Thursday, September 4, 2008
week 4
Chapter 4 - A 'know' for news
1. "Australia devoted major segments of their evening news bulletins to the tragedy and it's aftermath." There was a focus on the Australian lives lost and the close proximity of the disaster, as this is of strong interest to Australians. It affects their people. As this tsunami had a a great impact on so many and was a tragic out-of-the-ordinary event, it was a major talking point for all Australian media outlets.
2. I would probably focus on the fact that she was Australian. People are interested in stories that are related to home. The fact that she is Australian and it happened in Australia relates to us, makes us think ‘what if that happened to me one day?’. Next I would focus on how the Queensland police arrested her and Australian authorities put her in a detention center. How could they let this happen? Next I would focus on the 10 months she spent there, as it is a considerable amount of time.
3. Probably the (b) as it involves a known person, Prince Charles, and he is commenting about Australia which would be of interest to readers as this is someone who is often in the media and because it is about the country in which they live.
4. News is information that is new knowledge and is of interest to the target audience.
5. Rudyard Kipling’s Six strong men are imperative to any news story and hold equal value. These inform us of the important details, they are the building frames of the story. They should all be assigned equal value in general situations. Some situations, however, may place more importance on one, for example if the ‘who’ was famous, but you would still need the other 5 men to complete the story.
1. "Australia devoted major segments of their evening news bulletins to the tragedy and it's aftermath." There was a focus on the Australian lives lost and the close proximity of the disaster, as this is of strong interest to Australians. It affects their people. As this tsunami had a a great impact on so many and was a tragic out-of-the-ordinary event, it was a major talking point for all Australian media outlets.
2. I would probably focus on the fact that she was Australian. People are interested in stories that are related to home. The fact that she is Australian and it happened in Australia relates to us, makes us think ‘what if that happened to me one day?’. Next I would focus on how the Queensland police arrested her and Australian authorities put her in a detention center. How could they let this happen? Next I would focus on the 10 months she spent there, as it is a considerable amount of time.
3. Probably the (b) as it involves a known person, Prince Charles, and he is commenting about Australia which would be of interest to readers as this is someone who is often in the media and because it is about the country in which they live.
4. News is information that is new knowledge and is of interest to the target audience.
5. Rudyard Kipling’s Six strong men are imperative to any news story and hold equal value. These inform us of the important details, they are the building frames of the story. They should all be assigned equal value in general situations. Some situations, however, may place more importance on one, for example if the ‘who’ was famous, but you would still need the other 5 men to complete the story.
Week 3. Chapter 2: Agents of Power
1. I believe the most important role is to inform, informing the public relates back to the ‘watchdog’ role of the media. Of course all three roles are important; education is vital to a knowledgeable society; entertainment is essential for sales, which keeps the media industry alive. Above all however is to inform, inform the people what is happening in the world as soon as possible.
2. Ultimately it is the employer who is paying the journalists wages, and if the employer isn’t making money the journalist isn’t making money. This should not be the most important thought in a journalists mind, however it ultimately plays a role in choosing stories. Writing an easy story about something the audience isn’t going to jump for is not going to generate sales and if the organisation doesn’t gain profit it cannot continue. Keep the audience in mind at all times and one should succeed in producing journalistic material that is good for business.
3. Owners have the right of course to influence the direction of their publication, yet in all news organisations no one should have influence over content that would make it biased. News should strive to be as factual and unbiased as possible to fulfil its ‘watchdog’ role in the community. No opinions, from an owner or otherwise, should dominate a story. Although that is the aim when writing news, bias does happen, and I’m sure owners have yielded power to sway opinion in the past... but it’s not right.
4. Does investigative journalism really matter? Society today would say no as it is basically a thing of the past. When we think to the early journalists we see the grey detective hat and the long grey coat on a rainy night, type writer in hand and crooks about to be outed. Today we don’t see so much of the searching and uncovering of news, it probably should happen more – again referring to the ‘watchdog’ role of the media, having investigations really would be helping the community.
5. I know that to this question my answer should be to print the story, not compromise with threats from advertisers, and to inform the public. In all honesty however I wouldn’t print the story. If my paper was going to be shut down because of this I would over look it, it was drink driving (which is bad) but it’s not murder or a rape. I wouldn’t make my staff unemployed for the sake if this one idiot who drove while drunk. Future advertisers may also be hesitant to work with me. It may be wrong, but on a scale of how important it is for the public to know about this event and how much I value my employees tips to saving the business.
2. Ultimately it is the employer who is paying the journalists wages, and if the employer isn’t making money the journalist isn’t making money. This should not be the most important thought in a journalists mind, however it ultimately plays a role in choosing stories. Writing an easy story about something the audience isn’t going to jump for is not going to generate sales and if the organisation doesn’t gain profit it cannot continue. Keep the audience in mind at all times and one should succeed in producing journalistic material that is good for business.
3. Owners have the right of course to influence the direction of their publication, yet in all news organisations no one should have influence over content that would make it biased. News should strive to be as factual and unbiased as possible to fulfil its ‘watchdog’ role in the community. No opinions, from an owner or otherwise, should dominate a story. Although that is the aim when writing news, bias does happen, and I’m sure owners have yielded power to sway opinion in the past... but it’s not right.
4. Does investigative journalism really matter? Society today would say no as it is basically a thing of the past. When we think to the early journalists we see the grey detective hat and the long grey coat on a rainy night, type writer in hand and crooks about to be outed. Today we don’t see so much of the searching and uncovering of news, it probably should happen more – again referring to the ‘watchdog’ role of the media, having investigations really would be helping the community.
5. I know that to this question my answer should be to print the story, not compromise with threats from advertisers, and to inform the public. In all honesty however I wouldn’t print the story. If my paper was going to be shut down because of this I would over look it, it was drink driving (which is bad) but it’s not murder or a rape. I wouldn’t make my staff unemployed for the sake if this one idiot who drove while drunk. Future advertisers may also be hesitant to work with me. It may be wrong, but on a scale of how important it is for the public to know about this event and how much I value my employees tips to saving the business.
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