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.