Columbia Journalism Review actually gives all the companies which Murdoch owns that come under the news corp banner. I didnt realise there was so much!
http://www.cjr.org/resources/
Its not only newspapers its televsion, books; organisations and childrens book groups, magazines, films, online sources such as myspace and others like Mushroom records.
The whole list can be found at the above link, along with a veriety of other companies and what they own in a drop down list. Its all very interesting to see who actually owns what and how much.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Chapter 15: The Media is the Message
Chapter by Suellen Tapsall
The convergence of communications and information technologies (CIT) the growth of online media and the relative decline of both print and broadcast news journalism in Australia have encouraged prophetic statements about the future - or lack thereof - of 'tradition' news media.
While the talk of death of traditional news is seemingly everywhere and circulation is in fact down this is not a new entity. "They've heard it before. The newspaper industry has a deeply sado-masochistic streak. It goes to extraordinary lengths, and sometimes even great expense to arrange for speakers to dump on newspapers and pronounce their downfall, even as they go to greater lengths to take little or none of the advice they get". Katz 1999
while newspapers may be on the decline there are still new technologies which are being tests all the time which may be able to save some of what we know of traditional news. Some such idea is a computer based notion. What it is is a computer style plastic type board which you plug in daily to your computer and thus it downloads the news. It has the same tangible aspects that newspaper have except it would be a single screen with interactive features such as touch screens, changing ads etc. It is this kind of innovation which may be the way of traditional daily news for the future.
Convergence seems to be a solution for some in terms of the supposed print media death. as with Rupert Murdoch and the down Jones take over which finally occurred on the 31st of July this year we may soon be at risk of loosing distinct voices within the media. Its conceivable with Murdoch owning such a large portion of media in different mediums its not such a far fetched idea to one day have our news coming from TV Internet and print all being controlled by one conglomerate. It wouldn't be unrealistic in this sense to listen to a news crop television broadcast, sit down and read all news corp daily news story go online and chat to some friends on myspace then finally onto some fix sport - all of which are now controlled by Murdoch.
In this sense of of our news and even recreational activities are being controlled by one corporation. It may seem far fetched but its happening.
Technological determinists adhere to a central tenet that technology, in and of itself, causes social and cultural change.
Convergence may seem like a worthwhile option as ideally it looks to address issues of credibility within journalists in theory they would have more time to research and investigate stories but realistically it seems what would occur would be a dilution of news and current affairs where the same story would be told in multiple papers as well as television and in online news.
The convergence of communications and information technologies (CIT) the growth of online media and the relative decline of both print and broadcast news journalism in Australia have encouraged prophetic statements about the future - or lack thereof - of 'tradition' news media.
While the talk of death of traditional news is seemingly everywhere and circulation is in fact down this is not a new entity. "They've heard it before. The newspaper industry has a deeply sado-masochistic streak. It goes to extraordinary lengths, and sometimes even great expense to arrange for speakers to dump on newspapers and pronounce their downfall, even as they go to greater lengths to take little or none of the advice they get". Katz 1999
while newspapers may be on the decline there are still new technologies which are being tests all the time which may be able to save some of what we know of traditional news. Some such idea is a computer based notion. What it is is a computer style plastic type board which you plug in daily to your computer and thus it downloads the news. It has the same tangible aspects that newspaper have except it would be a single screen with interactive features such as touch screens, changing ads etc. It is this kind of innovation which may be the way of traditional daily news for the future.
Convergence seems to be a solution for some in terms of the supposed print media death. as with Rupert Murdoch and the down Jones take over which finally occurred on the 31st of July this year we may soon be at risk of loosing distinct voices within the media. Its conceivable with Murdoch owning such a large portion of media in different mediums its not such a far fetched idea to one day have our news coming from TV Internet and print all being controlled by one conglomerate. It wouldn't be unrealistic in this sense to listen to a news crop television broadcast, sit down and read all news corp daily news story go online and chat to some friends on myspace then finally onto some fix sport - all of which are now controlled by Murdoch.
In this sense of of our news and even recreational activities are being controlled by one corporation. It may seem far fetched but its happening.
Technological determinists adhere to a central tenet that technology, in and of itself, causes social and cultural change.
Convergence may seem like a worthwhile option as ideally it looks to address issues of credibility within journalists in theory they would have more time to research and investigate stories but realistically it seems what would occur would be a dilution of news and current affairs where the same story would be told in multiple papers as well as television and in online news.
Chapter 14: Journalism and The Global Village
Chapter by Rhonda Breit.
The term global village was first used in the 1960's to describe the 'linking of humanity in all parts of the world' (Kirby 1998:3) Developments such as cheap print, electricity, radio, TV, satellites, direct-dial phones and mobile phones have helped to break down boarders to create a global media audience. The Internet has even further accelerated this process.
Technology has given the media a global audience but corporatisation has given them power.
“Paradoxically, while the digital revolution has extended the frontiers of the global village, the vast majority of the world remains unhooked from this unfolding phenomenon. With the ever-widening gulf between knowledge and ignorance, the development gap between the rich and the poor among and within countries has also increased. It has therefore become imperative for the world to bridge this digital divide and place the MDGs on the ICT-accelerated speedway to achievement.” WSIS (World summit on Information Society)
“The reference to ‘society’ inspires good old sociological questions of power, profit and participation: who benefits, who decides, who participates, and who is accountable?” (Hamelink, n.d) It would appear that in theory this kind of situation would be beneficial to different communities, even in the situation of less developed nations however, it fails to address poverty, hunger, poor health and exploitation all of which are associated with less devolved nations.
There is still a huge distinction made between the have and the have nots in terms of a global village or a global infomation society. How can we expect everyone to be connected globally to an information society via the internet or mobile phone systems while some countries barely have the money for food and clean water. There is continuously the questions of “How to preserve fundamental human values in the face of economic or technological pressures tending to undermine them” (Samuelson n.d) “There are undoubtedly ‘informational developments’ in modern societies and through interaction with other social developments these will have an impact on how the future of such societies shape up in different ways dependent upon different historical circumstances.” (Hamelink, n.d) From this position it would be easy to say that the development of modern Western society in relation to a global information society would ultimately be beneficial to improving the living standards of less developed nations. We need to question, however, whether the information which is being spread globally by largely western countries is going to be beneficial to poorer or disadvantaged countries. Is there really much we can offer them in relation to technological regulation which they do not even have?
Not only this but concentration of media ownership threatens the integrity of of journalism.
The consolidation of news corporations both in terms of daily news and television news means a dilution of reporting in news stories. Instead of receiving two separate news stories we are seeing the same ones rehashed on television as we have already read in our daily newspapers. Consolidation works under the premise that because there are more people working under the same production then journalists can work harder on stories giving us better quality news but in reality I'm not sure this is how it works. There of course would be the temptation to simply reuse what has gone before.
"Not one global body has the power to impose change, so any steps to restore public confidence in these institutions much take place in the individual nation states. The must be a global corporation if changes are to have any real affect." I think this statement from the text is true yet highly idealistic it is all well and good to say we need to have a global regulation body but realistically how could this work. How could it govern over ever state with ever law and be fair and objective. It seems unrealistic.
The term global village was first used in the 1960's to describe the 'linking of humanity in all parts of the world' (Kirby 1998:3) Developments such as cheap print, electricity, radio, TV, satellites, direct-dial phones and mobile phones have helped to break down boarders to create a global media audience. The Internet has even further accelerated this process.
Technology has given the media a global audience but corporatisation has given them power.
“Paradoxically, while the digital revolution has extended the frontiers of the global village, the vast majority of the world remains unhooked from this unfolding phenomenon. With the ever-widening gulf between knowledge and ignorance, the development gap between the rich and the poor among and within countries has also increased. It has therefore become imperative for the world to bridge this digital divide and place the MDGs on the ICT-accelerated speedway to achievement.” WSIS (World summit on Information Society)
“The reference to ‘society’ inspires good old sociological questions of power, profit and participation: who benefits, who decides, who participates, and who is accountable?” (Hamelink, n.d) It would appear that in theory this kind of situation would be beneficial to different communities, even in the situation of less developed nations however, it fails to address poverty, hunger, poor health and exploitation all of which are associated with less devolved nations.
There is still a huge distinction made between the have and the have nots in terms of a global village or a global infomation society. How can we expect everyone to be connected globally to an information society via the internet or mobile phone systems while some countries barely have the money for food and clean water. There is continuously the questions of “How to preserve fundamental human values in the face of economic or technological pressures tending to undermine them” (Samuelson n.d) “There are undoubtedly ‘informational developments’ in modern societies and through interaction with other social developments these will have an impact on how the future of such societies shape up in different ways dependent upon different historical circumstances.” (Hamelink, n.d) From this position it would be easy to say that the development of modern Western society in relation to a global information society would ultimately be beneficial to improving the living standards of less developed nations. We need to question, however, whether the information which is being spread globally by largely western countries is going to be beneficial to poorer or disadvantaged countries. Is there really much we can offer them in relation to technological regulation which they do not even have?
Not only this but concentration of media ownership threatens the integrity of of journalism.
The consolidation of news corporations both in terms of daily news and television news means a dilution of reporting in news stories. Instead of receiving two separate news stories we are seeing the same ones rehashed on television as we have already read in our daily newspapers. Consolidation works under the premise that because there are more people working under the same production then journalists can work harder on stories giving us better quality news but in reality I'm not sure this is how it works. There of course would be the temptation to simply reuse what has gone before.
"Not one global body has the power to impose change, so any steps to restore public confidence in these institutions much take place in the individual nation states. The must be a global corporation if changes are to have any real affect." I think this statement from the text is true yet highly idealistic it is all well and good to say we need to have a global regulation body but realistically how could this work. How could it govern over ever state with ever law and be fair and objective. It seems unrealistic.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Chapter 12 + 13 Public Interest Private Lives and a Question of Legality
Chapter 12 by Ian Richards and ch 13 Mark Pearson
The is always a question about public interest and what is in the public interest. News stories may contain key elements of genuine human drama, have a combination of news values and they are of significance to major sections of the public. Yet at the same time they invariably provoke controversy.
What indeed do the 'public' and 'private' mean?
Both are ambiguous concepts and it is interesting to note that while many citizens object to the government gathering information of private citizens see nothing wrong with the use of hidden cameras or questionable means of photographers who have in fact invaded someone else's privacy. (p188)
A general view is that 'privacy is the condition of not having undocumented personal knowledge about on possessed by another'. (Parent, 1992:92) although it has been pointed out by Kieran 1997 that 'it is not merely particular information about our lives that is private but those areas of our lives that the information concerns.'
The notion that individuals have a right to 'life, health, liberty and possessions' has come to mean to many a type of entitlement regardless of how trivial it may at times be.
NOTIONS OF PRIVACY:
privacy can mean:
- the right to be left alone
- the right to control unwanted publicity about ones own affairs
- the right to withhold any information that one does not want made public.
Todays privacy laws generally have 4 distinct interpretations:
- intrusion: unwanted violation of ones physical solitude
- publication of embarrassing private fears
- publication of information that takes place in a false light
- and appropriation, meaning use of an individuals name, picture or likeness without that persons permission usually for commercial exploitation.
Journalists are propelled in the direction of revelation rather than concealment, of disclosure rather than protection. I think this is a key consideration which needs to be acknowledged when looking at notions of privacy and a journalists boundaries.
Journalists have put forward a number of justifications for favoring intrusion over respect for privacy:
- by entering public life individuals surrender any claim to personal privacy
- journalists have a duty to report private situations when these details could have relevance to the public performance of an individual or group.
- individual journalists are simply conduits for information and it is up to the readers/listeners/viewers to decide the limits
- if it is not illegal it must be permissible.
INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY:
The notion of individual autonomy is in fact fundamental. It is regularly invoked to defend a wide variety of rights, from the right to vote to the right to freedom of religion.
The freedom from government interference and the individual as autonomous moral agent are two account of autonomy which are particularly relevant to journalism.
Callahan states that autonomy 'should be a moral good, not a moral obsession. It is a value not the value.' (1984:42)
The growth of corporate dominance of the media i think had undermined traditional arguments in favor of press freedom as it is harder to mount these arguments to defend and institution that is simply meeting consumer demand for lively accounts of famous individuals private lives.
While many journalists seem to be taking a stand and deciding not to intrude on those within the public eye there are still many who see it as their right to know what is going on. I think it comes down to the choice or autonomy of the individual journalists. There has to be a will not to invade the privacy of others, of course you are still under some corporate structure but within this i think individual journalists can still have self limits and regulation they just have to want it.
JOURNALISM LAW:
Technically there are very few laws which apply exclusively to journalists.
As Walker 1989 demonstrated in her book The Law of Journalism in Australia there was indeed a body of law that could be deemed 'journalism law' in that it constituted all that legal implications that arose from the act of news reporting and publishing. Such laws could include:
- defamation
- court reporting
- contempt of court and parliament
- obscenity
- media regulation
- freedom of information legislation
- intellectual property
- trespass
- breach of confidences
among others.
Journalists have no rights beyond those of ordinary citizens, although they are given some special privileges in order to facilitates their role in bringing information to the wider citizenry.
They are also sometimes allowed privileged of withholding a name.
Public interest - judges and legislators with allow journalists certain privileges if it seems it is in the public interest to do so; if it is performing a greater public good by being allowed to continue.
Sub Justice: Publication interfering with an individuals right to a fair trail is known as 'sub justice' contempt, from the Latin meaning under a judge.
Freedom of Information: (FOI) Is a law designed to allow greater public access to information held by government departments.
Defamation Law: Each jurisdiction has a different body of defamation law.
Fair Report: is the standard defense relied on by journalists reporting on court and parliament. It stems from an absolute protection against defamation action afforded to anyone speaking in court of parliament and to any documents labeled tabled in those institutions known as 'absolute privileged'.
Fair Comment: offers protection to journalists who's writing involves the publication of an opinion about a public matter. This defense applies to commentaries such as editorial comments book reviews sports reviews and letters to the editor.
It is key to note that just because something may be interesting to the public does not mean it is in the public interest to hear about it. It is the journalists ethical obligation to report on public interest issues rather than appeal to society's overstimulated want for tabloid gossip.
Once again coming back to autonomy of a journalist.
The is always a question about public interest and what is in the public interest. News stories may contain key elements of genuine human drama, have a combination of news values and they are of significance to major sections of the public. Yet at the same time they invariably provoke controversy.
What indeed do the 'public' and 'private' mean?
Both are ambiguous concepts and it is interesting to note that while many citizens object to the government gathering information of private citizens see nothing wrong with the use of hidden cameras or questionable means of photographers who have in fact invaded someone else's privacy. (p188)
A general view is that 'privacy is the condition of not having undocumented personal knowledge about on possessed by another'. (Parent, 1992:92) although it has been pointed out by Kieran 1997 that 'it is not merely particular information about our lives that is private but those areas of our lives that the information concerns.'
The notion that individuals have a right to 'life, health, liberty and possessions' has come to mean to many a type of entitlement regardless of how trivial it may at times be.
NOTIONS OF PRIVACY:
privacy can mean:
- the right to be left alone
- the right to control unwanted publicity about ones own affairs
- the right to withhold any information that one does not want made public.
Todays privacy laws generally have 4 distinct interpretations:
- intrusion: unwanted violation of ones physical solitude
- publication of embarrassing private fears
- publication of information that takes place in a false light
- and appropriation, meaning use of an individuals name, picture or likeness without that persons permission usually for commercial exploitation.
Journalists are propelled in the direction of revelation rather than concealment, of disclosure rather than protection. I think this is a key consideration which needs to be acknowledged when looking at notions of privacy and a journalists boundaries.
Journalists have put forward a number of justifications for favoring intrusion over respect for privacy:
- by entering public life individuals surrender any claim to personal privacy
- journalists have a duty to report private situations when these details could have relevance to the public performance of an individual or group.
- individual journalists are simply conduits for information and it is up to the readers/listeners/viewers to decide the limits
- if it is not illegal it must be permissible.
INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY:
The notion of individual autonomy is in fact fundamental. It is regularly invoked to defend a wide variety of rights, from the right to vote to the right to freedom of religion.
The freedom from government interference and the individual as autonomous moral agent are two account of autonomy which are particularly relevant to journalism.
Callahan states that autonomy 'should be a moral good, not a moral obsession. It is a value not the value.' (1984:42)
The growth of corporate dominance of the media i think had undermined traditional arguments in favor of press freedom as it is harder to mount these arguments to defend and institution that is simply meeting consumer demand for lively accounts of famous individuals private lives.
While many journalists seem to be taking a stand and deciding not to intrude on those within the public eye there are still many who see it as their right to know what is going on. I think it comes down to the choice or autonomy of the individual journalists. There has to be a will not to invade the privacy of others, of course you are still under some corporate structure but within this i think individual journalists can still have self limits and regulation they just have to want it.
JOURNALISM LAW:
Technically there are very few laws which apply exclusively to journalists.
As Walker 1989 demonstrated in her book The Law of Journalism in Australia there was indeed a body of law that could be deemed 'journalism law' in that it constituted all that legal implications that arose from the act of news reporting and publishing. Such laws could include:
- defamation
- court reporting
- contempt of court and parliament
- obscenity
- media regulation
- freedom of information legislation
- intellectual property
- trespass
- breach of confidences
among others.
Journalists have no rights beyond those of ordinary citizens, although they are given some special privileges in order to facilitates their role in bringing information to the wider citizenry.
They are also sometimes allowed privileged of withholding a name.
Public interest - judges and legislators with allow journalists certain privileges if it seems it is in the public interest to do so; if it is performing a greater public good by being allowed to continue.
Sub Justice: Publication interfering with an individuals right to a fair trail is known as 'sub justice' contempt, from the Latin meaning under a judge.
Freedom of Information: (FOI) Is a law designed to allow greater public access to information held by government departments.
Defamation Law: Each jurisdiction has a different body of defamation law.
Fair Report: is the standard defense relied on by journalists reporting on court and parliament. It stems from an absolute protection against defamation action afforded to anyone speaking in court of parliament and to any documents labeled tabled in those institutions known as 'absolute privileged'.
Fair Comment: offers protection to journalists who's writing involves the publication of an opinion about a public matter. This defense applies to commentaries such as editorial comments book reviews sports reviews and letters to the editor.
It is key to note that just because something may be interesting to the public does not mean it is in the public interest to hear about it. It is the journalists ethical obligation to report on public interest issues rather than appeal to society's overstimulated want for tabloid gossip.
Once again coming back to autonomy of a journalist.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Chapter 10: Literary Journalism
If the news media is not screaming urgency at its audience, then it is homogenising and neutering truly tragic or shocking news events. (p149)
Barely an evening goes by without the brief appearance from a grieving relative. Each interview looks so much like the other that it is almost impossible to for viewers to identify with the victims plight.
Alternatively, the most appalling overseas wars scenes are parcelled up in 45seconds and sweetened by a reporter’s dully intoned voiceover.
EFFECT: The general effect of this constant bombarding of images, stories and tragedy is the gradual dehumanising of both subjects of stories and those who read them. We become desensitised to the events taking place around us because it’s as though we’ve seen it all before.
So in a way I think the concept of literary journalism could be a kind of solution to this problem.
- Some commentators have urged journalists to match their power and influence with greater accountability.
- Another group places faith in providing deeply researched, well-written pieces that use the techniques of fiction to fully engage the readers mind and emotions.
And its these techniques which make the style of literary journalism.
ELEMENTS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM:
What is literary journalism?
“In literary journalism the research is the iceberg and the polished prose its tip.“
Elements of:
- Documented subject matter chosen from real world as opposed to ‘invented’ from the writers mind. (156)
- Exhaustive research, either through conventional sources such as documents & interviews, or by ‘saturation’ reporting; that is, by immersing yourself in the world of your subject (Helen Garner) (156-57)
- Novelistic techniques: using a range of techniques borrowed from fiction
a. Creating whole scenes
b. Quoting passages of dialogue
c. Describing the social setting in detail
d. Writing interior monologues for subjects
- Restricted to mostly techniques drawn from socially realistic fiction.
- Voice: daily journalism is tyrannised by industrial voice
- Literary prose style, both in attention paid to structure the narrative and choosing the words themselves.
- Underlying meaning. The purpose of this work is to go beyond the constraints of daily journalism and find the underlying meanings in issues and events.
Primary Aims:
Journalism – to accurate information about a news event.
Fiction – to tell a compelling story.
Literary journalists fuse the role of observer and maker to find a third way of depicting reality. (Sims 1990, p.18)
This usually has two important implications:
1. It broadens the readers understanding of what happened within the event they’re reporting on
2. It has an impact.
How does the reader know the described events are real? I think this is an important question.
Simply they do not, they must trust the writing. Which therefore means the writer must earn the audiences trust.
Yet i'm not sure how this can achieved completely. There are of course ways: such as writers which have been around for a period of time are more established and thus more credible yet i'm not sure how this same kind of trust can achieved for first time literary journalists.
CONCLUSION:
The use of fictional techniques in journalism throws a host of complex and subtle issues.
It requires much more skill than daily journalism, because you need to be careful while creating a voice that you do not write something untrue because it suits the tone. And if you do then the audience needs to be informed accordingly, there is a danger it seems with literary journalism to swing to far either into fact and loose the voice which makes literary journalism so unique or go the other way and change events to something untrue because its what you think the audience may want to hear.
If literary journalism seeks to get at underlying meanings in issues and events, it also makes it far harder for readers to determine what is fact and what is fiction, making it all the more important that its practitioners keep faith with the reader.
Barely an evening goes by without the brief appearance from a grieving relative. Each interview looks so much like the other that it is almost impossible to for viewers to identify with the victims plight.
Alternatively, the most appalling overseas wars scenes are parcelled up in 45seconds and sweetened by a reporter’s dully intoned voiceover.
EFFECT: The general effect of this constant bombarding of images, stories and tragedy is the gradual dehumanising of both subjects of stories and those who read them. We become desensitised to the events taking place around us because it’s as though we’ve seen it all before.
So in a way I think the concept of literary journalism could be a kind of solution to this problem.
- Some commentators have urged journalists to match their power and influence with greater accountability.
- Another group places faith in providing deeply researched, well-written pieces that use the techniques of fiction to fully engage the readers mind and emotions.
And its these techniques which make the style of literary journalism.
ELEMENTS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM:
What is literary journalism?
“In literary journalism the research is the iceberg and the polished prose its tip.“
Elements of:
- Documented subject matter chosen from real world as opposed to ‘invented’ from the writers mind. (156)
- Exhaustive research, either through conventional sources such as documents & interviews, or by ‘saturation’ reporting; that is, by immersing yourself in the world of your subject (Helen Garner) (156-57)
- Novelistic techniques: using a range of techniques borrowed from fiction
a. Creating whole scenes
b. Quoting passages of dialogue
c. Describing the social setting in detail
d. Writing interior monologues for subjects
- Restricted to mostly techniques drawn from socially realistic fiction.
- Voice: daily journalism is tyrannised by industrial voice
- Literary prose style, both in attention paid to structure the narrative and choosing the words themselves.
- Underlying meaning. The purpose of this work is to go beyond the constraints of daily journalism and find the underlying meanings in issues and events.
Primary Aims:
Journalism – to accurate information about a news event.
Fiction – to tell a compelling story.
Literary journalists fuse the role of observer and maker to find a third way of depicting reality. (Sims 1990, p.18)
This usually has two important implications:
1. It broadens the readers understanding of what happened within the event they’re reporting on
2. It has an impact.
How does the reader know the described events are real? I think this is an important question.
Simply they do not, they must trust the writing. Which therefore means the writer must earn the audiences trust.
Yet i'm not sure how this can achieved completely. There are of course ways: such as writers which have been around for a period of time are more established and thus more credible yet i'm not sure how this same kind of trust can achieved for first time literary journalists.
CONCLUSION:
The use of fictional techniques in journalism throws a host of complex and subtle issues.
It requires much more skill than daily journalism, because you need to be careful while creating a voice that you do not write something untrue because it suits the tone. And if you do then the audience needs to be informed accordingly, there is a danger it seems with literary journalism to swing to far either into fact and loose the voice which makes literary journalism so unique or go the other way and change events to something untrue because its what you think the audience may want to hear.
If literary journalism seeks to get at underlying meanings in issues and events, it also makes it far harder for readers to determine what is fact and what is fiction, making it all the more important that its practitioners keep faith with the reader.
Chapter 9 and thoughts on the representation of Others.
I though this topic was really interesting how it looks at how the daily practices of journalists enforce stereotypes of foreign and ingenious people, and in particular how regional journalism shapes what we know about indigenous people.
The question of Who are others? was also one which i had never actually considered. Living on the Central Coast in a predominately white community there aren't often discussion relating to indigenous people. The role which the media has taken in the construction of the 'others' is interesting and disturbing.
'Others' are indigenous people they seem to be characterised through the media as
- socially disenfranchised and those on the fringes of society
What Indigenous Stories are Generally About:
- alcohol
- Criminals Usually portrayed in a negative sense
- criminals
- rioters
- wife beaters
- drug users
- petrol sniffers
- welfare dependant
- school dropout
- dirty
- lazy
- violent
- helpless
- hopeless
- sexual abuses
- living in drug infested environment
very rarely are there stories in mainstream newspapers about indigenous people where they are painted in a positive or a way which portrays them as a beneficial element within society. More often than not stories will show them in any number of the ways listed above.
Main Reasons Why Indigenous Stories may be Inaccurate:
- Readership
- Out of sight out of mind.
- Because they don’t see many indigenous people they don’t report on them
- Because they’re not reading it they don’t print stuff
- Don’t think other people would be interested. Those written are usually negative and are choice of sources
- Don’t consult sources relative to the story
- Frequently go for same quotes
- Very rarely quote or consult indigenous people
- Indigenous people hard to contact by phone or net
- Indigenous organisations not well known
- Time constraints and deadlines.
While it is true that newspapers need to be catering to their audiences and therefore will print stories predominately aimed for them i think by leaving out a variety of indigenous issues and only reporting on the problems we are being shown a skewed and perhaps one sided view of a group of people who are very much part of our culture and showed be treated accordingly with respect. In chapter 9 it says "ethical awareness requires more than a passing knowledge of the rules of engagement"... journalists "have a responsibility to their audience and themselves to develop their understand and judgement in ways that reflect a commitment to fairness" as well as accuracy and reporting on a variety of complex issues such as indigenous affairs.
The question of Who are others? was also one which i had never actually considered. Living on the Central Coast in a predominately white community there aren't often discussion relating to indigenous people. The role which the media has taken in the construction of the 'others' is interesting and disturbing.
'Others' are indigenous people they seem to be characterised through the media as
- socially disenfranchised and those on the fringes of society
What Indigenous Stories are Generally About:
- alcohol
- Criminals Usually portrayed in a negative sense
- criminals
- rioters
- wife beaters
- drug users
- petrol sniffers
- welfare dependant
- school dropout
- dirty
- lazy
- violent
- helpless
- hopeless
- sexual abuses
- living in drug infested environment
very rarely are there stories in mainstream newspapers about indigenous people where they are painted in a positive or a way which portrays them as a beneficial element within society. More often than not stories will show them in any number of the ways listed above.
Main Reasons Why Indigenous Stories may be Inaccurate:
- Readership
- Out of sight out of mind.
- Because they don’t see many indigenous people they don’t report on them
- Because they’re not reading it they don’t print stuff
- Don’t think other people would be interested. Those written are usually negative and are choice of sources
- Don’t consult sources relative to the story
- Frequently go for same quotes
- Very rarely quote or consult indigenous people
- Indigenous people hard to contact by phone or net
- Indigenous organisations not well known
- Time constraints and deadlines.
While it is true that newspapers need to be catering to their audiences and therefore will print stories predominately aimed for them i think by leaving out a variety of indigenous issues and only reporting on the problems we are being shown a skewed and perhaps one sided view of a group of people who are very much part of our culture and showed be treated accordingly with respect. In chapter 9 it says "ethical awareness requires more than a passing knowledge of the rules of engagement"... journalists "have a responsibility to their audience and themselves to develop their understand and judgement in ways that reflect a commitment to fairness" as well as accuracy and reporting on a variety of complex issues such as indigenous affairs.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Chapter 8 More than Skin Deep: Australia's Indigenous Heritage
Chapter 8 by Michael Meadows and Jacqui Ewart
Journalism is an important cultural resource at both the regional and metropolitan levels.
Journalism it seem is an influential component in relation to societies beliefs and views, there is as the chapter also suggests evidence to suggest that regional journalism has a unique place and role in the formation of identity and the creation of the concept of community.
Key to note that the majority of Australians have had limited contact with indigenous individuals and it is therefore the regional or local level that non-indigenous Australians come to to formulate their ideas about the subject from.
Regional journalism does play a unique role in the formation of the notion of community, helping to unite and connect groups of people. Metropolitan media can not provide the same kind of unity because they focus on the national and international issues.
FRAMING THE NEWS:
Studies of the coverage of Ingenious affairs in the Australian news media suggests a lack of ability by journalists - from first contact - to accurately represent 'the other' in anything by stereotypical , patronising, assimilatorist, or ignorant terms. Though there are exceptions.
Understanding journalists practice and how they impact on the representation of Indigenous Australians requires insights not only into those practices but also into the field in which journalists work, particularly their workplace cultures.
Van Dikj (1991) identifies the need to examine the semantic significance of the text of news stories - their implications and irrelevances, for example - as well as what he terms 'news schemes' such as headlines, story introductions, key events, content, history or background, quoted passages, and commentary.
This should also include omissions from stories.
THE JOURNALISTS:
The key problematic area when addressing indigenous affairs stories include the journalists concept of readership, the use of sources and the granting of authority status to those sources, newspaper policies, and constraints in the routine gathering and writing of news. (Meadows and Oldham 1991: Goodall 1993; Trigger 1995; Ewart 1997b)
READERSHIP:
Readership is a predominant factor which influences journalists
Journalists often claim they are reflecting society in their coverage of news, as they are writing for the reader. However, journalists are more likely to gain their ideas of readership from two sources: their immediate supervisors and colleagues and their sources. Their reliance on a limited number of people has a huge effect on the way journalists report , gather and write their news stories.
SOURCES:
Indigenous related articles are often not covered in news situations because they are not seen to appeal to the majority of those reading or watching the coverage.
Many journalists also have limited contact with Indigenous people, rare;y talk to Indigenous sources about issues and these are then only considered newsworthy by some sources if they are sensationalised in some way.
NEWSPAPER POLICY: what makes news?
Journalists are not always directly told not to cover a story, rather they learn by being steered in other directions by colleagues, or by the editing or rejection of their copy.
Journalists take their cues for reporting the news from the editorial hierarchy rather than community.
Sometimes this selectivity is designed to suit the unwritten policies of the media about not covering certain issues.
DAILY ROUTINES:
The daily practices of journalism can be seen to reinforce stereotypes and the thus restrict the ways in which indigenous people and issues are treated in the news.
The impact of reporting on limited Indigenous events when linked with the limited use of indigenous sources as information means that journalists often receive unreliable and culturally inappropriate interpretations of indigenous news.
TREATMENT OF INDIGENOUS ISSUES:
Journalists consider the issue of 'race' problematic. There are significant disjuncture's between their ideas and practices in this area.
The existence of the MEEA's code of ethics has further complicated the issue of reporting on race. Many journalists report being pressured into acting contrary to the code by editorial management. The 'reality' of gathering and writing news is frequently cites as a justification for journalists' inability to strictly adhere to the code.
Journalists approach their work though a value system that positions them as watch dogs on government and as promoters of democracy. The notion as journalism as a fourth estate is a timely debater given the increasingly public disillusionment with both government and the media.
CONCLUSION:
Regional journalists and their perceptions of journalism practices provide a starting point from which to examine the broader aspects of reporting on indigenous people and issues.
This area remains a largely ignored in scholarly research.
The chapter has shown journalists reluctant to use Indigenous sources of to engage in any meaningful research despite apparent easy access to background material.
The struggle over journalists representations of Indigenous affairs is not a recent one. From first contact indigenous people have been positioned from, and within, the dominant ideas and assumptions of Anglo-European culture.
The role of journalism as a set of cultural practices in this quest is critical. Journalists claim to professionalism, primarily on the MEAA codes of ethics do not provide and adequate framework for the representations of indigenous affairs.
Journalists need to re-conceptualise journalism in terms of how it 'imagines' society within the context of the shift as a colonising cultural institution.
Journalism is an important cultural resource at both the regional and metropolitan levels.
Journalism it seem is an influential component in relation to societies beliefs and views, there is as the chapter also suggests evidence to suggest that regional journalism has a unique place and role in the formation of identity and the creation of the concept of community.
Key to note that the majority of Australians have had limited contact with indigenous individuals and it is therefore the regional or local level that non-indigenous Australians come to to formulate their ideas about the subject from.
Regional journalism does play a unique role in the formation of the notion of community, helping to unite and connect groups of people. Metropolitan media can not provide the same kind of unity because they focus on the national and international issues.
FRAMING THE NEWS:
Studies of the coverage of Ingenious affairs in the Australian news media suggests a lack of ability by journalists - from first contact - to accurately represent 'the other' in anything by stereotypical , patronising, assimilatorist, or ignorant terms. Though there are exceptions.
Understanding journalists practice and how they impact on the representation of Indigenous Australians requires insights not only into those practices but also into the field in which journalists work, particularly their workplace cultures.
Van Dikj (1991) identifies the need to examine the semantic significance of the text of news stories - their implications and irrelevances, for example - as well as what he terms 'news schemes' such as headlines, story introductions, key events, content, history or background, quoted passages, and commentary.
This should also include omissions from stories.
THE JOURNALISTS:
The key problematic area when addressing indigenous affairs stories include the journalists concept of readership, the use of sources and the granting of authority status to those sources, newspaper policies, and constraints in the routine gathering and writing of news. (Meadows and Oldham 1991: Goodall 1993; Trigger 1995; Ewart 1997b)
READERSHIP:
Readership is a predominant factor which influences journalists
Journalists often claim they are reflecting society in their coverage of news, as they are writing for the reader. However, journalists are more likely to gain their ideas of readership from two sources: their immediate supervisors and colleagues and their sources. Their reliance on a limited number of people has a huge effect on the way journalists report , gather and write their news stories.
SOURCES:
Indigenous related articles are often not covered in news situations because they are not seen to appeal to the majority of those reading or watching the coverage.
Many journalists also have limited contact with Indigenous people, rare;y talk to Indigenous sources about issues and these are then only considered newsworthy by some sources if they are sensationalised in some way.
NEWSPAPER POLICY: what makes news?
Journalists are not always directly told not to cover a story, rather they learn by being steered in other directions by colleagues, or by the editing or rejection of their copy.
Journalists take their cues for reporting the news from the editorial hierarchy rather than community.
Sometimes this selectivity is designed to suit the unwritten policies of the media about not covering certain issues.
DAILY ROUTINES:
The daily practices of journalism can be seen to reinforce stereotypes and the thus restrict the ways in which indigenous people and issues are treated in the news.
The impact of reporting on limited Indigenous events when linked with the limited use of indigenous sources as information means that journalists often receive unreliable and culturally inappropriate interpretations of indigenous news.
TREATMENT OF INDIGENOUS ISSUES:
Journalists consider the issue of 'race' problematic. There are significant disjuncture's between their ideas and practices in this area.
The existence of the MEEA's code of ethics has further complicated the issue of reporting on race. Many journalists report being pressured into acting contrary to the code by editorial management. The 'reality' of gathering and writing news is frequently cites as a justification for journalists' inability to strictly adhere to the code.
Journalists approach their work though a value system that positions them as watch dogs on government and as promoters of democracy. The notion as journalism as a fourth estate is a timely debater given the increasingly public disillusionment with both government and the media.
CONCLUSION:
Regional journalists and their perceptions of journalism practices provide a starting point from which to examine the broader aspects of reporting on indigenous people and issues.
This area remains a largely ignored in scholarly research.
The chapter has shown journalists reluctant to use Indigenous sources of to engage in any meaningful research despite apparent easy access to background material.
The struggle over journalists representations of Indigenous affairs is not a recent one. From first contact indigenous people have been positioned from, and within, the dominant ideas and assumptions of Anglo-European culture.
The role of journalism as a set of cultural practices in this quest is critical. Journalists claim to professionalism, primarily on the MEAA codes of ethics do not provide and adequate framework for the representations of indigenous affairs.
Journalists need to re-conceptualise journalism in terms of how it 'imagines' society within the context of the shift as a colonising cultural institution.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Chapter 7: The Importance of Inquiry
Ch 7: Leo Bowman and Stephen McIwaine
A challenge for journalists is where information provided by news media begins and ends: what impacts, what expectations, what public responsibilities are created or ignored in converting events and processes into words and pictures.
Journalism practice must change to to accommodate this new uncertainty - just as it has adapted to the new communications systems that were the hallmark of the economic and social change of the past.
SETTING UP THE ENQUIRY:
In seeking to indicate that all good journalism requires ongoing investigation, Mencher, Itule and Anderson identify several phases of story development:
- each stage requires a different focus from journalists seeking to provide a truly comprehensive coverage.
THE THREE STAGES OF ENQUIRY:
- Level1: Reactive Reporting. Journalists rely on people to tell them or show them things; they need people in authority to or with special knowledge to supply them with information that enables them to tell the audience what is happening. Reactive reporting concentrates on information that originates from the sources and may be controlled by the source. * This level is good enough for the time being - it supplies those readers with information they only really want.
- Level2: Analytical Reporting. A need to go beyond reactive accounts and dig deeper. Journalists here are looking for the answers to how and why? This stage involves the role of institutions and authorities.
- Level3: Reflective Reporting. This looks at more deep seated social trends that might have set the stage for a particular news event. In goes beyond institutional accounts to include broad patterns and trends.
SATISFYING THE CRITICS:
Reporters are open to criticism if they:
1. treat initial reactive reports as if they were an end in themselves.
2. their enquiries become routine and their stories standard.
3. they construct a neat orderly reporting technique that imposes order on chaos
4. they do not pursue incompatible or varying accounts.
CONCLUSION:
Changes in technology and audience appear to be dictating a more accountable and more relevant form of journalism practice.
The three level enquiry helps journalists to seek and explore new stories which is a simple and sound technique for all journalists no matter the time they have been in the profession.
A challenge for journalists is where information provided by news media begins and ends: what impacts, what expectations, what public responsibilities are created or ignored in converting events and processes into words and pictures.
Journalism practice must change to to accommodate this new uncertainty - just as it has adapted to the new communications systems that were the hallmark of the economic and social change of the past.
SETTING UP THE ENQUIRY:
In seeking to indicate that all good journalism requires ongoing investigation, Mencher, Itule and Anderson identify several phases of story development:
- each stage requires a different focus from journalists seeking to provide a truly comprehensive coverage.
THE THREE STAGES OF ENQUIRY:
- Level1: Reactive Reporting. Journalists rely on people to tell them or show them things; they need people in authority to or with special knowledge to supply them with information that enables them to tell the audience what is happening. Reactive reporting concentrates on information that originates from the sources and may be controlled by the source. * This level is good enough for the time being - it supplies those readers with information they only really want.
- Level2: Analytical Reporting. A need to go beyond reactive accounts and dig deeper. Journalists here are looking for the answers to how and why? This stage involves the role of institutions and authorities.
- Level3: Reflective Reporting. This looks at more deep seated social trends that might have set the stage for a particular news event. In goes beyond institutional accounts to include broad patterns and trends.
SATISFYING THE CRITICS:
Reporters are open to criticism if they:
1. treat initial reactive reports as if they were an end in themselves.
2. their enquiries become routine and their stories standard.
3. they construct a neat orderly reporting technique that imposes order on chaos
4. they do not pursue incompatible or varying accounts.
CONCLUSION:
Changes in technology and audience appear to be dictating a more accountable and more relevant form of journalism practice.
The three level enquiry helps journalists to seek and explore new stories which is a simple and sound technique for all journalists no matter the time they have been in the profession.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Chapter 6: The Truth, the whole truth, and nothing but...
Ch 6: by Sharon Tickle.
MEEA: Respect for the truth and the public's right to information are fundamental principals of journalism.
TERMS OF REFERENCE:
- The struggle between news work and entertainment as apart of the role of a journalist.
- Journalists face the task of truthfully representingh in words, numbers, sound and pictures, events that have occurred at a particular time in a particular place.
- Gratten suggests commercial pressures are causing infotainment take-over of newspapers.
- Perhaps then as Chris Mitchell said "if a journalist cant tell the difference between fact and fiction, they shouldn't be in the job".
- News media producers reject claims that they can not represent the truth in their news stories, while cultural studies theorists say its futile to try and represent the truth because it is a situational and subjective construction of reality.
TERMS OF REFERENCE:
- The struggle between news work and entertainment as apart of the role of a journalist.
- Journalists face the task of truthfully representingh in words, numbers, sound and pictures, events that have occurred at a particular time in a particular place.
- Gratten suggests commercial pressures are causing infotainment take-over of newspapers.
- Perhaps then as Chris Mitchell said "if a journalist cant tell the difference between fact and fiction, they shouldn't be in the job".
- News media producers reject claims that they can not represent the truth in their news stories, while cultural studies theorists say its futile to try and represent the truth because it is a situational and subjective construction of reality.
TRUTH FROM PLATO & FOUCAULT:
There were 3 different schools of thought about whether truth could be universal.
Plato: said a universal truth could be realised as a transcendent ideal independent of the concrete thing itself
Aristotle: argued universality was inherent in the thing or idea itself.
Thomas Aquinas: states that 'ideas has three kinds of existence: as exemplars of God, as intelligible forms of things and as concepts in humans minds cause by abstracting from things.
Postmodernism: There is no truth (which seems to be a truth, therefore the only truth is that there is no truth: confusing much?)
REASONING AND JUDGEMENT:
- Deductive reasoning: relies on inferring from general principals that are then applied to specific facts to reach logically correct conclusions.
- Inductive reasoning: based on the inference from specific facts that are then combined to draw general conclusions that have different levels of plausibility.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES:
Must be able to sort the chaff from the grain.
Need to be much more reactive
Ethical, critical, reflective and well trained journalists can capitalise on the new technologies to better do the job of presenting new information in a timely fashion to their audience.
AUTHORISED TRUTH TELLERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE OF CONVERGENCE:
- Digital technology and the Internet are the mass media mediums for journalists today.
- While print will never die (supposedly) the patient is ailing.
- Convergence will see the intermeshing of the interface between TV radio and the Internet so that news content produced by one medium us screen by the other two.
- One obvious concern in this scenario is that the tiered structure which existed to sift and sort news is considerably flattened.
- Fact and source checking may be skipped altogether.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Ch 5: Journalism beyond the Business
Chapter 5
- The revolution is here. Journalists are now longer the public's watchdogs or privileged members of the fourth estate. They are business people producing a product for market.
- Michelle Gratten characterises the latest revolution to hit journalism as the seemingly unstoppable rise of 'commercialism' as a 'core value' (1998:1)
THEORISING THE COMMERCIAL DRIVERS OF MODERN JOURNALISM:
- A commercial spirit now dominates journalism
- Marx realised journalism was about more that commercial operations, yet in today's shifting society we can not be as sure about what journalism is and is not.
- The real problem for 'new' journalism is that there is no longer even the pretence of balance between the two forces of 'capital acquisition' vs. 'economic exercise'.
the QUESTION therefore is "what is journalism and what conceptual tools can be used to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of its modern form?"
Australian Theories of Journalism:
1. journalism as a commodity
2. journalism as an autonomous consciousness
3. journalism as a cultural activity
4. journalism as 'empirical facts'.
Which Theory of Journalism?:
Any theory of journalism must take into account:
1. That it has to be able to take account of the primarily commercial context in which journalism is practiced.
2. It has to be able to take account of the professional ideologies, beliefs, ways of doing and ways of making meaning tat operate among the practitioners of journalism.
WHY? - because the capacity to shuttle between levels of abstraction with ease and with clarity, is a signal mark of the imaginative and systematic thinker. (Mills, 1959: 43)
A NEW MARXIST THEORY OF JOURNALISM:
According to the text this 'theoretical framework delivers the conceptual tools capable of facing such rampant commercialism' that is present within journalism today.
A Marxist approach to journalism traditionally has been associated with the political economy model - which argues that because the media are owned and controlled by capitalist interests, these outlets are geared to the production of dominated capitalist ideologies, which in turn mystify class relations and produce a false consciousness among the working class.
- The Problem of Ideology::
The continuing problem however with those theory is that everyone outside the perspective is reduced to 'false consciousness'.
Herman and McChesney (1997) argue that the triumph for transnational corporation (TNC) power is not only the triumph of political and economic power but, extends to basic assumptions an modes o thought that is to ideology.
Bordieu ages that journalists wear special glasses to facilitate the incorporation of the economic imperatives of their work into a broader worldviews and their place in it.
- The Issue of Determination::
Determinism remains a controversial aspect of attempts to apple Marxist theory. It has a 'complex range of meanings' but maintains its special significance because 'it bears on several significant tendencies in modern thought'. (Williams 98)
- EhnoMarxism::
This approach emphasises the the "active involvement of men and women in making their own history, their own reality." This therefore allows far more attention given to the way news-workers construct their own meaning and ideologies and ultimately produces their own ways of doing.
The name comes from two sources:
ethnography: being the descriptive study of any society.
methods: the ways in which the members of society draw on the knowledge which that cultural places at their disposal to characterise the way they inhabit.
CONCLUSION:
- Future journalists will have to be very savvy commercial operators or very proficient small business people.
- journalism is primarily an economic activity
- Even with the high amount of commercialism driving journalism there are still acts of resistance within the profession.
- The revolution is here. Journalists are now longer the public's watchdogs or privileged members of the fourth estate. They are business people producing a product for market.
- Michelle Gratten characterises the latest revolution to hit journalism as the seemingly unstoppable rise of 'commercialism' as a 'core value' (1998:1)
THEORISING THE COMMERCIAL DRIVERS OF MODERN JOURNALISM:
- A commercial spirit now dominates journalism
- Marx realised journalism was about more that commercial operations, yet in today's shifting society we can not be as sure about what journalism is and is not.
- The real problem for 'new' journalism is that there is no longer even the pretence of balance between the two forces of 'capital acquisition' vs. 'economic exercise'.
the QUESTION therefore is "what is journalism and what conceptual tools can be used to arrive at a satisfactory explanation of its modern form?"
Australian Theories of Journalism:
1. journalism as a commodity
2. journalism as an autonomous consciousness
3. journalism as a cultural activity
4. journalism as 'empirical facts'.
Which Theory of Journalism?:
Any theory of journalism must take into account:
1. That it has to be able to take account of the primarily commercial context in which journalism is practiced.
2. It has to be able to take account of the professional ideologies, beliefs, ways of doing and ways of making meaning tat operate among the practitioners of journalism.
WHY? - because the capacity to shuttle between levels of abstraction with ease and with clarity, is a signal mark of the imaginative and systematic thinker. (Mills, 1959: 43)
A NEW MARXIST THEORY OF JOURNALISM:
According to the text this 'theoretical framework delivers the conceptual tools capable of facing such rampant commercialism' that is present within journalism today.
A Marxist approach to journalism traditionally has been associated with the political economy model - which argues that because the media are owned and controlled by capitalist interests, these outlets are geared to the production of dominated capitalist ideologies, which in turn mystify class relations and produce a false consciousness among the working class.
- The Problem of Ideology::
The continuing problem however with those theory is that everyone outside the perspective is reduced to 'false consciousness'.
Herman and McChesney (1997) argue that the triumph for transnational corporation (TNC) power is not only the triumph of political and economic power but, extends to basic assumptions an modes o thought that is to ideology.
Bordieu ages that journalists wear special glasses to facilitate the incorporation of the economic imperatives of their work into a broader worldviews and their place in it.
- The Issue of Determination::
Determinism remains a controversial aspect of attempts to apple Marxist theory. It has a 'complex range of meanings' but maintains its special significance because 'it bears on several significant tendencies in modern thought'. (Williams 98)
- EhnoMarxism::
This approach emphasises the the "active involvement of men and women in making their own history, their own reality." This therefore allows far more attention given to the way news-workers construct their own meaning and ideologies and ultimately produces their own ways of doing.
The name comes from two sources:
ethnography: being the descriptive study of any society.
methods: the ways in which the members of society draw on the knowledge which that cultural places at their disposal to characterise the way they inhabit.
CONCLUSION:
- Future journalists will have to be very savvy commercial operators or very proficient small business people.
- journalism is primarily an economic activity
- Even with the high amount of commercialism driving journalism there are still acts of resistance within the profession.
Picture reference:
Journalists get their fiction on.
Often journalists will use real life events in order to create a roman a clef - this is french for a 'novel with a key' meaning that it is a novel describing real life events through a facade of fiction.
One such journalist is Hunter S. Thompson and his well known work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing is the story of Journalist Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo as they travel to Las Vegas in a drug induced haze. Thompson who is presume to be the main character of Duke in this fiction novel is believed to have drawn inspiration for the novel when he traveled to Las Vegas to interview Oscar Zeta Acosta a Mexican activist and attorney. It was decided that Las Vegas would be a more comfortable atmosphere for their interview and discussion of Ruben Salazar who had been recently killed.
Gonzo Journalism which Thompson is said to have coined and popularised is a guerrilla style of reporting that practically requires no rewriting. William Faulkner stated the "the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism — and the best journalists have always known this", it is this which Thompson has said his idea for Gonzo journalism came from.
While novels such as this may seem irrelevant they are an interesting source from which to examine the role of journalism with our cultural context. The way in which these novels are constructed is no less real than what a journalist would go through to research an article and may then even be more involved than creating a simple article as we are aware that often these can be a product of media releases straight from P.R individuals.
One such journalist is Hunter S. Thompson and his well known work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing is the story of Journalist Raoul Duke and his attorney Dr. Gonzo as they travel to Las Vegas in a drug induced haze. Thompson who is presume to be the main character of Duke in this fiction novel is believed to have drawn inspiration for the novel when he traveled to Las Vegas to interview Oscar Zeta Acosta a Mexican activist and attorney. It was decided that Las Vegas would be a more comfortable atmosphere for their interview and discussion of Ruben Salazar who had been recently killed.
Gonzo Journalism which Thompson is said to have coined and popularised is a guerrilla style of reporting that practically requires no rewriting. William Faulkner stated the "the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism — and the best journalists have always known this", it is this which Thompson has said his idea for Gonzo journalism came from.
While novels such as this may seem irrelevant they are an interesting source from which to examine the role of journalism with our cultural context. The way in which these novels are constructed is no less real than what a journalist would go through to research an article and may then even be more involved than creating a simple article as we are aware that often these can be a product of media releases straight from P.R individuals.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Ch 4: Journalism n Australia
Chapter 4: Hard Yakka?
Despite the different look the media has adopted in the 21st century it is still regarded as a business 'essentially a moneymaking scheme, dependant on one hand upon it popularity with the public, on the other hand the monkey maker' (Rodgers 1995)
Carey suggests that the communications cycle follows the pattern of business cycles in the capitalist economy.
Debates of the media being News medium of entertainment industry? where stories of which interest the public are replacing whats in the public interest.
Franklin cites three 'unprecedented and significant' signposts that show a new age of infotainment journalism.
1. the shifting balance in favour of entertainment in the news media
2. the disappearance of foreign and political news in some media.
3. the trend toward infotainment affecting broadsheets as much as tabloids and the public. as well as the private broadcasting sector. (1997)
FROM FOURTH ESTATE TO FORTRESS WAPPING.
'tax on knowledge' was imposed on news during French and American revolutions
'freedom of the press' is well documented
'mechanisation' began to affect journalists. News workers were increasingly borded and in turn valued by their technological place in the production process of gathering, writing and producing news. - Industrial Revolution.
Shultz has argues that the journalistic values of democratic liberalism fourth estate - are compromised by the need of the media industry to show a profit for those who invest in the news.
News agencies have always been active players in the introduction of new technologies to news gathering and dissemination.
CONTROLLING THE MARKET FOR NEWS:
The nature of journalists work changes in response to new technologies and mass media marketing strategies. (Shultz 1994)
The media production process has an unusual relationship with the market - this shows itself as on the one hand news is clearly a commodity as newspapers are sold, magazines have a cover prices etc but the real commodity that the media sells is its audiences and in turn they are sold to advertisers.
Social control - affects news agenda in a way that structures editorial policy so that it 'usually protects property and class interests, and thus the strata and groups holding these interests are better able to retain them' (Breed 1955)
The media as an industry has the same electronic development and structures as any other commodity-producing enterprise.
JOURNALISM AS WORK:
Class location and class consciousness are central to the proposition that journalists are workers rather than middle class professionals.
Class location denotes the objective location a member of the workforce occupies in the class structures of capitalism.
Class-consciousness is define as 'that state of social cohesion reflected in the understand and activities of a class of portion of a class'.
For journalists the ideology of professionalism plays a significant role in how news workers construct their social identity. It justifies a reporters solid perception that she or he is not a workers but rather a member of the white collar middle class.
THE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ATTITUDES OF JOURNALISM:
Why is the Ideology of professionalism so important within journalism?
1. capitalism is a resilient social system
2. ideology can exert a string grip over the minds and actions of even the most rational human being.
The ideology of professionalism can help mask the raw economic relationships that bind journalists to the production process.
CONCLUSION:
The difference between journalists as labourers over middle class professionals is important because if journalists are conscious of themselves as workers it could have important implications for their own world view.
As conscious members of the working class journalists might decide that there is a news value of 'class interest' that should be taken into account in the writing process. This therefore has implications for example in the way politics might be reported.
A class based view of journalism might also have implications for the very way journalism and the public sphere are 'theorised'. It would undermine the 'fourth estate' view of journalism in favour of a more radical view of politics.
Which may lead to what has been coined 'organic' journalism - that is news reporting tat is intrinsically tied to the life experience of the working class audience.
Despite the different look the media has adopted in the 21st century it is still regarded as a business 'essentially a moneymaking scheme, dependant on one hand upon it popularity with the public, on the other hand the monkey maker' (Rodgers 1995)
Carey suggests that the communications cycle follows the pattern of business cycles in the capitalist economy.
Debates of the media being News medium of entertainment industry? where stories of which interest the public are replacing whats in the public interest.
Franklin cites three 'unprecedented and significant' signposts that show a new age of infotainment journalism.
1. the shifting balance in favour of entertainment in the news media
2. the disappearance of foreign and political news in some media.
3. the trend toward infotainment affecting broadsheets as much as tabloids and the public. as well as the private broadcasting sector. (1997)
FROM FOURTH ESTATE TO FORTRESS WAPPING.
'tax on knowledge' was imposed on news during French and American revolutions
'freedom of the press' is well documented
'mechanisation' began to affect journalists. News workers were increasingly borded and in turn valued by their technological place in the production process of gathering, writing and producing news. - Industrial Revolution.
Shultz has argues that the journalistic values of democratic liberalism fourth estate - are compromised by the need of the media industry to show a profit for those who invest in the news.
News agencies have always been active players in the introduction of new technologies to news gathering and dissemination.
CONTROLLING THE MARKET FOR NEWS:
The nature of journalists work changes in response to new technologies and mass media marketing strategies. (Shultz 1994)
The media production process has an unusual relationship with the market - this shows itself as on the one hand news is clearly a commodity as newspapers are sold, magazines have a cover prices etc but the real commodity that the media sells is its audiences and in turn they are sold to advertisers.
Social control - affects news agenda in a way that structures editorial policy so that it 'usually protects property and class interests, and thus the strata and groups holding these interests are better able to retain them' (Breed 1955)
The media as an industry has the same electronic development and structures as any other commodity-producing enterprise.
JOURNALISM AS WORK:
Class location and class consciousness are central to the proposition that journalists are workers rather than middle class professionals.
Class location denotes the objective location a member of the workforce occupies in the class structures of capitalism.
Class-consciousness is define as 'that state of social cohesion reflected in the understand and activities of a class of portion of a class'.
For journalists the ideology of professionalism plays a significant role in how news workers construct their social identity. It justifies a reporters solid perception that she or he is not a workers but rather a member of the white collar middle class.
THE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ATTITUDES OF JOURNALISM:
Why is the Ideology of professionalism so important within journalism?
1. capitalism is a resilient social system
2. ideology can exert a string grip over the minds and actions of even the most rational human being.
The ideology of professionalism can help mask the raw economic relationships that bind journalists to the production process.
CONCLUSION:
The difference between journalists as labourers over middle class professionals is important because if journalists are conscious of themselves as workers it could have important implications for their own world view.
As conscious members of the working class journalists might decide that there is a news value of 'class interest' that should be taken into account in the writing process. This therefore has implications for example in the way politics might be reported.
A class based view of journalism might also have implications for the very way journalism and the public sphere are 'theorised'. It would undermine the 'fourth estate' view of journalism in favour of a more radical view of politics.
Which may lead to what has been coined 'organic' journalism - that is news reporting tat is intrinsically tied to the life experience of the working class audience.
Public Journalism - Thoughts.
"This movement is concerned to steer journalism towards reinvigorating public life which many see as excluding ordinary citizens and devaluing the need to inform them."
"Journalism has a major stake in a healthy public life and this has lead to the movement for public journalism."
The article discusses how public journalism challenges key values held by journalists now.
- David McKnight.
Phillip Meyer gives a useful guide to what public journalism actually is, it is of course hard to define this type of journalism given the fact that it is constantly changing and therefore many are unwilling to define.
The article furthermore talks about conflict between core values and their current application which is helpful in recognising the role public journalism is taking within communities.
Ch 11: Putting the Public back into Journalism.
Chapter 11:
People power has been an important part of journalistic vernacular since the dying days of the Marcos era, when reporters bought the world pictures of the Filipino runs forming human barricades in the path of oncoming tanks, and other dramatic images of mass political activism.
Proponent of a new style of journalism, public journalism have challenged such attitudes ["tell it as it is and let the chips fall where they may"] in an attempt to respond to the declining audience levels and increasing community alienation from old-style news and traditional political processes.
WHY REPORTING NEEDS REFORM:
Public disengagement with the media has consequences not only for the media profitability but also for public participation in a wider political process.
Australians do not get involved in politics.
News audiences can regularly expect that journalists will serve up a cacophony of contradictory claims from compete ting sources.
MORE THAN STYLE:
It is relatively easy to train journalists to improve their style and content of the reporting but it may require a major shift in organisational and professional culture to address the root of the problem - the relevance and interests of news topics to audiences.
Conventional rules help journalists make value judgements about which event or problem should be further examined and published.
Innumerable sociological studies have shown that, to a large degree, news agendas revolve around the agendas set by public servants, politicians and businesses leaders, rather than those of the ordinary person on the street. This is because most news organisations base this journalists at the centre of political and economic power, where they can guarantee the authoritative sources will provide regular flows of information.
Public journalism differs from the standard approach to news in 3 major ways:
- it allows he pubic to drive the agenda of what is reported
- it attempts to include the public in a discussion rather than merely throw information at the audience as it come to hand.
- This it aims to help the public in decision about significant community issues.
SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR PUBLIC JOURNALISM:
Public journalism similar to development journalism which was promoted in this world countries since the 1960's.
Development journalism: aims to allow journalists to cover complex development processes in languages simple enough for the poorly educated to understand.
Hostility of US journalists to development journalism.
Public Journalism emerged in the US in the late 1980's.
Davis Buzz Merritt and Jay Rosen helped initiate the public journalism concept.
Rosen credit 3 key figures in helping with the movement.
- Knight-ridder INC.
- Dallas Morning news editor
- Washington Post columnist
PUBLIC JOURNALISM IN PRACTICE:
Public journalism may involved a variety of market research techniques:
- focus groups
- qualitative and quantitative opinion polls
- public forums
- other survey instruments.
Public journalism prioritises background and content that enable the public to dip into a story and follow the currents of the debate without being experts on the issue.
CRITICISMS:
- Despite the positive outcomes of public journalism the journalistic community has not been unanimously supportive of this new approach.
- The underlying philosophy has been questioned, blaming public journalism for excessive political correctness and erosion of basic journalistic standards.
- Other have condemned the public journalism technique claiming it to be sloppy.
- Finally some have noted how public journalism does not suit the commercial needs of some news organisations, which need to gather information quickly from sources seen as reliable experts.
CONCLUSION:
Public Journalists techniques must still be understood as experimental.
There is yet to be a perfect journalistic formula.
There are however five key suggests which may make successful public journalism:
1. Establishing the Agenda: public journalism should be user friendly as it defines issues that are important to the community and should structure the arguments on these issues in a meaningful way.
2. Dedicating the resources: there must be a willingness to commit significant editorial resources to the project/.
3. Setting the timetable: a program should be established.
4. Obtaining feedback: members of the public should be able and feel free to express their opinions and give feedback on articles and issues.
5. Analysing the activities ans Outcomes: measuring public satisfaction if a difficult task but one which should be attempted in order to gauge an appropriate public response.
People power has been an important part of journalistic vernacular since the dying days of the Marcos era, when reporters bought the world pictures of the Filipino runs forming human barricades in the path of oncoming tanks, and other dramatic images of mass political activism.
Proponent of a new style of journalism, public journalism have challenged such attitudes ["tell it as it is and let the chips fall where they may"] in an attempt to respond to the declining audience levels and increasing community alienation from old-style news and traditional political processes.
WHY REPORTING NEEDS REFORM:
Public disengagement with the media has consequences not only for the media profitability but also for public participation in a wider political process.
Australians do not get involved in politics.
News audiences can regularly expect that journalists will serve up a cacophony of contradictory claims from compete ting sources.
MORE THAN STYLE:
It is relatively easy to train journalists to improve their style and content of the reporting but it may require a major shift in organisational and professional culture to address the root of the problem - the relevance and interests of news topics to audiences.
Conventional rules help journalists make value judgements about which event or problem should be further examined and published.
Innumerable sociological studies have shown that, to a large degree, news agendas revolve around the agendas set by public servants, politicians and businesses leaders, rather than those of the ordinary person on the street. This is because most news organisations base this journalists at the centre of political and economic power, where they can guarantee the authoritative sources will provide regular flows of information.
Public journalism differs from the standard approach to news in 3 major ways:
- it allows he pubic to drive the agenda of what is reported
- it attempts to include the public in a discussion rather than merely throw information at the audience as it come to hand.
- This it aims to help the public in decision about significant community issues.
SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR PUBLIC JOURNALISM:
Public journalism similar to development journalism which was promoted in this world countries since the 1960's.
Development journalism: aims to allow journalists to cover complex development processes in languages simple enough for the poorly educated to understand.
Hostility of US journalists to development journalism.
Public Journalism emerged in the US in the late 1980's.
Davis Buzz Merritt and Jay Rosen helped initiate the public journalism concept.
Rosen credit 3 key figures in helping with the movement.
- Knight-ridder INC.
- Dallas Morning news editor
- Washington Post columnist
PUBLIC JOURNALISM IN PRACTICE:
Public journalism may involved a variety of market research techniques:
- focus groups
- qualitative and quantitative opinion polls
- public forums
- other survey instruments.
Public journalism prioritises background and content that enable the public to dip into a story and follow the currents of the debate without being experts on the issue.
CRITICISMS:
- Despite the positive outcomes of public journalism the journalistic community has not been unanimously supportive of this new approach.
- The underlying philosophy has been questioned, blaming public journalism for excessive political correctness and erosion of basic journalistic standards.
- Other have condemned the public journalism technique claiming it to be sloppy.
- Finally some have noted how public journalism does not suit the commercial needs of some news organisations, which need to gather information quickly from sources seen as reliable experts.
CONCLUSION:
Public Journalists techniques must still be understood as experimental.
There is yet to be a perfect journalistic formula.
There are however five key suggests which may make successful public journalism:
1. Establishing the Agenda: public journalism should be user friendly as it defines issues that are important to the community and should structure the arguments on these issues in a meaningful way.
2. Dedicating the resources: there must be a willingness to commit significant editorial resources to the project/.
3. Setting the timetable: a program should be established.
4. Obtaining feedback: members of the public should be able and feel free to express their opinions and give feedback on articles and issues.
5. Analysing the activities ans Outcomes: measuring public satisfaction if a difficult task but one which should be attempted in order to gauge an appropriate public response.
Ch 3: A return to practice.
Ch3: Reclaiming Journalism as Public Conversation.
The Western form of journalism emerged around the turn of the century, coming of the public sphere activities where disparate members of the emerging entity called 'the public' met to discuss politics, sports, gossip - in other words, experiences of the everyday.
Gathered in public places:
- houses
- pubs
- cafes
and these in turn became the sites where newspaper reporting pubic conversation emerged.
Journalism indistinct forms other forms of writing such as fiction and public relations (Carey 1997a p.329)
Modern journalism form public opinion rather than reports on it.
Carey: important elements that influenced the shift of journalism from previously a public accountable form -
- national media
- growth of minority of alternative media
- creation of the professional communicator.
Journalism should be seen a part of the broader process of making culture - or imaging, to use Benedict Anderson's term.
Journalism and Fourth Estate:
19th century.
Acknowledges the media as a part of an institution, independent of the other 'three' estates:
- judiciary
- executive
- Parliament.
'custom and status' have affronted this status according to Shultz even though it may not be formally recognised.
It is the independent status of the idea of the Fourth estate that has paced modern journalism in so much conflict with its audiences.
Carey (1997c p.337) suggests that this fourth estate has 'stitched the citizen into a passive role as spectator'. He furthermore argues that this results in a further removed sense of journalism from the public realm.
Carey links journalism, politics and democracy.
The Media as a Cultural Resource:
Ideology: refers to the ideas and assumptions about society and its practice that tend to predominate at a particular time.
Powerful role of media legitimating ideas and assumptions
Gramsci same journalism as a cultural practice that could act to draw out and elaborate elements of critical awareness and good sense. By good sense he mean the best ideas of an era or populace.
'Integral Journalism' - this idea by Gramsci aims yo not only satisfy all the needs of its public but also create and develop these needs, to arouse the public and to 'progressively enlarge it' (1988)
By considering journalism a cultural practice we can examine, and re-examine its cultural role.
Anderson " the convergence of capitals and print technology on the fatal diversity of human language created the possibility of a new form of imagined community, which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation. (1984 p49)
Therefore journalism and journalists played a crucial role in the process of 'imagining' through the cultural form of print technology, which has been superseded in the 20th century by broadsiding and now information technology.
Journalism plays a pivotal role in the strategic management of cultural goods, like the media. in the process of the formation of the 'imagination' and thus, consensus and culture.
Journalism as a cultural Practice:
Journalism as a cultural practice manages the flow of the formation and ideas in society.
Adam suggests that journalism embraces and give a place to notions of commentary, judgement and criticism.
Journalism is often define in relation what it produces: news.
We must then however dwell on what the notion of news entails.
Journalists As Intellectuals:
The intellectual in society.
The age of information technology has brought with it not only to possibility of extending global power structures but also the opportunity to subvert them by increasing the possibility of global democratisation. (Holub, 1992)
Conclusion:
Journalists need to learn how to communicate more effectively with the public as Paul Chadwick (1998a) suggests.
Public journalists professes admirable aims, but how effective can these aims be when journalists and journalism maintain perceptions that naturally set them apart from 'the public'?
Modern journalism must therefore move past this fourth estate status and its accompanying watchdog role, establishing a relationship with audiences based upon something new..
The Western form of journalism emerged around the turn of the century, coming of the public sphere activities where disparate members of the emerging entity called 'the public' met to discuss politics, sports, gossip - in other words, experiences of the everyday.
Gathered in public places:
- houses
- pubs
- cafes
and these in turn became the sites where newspaper reporting pubic conversation emerged.
Journalism indistinct forms other forms of writing such as fiction and public relations (Carey 1997a p.329)
Modern journalism form public opinion rather than reports on it.
Carey: important elements that influenced the shift of journalism from previously a public accountable form -
- national media
- growth of minority of alternative media
- creation of the professional communicator.
Journalism should be seen a part of the broader process of making culture - or imaging, to use Benedict Anderson's term.
Journalism and Fourth Estate:
19th century.
Acknowledges the media as a part of an institution, independent of the other 'three' estates:
- judiciary
- executive
- Parliament.
'custom and status' have affronted this status according to Shultz even though it may not be formally recognised.
It is the independent status of the idea of the Fourth estate that has paced modern journalism in so much conflict with its audiences.
Carey (1997c p.337) suggests that this fourth estate has 'stitched the citizen into a passive role as spectator'. He furthermore argues that this results in a further removed sense of journalism from the public realm.
Carey links journalism, politics and democracy.
The Media as a Cultural Resource:
Ideology: refers to the ideas and assumptions about society and its practice that tend to predominate at a particular time.
Powerful role of media legitimating ideas and assumptions
Gramsci same journalism as a cultural practice that could act to draw out and elaborate elements of critical awareness and good sense. By good sense he mean the best ideas of an era or populace.
'Integral Journalism' - this idea by Gramsci aims yo not only satisfy all the needs of its public but also create and develop these needs, to arouse the public and to 'progressively enlarge it' (1988)
By considering journalism a cultural practice we can examine, and re-examine its cultural role.
Anderson " the convergence of capitals and print technology on the fatal diversity of human language created the possibility of a new form of imagined community, which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation. (1984 p49)
Therefore journalism and journalists played a crucial role in the process of 'imagining' through the cultural form of print technology, which has been superseded in the 20th century by broadsiding and now information technology.
Journalism plays a pivotal role in the strategic management of cultural goods, like the media. in the process of the formation of the 'imagination' and thus, consensus and culture.
Journalism as a cultural Practice:
Journalism as a cultural practice manages the flow of the formation and ideas in society.
Adam suggests that journalism embraces and give a place to notions of commentary, judgement and criticism.
Journalism is often define in relation what it produces: news.
We must then however dwell on what the notion of news entails.
Journalists As Intellectuals:
The intellectual in society.
The age of information technology has brought with it not only to possibility of extending global power structures but also the opportunity to subvert them by increasing the possibility of global democratisation. (Holub, 1992)
Conclusion:
Journalists need to learn how to communicate more effectively with the public as Paul Chadwick (1998a) suggests.
Public journalists professes admirable aims, but how effective can these aims be when journalists and journalism maintain perceptions that naturally set them apart from 'the public'?
Modern journalism must therefore move past this fourth estate status and its accompanying watchdog role, establishing a relationship with audiences based upon something new..
Monday, August 6, 2007
Chapter 2: Comfort or Curse??!!
Chapter 2: Comfort or Curse?
Perceptions about Journalists.
Underwood: Journalists are little more than process workers manipulating information for commercial purposes.
Must hit the ‘right button’, ‘heat up’ audiences, while keeping with the ‘comfort zone’.
Role vs. Actual Job.
Fictional: the independent fearless writer armed with truth
Modern: mere cogs in the mass production of public consent.
Someone who resists all attempt at control (Underwood, 1993: 170)
McManus not independent professionals but employees, therefore not as free.
McManus and Kock propose that in the past 10 years market-driven journalism had fundamentally changed the role of journalists in making news.
Role of media as political watch dog in western communities.
Journalists as Entertainers.
Newspapers have mostly always existed for profit. (Gratten, 1998)
Newspapers sell audiences to advertisers.
Market vs. Journalism Theory.
Both models share a central and abiding concern for the audience size.
Conclusion.
Journalists are an influential selection of individuals, whether or not people think their opinion is influence by media journalists still have the responsibility to stay as neutral and objective as possible. This may seem good in theory but idyllic and impossible in practice. Non the less the responsibility remains largely with the journalist to present the news as ethically as possible without the influence of surrounding editorial staff and outside factors such as commercialisation.
Perceptions about Journalists.
Underwood: Journalists are little more than process workers manipulating information for commercial purposes.
Must hit the ‘right button’, ‘heat up’ audiences, while keeping with the ‘comfort zone’.
Role vs. Actual Job.
Fictional: the independent fearless writer armed with truth
Modern: mere cogs in the mass production of public consent.
Someone who resists all attempt at control (Underwood, 1993: 170)
McManus not independent professionals but employees, therefore not as free.
McManus and Kock propose that in the past 10 years market-driven journalism had fundamentally changed the role of journalists in making news.
Role of media as political watch dog in western communities.
Journalists as Entertainers.
Newspapers have mostly always existed for profit. (Gratten, 1998)
Newspapers sell audiences to advertisers.
Market vs. Journalism Theory.
Both models share a central and abiding concern for the audience size.
Conclusion.
Journalists are an influential selection of individuals, whether or not people think their opinion is influence by media journalists still have the responsibility to stay as neutral and objective as possible. This may seem good in theory but idyllic and impossible in practice. Non the less the responsibility remains largely with the journalist to present the news as ethically as possible without the influence of surrounding editorial staff and outside factors such as commercialisation.
Questions.
1. Does the public see a difference between journalists and political commentators/on-air radio hosts like laws and Alan Jones? Should programs and publications, which deal seriously with news and current affairs issues be required to adhere to journalistic standards and practice?
As to the difference between journalist and political commentators in the publics eye I think we like to believe we can distinguish between what we see and hear in the news verses what is suggested by commentators such as Jones and laws. Realistically however it seems as though we we take to heart what they say just as much as what we see and hear through such mediums as print and broadcast journalism. If this we not the case the events such as cash for comment would not have been so obscene. If all they were was entertainers the ethically line would not have been seen to be crossed in the same way it was. Catherine Lumby asks while discussing media ethics in Media and Communications in Australia -
"Is it even relevant to draw those lines when attracting and entertaining audiences are the guiding principals behind almost all media production?" (Lumby in Cunningham & Turner, 2006: 311)
I think it is still relevant, especially in situations where the line of journalist may be blurred in the eyes of the audience as it was in the cash for comment debate, it is in the best interest of the public that this distinction be made and thus they are aware of any bias or agenda behind the news they consume.
Reference:
Lumby, C, 2006. "Media Ethics" in Cunningham & Turner Media and Communiactions in Australia. Allen & Unwin: Australia.
As to the difference between journalist and political commentators in the publics eye I think we like to believe we can distinguish between what we see and hear in the news verses what is suggested by commentators such as Jones and laws. Realistically however it seems as though we we take to heart what they say just as much as what we see and hear through such mediums as print and broadcast journalism. If this we not the case the events such as cash for comment would not have been so obscene. If all they were was entertainers the ethically line would not have been seen to be crossed in the same way it was. Catherine Lumby asks while discussing media ethics in Media and Communications in Australia -
"Is it even relevant to draw those lines when attracting and entertaining audiences are the guiding principals behind almost all media production?" (Lumby in Cunningham & Turner, 2006: 311)
I think it is still relevant, especially in situations where the line of journalist may be blurred in the eyes of the audience as it was in the cash for comment debate, it is in the best interest of the public that this distinction be made and thus they are aware of any bias or agenda behind the news they consume.
Reference:
Lumby, C, 2006. "Media Ethics" in Cunningham & Turner Media and Communiactions in Australia. Allen & Unwin: Australia.
Chapter 1 - What is a journalist??!!
Chapter 1 – What is a Journalist?Until recently the stereotypical view of a journalist was:
-Male
-Hard-living
-Hard-drinking
-Larrikin type
-Fingers stained by nicotine and typewriter ink
-Pencil stuck behind one ear
-There is no longer a typical journalist or a definition of what their job is.
Why Define?
-Journalists need a definition to know is they are doing their job appropriately or acing ethically.
-Technological innovation means that journalists need to be constantly adapting their skills for fear that they will become outdated
-Public needs to care about the journalist otherwise news consumers may not be able to recognize or distinguish between good, bad or no news.
-In defining a journalist there are two approaches
1. Either failing to progress beyond the doing
2. Addressing elements of news practice in such theoretical terms that it is difficult to relate to practice.
Hartley [1995] describes journalism as the ‘sense making practice of modernity’ proposing that journalists go out into the ‘external real world… find out what’s going on… do empirical investigation… then try and report as truthfully and as objectively as you can’.
The MEAA [1999] sates: “Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions. They search disclose, record, questions, entertain, comment and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give practical form to freedom of expression. They scrutinize power, but also exercise it, and should be responsible and accountable.”
Who Are Journalists Responsible to?
-Employers [60% surveyed for Definition: Journalist selected this option]
-Public/community – 20%
-Audience – 15%
-More than 90% believed they should be responsible to the public or community then to themselves and next to their audiences.
-Walsh suggests that there is ‘not a lot of conflict’ between responsibility to the public and to the employer, although this may depend on the publication and its definition of audience.
-The public service nature and function of public broadcasters is more explicitly understood. As a result this type of journalist is less likely to find a gap between their responsibility to their employer and the public.
Skill and Attributes.
-Communication
-Questioning, curious and inquisitive mind
-Writing abilities
-News sense
-Knowledge of computers
-Listening skills
-General knowledge
-Empathy, patience, understanding
-A sense of working for more than self
-Language skills
-Interviewing skills
-Ability to meet deadline
-Thinking analysis skills
-Resourcefully/persistence
-Truthfulness/accuracy/integrity.
-Richardson [1998] a ‘hunger to get information, a hunger to find out the truth to always get more’.
Pressures.
-Commercialisation of news: dial-a-quote, spokespersons that are used because they quickly deliver a promising sound bite on the topic of the day.
-Journalists struggle with falling audiences for their news.
-A combination of trends threatens future of journalism.
Technology.
-Richardson [1998] technology has changed hugely altering the practice of journalism.
technology has introduced a new layer of tools
-Regional Print newsrooms – technology has: Reduced the layers of filters between gathering and writing of news.
-Increasing computerisation and digitisation of news systems have brought forward deadlines, reducing the margin for late breaking stories.
-As to broadcast journalism – satellite phones, laptops, the internet and digital audio recorders and camera allow instantaneous field-to newsroom contact from most parts of the world.
-The Internet provides worldwide publications, information and communication.
Challenges.
-Generalist vs. Specialist.
-Today’s average newspaper appeals to a ‘confederation of different constituencies” (Walsh, 1998) rather than a single audience.
Conclusion
-Ultimately the essence that distinguished journalists from other information brokers might be the commitment to the public good.
-Needs to be balances with truthfulness, accuracy, and personal and professional integrity, and a realistic appreciation of the current dependence of journalists on the news organisations bottom line.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)