Lecture 11

Investigative journalism was a very interesting topic. As an investigative journalist you must put into practice all the ‘ins’; intelligence, informed, intuitive, inside and invest. On a primary level investigative journalism is all about active intervention, exposure, public interest and fourth estate. On a secondary level, its all one ‘shoe leather’ or getting out there and witnessing what’s going on. Throughout the lecture many examples were given of investigative journalism that changed the world. For me, the Julian Assange story is the most fascinating. The consequences he is now facing for his actions and severe and I suppose every person has their opinion on whether he deserves it or not. However the fact that he cant attend court to defend himself over sexual assult allegations, due to being confined to the Ecuadorian embassy, I see as extremely unfair. But back to the lecture… Investigative journalism has brought to the table some of the most groundbreaking stories throughout journalism’s history. With decrease of wealth in journalism, we have seen a decrease in investigative journalists and journalism. Corporations like the ABC continue to produce quality investigative journalism with their limited budget and I hope that investigative journalists will never be a dying race… Imagine a world of PR news (*shudder*)!!

Lecture 10

Week 11’s Agenda setting lecture somewhat expanded on ‘News Values’. In essence, Agenda setting is a theory that suggests the more emphasis the media puts on a topic the more important it will be perceived as by the public. There are two different types of agenda setting. On the first level, the media suggests what the public should focus on through coverage and on the second level they suggest how they should think about this issue. Agenda setting was first theorized in 1920 using a needle analogy to describe the way the media directly ‘injects’ influence straight into our minds. Although today we see this as slightly sensational, due to our understanding that audiences are not always this ideal, it shows that the notion of agenda setting was realised very early.

In the lecture, the ‘Agenda Setting Family’ was outlined. This ‘family’ has seven different components including media gatekeeping, media advocacy, agenda cutting, agenda surfing, diffusion of news, portrayal of an issue and media dependency. Media gatekeeping is the term used for how individuals control the information released to the public. Media advocacy is when the media promotes a message, for example, ‘smoking kills’. Agenda cutting is the way the media misrepresents reality by reporting on a topic less than they should. This is where news values come in. Issues of less importance can be pushed ahead due to news worthiness. Agenda surfing is a term used to describe the media following the crowd or ‘jumping on the bandwagon’. The diffusion of news is the way in which an important event is communicated to the public. Portrayal of an issue is very a very important one. News corporations can warp their audiences portrayal of an event by how they present it to them. For example, choice of accompanying footage/images can vastly influence peoples perception of the story whether it be good or bad. Lastly media dependence goes by the notion that the more dependant a person is on the media the more vulnerable they are to agenda setting. This is particularly relevant in our society of tweeters and facebookers. 

Spell and the Gypsy Collective

Spell and the Gypsy are a Byron Bay based fashion label created by two sisters with a love for feathers, leather and turquoise. It is fair to say that these gypsy sisters have well and truely captured my heart with their amazing jewellry and clothes. When Spell creates, they create a lifestyle, one that I can only dream about. Take a look at a few shots from their summer lookbook below and you'll see just what I mean.

Entire lookbook at: http://www.spelldesigns.com/blog/

Shop at: http://www.spelldesigns.com/shop/

Lecture 9

News values were the topic of lecture 8. This topic was one of the most interesting so far. News values were defined in the lecture as ‘the prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience’. What makes the headlines and what doesn’t, says a lot about our society.  An interesting point made in the lecture was whether certain stories are valued by society because they are top stories or whether they are top stories because of society’s values. Celebrity stories are an excellent of example of stories that are given value and often preference over more pressing stories. Although many people disagree with this, in essence it is our own doing. If we as a society did not want these stories they would probably not be told.

However there are factors that are taken into account when deciding which stories to put on the front page or not.  An article that has an impact, leaves an impression and ‘wows’ the audience is an important and valued article.  News that is local is of great relevance and importance to specific audiences. Ethics and facticity is also analysed along with source reliability.

Lecture 8

Lecture 8 caused me to ponder ethical questions that I might one day have to make, no matter how difficult they may be. Journalists have to make difficult ethical decisions throughout their careers and it is up to the individual to decide if it’s the right thing to do. There are three theories surrounding ethics in journalism that were discussed in the lecture. Deontology suggests that you do the right thing by following the withstanding rules, principals or duties. Consequentialism focuses on the end result. Getting the desired outcome or ‘the great story’ is all that matters and how you got it is irrelevant. The notion that the end justifies the mean is essential for this theory. Virtue ethics is focused on the individual. Is this okay by your principals and is this the type of person/journalist you want to be?

Although it is not always as simple as this. Journalists most often do not get to choose their stories, especially newcomers to the field. Therefore they are not likely to turn away a job over a breach of their own ethical values or a dream of the type of journalist they want to be.

The image of the young child and vulture shown in the lecture was defiantly food for thought. The confronting image caused much questioning of ethics and left me thinking. How far would I go to deliver a story?

Annotated Bibliography

Lecture 7

Lecture 7 focused on public media, a follow up to the previous lecture on commercial media. In Australia, public media is recognised through the ABC and SBS. The ABC, is a media broadcaster I am familiar with. Growing up with ABC local radio as the soundtrack of my kitchen, the news anthem our signal to leave for the bus at 7:45 every weekday morning, ABC news as the news of choice and programs that followed such as Four Corners, Australian Story, Q&A, Spicks and Specks and The Chaser a bulk proportion of my television intake, it is safe to say the ABC played a strong role in my exposure to the media. Although as a child and teenager this could grow tiresome and was defiantly not considered 'cool', I now choose it over commercial channels on a regular basis. This lecture made me grateful of my ABC influenced upbringing.

Public media's main focus is to cater for the public and being taxpayer supported, this only makes sense. In a democratic society, public media is free from awkward situations with advertisers and is, instead, an unbiased media that is in support of public and democratic processes. There is also a strong focus on nationalism on the ABC. It broadcasts nation building content, focusing on our identity, heritage and conversations. The SBS on the other hand is much more international, focusing on news of the world and is a great source for this. However, public media will often have to face issues relating to finance and funding. The ABC has felt with this by creating the ABC shop which, thankfully, is now a great source of income.