We are all aware of the power technologiy has on the face of journalism. We know how much it is changing traditional news values and production. This chapter of the book goes on to explore the prominent impact that the newer technological advances like the internet and citizen or online journalism will have on our more traditional ones like broadcast:radio/television reporting and print:newspaper/magazine, and what effect it will have in deciding the outcome of traditonal journalism in the digital and converged media environment of the future.
Its a difficult thing to determine. We all want to progress and be up to date with the world, but I think there should be a barrier placed up against taking out all forms of traditional journalism. Yes things like the internet and digital enhancements may help in publishing a story, but report wise, I think we should stick to the more original news values to acess to information and public understanding does not become distorted.
It may then again just be a beneficial tool used to assist in what we already have. But in reagrds to the internet, I dont think online journalism really cuts the cake on a community level, and isnt that one of the main goals for a local paper or journalist. If everything becomes internet or digital based, how will the public feel on an intimate or personal level when they dont have the trust or respect for the reporter there reading is based from.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Chapter 14: Journalism and the global village
Technology is something which is never going to stop and will continue to be a burden on the journalism world. In trying to initiate laws into journalism and monitor content and censorship, growing technological changes are placing a threshold upon the production and flow of the regulatory legal regimes.
In contrast though, most of these technological advancements within the journalism worldpool are making it possible for the emergence of the transnational corporations, which have eventually led to something which has been labelled: The Global Villige. This term was first used in the 1960's to descibe "the linking of humanity in all parts of the world" (Breitt:214)
With the ten super corporations basically dominating the globe, things like profit, legality, owenbership and truth come into play as their may be a mixed reaction to the success of one super power. Particularly something like Rupert Murdochs Mews corporation, which owns and pre promotes in cross sections, their magazines, with television stations, with newspapers and so on. According to McChesney " The dconcentration ofg global media ownership in the ten transitional corporations (TNCs) is disastrous for two reasons:
* The diversity of intresets held by transnational corporatios;
* The alliances and joint ventures formed within this group creating an oligopoly of mainly US media corporations, which is supported by a second tier od multi-million dollar corporations that dominate the miche markets within specific areas. " (McChesney and Herman:1997:95-103)
Ans this is very true, even News Corporation is based around the whole americanised 21st centruy global media firm. But does of this lead news being placed in society as a commodity? Something which can be either brought or sold, packaged or traded?
I think to some level it does, but there is not much we can do about it if we want all the technological advancements that are presented before us.
In contrast though, most of these technological advancements within the journalism worldpool are making it possible for the emergence of the transnational corporations, which have eventually led to something which has been labelled: The Global Villige. This term was first used in the 1960's to descibe "the linking of humanity in all parts of the world" (Breitt:214)
With the ten super corporations basically dominating the globe, things like profit, legality, owenbership and truth come into play as their may be a mixed reaction to the success of one super power. Particularly something like Rupert Murdochs Mews corporation, which owns and pre promotes in cross sections, their magazines, with television stations, with newspapers and so on. According to McChesney " The dconcentration ofg global media ownership in the ten transitional corporations (TNCs) is disastrous for two reasons:
* The diversity of intresets held by transnational corporatios;
* The alliances and joint ventures formed within this group creating an oligopoly of mainly US media corporations, which is supported by a second tier od multi-million dollar corporations that dominate the miche markets within specific areas. " (McChesney and Herman:1997:95-103)
Ans this is very true, even News Corporation is based around the whole americanised 21st centruy global media firm. But does of this lead news being placed in society as a commodity? Something which can be either brought or sold, packaged or traded?
I think to some level it does, but there is not much we can do about it if we want all the technological advancements that are presented before us.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The Question of Legality
Journalism Law: the legal implications that arose from the act of new reporting and publishing. These laws relate to defamation, court reporting, contempt of coutr, and parliament, obscentity, media regulation, freedom of information legislations, intellectual property, trespassm and breach of confidence. (Pearson:199)
"Where there is no publicity there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the very spur to exertion and the surest of all guards against improbity". Said by the famous 18th century Utilitarianist and philosopher, Jeremy Bentham. This quote has been revisitied in recent times to figure our the inextricable binding of these two disiplinaries.
Throughout the world we live in, both of these disiplinaries exist alongside each other but in a differing degree of balance. Our most present, common situation being where our law stifles comments often with strong brutality. Its very much the traditional 'pen versus sword' battle. In Australia we might not suffer from a dictatorial oppression, but instead we are subjected to an almost 'three's a crowd' situation where there is the always competing rewsponsibilty of the media/press our courts, the parliament, and our different levels of government
"Where there is no publicity there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the very spur to exertion and the surest of all guards against improbity". Said by the famous 18th century Utilitarianist and philosopher, Jeremy Bentham. This quote has been revisitied in recent times to figure our the inextricable binding of these two disiplinaries.
Throughout the world we live in, both of these disiplinaries exist alongside each other but in a differing degree of balance. Our most present, common situation being where our law stifles comments often with strong brutality. Its very much the traditional 'pen versus sword' battle. In Australia we might not suffer from a dictatorial oppression, but instead we are subjected to an almost 'three's a crowd' situation where there is the always competing rewsponsibilty of the media/press our courts, the parliament, and our different levels of government
Moral Minefields, Legal Landmarks:12 & 13
Just when is it that the personal becomes political? This section of the book focus's heavily on the real concerns in journalism. That is, what is public intrest and exactly how is it that journalists prevent themselves in regards to the legal and moral responsibilities and rights. What is the right when it comes to a journalists right to publish in the "publics intrest" but protect when its classified as the individuals right to privacy. Sounds confusing! But I think its a very serious issue, and needs to be handled efficiently. What happens when an accident occurs within the "school hour" and two little children are killed as a result of a young hoon sppeding through the 40 zone and not looking where he was going. Should it be in the publics intrest for the journalist to go speak to the familys of the children killed and get the information on how they are feeling to be published in the next mornings paper, or is that an intrusion of privacy and an insensitive act to take on. Its very dfficult to bridge the gap between these two. Because ethics and morals come severely into play. Also the notion of privacy-which is the right to be left alone, the right to control unwanted publicity about ones affairs and the right to withhold any and all information that one does not want made public- can be sought after in any circumstance where the news story is more important than the individuals rights. However autonomy is valid tool when wanting to question if a story shoudl be published or not. If you know how much impact your story could have on ones own life then you should be able to figure out whether it is all worth it in the end.
Chapter 10: True stories the power and pitfalls of literary journalism
Some of the key characteristics of literary journalism are defined in the text book as:
- documentable subject chosen from the real world as opposed to invented;
- exhaustive research;
- novelistic techniques;
- voice, allowed to be ironic, self conscious etc;
- literary prose;
- underlying meaning
The things that I am concerned about with Literary journalism is when news reporting stops and literature begins in a story? Do most literary journalists look into a story in a different manner and do the notions of basic journalism like objectivity still come into play when the fictional writing devices run into news values like facts and the truth?
To me literary Journalism is a style of writing that combines fictional based writing tools with traditionalised facts to produce a lot more than your everyday or basic news story.
In a way, it might be alot easier to recognise and relate with literary journalism thanwhat it is to try and define it. The front-page story on the newspaper each day that announces, that Andrew Johns has been busted for the possession of ecstacy is Journalism but not Literary journalism. Some of Australia's more well known examples of literary journalism would be John Bryson’s ‘Evil Angels’,and his own account of the Azaria Chamberlain murder case; What I mean by own is that the person who writes a literary article needs to become very close to the subject of thier piece. They need to maintain an objective opinion at bay but still need to live and breathe the story in order to give it its true potential and meaning. Literary journalist Helen Garner’s role in this particular area has provoked some controversy over the years. Although, whatever you might believe or think about the controversies, she is always engaged within this sort of an area, and brings a lot to it in order to produce some of her best works like 'The First Stone’ and ‘Joe Cinque’s Consolation’.
Personally I do believe that the portents for either reading or doing literary journalism are both good and bad. The bad to me is based on my belief that like stated earlier on in my blogs, most Australian newspapers now, are dedicating more of their space to entertainment and lifestryle based articles and theri is less spacebeing given to investigative journalism pieces or to the longer narrative-motivated piece about the issues present within society.
The goods points of Literary journalism is that alot more research is given to it than in daily journalism; literary journalism can also create an emotional depth within its concept which is also something that daily journalism has to avoid due to objectivity and the concept of news values. Literary journalism can allow itself to make a deep connection between readers. "A good piece of literary journalism stays with readers, like a good novel stays with a reader." To paraphrase the American critic, Ezra Pound, "Literary journalism is news that stays news".
But apart from this my great concern is the problems that can be created for the reader, and the numerous amounts of questions that come up after reading a piece like the: how do you know what you’re reading is true, when it reads like a piece of fiction question? For the creater and writer of the piece how doyou prevent yourself from improvising on what reality is and trying to make it sound better? Real life is unpleasent sometimes, boring and not all that interesting , it doesn’t always fit neatly into a three-act drama, not everybody has a character arc built in, and so on. So how is it that you mould these differnet areas? In one sense you may be working to deliver a piece about someones life but on the other you are trying to engage the reader in something which breaks the barriers of fact or fiction. The Readers intrest is always at bay.
- documentable subject chosen from the real world as opposed to invented;
- exhaustive research;
- novelistic techniques;
- voice, allowed to be ironic, self conscious etc;
- literary prose;
- underlying meaning
The things that I am concerned about with Literary journalism is when news reporting stops and literature begins in a story? Do most literary journalists look into a story in a different manner and do the notions of basic journalism like objectivity still come into play when the fictional writing devices run into news values like facts and the truth?
To me literary Journalism is a style of writing that combines fictional based writing tools with traditionalised facts to produce a lot more than your everyday or basic news story.
In a way, it might be alot easier to recognise and relate with literary journalism thanwhat it is to try and define it. The front-page story on the newspaper each day that announces, that Andrew Johns has been busted for the possession of ecstacy is Journalism but not Literary journalism. Some of Australia's more well known examples of literary journalism would be John Bryson’s ‘Evil Angels’,and his own account of the Azaria Chamberlain murder case; What I mean by own is that the person who writes a literary article needs to become very close to the subject of thier piece. They need to maintain an objective opinion at bay but still need to live and breathe the story in order to give it its true potential and meaning. Literary journalist Helen Garner’s role in this particular area has provoked some controversy over the years. Although, whatever you might believe or think about the controversies, she is always engaged within this sort of an area, and brings a lot to it in order to produce some of her best works like 'The First Stone’ and ‘Joe Cinque’s Consolation’.
Personally I do believe that the portents for either reading or doing literary journalism are both good and bad. The bad to me is based on my belief that like stated earlier on in my blogs, most Australian newspapers now, are dedicating more of their space to entertainment and lifestryle based articles and theri is less spacebeing given to investigative journalism pieces or to the longer narrative-motivated piece about the issues present within society.
The goods points of Literary journalism is that alot more research is given to it than in daily journalism; literary journalism can also create an emotional depth within its concept which is also something that daily journalism has to avoid due to objectivity and the concept of news values. Literary journalism can allow itself to make a deep connection between readers. "A good piece of literary journalism stays with readers, like a good novel stays with a reader." To paraphrase the American critic, Ezra Pound, "Literary journalism is news that stays news".
But apart from this my great concern is the problems that can be created for the reader, and the numerous amounts of questions that come up after reading a piece like the: how do you know what you’re reading is true, when it reads like a piece of fiction question? For the creater and writer of the piece how doyou prevent yourself from improvising on what reality is and trying to make it sound better? Real life is unpleasent sometimes, boring and not all that interesting , it doesn’t always fit neatly into a three-act drama, not everybody has a character arc built in, and so on. So how is it that you mould these differnet areas? In one sense you may be working to deliver a piece about someones life but on the other you are trying to engage the reader in something which breaks the barriers of fact or fiction. The Readers intrest is always at bay.
In The Eye of The Beholder: 8 & 9
This weeks chapters were my focus for my presentation. Cultural competence and representation are very hard things to cover in the media. Audiences are positioned through the language and images that are used in news reports and the way that issues are characterised or contextualised everyday. This leads us to be exemplified to various racist views in the media which can create moral panic within society, leaving us with the thought of whether or not it is entirely necessary to subdivide groups or “others” within our society.
Firstly, Identity is formed within our society through: ‘The recognition and confirmation of relative “sameness”, the negotiation of multiple and often contradictory positions on a range of issues , and from time to time, the external imposition of undesired or unacceptable norms.’ (Ferguson 1998, p.82)
So if the media are consistenly pumping through our heads what the norm is or what the accepted is, how are we supposed to be objective when we are always being subjected to negative opinions of the "others". Take a look at these two videos both based on the Cronulla Riots and see how both portray a negative connotation towards the muslim race. The first one is more of a satire but still it is being publised on national television. The second is a news reprt on a current affairs and the news reporter in this story should have been pulled up for the way she went about reporting the issues involved within the story. She noticably places force upon the Muslin/Arab race and dissmisses the claims placed again the "white" Australian.
1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycKs08hJ4Is
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoYWdIZhFBA
The The Walkley Magazine: Raising a Riot story also asked a very valuable question?
The surfies, the Lebs, the Bra Boys, the white supremacists, Alan Jones… there was a cacophony of opinion before and after Cronulla cracked. Should the media wear some of the blame?
I do think that within this particular case the media amped up the story for more than it was worth. Both "races" if thats how it should be put were to blame for the event. Not the initial story but with the angst that was created more people became involved andf more media attention drove audiences to participate.
The media plays a huge role in assisting society on what is common sense or socially acceptable through repetition and a preference for a certain event or framing. Through omission, neglect, or ridicule other ideas lifestyles or behaviours can either be marginalised or become part of the spectacle or bizarre. Boreland and Smith (1996) found that “although engaging in best practice in the approach to most stories, some journalists appear to fail to consider the impact and consequences of their reportage.”
All in all I think its up to the Journalist. Journalists should question themselves on why they are doing a story and evaluate the fairness in what they are going to write. A good journalists should know their own morals and ethics especially when it comes to writing a story on race issues. Balance and Accuracy should also be produced when weighing up actions or decisions on stories.
More importantly its about equal representation of points of view that require a high degree of empathy.
Firstly, Identity is formed within our society through: ‘The recognition and confirmation of relative “sameness”, the negotiation of multiple and often contradictory positions on a range of issues , and from time to time, the external imposition of undesired or unacceptable norms.’ (Ferguson 1998, p.82)
So if the media are consistenly pumping through our heads what the norm is or what the accepted is, how are we supposed to be objective when we are always being subjected to negative opinions of the "others". Take a look at these two videos both based on the Cronulla Riots and see how both portray a negative connotation towards the muslim race. The first one is more of a satire but still it is being publised on national television. The second is a news reprt on a current affairs and the news reporter in this story should have been pulled up for the way she went about reporting the issues involved within the story. She noticably places force upon the Muslin/Arab race and dissmisses the claims placed again the "white" Australian.
1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycKs08hJ4Is
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoYWdIZhFBA
The The Walkley Magazine: Raising a Riot story also asked a very valuable question?
The surfies, the Lebs, the Bra Boys, the white supremacists, Alan Jones… there was a cacophony of opinion before and after Cronulla cracked. Should the media wear some of the blame?
I do think that within this particular case the media amped up the story for more than it was worth. Both "races" if thats how it should be put were to blame for the event. Not the initial story but with the angst that was created more people became involved andf more media attention drove audiences to participate.
The media plays a huge role in assisting society on what is common sense or socially acceptable through repetition and a preference for a certain event or framing. Through omission, neglect, or ridicule other ideas lifestyles or behaviours can either be marginalised or become part of the spectacle or bizarre. Boreland and Smith (1996) found that “although engaging in best practice in the approach to most stories, some journalists appear to fail to consider the impact and consequences of their reportage.”
All in all I think its up to the Journalist. Journalists should question themselves on why they are doing a story and evaluate the fairness in what they are going to write. A good journalists should know their own morals and ethics especially when it comes to writing a story on race issues. Balance and Accuracy should also be produced when weighing up actions or decisions on stories.
More importantly its about equal representation of points of view that require a high degree of empathy.
Truth or Dare
Chapter 6: The Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but…
The chapter elaborates on the various notions of truth, especially in regards to the practice of journalism and the wider impact the truth in journalism can have on a society.
Exactly how important is truth in journalism. Obviously it is a crucial element in preventing an honest readership but I think in following on with the theme of public interest sometimes the truth can be damaging to an audience. Take for instance this article: http://thegreenman.net.au/mt/archives/000728.html which explains how the newspapers deleted or minimised the effects of a severed bloody limb after bomb attacks in spain. If the paper were to show the "true" photo it could have a lasting or damaging effect on the publications audience which initially is not in the publics intrest. In saying this though, I dont think it is ever easy to give the true representation of a specific event of issue. Journalists need to take it into their own account on whether the truth is best for the situation. Im not saying that they should lie, but merely minimize the effects if it its not valued but society.
I also think universal truth is a task on its own. Firstly, Plato, truths for all people everywhere and for all time, is a nice thought and would be a wonderful achievement, but in our diverse universe I dont think we can make something like that work efficiently. I think journalists should tell the story in the best, objective way, detailing the exact details but without damaging consequences. Censorship should come into play here. Tell the truth about the incedent but dont allow images of indecent acts to corrupt our sponge like brains or younger more innocent counterparts emotive and personlised feelings.
Chapter 7: The importance of enquiry
The text examines and describes to us the three types of enquiry. All three of these are said to be connected to the other with the journalist being caught unable to move on to another level without adequate enquiry at level one. These 3 steps are described as:
1. Reactive reporting: observation, and an account of what happened which is most often brief
2. Analytic reporting: The answers, and the who what when?
3. Reflective reporting: The deeper seated social trends, approached in a way which may have set the scene.
All good journalism requires a continual and ongoing enquiry. Take a look at my blog on Kisschasy. It goes on to explain my enquiry and ongoing research into the band. I used this three step process for a change and to my own disbelief, actually found it to be useful. Journalists need to become envolved within the story so they can potray the best outcome to the society they are representing. Enquiry is the only way this can become successful without the apparition of the story becoming confused. A journalist must as stated above discover the truths of the story and justify them through their own body of special knowledge. Ivestigation is the key here and nothing can appose this as its a tradition and efficient way of researching news stories. All the commercialisation and political governing couldnt change it, even if they wanted to.
The chapter elaborates on the various notions of truth, especially in regards to the practice of journalism and the wider impact the truth in journalism can have on a society.
Exactly how important is truth in journalism. Obviously it is a crucial element in preventing an honest readership but I think in following on with the theme of public interest sometimes the truth can be damaging to an audience. Take for instance this article: http://thegreenman.net.au/mt/archives/000728.html which explains how the newspapers deleted or minimised the effects of a severed bloody limb after bomb attacks in spain. If the paper were to show the "true" photo it could have a lasting or damaging effect on the publications audience which initially is not in the publics intrest. In saying this though, I dont think it is ever easy to give the true representation of a specific event of issue. Journalists need to take it into their own account on whether the truth is best for the situation. Im not saying that they should lie, but merely minimize the effects if it its not valued but society.
I also think universal truth is a task on its own. Firstly, Plato, truths for all people everywhere and for all time, is a nice thought and would be a wonderful achievement, but in our diverse universe I dont think we can make something like that work efficiently. I think journalists should tell the story in the best, objective way, detailing the exact details but without damaging consequences. Censorship should come into play here. Tell the truth about the incedent but dont allow images of indecent acts to corrupt our sponge like brains or younger more innocent counterparts emotive and personlised feelings.
Chapter 7: The importance of enquiry
The text examines and describes to us the three types of enquiry. All three of these are said to be connected to the other with the journalist being caught unable to move on to another level without adequate enquiry at level one. These 3 steps are described as:
1. Reactive reporting: observation, and an account of what happened which is most often brief
2. Analytic reporting: The answers, and the who what when?
3. Reflective reporting: The deeper seated social trends, approached in a way which may have set the scene.
All good journalism requires a continual and ongoing enquiry. Take a look at my blog on Kisschasy. It goes on to explain my enquiry and ongoing research into the band. I used this three step process for a change and to my own disbelief, actually found it to be useful. Journalists need to become envolved within the story so they can potray the best outcome to the society they are representing. Enquiry is the only way this can become successful without the apparition of the story becoming confused. A journalist must as stated above discover the truths of the story and justify them through their own body of special knowledge. Ivestigation is the key here and nothing can appose this as its a tradition and efficient way of researching news stories. All the commercialisation and political governing couldnt change it, even if they wanted to.
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