Lecture 12 Reflection - The End of JOUR1111

Today was our final lecture for JOUR1111.  We had a guest lecturer this afternoon, Steve Molks.  He is the creator and blogger of Molks TV Talk.  He started his blog two years ago and now has his own mini empire.  Steve Molks talked about his passion for journalism and television, and how he has been able to combine the two. 

Todays lecture was proof of everything Dr Redman has talked about throughout the semester.  How the technology of the 21^st century gives us the ability to be journalists now.  We can all easily report news and be blogging to get our name out there.  That is exactly what Steve Molks has done, and now he is reviewing television for several different media outlets.  Steve Molks continually emphasised the importance of Twitter, and reporting things via Twitter instantly.  He shared with us some of his favourite journalists that he likes to follow.

Although I realise how important Twitter is for journalists, and for keeping up to date with breaking news, I have honestly found it really hard to get into this semester.  I am going to try use Twitter more throughout the rest of my degree, as it is so prominent and is only going to become more important as time goes on and as technology continues to advance.   

Overall, I have enjoyed this subject this semester.  I feel like it was a good way to start my journalism degree, and has certainly made me eager to continue to learn more about journalism. 

Our final JOUR1111 Tutorial

Today was our final tutorial for JOUR1111.  We finished the tutorial program by watching a documentary about the New York Times.  The documentary gave an insight to what goes on at the New York Times.  It discussed the challenges the newspaper has faced regarding ‘the death of newspapers’.  The fear of dying newspapers is something that is very evident in the 21^st century due to ever changing and developing technology.  It is so easy now to access news online for free, which makes buying newspapers unnecessary to some people. 

The documentary talked a lot about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, which came up briefly in our last lecture.  I am still yet to decide if I think Julian Assange is doing the right thing by exposing all the information that he has.  Sometimes I wonder why the information has been hidden from the public in the first place.  When I was travelling around Africa in January I met a family who had been personally affected and endangered by him.  They are a family that works in Africa for the American Embassy, their names were released in some documents that Assange revealed.  They had very strong opinion on him, and believe that he should locked up for what he has done.  They know a lot of other families that have also had personal and private information leaked by Assange, which can really put them in danger.

Overall, I have enjoyed all of my JOUR1111 tutorials this semester.  They have all been really helpful for assessments and to further understand content that is covered in lectures. 

Lecture 11 Reflection - Investigative Journalism

Today’s lecture was all about investigative journalism.  I find investigative journalism very interesting and inspiring, as it is so powerful and has the potential to really change the world, and how people perceive certain things.    A perfect example of a recent piece of investigative journalism that really changed Australia was the episode by Four Corners about Australia’s cattle exports to Indonesia.  It was only a matter of hours after this episode aired that there was a national debate about Australia’s cattle export to Indonesia.  Then not long after the episode was shown our national policies on exporting cattle was completely changed. 

Today Dr Redman discussed in detail a piece of investigative journalism that he worked on, The Moonlight State.  The Moonlight State was also produced by Four Corners; it exposed the corruption that existed in the Queensland police force.   Dr Redman emphasised how much work and research is put into investigative journalism.  Two years of extensive research was put into The Moonlight State, which ended up being a 30 minute episode.  Once this episode did go to air, it brought down members of government and a lot of police. 

Although there is much debate about whether Julian Assange can be considered a journalist, there is no denying that the WikiLeaks publisher has exposed information that changed the world.  In some way his work can be categorised as investigative journalism, as is has revealed inside information, but just not in an ethical way.

Investigative journalism is extremely serious stuff, it is very critical and thorough journalism, and is all about questioning the facts, and what has been presented to us.  The following are some important aspects to consider when working on investigative journalism:

Intelligent – well thought out and know what you are trying to find before you go after it

Informed – know the major facts and people involved

Intuitive – is this dangerous to me or other people

Inside – get the inside information

Intimate – know what is going on from the inside view, you need to be trusted

Invest – you need to invest a lot of yourself, money, time, and mental health, as it is very serious

Investigative journalists bring power to the powerless, and voices to the voiceless.  They represent the interests of those who do not have the power to speak out, and are able to balance the power of the government. 

Lecture 10 Reflection - Agenda Setting

Today’s lecture was all about agenda setting and how the media has the power to construct reality.  Dr Redman took us through the history of agenda setting, beginning in the 1920’s.  Agenda setting has continued to develop and change over time; I found the history of 1930’s particularly interesting because of its reference to Hitler’s propaganda.  Hitler’s propaganda was so powerful that it set the agenda for the Holocaust and World War II.

 

There are four different types of agenda setting and each of them are inter related.  There is public, policy, corporate and media agenda setting. 

Public Agenda Setting - the set of topics that members of the public perceive as important 

Policy – issues that decision makers think are salient

Corporate – issues that big businesses and corporations think are important

Media – issues discussed in the media

People argue that the mass media do not merely reflect and report reality, but filter and shape it.  Due to the fact that news is so constant, and there is always so much of it, journalists obviously need to filter news.  They filter the news in relation to news values and what is important at the time.  One of the important news values is locality; obviously the audience wants to read news that is relevant to them and where they live.  This is something that has major influence over what news is published and where. 

Dr Redman talked about the ‘bandwagon effect’.  The bandwagon effect refers to when a news story goes viral on the internet, in the 21^st century this is quite a common occurrence.  A perfect example is KONY.  With the way people use the internet at the moment it is so easy for a news topic to go viral in minutes and reach people all over the world.  Mass media outlets and other advertising companies use this tendency to their advantage, to spread news and other trends quickly.  As the internet and other social media outlets continue to expand and become even more popular and accessible throughout the world we will only see the bandwagon effect become more popular and common.

I found what Dr Redman said about the development of the 24 hour news cycle very interesting.  In the 21^st century news has developed into a constant news cycle that we have access to 24 hours a day. The way news works in the 21^st century is so different from the way it used to work.  The morning paper used to set the agenda for the day, and that agenda would not change until the next paper was released the following morning.  Now prime time is all the time, it a story breaks in the middle of the day it will be published and we will instantly have access to that story online.  

 

The media do play a large role in constructing reality, as the medias concentration on particular issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.  Due to the fact that the news is so constant, and there is always so much of it, the news does need to stay focussed so we are reading what is most important. 

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography focuses on the current media coverage of the Allison Baden Clay murder, focussing mainly on her funeral, and how her husband has been portrayed in the light of the media.  Each source that has been analysed presents a slightly different portrayal of Allison Baden Clays husband, Gerard Baden Clay.  The media coverage of the funeral was all quite similar, which shows that journalists were working off the same press release.  In a tragic event such as this, this is a good thing, as it means there were minimal media outlets at the funeral.  The academic text that is used in this annotated bibliography discusses how trauma can be enhanced on the community and family members when mass amounts of media outlets appear not only to cover the funeral, but the entire story in general.  A journalist’s job is to be the eyes and ears of the community, without increasing the trauma of a family and community further (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010).

Kay, L., Reilly, R.C., Connolly, K., & Cohen, S. (2010) Help or Harm?  Symbolic Violence, secondary trauma and the impact of press coverage on a community.  Journalism Practice, 4:4, pp. 421-438. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512780903429829

The authors of this article discuss the secondary trauma and symbolic violence that can result from the news coverage of a traumatic event (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010, p. 421).  The main author, Linda Kay is the Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Journalism at Concordia University.  Her extensive knowledge about journalism makes the content of this article exceptionally credible.  Kay and the Concordia University Community Resilience Research Team carried out extensive research on the way that press coverage of a traumatic event in a community can affect the victims, community members, and the community itself (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010, p. 422).  They carried out this research in a small community in Quebec.  The town of only 2000 people experienced a traumatic event in 2005 where a sixteen year old girl was abducted and murdered.  Throughout the disappearance, funeral, and ongoing murder investigations, the town was inundated with media outlets and journalists.  Each journalist was fighting for interviews with residents, and for the latest news regarding the disappearance (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010, p. 423).  The results of the research conducted proved that five key themes are evident in relation to the impact news coverage can have on a community.  The five themes are: alienation from the community, anger at the media’s public construction of the media, intrusion on community life, intrusion on the private process of grief, and triggering renewed feelings of loss and grief.  Kay stresses how important it is for journalists to report these highly traumatic events with sensitivity and empathy.  Kay believes the mandate for traumatic events is clear: get the story and get it fast (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010, pp. 422- 425). 

Dalton, T. (2012, May 12). Posies, a boxful of tissues and tears for the mum gone.  The Courier Mail, pp. 4-6.

A traumatic event that has recently affected the community of Brookfield is the murder of much loved and respected mother, Allison Baden-Clay.  The Courier Mails news article, written by Trent Dalton, covered the funeral of Allison Baden-Clay.  The content in Dalton’s article can be considered highly credible as Dalton has a well respected reputation throughout Australia, being considered one of Australia’s best feature journalists.  The article was written with respect to the late mother and wife, it did not draw upon any of the gossip or suspicion surrounding the murder investigation, unlike the news clip by Nine News.  The article focussed upon on the emotions of her daughters, husband, and other family members at the funeral.  It portrayed her family as being incredibly upset throughout the duration of the funeral.  The article also reflected upon the great respect Allison had from loved ones, and her community (Dalton, 2012, pp. 4-6).  In comparison to the other news articles that have been analysed, this article is definitely the most thoughtful and displays the most respect towards Allison’s family.  Compared to the news clip about Gerard Baden Clays affair, this article would not bring further trauma to the family who are trying to grieve, especially to the young girls.  Dalton reported the traumatic event like a good journalist should, with sensitivity and respect to Allison’s family, and the Brookfield community.

Beveridge, S. (Writer). (2012, May 11). Sister promises justice for Allison [Television broadcast]. Brisbane, Australia: Ten News.  http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/justice-for-allison-her-familys-vow-20120511-1ygrm.html

Ten News’ short broadcast of Allison Baden-Clays funeral focussed more on the murder investigation, rather than the funeral itself.  The news clip restates what Allison’s sister, Vanessa Flower, pledged at the funeral: “We will bring you to justice, and put the pieces of the puzzle together to answer the many questions that remain unanswered.” (Beveridge, 2012)  The news clip then restates the facts of Allison’s disappearance and the discovery of her body.  The footage used in this news clip focussed mainly upon Gerard Baden Clay, showing him crying outside the church (Beveridge, 2012).  Ten News broadcasts news throughout Australia on a daily basis, it is nationally recognised as one of Australia’s most prominent sources of news, it is therefore considered a credible source.  Compared to Courier Mail’s newspaper article, this was a very concise story, where as the courier mail talked a lot about the emotions of the family.  The information about the funeral that was included in the news clip was the same information used in Dalton’s newspaper article, which shows that all the media outlets would have used the same press release to cover this story.

Gates, A. (Writer). (2012, May 20). Baden Clay ‘knew of husbands affair’ [Television Broadcast]. Brisbane, Australia: 9 News. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8470325/baden-clay-knew-of-husbands-affair

Nine News’ crime reporter Alyshia Gates spoke live on May 12, announcing that there had been another twist in the Allison Baden Clay murder investigation.  The new twist regarding the murder investigation is the confirmation that Gerard Baden Clay was having an affair with former co worker, Toni McHugh.  At the beginning of the report Gates states that: “Nine News understands Allison’s husband, Gerard had been having several affairs which are now the subject of the police investigation.”  Gates put emphasis on ‘several affairs’ in the report, despite the fact that only one affair has been officially confirmed.  Gates then continues to say that Toni McHugh is one of several people the police have spoken, to including Gerard Baden Clay.  Gates once again puts emphasis on the fact that Gerard Baden Clay has been interviewed by police (Gates, 2012).  The academic article by Linda Kay discusses how damaging it is for the affected families when the media reports on gossip surrounding a murder investigation (Kay, Reilly, Connolly, & Cohen, 2010, p. 421).  This murder investigation has been the subject of a lot of gossip throughout Brisbane, and reports like this do not help in controlling this gossip.  Although Nine News is considered a reputable media outlet in Australia, this news clip says that Gerard Baden Clay has had several affairs, when only one has been confirmed.  Unlike the article by The Courier Mail, which reflects positively on Allison’s life, news clips such as this one would increase trauma in Allison Baden Clays family, who are trying to deal with grief. 

Lecture 9 Reflection - NEWS VALUES

“Journalism is the first draft of history.”

 

In this afternoons lecture Dr Redman talked about news values, and what makes something news worthy.  As of this week in JOUR1111 we will be focusing on journalism studies subjects, which is the more heavy duty theoretical journalism material.  News values are based on the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid to the story by the audience.  Media outlets can determine what the audience gives attention to by deciding what to publish and give importance to. 

“Journalists rely on instinct rather than logic when it comes to defining a sense of news values.”

 – John Sergeant

Dr Redman took us through the history of news values and how newsworthiness has developed and changed over time.  The 12 factors of news worthiness was very interesting and basically summed up the importance of news values.  We also discussed how new news values can often be created, some examples are, religion and terrorism.  In the past, these two subjects would not be considered news values, but events that have occurred in the past ten years have made these two subjects very prominent in news today.  Religion and terrorism are issues that people want to read about and discuss. 

News that is worthy and has good news values has an impact on people; the audience can identify its relevance and find interest in the story.  A news value that I find to be particularly important is relevance.  People want to read stories that are relevant to their lives.  Even if it is an international story it should be localised so readers can relate to the story.  In the 21^st century I believe another very important news value is visualisation.  With so much now being posted online, readers want to see formatting and images that draw them into the story. 

“Journalists do not adhere to formal codes of newsworthiness that can be identified or promulgates... instead, the informal code of what constitutes a good story is part of newsroom initiation and socialisation.” – Judy McGregor

 

Today Dr Redman introduced us to the term ‘Churnalism’.  Churnalism refers to journalists just grabbing press releases and publishing stories without checking the facts.  Churnalism can lead to untrustworthy, irresponsible, misleading and incomplete journalism.  It shows how much journalism has been affected by public relations. 

Lecture 8 Reflection - ETHICS

“Ethical decisions are the choice between the

lesser of two evils.”

In this afternoons lecture, guest lecturer Doctor John Harrison made me realise that everyone has a different view about what is ethical and unethical, and what is tasteful and not tasteful.  This was evident when we did an exercise where we had to rate still images and videos.  Everyone looked at the images and videos in a different way.   There were a lot of different opinions and thoughts on what images were ethical, and what images were not. 

Doctor John Harrison talked about the code of ethics that is involved in journalism.  Determining what is ethical and unethical, and deciding to do the right this is obviously a huge part of a journalist’s job.  As previously mentioned, ethics can be very controversial.  The career and work of Kevin Carter is a perfect example of how controversial ethics in journalism can be.  Kevin Carter photographed one image which caused so much controversy throughout the world; it sparked an ongoing international debate about ethics. 

 

I believe that although the particular image that Kevin Carter captured is very harsh and brutal, it encapsulates the reality of what he was seeing.  By exposing this horrific reality of starvation in Sudan, he opened the world’s eyes to see exactly what was going on, which in itself is ethical, as he accurately portrayed what was happening. 

Everyone has a different ethical view, which is based on and influenced by their personal character and upbringing.  Our concept of ethics is also determined by what we have been exposed to throughout our lives, and what we believe to be normal or acceptable.