So long and thanks for all the Journalism! (lecture 12)

So the final lecture, the coup de grace as some might call it. Honestly I have to admit that I am a little sad to see it go. I’ve enjoyed Jour1111 a lot and it has taught me quite a bit over the last couple of months. Dr. Bruce has been a fantastic lecturer and all the tutors, especially Marie, have been very engaging and have provided some fantastic bits of learning. I will actually miss this course, but the star that shines the brightest does so with brevity and it is best that this course ends now, rather than when I’m bored and angry.

The final lecture mainly involved us sitting and listening while Steve Molk, an extremely prominent blogger spoke to us about the world of blogging and journalism and what we, as students can expect to find in this new world of ours. In my opinion, this lecture really touch based mainly with the new media lecture that we already attended, so there wasn’t really that much new information provided, rather various topics that were previously left in the blue were elaborated on further by Mr. Molk and some interesting information was provided on the world of professional blogging.

The part that most interested me, was seeing just how far blogging has come. Going back just ten years, I doubt there is a man among us who would legitimately think that a profession, a decent paying one at that, could be fashioned from such a personal thing. It truly is a testament to just how important the internet is, and will become, that such a thing as blogging has turned into a viable financial path.

Now I’m going to leave this one short, not because I didn’t enjoy the lecture, it’s just that much of what was said has been covered in my previous blogs and I feel as if I would be offending you and myself by retreading old ground. To finish off though, I would just like to put out a big thank you, to not only Dr. Bruce, Marie and the other tutors I had the pleasure of meeting, but to my fellow students. I’ve gone through many blogs and read some truly great stuff (mine included, hyuck hyuck). This fills me not only with confidence that I’m with a truly inspiring cohort, but reinforces my opinion that we have a truly great set of staff at this university. I have learnt so much with my time here with you and these teachers and it saddens me that this course is coming to an end. I know this will sound incredibly cheesy, but I really have taken a lot away from this course and I won’t forget any of it. Thank you for reading and please stay around, because this will not be the last you hear of Caden Reid.

Intermission, Part 3 le Finale

So here is my final intermission post and I'm a little sad. While I'm not going to stop actually blogging, considering how useful it is, I'm a little sad that I won't have the influence of Jour1111 anymore. Therefore, I thought it would be appropriate to write about what I enjoyed about this course. To be honest, I think the most enjoyable part was that the encouraged us to be the journalist. While I know we didn't do too much journo stuff in the course, what it has taught me is to always question and always be on the ball. This has been one of the most enjoyable courses I have ever done and I'm sad to see it go. I hope you enjoy my final blog coming up and you have been a fabulous audience.

My spidey sense is tingling (Lecture 11)

So the second last lecture and we get the topic of Investigative Journalism. Now after reading some of my fellow students blogs, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not the only one who is seriously interested in IJ (Investigative Journalism). I love the idea of being an Investigative Journalist, even more so than most other things (LOTR included). It has honestly been one of those things that have kept me awake at night, with questions like would I be willing to reveal certain information, even if it might result in death giving me pause for thought? All these factors combined kept me interested in the lecture and have given me a new perspective and respect for IJ.

According to Dr. Bruce, there are 5 In’s involved in IJ. Those are INtelligent, INformal, INtuitive, INside and INvest. Each of these provides the budding young Investigative Journalist with a set of various goals to aspire to, yet these are only what Dr. Bruce had to say on the topic. When we went deeper into the definition and purpose, we found out 4 very important factors. These four factors are:

1. Critical and Thorough Journalism
2. Custodians of Conscience
3. To provide a voice for those without one and to hold the powerful to account
4. Watch Dog/Fourth Estate/Fourth Branch of Government

Critical and Thorough Journalism, entails that the journalist is not only an active participant, but that they are enthusiastic about the topic and willing to invest a significant amount of effort. Custodians of Conscience is all about exposure, how will we do it and whether it will be in good taste or not (good old ethics). No. 3 (Because I am not writing that out again), revolves around social justice, the idea that we as the journalists (first lecture coming back) have the power to provide a voice for the downtrodden, allowing them to have some say in what goes on. Finally, we have Watch Dog and fourth Estate. This is similar to No. 3, but is there more to hold the government accountable (take that opposition), providing the general public with the opportunity to critic and question the government.

The bulk of the lecture that followed the first section, was looking to the past (distant and close) and assessing previous trailblazers, those who set the standard for future Investigative journalistic practices. This section was interesting to see not only what these people did, but what risks they faced. The most interesting was the case of W.T.Stead, who was responsible for bringing down a large human trafficking ring in the UK. While he was responsible for its downfall, because of his presence to the actual trade, he was thrown into jail. This really spoke to me, because it shows that there have always been risks when it comes to investigation and to be a good investigative journalist, I’ll just have to accept these aspects as part of the trade.

To close off the lecture and this blog post, Dr. Bruce discussed the types of interactions one can expect to have as an investigative journalist. This part was particularly interesting, because while playing on some standard assumptions, it was good to know that leg work and leaks are still considered high priority. 

Lecture 11, which I might add was the second last, was probably one of the best lectures of the semester, helped in no small part by the very interesting topic of discussion. While I have to admit I have fears about certain aspects, I’d say the lecture has done more to harden my resolve than dissuade me from this career and I can honestly see myself becoming an investigative journalist in the future.

Intermission, Part 2

Here we are again my wonderful audience, back to another intermission bridging the gap between lecture 10 and lecture 11. It is here that I thought I would tell you why I actually want to be a journalist. I've always been fairly adept at word play, oft receiving many a compliment from peer to superior with regards to my intricate use of the english language. Now it may surprise you then, that I was considering psychology at one point. Yes for my first year of uni, I tried my hand at psychology. After going through the first semester, I realised that this restrictive dribble (not saying I disrespect psychs, just that it is very, very boring) was not what I wanted to do and that I had to find something that let my creative inner self shine through. It was then a God send, that I ran into a friend from school who had recently made the switch to Journalism. After having a good long chat, I realised that this was the right field for me, that it allowed creativity, but also provided restrictions. Let me say this here, the best kind of creativity is that which comes from restriction, the more you have, the more creative you have to be to actually be CREATIVE (that sounds confusing, but it follows a nice line of thought if you look closely enough). It was then with great joy that I made the switch and here I am, standing before you a happy happy man, doing what he loves.

O behagenda! (I suck at puns)

Ah agenda setting, this is one of those interesting topics, because in some worlds in may come across as contentious. Are we really that heavily influenced by the news, are they secretly shaping the world around us, is there any hope for poor jimmy? The answer is yes we do heavily influence the news, because having a career based around news, you would hope to. No, they’re not secretly shaping the world, we can see it happening it’s just easier to let them do it. Yes, there is always hope, because it is not this day, THIS DAY WE FIGHT, especially Jimmy even with his bum leg, Back on topic.

Agenda setting in a nutshell, is the way in which Journalists, News Papers, Television and the Internet influence what we conceive as important. That may sound a bit dystopian at first glance, but it’s negative appearance is really more like beauty and the beast, though I’d never say what’s underneath is a caring, loving man, more like a slightly less evil version (I really should stop being so pessimistic). 

In reality and more importantly back to the topic, agenda setting appears as a necessary part of the news world, that just so happens to sound incredibly evil. In our everyday lives, we are pummeled with news from every angle, some important, while others not so much. Agenda setting, is simply going through all that news and taking out what aspects are the most important of the day and running them on the News or on the internet. A quote from the lecture was, “The mass media do not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it.” This is a good description in my mind, because it provides what I think is a good description of the job of a Journo and why agenda setting is a necessary occurrence (I won’t say evil because that sounds silly).

Before I sign off again, I would just like to address the issue of news programs such as Fox news, Nine news and, ugh, ET (Entertainment Tonight). While I personally do not find any enjoyment or actual news from any of those “news channels,” I will say that they provide a necessary service concerning agenda setting. While other sources of news might focus on things such as world calamities, politics, recent scientific discovery and other less wasteful human interest stories, they provide an outlet for this type of news. This provides the general public with the opportunity to absorb all different kinds of news and is necessary in a world such as ours.

Intermission, Part 1

Considering I already admitted to my faults in my previous post, today for a special time only I would like to post a number of intermission posts, designed to serve as a little window into the complex (pfft) enigma that is my troubled noggin. The first is that I have an unhealthy obsession with all things fantasy, with the big three being Lord of the Rings, The Elder Scrolls and the a Song of Fire and Ice (Game of Thrones) worlds. I can't say what caused me to become so thoroughly obsessed with these various worlds, be it the wide country sides of bountiful explorable land (Elder Scrolls), the wonderful look into the political machine of the Game of Thrones world, or the sheer unbridled awesomeness of the Lord of the Rings movies and world. To be honest, I think it is simply the deep rich worlds that each one inhabits that has pulled me so thoroughly into there worlds, but speaking only for myself it is just pure awesome. Now I would like to leave this intermission with two of my favourite scenes from Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I would like to mention that those of you with weak stomachs may want to avoid the Game of Thrones video. Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings

Lecture 9: News Values

Week 9, saw us tackling the issue of News values. While I initially thought that News values concerned the issue of journalist values, similar to journalist ethics, I was pleasantly surprised to uncover that the actual topic of discussion involved what makes a good news story and what we as Journalists should be following, within certain parameters of course. While I can’t say that I laughed the whole way, I’ll admit that it was a fairly interesting lecture and has provided some useful future information.

The lecture dealt mainly with the four major aspects of News Values, along with Newsworthiness. The four major aspects of News Values are as follows: 

1. Impact
2. Audience Identification 
3. Pragmatics 
4. Source Influence

Newsworthiness is the confluence of all 4 of the major aspects, which is then split into multiple little fields within it. Now that may sound confusing, but in reality, it is simply just what happens as there is not one single given set of values for newsworthiness, rather each country, station or newspaper have there own set which they stick to like the 10 commandments. Below, is a list of multiple news values pertaining to newsworthiness, culminated in one big list (Note that this is only some of the news values around the world, there are many, many more out there, some longer than my combined list):

• Negativity
• Closeness to Home
• Recency
• Currency
• Continuity
• Uniqueness
• Simplicity
• Personality
• Expectedness
• Elite Nations or People
• Exclusivity
• Size
• Drama
• Visual Attractiveness
• Entertainment
• Brevity
• Personalities

And the Big 6:

1. Significance: Impact on the public
2. Proximity: Location, emotional, historical etc
3. Conflict: War, govt, celebrities and sport
4. Human Interest: Peoples lives and struggles
5. Novelty: Uniqueness of the story, That doesn’t happen very often
6. Prominence: Place in the public mind

This was the bulk of the lecture, as in my opinion is was really a light on content, high on knowledge kind of lecture. Don’t mistake this for apathy, I genuinely enjoyed the lecture for the wealth of new information I was provided and I consider it a valued piece for my future study.

The Good, the Bad and the Tacky (Lecture 8 Ethics)

Ethics in Journalism is a tricky sort of business to say the least. Not only are there specific types within the field of Journalism that we have to follow, depending on your choices of course, but there are also the influences that society places on us. Combine all of these factors and you end up with a very muddled system and a very confused Caden. However thanks to a fairly enjoyable lecture hosted by the amiable Dr. Harrison, I have come to both better understand and appreciate Ethics in Journalism.

The main aspect that could be ascertained from the first half of the lecture, was that there are four ways that things can be reported and presented in Journalism, Ethically, Unethically, in Bad taster or Good. Each one of these aspects plays a significant part in how the news is viewed and how much influence it can be expected to provide. For example, Dr. Harrison provided the cohort with 10 examples of Good, Bad and Ugly advertising. Let me first point out, that the ethics in Advertising and Journalism are very similar, so the two can be used interchangeably. 

One of TV commercials, was a smoking advert. While reported as being highly graphic and possibly disturbing, it was considered neither in bad taste or unethical. This ad went on to see large publicity and has shaped how various peoples view smoking. Another add that was shown, was a now infamous Australian tourism ad, featuring a bikini clad Lara Bingle, before all the “scandal.” This ad was considered controversial because of a phrase “Where the Bloody Hell are You?” resulting in it being pulled for television in the UK. It wasn’t helped by the fact that they used objectification of women as a selling point to come to Australia either. This resulted in the ad being in both bad taste and arguably unethical and was a significant loss for the Australian tourism industry, showing just how far a bad ad or bit of journalism can have on someone, or in this case a country.

The second half of the lecture, dealt with the three main types of ethics, Deontology, Consequentialism and Virtue Ethics. Deontology put simply, is following the external rule, the established rules of society set by others. This mainly results in Journo’s who follow everything by the books and who would probably be considered uppity by the Queen’s royal dress maker. Consequentialism would be considered the opposite of this, the rogue cop in the precinct who plays by his own rules, focusing on the end and disregarding the middle as a necessary occurrence. While not mentioned in the lecture, I imagine this is how some of the people involved in The News of the World Scandal felt, which shows just how badly this code of ethics can be. Finally we have virtue ethics, basically a toned down version of consequentialism. What sets this apart, is that it is based on the ethics and personal values of the journalist in question, deciding whether he/she is doing what is right and going only as far as they see fit. While I personally like this type of Journalism, I can’t help but see issues arising from it, depending on how far the journo is willing to go and the consequence that could potentially arise from this.

Lecture 8, while not being necessarily the most entertaining, was a very helpful lecture and really shines a light on just how black and white the whole situation is.

Apologies for late posts and all that

Hi all, once again I'm here to post about my laziness and beg for a little forgiveness from the general public. Now I know today is the day that the final blog is due and I haven't really done much of anything for a while and I'd like to apologise. Yes there have been some issues over the last couple of weeks that have played a part, but in all fairness I had control over everything and could have made some time for it. I'm not asking anyone to take pity on me, just that I hope aren't too critical. I still love you and this has been a very good course, with some useful skills be ascertained. Thankyou for being a great cohort and excellent batch of Lecturers and Teachers and I hope to see all of you throughout my studies.

Annotated Bibliography

Jour111: Annotated Bibliography

By Caden Reid

Knightley, Phillip. (2002). Journalism, Conflict and War: An introduction. Journalism Studies, 3: 2, 167-171. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/14616700220129946 

Phillip Knightley, is currently a visiting professor at the University of Lincoln and has been a professional Journalist for nearly 60 years. His area of expertise is war reporting and propaganda and he brings these skills to the table during this journal article. The main focus of the article is the lack of specialization in Journalism, which is having a negative affect on the way war and foreign correspondence is being reported. The article begins by providing examples of how, as news progresses through to a more modern setting, there are less specialized foreign correspondents, with most covering vast areas and only possessing trivial knowledge at best. He states that governments too, are becoming more aware of the impact that the 24/7 news-cycle is having on the general public and that they are using this to their advantage, specifically concerning wars and other government initiatives. He uses examples, such as the Kosovo and Balkans wars, were the combination of inexperienced Journalism and manipulative governments contorted the perception of the general public, painting a significantly more positive image of the events than was present. In closing, Knightley expressly posts a suggestion to Journalists, that they need to question what they are hearing and that they cannot take what they see, on face value only. 

Wood, Paul (Reporter) & Scott, Fred (Cameraman) (2012, February 6). Syrian Crisis: Army Steps up Homs Shelling. Retrieved from BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16915292

Paul Woods, the report speaking in this video, is reporting from within the city of Homs in Syria during the initial stages of the government bombings. One of the few reporters reporting from within Homs, Woods provides information on the bombings after they initially begun. Throughout the video, Woods shows scenes of attacks in the city and the civilian reactions to the events surrounding them. Certain individuals are see shouting in defiance, while others question the absence of the UN and Arab League and demand action on their part for some form of assistance. Toward the end of the video, woods is seen interviewing a member of the Free Syrian Army and obtaining his opinion on the matter, as well as showing rebels burying their dead under the cover of moonlight. The main issue with it however, is that there is not a scene were he is actively speaking to supporters of the regime, just those opposed or those ambivalent towards it. This results in a biased article which heavily supports the rebels, rather than proposing simple intervention which could result in some form of peaceful resolution.

Barker, Anne (Speaker). (2012). New Massacre as Syria Crisis enters Second year (Audio Recording from Radio Australia). [Podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2012-03-16/426322

The Radio Australia broadcast, spoken by Anne Barker, the ABC’s Middle East correspondent, deals with the events of the Syria crisis going into its second year. A senior reporter for the ABC, Anne Barker has been responsible for a number of broadcasts from Syria and has a wealth of experience in the region as a reporter. The main focus of the broadcast, is to provide information on events in Syria on the anniversary of the original rebellions. The main news, appears to be that the Assad regime, which was initially thought to be in trouble like many of the other toppled regimes, is in fact solidifying its position within Syria. Various celebrations of the anniversary show that support is firmly within the Assad government and outside sources state that there is still significant support for the regime. The rebels on the other hand, are both losing key members from their party and suffering significant divisions of power, which is threatening their longevity and the goals they hope to obtain. As opposed to the BBC article, this article is significantly more unbiased, with the opinions of both parties being obtained and no significant attempts being made to support one side over the other. Though the revelation of massacres being conducted by the regime paint them in a negative light, this isn’t dwelled upon significantly and the expertise and knowledge of Anne Barker shines through.

Muir, Jim (2012). Syria Crisis: Can UN Mission Succeed? Retrieved 20 May 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17829440

The BBC news internet article, written by Jim Muir, the BBC’s correspondent in Beirut (Lebanon), is concerned with the implementation of a new UN mission to Syria, the UNSMIS (UN Supervision Mission in Syria). Through the article, the author discusses the positives and negatives of the plan and the likelihood that it will be successfully implemented in the troubled state. The main problem discussed in the article, is that most UN missions are designed to assist warring states, not one that is in a partial civil war. This means that it is nearly completely untapped territory regarding former UN missions and that there are likely to be difficulties for the UN. Another problem, is that were the Syria government, or any of the number of opposition parties to break any of the agreements, it could result in a scraping of the plan and significant military action on the part of the UNSC. This could prove deadly to the civilian population of the states, which further increases the incentive to succeed. Muir, who is a senior foreign correspondent in the Middle East, provides significant details about the event in Syria, while also maintaining an unbiased opinion throughout the article. This and the fact that he is a BBC reported give credibility to his comments.

Jour1111: Assessment 3 Factual Storytelling Exercise

Living in a Nightmare:

The month is October, the year 2005 and you’ve begun to notice some irregularities. You’re feeling incredibly tired, even after long hours of sleep. Your energy levels are the lowest they’ve been since your last pregnancy and you’re feet and hands are tingling for hours on end. You’re starting to get concerned, very concerned. You talk to your husband, but again he’s no help, too concerned with his own world to even bother with someone else. With the encouragement of some friends, you take the journey to the doctors, hoping for the best, but trepidation and fear sour your thoughts.

After months of tests, MRI’s and CAT scans, the news isn’t good. It’s not the worse thing that could have happened, your son is quick to remind you, but there’s no other way to feel about it; you’ve been diagnosed with MS, multiple sclerosis and you’re devastated. A feeling of helplessness and fear courses over you, what will this mean for me? I have 4 young sons and a husband who works full time, how am I going to survive? Who’s going to help? What the hell am I going to DO!

Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, you’re shuffled off to hospital almost immediately. There you are administered steroids to help suppress your ailing immune system, hopefully preventing further damage to the nervous system. As unpleasant as the situation is, the knowledge that this is the best thing for your children is what keeps you going, even if your husband has yet to make a meaningful attempt to visit you yet.

Finally, the day has come and you are released from hospital, not felling rejuvenated as such, but the knowledge that you can finally see the kids today has you impatiently on edge and encourages  you to at least attempt feeling better. As you arrive at mums to pick up the kids, you’re greeted by tears rather than smiles, sad faces welcoming you to the devastating revelation that your grandmother has had a heart attack and is currently in hospital. To think, last year she and you picked out a burial plot as a joke, thinking back on this has you bursting with tears.

Christmas and New Years blur together, neither important nor relevant, all you can think about is grandma and how you can’t go and see her because of this stupid MS. As you sit anxious in your home, you’re greeted by some good news, grandma’s surgery was successful and she is expected to make a full recovery. Words cannot express your gratitude, but tears of happiness say everything. These tears of joy, soon turn to sorrow, pneumonia has claimed the life of your grandma and you couldn’t say goodbye.

As the grief sets in, the months fly bye, the struggle of coping with it all at once is difficult, but thanks to the kids, you’re able to find some sense of worth and meaning. Your husband on the other hand is becoming worse, spending more time by himself and widening the gap between you both, hostility replacing his usual passive demeanor. This comes to a head close to Christmas, when he and you orally spar in a crowded car ride home, culminating in him promising to never be considerate or compassionate again to you and your family, though it’s hard to remember when he was ever like this.

As 2007 begins, your husband quits work, claiming his previously undiagnosed bipolar disorder prevents him from working, though these sporadic acts are becoming less surprising. As the year stretches on, you find yourself learning to cope with your MS sufficiently, though your husband has become unresponsive, lying on his mattress on the floor, never straying to far, never accomplishing anything. As your patience grows thin with the increasingly sedentary monster he is becoming, you confront him about his behavior, begging him to try to at least accomplish something, anything. As he flies into a blinding rage, he storms from the home, screaming and ranting, right in front of two of your children.

Moments later, the phone rings, it’s him and he’s threatening suicide. As you and the children sob and beg for him to reconsider, he hangs up, leaving you all stuck, hopelessly trapped by fear and guilt. Have I caused this, is this my fault? He later calls back, admitting that he could not go through with it, but the trauma has been set and yet again, all he can think of is himself. As he leaves to go to hospital, you cannot help but feel emotionally empty, drained by the awful events that have occurred.

After this incident, you both decide that you cannot be together anymore. You feel guilty, as if you’re abandoning him, but this is for the children not him and is truly the best course of action. As 2008 goes by, you try living life on your own, attempting to date and just trying to move on. While not exactly working, you start to feel better, your ex-husband is paying monthly support and you feel as if you can move on, finally moving to a better place after years of hardship. This good fortune however, does not last into the new year, as your ex-husband has become incredibly possessive, finding out you attempted dating, with your realizing he never moved on.

In demonic fury, he removes funds completely and vacates to a new home, leaving you with nothing to sustain you or your family of 5 on. These horrible events scar you and the children, forcing you into the workforce, forcing you to sell the home and causing you to fall below the poverty line, while he hides away, still expecting sympathy. As the overwhelming sadness sets in, you are comforted by the knowledge that you still have your children, giving you the strength to continue fighting.

As this story comes to a close, I would like to reveal that the women in the story was my mother and all the events that happened are true. Thanks to my mother throughout these event, my brothers and I have always had a stable and loving base, keeping us happy when times were glum and giving us the best role model possible for our lives. Though what happened was horrible, our lives have improved over the years and the events of the past are nothing but memory. While the past was tragic, the future brings new hope and great pleasure and I look forward to embracing it with open arms and an untroubled mind. 

Caden Reid: s4264905

In the Public Eye: Lecture 7

Public Media, how are you, I know we haven’t spent much time with one another lately, but you know I love you right? Come on you could never stay mad at me, we’ve had such great times together, remember Summer Heights High, Gruen Transfer? Remember all those sleepless nights spent together, just laughing and watching well made documentaries? I knew you couldn’t stay mad at me forever, come over here you. Hilarious introductions aside, this week during lecture 7, the topic of Public media was discussed, rounding off the little two piece lecture of media types. 

Now as can be deduced from my overlong love letter, I love Public Media and always have. Looking back on my youth, I’ve always held a particular fondness for public media, the shows always had this different feel to them, like they were made for the love of television or radio, not for the money, the news especially. I remember being little watching the 7:30 report before bed and always wondering why channel 9 or 10 didn’t seem to have the same amount of info, that same feeling of definite knowledge about the topic. The shows were also very unique, there wasn’t the usual cavalcade of cheap nock offs, each one had it’s own unique flavor and shape to it, something that distinguished it from the others. Admittedly though, not all of these shows were Australia, however when you consider that many of them were imports from the BBC, my fondness still remains.

Though the world of public media has given me my far share of great memories, I’ll also say it has given me many a sad one too. A great (though sad) example of this would be the ABC’s News24 channel. Unlike Sky News, which obtains substantial funding for its news, News24 gets no extra funding at all and has to survive on the good will of others. This isn’t bad in the sense that the quality has gone down, though that does suffer, it’s bad because it emphasizes the general publics feelings toward public media. Here is a group of people trying to provide good quality round the clock news, for free, yet the government won’t invest an extra cent, far more concerned with the troubles of boat people and elections that are still years away. The public wont even ask the government to do such a thing either, far to concerned with the trivial problems of popstars and celebrities. This in my mind, is the typical approach given to much of Australia’s public media and it’s a real shame, because I believe with a little extra money and attention, we could have a truly great channel on our hands.

One problem that is becoming more prevalent as well, is that public media is starting to see an increase in commercialization. For example channels like TVNZ in New Zealand (I know, I thought it was The Czech Republic too) begun having the occasional ad spliced in between programs, as a way of creating extra revenue. As the ads begun to show more frequently and the money begun flocking in, it was only a matter of time before TVNZ became a fully fledged commercial media enterprise. This was a bad move in my mind, as similarly to what I said in my early blog about commercial media, they are eventually going to have to start thinking solely about the money, not about the quality and eventually they’ll become like every other commercial studio around, providing boring comedy and cliched drama. 

Finally I would like to talk about the style of news in Public media as compared to commercial media. While commercial media blurts out news whenever it can, regardless of the facts or authenticity, the ABC (SBS to some extent), take a very labored approach, not releasing any information until they are certain the facts are 100% true. This has led to the ABC consistently providing a high level of news over the years compared to it’s fellow competitors. This might be seen as a miss step in today’s society, with the majority of people wanting their news hard and fast, but it’s good to remember that this slow deliberate news style has payed dividends in the past for the ABC and then some. 

Public Media to me, is something that I’ve always aspired to be a part of. While others have fallen for the glitz and glamour of commercial media, I’ve always seen public media as something entirely different, a bastion for the free thinkers and a realm of solitude for those hungry for more. Dr. Redman really did provide an exceptional lecture this week with regards to public media and it has personally heightened my desire to be apart of it.

Show me the Money (Lecture 6)

So just prior to the break, we started what I like to consider a two piece lecture, dealing with the spheres of media, commercial and public. We begun by discussing the field of Commercial media, which in all honesty was actually quite bland, not because of Dr. Redman, but rather because I think commercial media is painfully boring. I’m not getting into Journalism to learn about the mysteries of the business world (though that is semi-important to all fields) and in all honesty that’s all commercial media is to me. 

Commercial media, is any media that is owned and operated by corporations, i.e. for the money and the investors. It is a strange form of media in my opinion, because the main focus, at lest from where I stand appears to be on making businesses money rather than providing the customer with quality. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of quality radio and television coming out of the Commercial Media sector, but it all just seems a little compromised, especially when you consider digital free to air channels like TV4Me and Extra, are being designed with the sole purpose of marketing crap to gullible fools. That last comment was a bit vindictive, but in all honesty, there is never anything of quality advertised in those 20 minutes aneurysm tests and those who go out buying any of it  and expecting high quality items should be slapped 3 or 4 times in the face with an abnormally large tuna.

Commercial media also survives and dies based on the success of their business practices. This is probably the most dangerous aspect of all commercial media in my mind and explains why businesses involved with it often have multiple ventures. For example, News Limited, which owns many major newspapers in Australia (like the courier mail, the Australian) also owns Twentieth Century Fox and the NRL in Australia, both financially successful business ventures. The money from this can than be repurposed back into less profitable sectors, while still providing the business with a net profit higher than its losses. This highlights just how significantly these business depend on multiple ventures. However this particular model really does unnerve and irritate me, because the focus isn’t on whether something is a good idea, but rather on whether it will make money.

Now in all fairness, going through the function and form of commercial media would just be an insult to the intelligence of you, my loyal readers, so I’ll just say that the entire process  infuriates me. Though something mentioned in the lecture has made me truly mad, the fact that the National government invested billions of dollars in these channels to encourage them to go digital. Now I’m not going to call myself an expert on the subject, but I find it particularly insulting that the government would just invest all this money into what is effectively the businesses stocks, while neglecting the ABC yet again. 

These channels are not owned by the government and they certainly weren’t suffering under any significant financial stress, yet Stephen Conroy just flung money at them like it was infected with the ebola virus. This is particularly frustrating when you consider that the ABC had not had anything even remotely close given to it in years, but still had to find a way to switch to digital and publish multiple new channels as well, ABC news24 suffering particularly. If you ask me, I’m surprised there wasn’t more significant uproar from the general public when this occurred, I mean this is our money that they spent, money that should have gone to the ABC or SBS, the channels owned and operated by the government, channels that we are taxed to pay for.

Today, the state of commercial media is almost laughable. Where shows like A Current Affair use to be tasked with finding hard hitting news stories and tackling genuinely troubling events, they are now only concerned with ways to prevent weight gain and stopping those naughty police with their traffic cameras. Where news was once inclined to put out stories because they thought that the public needed to know, they now release stories pertaining to Actors without make up and the various affairs of drug induced celebrities. In my honest opinion, I could very much see a world without commercial media being a better one for all of us, especially when considering the ABC can produce higher quality news and a better standard of comedy, drama and documentary on half the budget.

Lecture 5: Radio

Radio, the ancestor of today’s Mass Media, the perennial juggernaut still maintaining a sizeable audience well past it youth. It is encouraging to say the least that radio is still a heavy hitter in today’s media saturated society, and fills me with endless glee just thinking that one day I might have a show to call my own. Yes as you may have guessed, week 5’s lecture was on the topic of Radio and presented to us through the medium of sound, an mp3 download. Before I begin, I would like to say that having it as a downloadable file in my mind, was the best move for something like radio and makes my attempt to write about it seem strange in comparison. The lecture was sectioned into two halves, one consisting of an interview with Richard Fidler of Conversations fame and one with Steve Austin the host of mornings. Considering the first half dealt with Richard, I feel it would be fitting to begin with him.

Richard Fidler is a literal jack of all trades, stumbling blindly through life opportunity to life opportunity, going from busker on the streets, to a recognisable face in the world of sound. This journey has left its mark too and has provided Richard with a wealth of experience in the world of radio, some of which he was willing to disclose to us, the very lucky listeners. Some of his words of wisdom were fairly straight forward, but on recollection, it’s amazing how easily they are overlooked. 

Certain advise like being enthusiastic and interested in the topic may sound like  obvious information, but it is a trap to think that you can get away with it, because the audience is unlikely to invest themselves if the host is about as interested as a vegetarian at pork sampling convention. This particular advise stands out, as it highlights what makes radio unique, the voice. The key, as was stated by Richard, is that when on radio you cannot simply act as you would on television, radio as a form of media is intimate, it lives within the mind of the listener and this intimacy has to be captured through thoughtful questions, astute retorts and a genuine attitude that can only be described as trustworthy. The host needs to use his/her voice to paint a picture, describing the beauty of a sun drenched flower or conveying the tremendous solemn sadness of a car crash. 

Another significant piece of information, was that silence is sometimes the best response. As was said in the interview, silence can often be a subtle hint to the interviewee that we want to here more, that what they are saying can and should be continued at length. This is something I think more interviewers should adopt, because it appears to give (based on what Richard said) the interviewee a chance to really reveal something they haven’t thought about in years and create this aura of empathy and trust between them and the interviewer, something the audience will love and feed on. If I had to provide any advise of my own, it would be that Fidler needs to perform these interviews more often, because the advise on offer in this short interview was exceptional and it would be highly beneficial to here it provided more often.

The story of Steve Austin was a rather different tale, instead of a man of the world, we have a man without guidance, a man lost in the world. Steve Austin had little idea of where he was going, he had no tertiary education, he hadn’t even finished high school, yet while on a prolonged motorcycle ride it hit him, he was destined for radio. Starting out at the bottom of the bottom, Steve clamoured his way through the ranks, his resolve his only companion. Eventually through true spunk and determination, Mr. Austin emerged the victor and is now a well know (at least in Queensland) host of the ABC program mornings, as well as various others.

While that introduction did drag on for a bit, it does actually hold a purpose and that is to highlight what we should all aspire to be like. As Steve said during the interview, not all of us are born to be successes right out of the gate. For some of us, it’s a struggle just to get into the business let alone progress beyond that. If we truly want to be successful in this world, it is going to take more than a can-do attitude, it will require, neigh demand that we put our all into it, that we strive to attain our goals with the fervour an aptitude of a renaissance man and never let failure prevent us from obtaining our dreams. Only then, after all our energy has been spent, that all we can give has been given, will truly obtain whatever glory is waiting for us. This part really stuck out for me in Steve’s interview and it is some of the best advise I’ve been given.

So far, this has been one of my favourite lectures yet, with the quality of the interviewees and questions the real highlight. It has made me really look forward to my future and were I to accidentally stumble my way into radio, well I can’t say I’d be unhappy. 

Lecture 2: A Review in Hindsight part 2

So to finish off this 2 piece extravaganza, well not extravaganza exactly, more series of recaps, I would like to discuss what my experience of the Lecture 2 was like. Lecture 2 was an interesting lecture, throwing us into the deep end of Journalism by introducing us to the future of Journalism and the news. The topic in question was New News, with the main point of discussion revolving around the possible avenues that News will take in the future and what we, as journalism students can look forward to as the possible environment we could all be working in eventually.

Briefly though, the topic of old news was discussed. For the unenlightened among us, old news generally refers to three prominent forms of news media, newspaper, television and radio, with magazines in my opinion be grouped with other text based forms of news. I find it kind of strange referring to these things as old news, I mean there are still some people alive who were born before television, though compared to the various forms of media available today, it is basically a grandparent/great-grandparent. I do agree with Dr. Redman though, in that these forms appeal more to the mass community, trying to reach the most sizable audience possible, while keeping things broad and general. Going by this, it is no surprise that it is referred to as old media, as today’s media is getting substantially more localized. 

For arguments sake, look at the various iterations of channel 10 news. Not only are there  local group specifically for all the major cities across Australia, when I visit my family in central Queensland, the news is further localized still with news generally consisting of the Central Highlands region and Rockhampton. It seems these days that what people want more than anything is news on their own community, rather than the assumed stereotype of the average Australia.

After the prolonged conversation on Old Media, it was time that the lecture begun talking about New Media, mainly the Web. The topic started off on Web 1.0, the information web. Now considering my father loved to use the web, I was introduced at a young age and have fond memories of this old version of the web. Well actually, to recall them as fond would be a bit of a lie, I mainly recall them as boring and fairly trivial, mainly because the focus wasn’t on the user, but on the corporation. Everywhere you looked, there was one add supporting bill’s will, another for tim’s bins and many of the hilarious adds for adult themed websites. Yes as was stated in the lecture and as will be paraphrased here, Web 1.0 was less interested in letting you have a good time and chatting with friends and more inclined to let shops and businesses advertise. In my opinion, that still happens, but there are more distractions that allow you to avoid paying attention, which is a 100% success in my books.

The topic then shifted to Web 2.0, which is basically the current phase that we are at, called New Media in the Lecture. I found this to be a fairly straight forward topic, considering I’m living with Web 2.0, but viewing it as a progression, it is fairly interesting the Web has actually advanced to this stage. The reason being, is that during the mid 90’s early 00’s, there was this almost apocalyptic idea amongst early computer users, that computers would be a way for humans to escape from their various rat races, embracing the comfort of the computer without the need to constantly socialize with others or rely on their contact to sustain us. But humans, being the social creatures we are, just can’t seem to get away from one another and low and behold, Web 2.0, the social net. Yes rather than finding little need for one another, we seem to have found in insatiable hunger to never be without them. It seems that all people seem to do on the internet these days is spend their time muling over old photos, reminiscing about experiences that occurred ten minutes ago and generally being in constant contact. In my opinion this isn’t a bad thing, social interaction is part of the human experience, however I do think a little restraint is good every now and then, Mozart didn’t need the constant company of family and friends poking him and shouting 140 character sentences to write his masterpieces, to be sure.

The final topic with regards to “New News”, was Web 3.0 the Semantic Web (dun dun dun). The Semantic web at this moment is more of an idea, an aspiration for those techno savvy among us, with the idea being that the internet will actually learn from what we do. Basically, it means that the various programs we use on the internet will share information about us among themselves and work out our pattern of behavior and begin to adjust itself to suit us better. For example, say your a music nut, you’ve got over 300 bands liked on Facebook, regularly looking for chances to meet these people and spending an obscenely large amount of time gushing to others about it. These various programs would them compile a database on all these activities, using that information to inform you about new concerts, setting dates in your calendar to inform you when news bands are set to arrive and providing you with regular music suggestions based on what you listen to and how often you listen. Obviously we aren’t here yet, but it’s getting pretty clear that this isn’t far off either, itunes and Facebook being great examples of how it will look in the future, though it will be an internet wide thing, rather than application based. It also means, that things will begin to become more highly localized, as the need to cater to a persons immediate surroundings will outshine their need to know about the world.

This information poses a serious question for all budding journalists then as to what their place will be in this new world of ours. Now I know that comment was fairly overdramatic, but the topic was discussed in the lecture and I though it was worth the retread. With the Semantic Web ushering a new age of news, one of hyper-localization and a more centralized state, what can be the expected outcome for those among us who specialize in foreign affairs or are interested in global politics, the answer, was not given in the lecture, however I have an idea on what might happen. I think honestly, there is a significant minority of people still fixated on the world outside their own (me to a degree) and what’s likely going to happen is that it will form its own little niche. That’s just my opinion, but I honestly have no issues with this occurring, as it’s almost a niche now.

The final topic of the Lecture, was basically a look into the future (again) of Internet News, specifically whether entitlement will kill the business. For those of you in the lecture you’ll recall this as the part where we were given jellybeans, but to those of you not at the lecture, it was basically discussing the topic of payed internet news and whether the general public would likely protest and riot (possibly) this new change. This was an interesting section of the lecture and one where both sides have significant and altogether justified responses. Now I cannot begin to go into this argument, it’s likely I’ll write a separate blog on the topic later, but I definitely thought it was one worth discussing. The one section I will call on, was that Rupert Murdoch is one of the patriarchal figures in the movement to introduce it, which cause so many problems. It would seem, that there would be significant public dissent if any such move by our good buddy uncle Rupert was behind it, causing a significant blow to it ever being widely accepted by the public, at least that’s what I think would happen.

Having spent some time writing this out, it is quite interesting to think back on and realize just how important this lecture was. It’s provided me with a lot to think about and the inspiration to write a certain article for you all later.

Just an Update

Hello to the very few, just a brief announcement, I would like to officially inform all that I have purchased a new computer, please the applause aren't necessary, it is as much a gift to me as it is to you. I will admit though, that I am still learning the ropes, it being a completely new operating system and the appearance of my blogs my look a little off. Recently the Lecture 4 and recap of Lecture 1 were posted and they both look slightly off (In my opinion, but I do care what the rest of you think), but not to worry because I will have fixed it all by the end of my next post, which should be up shortly. Thank you to the very few here reading this, you are much appreciated.

Lecture 1: A Review in Hindsight part 1

So, it has been a while since those very first weeks of university hasn’t it? It seems like only yesterday we were all just star eyed youngsters walking into our first University lecture (not me specifically, I tried my hand at psychology first, but I have memories too damnit), gawking at the size of the projector and the impersonality of it all, the lecturer didn’t know my name, and he wasn’t waiting for anyone. Yet as I entered with trepidation into Jour1111 for that first time, the atmosphere was rather peaceful, like some sort of zen experience. The lecturer, Dr. Bruce Redman was very enthusiastic about what he was saying and there was a genuine aura of excitement radiating from him, like the very presence of so many students was just the most glorious thing to behold.

Now as first lectures go, there wasn’t much in the way of content here, but that isn’t something completely unusual with regards to first times, overloading such young supple minds is hardly the way to make friends and the vibe I got for Dr. Redman was very much, your here and I’m going to tell you why you should stay. Throughout the lecture, the impression that I felt, was really along the lines of respect and admiration, from my peers and Dr. Redman, a sort of mutual trust that by participating and really putting ourselves out there, we were going to learn something truly beneficial. 

While light on content, one thing was said during this lecture that did stick with me, a rarity to be sure, That I am the Journalist (I apologize for the possible paraphrasing) one of the very first things Dr. Redman said. On its own, the statement is fairly unassuming, but when viewed after a bit of time and with a bit of hindsight, the comment is far more apt. 

For you see, the idea, the very essence of the course, is that we are coming to learn what it takes to be a Journalist. While that statement sounds redundant, the point it’s trying to make, is that Journalism is not like science or psychology, it is an art form, something that needs to be worked on, refined and in time, perfected. Being a Journalist is more than just taking the various pieces of  daily information and regurgitating them on your preferred medium, it’s about molding those bits and pieces of the day and turning them into something worth reading, watching or hearing, it’s about making stories, not stories you find in a book, or stories you find in a video game, but stories endemic to journalism, news stories! 

By being the Journalist, we are taking on this responsibility of writing or recording these pieces of art and it is up to us how they will be seen by the world. Whether we end up in sports, investigative, gardening or science, it is up to us to make the best of these environments and be the Journalist.

Picture This: Lecture 4

So recently, well not entirely recently but fairly recently, the topic of pictures telling stories came up in week 4’s lecture. Speaking for myself and most likely a significant portion of the populace, it can be difficult to imagine life without pictures. They’re everywhere, for the massive billboards that litter the roads, to minute banner ads that litter the internet, they are a literal part of most westerner’s life and we wouldn’t have it any other way. But there was a time when pictures were relegated to the lead story of the daily newspaper, or relegated to a more supporting role in textbooks. Yes it wasn’t that long ago that the idea of even telling a complete tale with pictures was seen as unfeasible, yet here we are today, with TV, film and the humble paper doing just that.

I must admit, delving into the history of pictures was an intriguing one, especially the topic of stain glass windows. In all honesty I had no idea why churches had them, but learning that they were there to support and in some cases tell their own stories was very interesting, I’d always thought of them as things designed to make churches feel more welcoming, but it made a lot of sense that they were there to tell stories. I’m not sure how old Dr. Redman is, but I’m almost certain that when the topic of picture taking in its infancy was brought up, a subtle jab was aimed at the cohort and I that we shouldn’t take our pictures for granted and cherish the little tykes for as long as we have them. It must have been a shock to pick up a copy of the Daily Graphic one day and for the first time ever, seeing an image printed in all its black and white glory. I can only imagine what it must have been like later on in Scotland to go and pick up the daily copy of the Scottish Daily Mail and see, instead of the traditional black and white photo, a full colour shot nearly leaping off the front page, haggis would have been flying that day, to be sure.

What was interesting as well was that the lecture itself was not limited solely to stationary pictures, but broadens itself to include those treasured of all items moving pictures or movies. I found it a bit nostalgic to be reminded that not only were movies a great step forward for us as means of telling stories, but also a viable option for providing news to the populace. While going through the old films on the screen, I couldn’t help but think back to stories my grandparents had told me of weekend showcases, where news and films were show together in unison, providing the viewer with a good dose of international news and entertainment. However as is the tale of our modern technological age, this was not to last, and television soon became both the home of news and the prime medium for the telling of stories.

Yes since its inception, the television has been the prime location for the telling and relaying of news, the first broadcast in Australia being a news broadcast. It was fascinating to see the early images of how weather was initially broadcast as opposed to today’s green screen madness. What I did like though, was seeing that things such as 24hour news channels are actually growing in popularity. I don’t know about you, but this thirst for news is just beautiful words to the ears of the budding journalist such as myself, and honestly I could see myself going into something very similar when I graduate. 

All in all, I’ll say that I never really considered the grand effect that pictures have had on the world of news and storytelling. I’ll be sure to pay much more attention to these under or over appreciated gems in the future and never neglect them again, because if we do, they may go the way of myspace and no one deserves that.

Media Use and Production Diary

Introduction:

Over the course of ten days, I have been recording the various sources and platforms that I gather my news from. The results from this experiment have been quite revealing, and I’ve see a much more news hungry side of me than I ever thought existed. However it was also interesting to see just how I have compared with my fellow class mates and I get the feeling that we do not all see eye to eye on what our predominant media is.

The Results: 

Media use in Minutes Per Day	16/03/2012	17/03/2012	18/03/2012	19/03/2012	20/03/2012	21/03/2012	22/03/2012	23/03/2012	24/03/2012	25/03/2012	Cumulative results
Newspaper (hard copies)	30	0	45	30	20	0	30	15	15	45	230
Radio	0	0	15	0	15	0	0	10	5	0	45
Television	60	60	60	60	75	60	80	65	50	45	615
Smart Phone	35	30	30	25	45	40	20	15	30	25	295
Blogs	15	30	0	0	0	25	15	5	5	10	105
Facebook	30	10	0	15	10	20	5	25	30	15	160
Internet( BBC, Courier Mail, Brisbane times etc)	60	45	50	65	45	45	30	60	55	35	490
Total Minutes											1940

 

 

 

During the 10 days I recorded this information, I have accumulated 1940 minutes of media use, specifically news information. This equates to approximately 1 1/3 days of news absorption. TV was the dominant medium, garnering a whooping 32% of Media consumed, followed by internet news at 25%. Both traditional newspapers and smart phone news got 12% and 15% respectively, but the real winner of my attention was the television. 

Analysis:

 

Over the course of the ten days, I found myself constantly using the same programs and venturing to the same websites everyday, with little variety to spice any of it up. For my TV news, I spent the majority of my time on Channel ten, watching things like The Project, the 5pm news (on occasion) and their new morning show. For internet usage, the main website visited was the BBC, with news on the Syrian Uprising being the one ongoing story I followed most religiously. This evidence suggest, that while I personally believe that old people are creatures of habit, it might just be that we youngsters abuse familiarity just as ferociously.

What did strike me as unusual behavior, at least were I am concerned, is that my use of the internet has significantly increased. While my use of the internet for news came in at roughly 75 minutes a day, my general usage was up at 190 minutes a day, which is more than 3hours!

Evaluation of Media and Production Use:

 

Media Production: 

I thought I would discuss my media production first, because it was the one that struck me as the most unusual. Whilst I've never particularly thought of myself as someone who frequently produces his own media, thinking back over my ten days of recorded information, as well as in the past, I've come to realize that I produce far more than I thought. 

For example, on the day that I've typed this evaluation, I've put out 2 posts on facebook, 3 links on twitter and done some more work on my blogs (more will be up soon, I promise). Along with all this, I've also realized, that during my youth, I actually produced and made my own internet show, as well as some embarrassing clip art videos that can only be described as fan fiction (O the horror). This revelation of sorts, has reawakened my mind somewhat and made me appreciate how simple it is to involve myself in media production, but also on how much I have enjoyed it. For your viewing pleasure, I thought that I would add one of my videos from YouTube. This one was the most popular, so enjoy! Doctor Evil Pants.

Internet (Facebook, Internet News and Blogs):

When I first begun this media diary, I was originally planning on having internet fall under one category, however I found that I frequented 3 main sources so much, that each was actually large enough to form its own category, Facebook, Internet News and Blogs. 

These fields were particularly interesting, because they showed just how similar we are with one another, but how different we are based on the finer details. For example, while I spent a large portion of my time everyday, roughly 3-3.5hours on the net, my time was not spent dominated by Facebook. Rather I caught myself frequenting sites such as the BBC or The Escapist far more often, while facebook languished in the background, fed on nothing but pity checks and likes. I also noticed, that while 32% of the cohort are reading blogs, I never give the light of day to any but a select few, who also constitute the ones I go to for news. 

When it came to news however, I did notice that there were some marked similarities between me and the rest of the cohort. For example, Internet News rated at number 2 with TV gaining a slight edge, which was very similar to my own experience and even though Facebook was one of the things I went to for news the least (falling 5th in percentage), it was still very much the same as the rest of the group, as it finished 4th in percentage. 

In short, I was actually surprised by how many small differences and similarities between us, which just stands to prove that, while we are very similar, we are also very different.

Traditional Media (Newspapers, Radio and Television):

 Over the course of the 10 days, I found myself using far more traditional media than I thought I ever would. Television came in at number one for both my source of media and my source of news, with newspapers only be edged out by smart phones to place 4th in the number of sources for news. Radio was used very sparingly, but due to me not driving and a poor phone battery, I rarely ever go to it.

I found, that the main reason I turn into the TV for news and media so often, was that it provided me with the opportunity to relax and let everything come to me without any sort of mental energy required. It proved that after a stressful day, that it was much easier to turn to something like the Project, because it not only provides information on the events, but a light breezy form of entertainment. I'm not sure whether or not this was the reasoning with the rest of my fellow students, but it was interesting to note that most people gathered their news from TV, with internet, newspaper and facebook falling behind.

In a similar vein, newspapers provided me with a great way to relax on those tedious train rides home and it must be send, while it is a very old person thing to do, I thoroughly enjoyed waking up in the mornings to a nice cup of tea and a Sunday Mail. It seems too, that the rest of the cohort feels the same, because newspapers actually came in significantly higher than I expected in terms of number of readers, mirroring my own with both falling within the top 5 (3 and 4 respectively) of top sources for news, who says traditional media is dead!

Smart Phone:

 This is honestly the form of media that surprised me the most, because I would never consider how much use I actually get out of my phone. What was particularly surprising was that this appears to be something endemic, at least in regards to the rest of Jour1111. For example, in the top sources of news for the grade are, TV, Internet News, Newspapers, Facebook and Radio, while for me, they were TV, Internet News, Smart Phone, Newspapers and Facebook. Even if I were to consider the other category which would likely house Smart Phone news, it comes it at a 3.5%, or 15 people out of 436 people. This news genuinely shocked me, because 15% of all my news was gathered from my phone and I expected everyone else to be in a similar vein.

What was also surprising, was that I use my phone significantly more as a gaming platform than I ever considered. I found myself ideally wasting away hours play games like fruit ninja or Zenonia (yes I'm a nerd) than I did playing actual consoles.