The end of the road

As my time as a JOUR1111 student comes to an end I must admit that I’m feeling a mix of relief and sadness. Yes, updating this blog has required a LOT of effort and has at times been very frustrating. But it has also provided me with an insight into the basic foundations of journalism and a new skill in blogging. I have particularly enjoyed blogging about random points of interest and am considering starting my own personal blog in the future. That being said, I can hear the triumphant music playing in my head, and I am ready to submit this bad boy. I’ll finish with a wonderful quote from the ever inspiring Nelson Mandela who has summarised my feelings in a sentence:

 



 
Thanks and I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings :)

Good one Mum and Dad

 

The other day I read an article in the Courier Mail that spoke about the current generation of children who are wrapped up in cotton wool by their parents. These parents are so overprotective that they don’t allow their children to get up to any sort of messy, risky, mischievous or unsupervised activity. Despite being only 18 years of age I don’t believe I have been a victim of this style of parenting. Here is a brief and incomplete list of things I did as a child that would horrify the modern day parent:

·         Cut my entire fringe off by myself at 5 years old. School photos were literally the next day.

·         Continued to climb grandma’s backyard tree despite knowing my cousin had fallen out of said tree and dislocated his elbow

·         Walked to the park with just my cousins. At 9 years old I was the veteran…..

·         Set my pants on fire at 4 years old because I was standing too close to the heater

·         Stole lollies from the local supermarket at 8 years old. My mum was absolutely livid and I didn’t see the light of day for about a week…..

·         Attempted to back flip off a swing at 9 years old. Subsequently I face planted into the sand. It was great.

·         Built mud pies in the backyard with my cousins and sisters AND lived to tell the tale.

·         Got lost a couple of times in the shopping centre. The highlight was having to call mum and dad over the loud speaker so that they could collect their darling daughter from the store.

·         Split my head open as a result of jumping on mum and dad’s bed and landing head first on their bedside table.

I would like to stress how wonderfully caring my parents were (and still are!). Basically I was a free-spirited child who didn’t necessarily think before I acted and my parents weren’t so overbearing that we never had any freedom. I believe they gave us our freedom, but we knew where the boundaries lay. The aforementioned incidents were the result of encouragement from my cousins and my willingness to try just about anything. Anyway, I learnt my lesson after making these mistakes. Isn’t that how children are supposed to grow??

Parents who don’t let their children experience the simple joys of childhood are hurting their kids. My parents gave us just the right mix of protection and freedom and I am thankful I had the opportunity to ‘mess up’ a couple of times on my own.

                                                           That's more like it....

 

 

Back to the gym :)

Last week I made the tremendously difficult decision to return to competitive gymnastics training. Now, before you start thinking that all gymnasts do are roly polys and cartwheels, think again. Not only am I returning to 20 + hours per week of training, I have to make up for the five month break I took from the sport. Needless to say, after my first training back in the gym I felt as though I had torn every muscle in my body. I am not even joking!!!

I soon discovered upon my return that I was more than a little bit out of shape. I only managed seven chin-ups, where I once could do 15. My hands were sore on bars after just 10 minutes, despite once being able to manage a 40 minute session on the apparatus. I literally thought I wouldn’t be able to make the trek up our house stairs once I arrived home that night.

So, why did I choose to go back if I am so unfit?? It’s simple really. Once you are a competitive gymnast, you’re a gymnast for life. The countless hours of training are so worth it when you get a great result at a national level competition and I missed the feeling of having a supreme level of fitness. Then there’s that feeling as you sail through the air mid-tumble. It is a legitimate addiction. Gymnastics is ultimately my passion. I know I have a lot of hard work ahead of me, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. It feels so good to be back :)

Oh Lance.....

It’s no secret; Lance Armstrong has had a massive fall from grace. It appears as though the allegations about his drug use whilst cycling are very true and to be honest, it saddens me. It’s not only the fact that I chose to do my year eleven English assignment on his autobiography, believing him to be a true hero that hurts me (although that is a terrible travesty haha). It saddens me that people no longer have the miracle of him overcoming cancer AND winning the Tour De France to believe in.

Despite all of this, I am not going to ridicule Armstrong. He probably felt pressured to compete with the best, many of whom were taking performance enhancing drugs. I also believe that his cancer charity work for Livestrong should not be forgotten. He has helped many a cancer patient/survivor over the years.

I propose that we don’t necessarily have to look the other way from Armstrong’s regrettable mistakes. Instead let’s focus on the tireless work he has put into his charity and the hope he has given to those affected by cancer throughout the world.  

Lecture Eleven: Investigative Journalism

In this, our final lecture, we were introduced (or re-introduced in my case) to the art of investigative journalism. Having completed a course in Journalistic investigation, I felt quite knowledgeable (for once) sitting in that lecture theatre. Investigative journalism is a way in which people can discover the truths of the world and uncover what someone may be trying to hide. Investigative journalism is characteristically intelligent, informed, intuitive, inside and one must be heavily invested. In my opinion it can form some of the most interesting news stories around. In some cases it can provide a voice to those without.

For a well written investigative journalism piece to occur it is critical that the journalist takes a thorough approach and consults a wide range of courses. It also takes breaches of societal norms and brings them to the forefront, essentially exposing wrongdoings. Investigative journalism can hold those in power accountable and make public personalities and institutions whose actions impact social and political accountable also.

Investigative journalists must show initiative and passion in exposing their stories. If it weren’t for the work of inquisitive journalists the Watergate scandal would not have been exposed. These journalists cut through the agenda (as mentioned in my last post) and expose stories to the public that should be of high interest.

However, facts must be investigated by the journalist and nothing can EVER be assumed. This is where investigative journalism differs from PR. Public relations tend to carefully select (and omit) facts in order to present the story in a particular way. This would not be the way of a true investigative journalist!! Observation, interview and analysis are the keys to uncovering a groundbreaking story.

Sad but true...

I was up late studying the other night when I came across this piece of youtube gold. It was in the part of youtube where you find dancing cats and other rubbish that no human should have see. The author of the video dares you not to laugh whilst watching. I’m ashamed to say that I cracked under pressure and found myself sniggering at the creature on the screen. Obviously I was severely lacking and sleep. Anyway, thought I’d spread the love. Does anyone else find this pointless video to be actually funny? Something tells me I might be alone in this.

The time when I didn’t win $100 million…

I have to say that apart from that one time in kindergarten where I won the coveted Easter raffle, I have never really had luck on my side. My scratchies never contain any winnings and my horse has NEVER been the winner in our annual family Melbourne Cup sweep. You’d think that having Irish in my blood, things would be different. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

 I, along with the rest of Australia, held my breath on Tuesday as I waited for my numbers to pop up in the $100 million lotto draw. Sadly, it wasn’t to be for me that night. However, in anticipation of my win I had already come up with ways that I would spend my money. A girl can dream right?? Here’s how I would’ve spent my money:

·         Paid off my parent’s mortgage (I’m a generous soul really)

·         Bought myself my first home and an investment property

·         Bought my younger sister a little car she can learn to drive in (then she can't use mine)

·         Go on a trip around Europe and shout myself to Business class flights

·         Paid off HECS!!!!

·         Shout my friends to a shopping trip. Would feel so good to say “just put it on my card.”

·         I would probably go sky diving, just because I can

·         I’d donate a decent amount to the Make A Wish Foundation. I honestly would.

Other than that, I have no idea what I would do. It has never really occurred to me that it could actually happen. You really would have to be the luckiest bugger around to see all of your numbers on that lotto screen. I can’t even fathom how amazing that feeling would be…

Lecture Ten: Agenda Setting

In today’s lecture we learned how the media constructs reality, otherwise known as agenda setting. We were given a simple definition which basically states that an individual’s conception of reality is socially constructed through a process of communication using shared language. Reality does in fact exist, however, how we perceive it is socially mediated. The key players in constructing this social reality are the media.

There are four agendas that the media has: Public agenda, policy agenda, corporate agenda and media agenda. All four agendas are inter-related and used by the media.
From the lecture the main point that I found was that the media influences stories and has the ability to shape and filter the stories so that the public views them in a certain way. The news story hierarchy of importance is also shaped by the media. By having a heavy concentration on certain stories, the public will begin to see these stories as more important than others.

Two main types of agenda setting were identified:

First level agenda setting theory: The media suggests what the public should focus on through coverage.

Second level agenda setting theory: The media suggests how people should think about an issue.

It is obvious that the media has tight control over what the public gets to hear about in terms of the news. Not only can they control what we view, but at times how we think about certain stories. This can be achieved by simply presenting a story a certain way. This quote from Bernard Cohen sums it up perfectly: “The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.” The media do it because they can. It’s as simple as that.

Lecture Nine: News Values

News values were the focus of this week’s lecture and were defined as ‘the degree of prominence a news outlet gives a story and the attention that is paid by the audience.’ Essentially, it is the amount of coverage a news story is given.
Dr Redman explained that News Value can be determined by the following categories.

1)      Impact: does it make the reader sit up and listen?

2)      Audience identification: does the story relate to what’s happening in the world?

3)      Pragmatics: ethics, practice and current affairs

4)      Source influence

5)      Emotional value

6)      Follow-up

7)      Celebrity status

Different organisations however, may hold emotional value to a higher importance, whereas another may value celebrity status more.

We were also introduced to the 12 newsworthiness factors crated by Professor Johan Galtung. Galtung analysed news from around the world and discovered that 12 factors featured prominently:

·         Negativity: Bad news i.e. death tragedy and natural disasters

·         Close to home: audiences with close proximity relate better

·         Recency: revealing stories as they happen

·         Currency: story that has been in the public eye for some time

·         Continuity: events that are likely to have a continuing impact

·         Uniqueness

·         Simplicity

·         Personality

·         Predictability

·         Elite nations or people

·         Exclusivity

·         Size

Following on from this Galtung contracted three hypotheses:

Additivity hypothesis: The more factors a story satisfies, the more likely it will become news

Complementarity hypothesis: The factors will tend to exclude each other

Exclusion hypothesis: Those stories which satisfy few or none of the factors will not become news.

Finally, we examined idea that ‘if it bleeds it leads’. This simply means that if the event is under tragic circumstances i.e. murder, abduction, disaster, then it is likely to be a leading story. Unfortunately these are the kinds of stories that the public wants to hear about and can be examined by simply switching on the 6 o’clock news. The same can be said for local stories as people are more inclined to listen if they feel they have a personal connection to the story. If not an immediate connection, they generally know a friend of friend.

A year without school....

So it has been nearly a year since I exited the school gates for the last time. Last night I was reflecting on how my life has changed since I left school.

There have been some great things that have come once I ditched my uniform. Obviously I started university where I got to dictate my timetable, was able to sleep in two hours later than I used to and I got to learn about something I was actually interested in. I have had more time to see my friends during the day and do nice things together i.e. go out for a coffee. There is also this beautiful thing where we get a 3 month break over the Summer to ‘re-charge’ our batteries. I also now have more money thanks to a timetable that is far more accommodating. However, there are some things that I’ll admit I have found to be a bit difficult since finishing school.

Firstly, no one cares if you don’t show up to class. There’s no frantic teacher on the phone to Mum demanding to know why you didn’t show up. I no longer have school to use as an excuse for not being able to fill in at work. There’s a lot more assumed knowledge at uni and the standard of work is much higher. And whoever said that uni is easier than school is an absolute liar.

On the whole though, I really do enjoy post-school life a lot more than school itself. I’ll gladly accept more responsibility in exchange for no more uniforms, sleep-ins and more of a social life any day thank you very much….

The Art of Interpretive Dance

If you haven’t yet seen David Armand’s interpretive dance segment on T.V’s Fast and Loose, then you are seriously missing out. David uses his body to interpret the lyrics of popular songs to audience members. The catch is they can’t hear the song at all. All that they have to guess the song is David’s carefully practiced interpretations. This video will have you in hysterics and asking how the hell does he move so quickly??

A Parisian Adventure

In early October I, along with my family, went on the trip of a lifetime to Paris, France. Rather than bore you all to tears with a word for word account of our adventure, I thought I’d tell the story through some of the photos we took. Enjoy!!

Lecture Eight: Ethics

At the lecture this week we were lucky enough to have Donna Meiklejohn as a guest lecturer. Her lengthy career as a journalist enabled her to provide an interesting insight into the ethical struggles that we will face as journalists.

We first looked at advertisements that have caused controversy with the words or images that have been chosen for certain campaigns. The image below was brought on screen causing some students to gasp or raise their eyebrows. This ignited the discussion as to whether using controversy to make a point is ethically okay. I for one thought the ad was clever, effective and definitely got the point across. My ethical radar said it was fine. However, the plot thickens when journalists throw people into the ethical debate.

 

 

 

 

 

 Donna told us a story of how she, as a young journalist, was asked to interview the grieving family of three young boys who had been electrocuted. This task would’ve proved daunting for anyone, let alone a journalist with little experience. Donna described how her moral compass told her that requesting an interview from the family was wrong. However, when she put it in to the perspective that she was just doing her job and that this would help pay her bills, she knew she had to get the interview. Donna’s advice was to put the job into perspective and not get carried away with the emotional side of the story. I know I will find this particularly challenging as a rookie journalist; however, it will obviously get easier with practice. As journalists we are lucky enough to have ethics codes to justify our work. These include: Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Public Relations Institute of Australia and Australian Association of National Advertisers.

We discussed three ethical theories that might aid us in making our decisions as future journalists.

Consequentialism: This is the theory that focuses on outcomes. E.g. It might be uncomfortable for you at the time, but in the end will this be for the better?

Virtue: This is the idea of right and wrong. You have to ask yourself if the decision you are about to make coincide with your values.

Deontology: This theory is simply following the rules and guidelines so that you do the right thing. Most journalists will follow this theory on most reporting assignments.

In conclusion, it is obvious that as a journalist I will be faced with some moral minefields. However, at the end of the day I must remember that by reporting on the story I am just doing my job. I have to pay my bills somehow!!

Lecture Seven: Public Media

It could be said that public media are the ‘do gooders’ of the media world. Their mission is simple: serve and engage a public. On the local front we have the ABC and SBS as our Australian representatives. These public media producers dabble in both radio and television production. Internationally, BBC, PBS and TVNZ are just three of a number of public media producers.

To put it frankly the aforementioned production companies care about us, the viewers, more than their friends in commercial media do. Public value is at the core of production and has three main guidelines:

1.       Must embed public service ethos

2.       Must have value for licence fee money

3.       Public value weighs more than media impact

The public media doesn’t have a biased view either as it should be distanced from all vested interests and from those of the government. Its primary functions are nation focused and aim to promote nation building, national heritage, national identity and ignite national conversations.

In order to find the profits lost from lack of advertising on their networks and lack of funding, public media has seen some commercialisation. The ABC Shop, ABC Commercial and BBC Worldwide are all fine examples.

The most important element in Public Media is the good old news. And a less biased version at that!! Public media’s news style is something you either love or hate. It is typically serious, broadsheet style, reports on importance rather than interest, quick and unchecked, boring to some, elitist, of limited interest, poorly presented and out of touch. Some of the issues listed are a direct result of lack of profit.

Consequently, public media has a lengthy to do list if it wants to attract more viewers.

THINGS TO DO 

·         Produce quality

·         Make themselves relevant

·         Engage with democratic press

·         Inform the public

·         Be independent

It’s a long list and the future of public media depends on whether the list is completed sooner rather than later.