As an unexpected by-product both my social media use and my internet browsing were proportionately raised. This indicates that various forms of online media supplement each other to produce an overall media experience.

I placed phone use as a form of media use due to the fact that a modern smartphone provides access to far more than traditional telecommunication. My phone use, although small compared to my previously recorded internet use, is heavily weighted towards the use of social media applications and their monitoring.

Radio is the final form of media, and the second of the "old" media that I use. Due to living at college I avoid a commute to university. Consequently this means that I spend minimal time in the car and rarely have opportunity to listen to the radio. On  days 3 and 5 I travelled home to the Gold Coast which explains the spike in minutes spent listening to the radio on those days.

"Old" Vs "New" Media use Graph( In Days and Minutes)

My personal use of media is heavily slanted towards new media, as is indicated by the above graph. Old media is increasingly subverted my the encompassing nature of new media. The results of the course survey are evidence of the overwhelming disparity between new and old media use. Question 28 of the survey has 39.4 percent of surveyed students using an online newspaper as their most common source of news compared to 3.6% using paper newspaper.

My media usage over the recorded period strongly reflects and characterises the modern dominance of new media usage over old. I used a smartphone and heavily relied upon the internet, foregoing old media alternatives. The strong correlation between my use of online resources shows that new media is often used as a collective source of information, rather than individually. My media use is atypical due to my college environment and as such is not indicative of current media use trends.