Goodbye my Chechnya

This photo story is about the Islamic town of Chechnya, struggles with poverty and other hardships and their remaining hope can be seen through these images.






More fantasticness can be seen here:
http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1568-goodbye-my-chechnya

Week 12

This lecture was an introduction into the concept of investigative journalism. I find this aspect of journalism quite exciting and if I were to pursue a career in the industry it would definitely be within this field. This is because investigative journalism is a super powerful tool and, when manipulated correctly, it can enlighten and spark change. My favourite investigative journalism is definitely not that of say, current affair, which pains me to even call journalism, but of real stories such as the young Indonesian boy imprisoned in an Australian adult prison of whom has been sent home since the investigations of Hamish Mcdonald brought the issue to the public's attention. I also believe that revolution of online journalism is placing pressure on this aspect of the industry. This is elaborated on in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TL1vEzzBRY

Lecture Ten: Week 11

This lecture surrounded the topic of agenda setting, which can be defined as "how the media constructs reality". It covered the four subdivisions of: Public Agenda, Policy Agenda, Corporate Agenda and Media Agenda and the general concept of agenda setting, including the Agenda Setting Family:

1. Media Gatekeeping
2. Media Advocacy
3. Agenda Cutting
4. Agenda Surfing
5. The diffusion of News
6. Portrayal of an Issue
7. Media Dependence

I don't really have a particular view on agenda setting and see it more of an inevitable aspect of the media. A recent case of agenda setting would be the highly publicised case of the Italian children and their mother.

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04182000-13220003/unrestricted/jdeCOMPLETEetd.pdf


The pdf link above takes an analytical view on the issue of agenda setting and tries to apply strategic thinking to the outcome of setting certain agendas such as political, sport, etcetera and is really quite interesting.

The Pain in Spain

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/the-pain-in-spain/260/
This article written by Eric Ellis I found whilst scanning the Global Mail is about the current economic situation in Spain and thus caught my eye as next year I plan to live and volunteer in Spain for a while. It is well written and is equipped with some fantastic photojournalism by Simon Bruty, as seen below. Worth a read.

Week Nine

This weeks topic surrounded the concept of News Values. News values being, to steal a quote from the slides, "The degree of prominence 

a media outlet gives to a 

story, and the attention that 

is paid by an audience."

To elaborate upon this quote, I'll add another by Kurt Loder, also from the slides: 

‘news is anything that's interesting, that relates 

to what's happening in the world, what's 

happening in areas of the culture that would be 

of interest to your audience.’

As I've probably said in previous entries, I believe News Values are becoming quite inverse. By that I mean superfluous tabloid type information is becoming the most read information. This is linked to Loder's quote as it inexplicitly says that we as a culture are becoming increasingly self centred and superficial and thus so is our news. This of course isn't entirely true as there are still very much watched stations such as ABC News and SBS World News, though I do think it is true enough to be worth thinking about and how we can reverse this. 

Assessment Four: Annotated Bibliography

Reference List


ABC. (2012, May 19). Facebook takes Wall Street roller-coaster ride. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from ABC News : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-19/facebook-takes-wall-street-roller-coaster-ride/4021064

Johnson, S., & Owens, J. C. (2012, May 19). A tame debut for Facebook shares. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/a-tame-debut-for-facebook-shares-20120519-1ywx8.html

Kawamoto, K. (2003). Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism . In K. Kawamoto, Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism (pp. 1 -12). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. .

Moore, M. J., Spears, L., & MacMillan, D. (2012, May 23). Facebook IPO Debacle Triggers Legal Debate. Retrieved May 24, 2012, from Bloomberg: Business Weekly: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-23/facebook-ipo-debacle-triggers-legal-debate

Academic Article: Book Section - Digital Journalism


Kawamoto, K. (2003). Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism . In K. Kawamoto, Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism (pp. 1 -12). Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc. .

Kevin Kawamoto is an associate professor in the School of Communications and teaches journalism and communication courses. His Ph.D. in communications and M.S.W. (clinical/contextual with a specialization in multigenerational social work) are from the University of Washington (Seattle), thus making him an educated and reliable source. In Kawamoto’s book “Digital Journalism: Emerging Media and the Changing Horizons of Journalism”, he describes the purpose of Journalism as to “inform and enlighten the public”, and thus he explains that since the public is becoming increasingly computer literate, so too should the methods of informing and enlightenment, using the expression an ‘old practice in a new context’. This particular book chapter defines the characteristics of digital journalism, such as; hypertextuality, interactivity, nonlinearity, multimedia, convergence and customization and personalisation. The author then goes on to identify digital journalism as a ‘moving target’ as changes in technology, concept and institution make the definition of digital media quite ambiguous. It also gives a detailed outline of the history of journalism and how, from it, evolved digital journalism. This book chapter offers an insight into digital journalism, an exciting and rather scary new concept to revolutionise the world of Journalism, and it does this from an educated and reliable point of view, offering many opinions and facts with structured and articulate language.

Recent disappointing Facebook stock market Launch

ABC. (2012, May 19). Facebook takes Wall Street roller-coaster ride. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from ABC News : http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-19/facebook-takes-wall-street-roller-coaster-ride/4021064

This three minute video was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The ABC was founded in 1929 and is funded and owned by the Australian government, however remains editorially independent. The corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia and is known to only employ the very best of Australian Journalist’s, thus making it a very credible and reliable source. This particular video takes a look at the concept of Facebook, its use as an advertisement tool, its financial worth and also its recent stock market launch. Its use of statistics and educated quotes adds to the credibility and the fact that the ABC has packed so much information into only three minutes of video in a clear and concise manner makes this video a very good source for information regarding the social media site and its recent antics. What’s more is that the video images that has been included in this piece is both relevant to what the overlaying voice is saying and also adds interest and stimulation to the story. Unlike the following references, this video was made in order to give a brief overview of the social media site, Facebook, by not going into great depth or analysis; however it serves as a great starting point for those wishing to research the recent events surrounding it.

Johnson, S., & Owens, J. C. (2012, May 19). A tame debut for Facebook shares. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/a-tame-debut-for-facebook-shares-20120519-1ywx8.html

This news article concerning Facebook was produced by Journalist’s Steve Johnson and Jeremy C. Owens for the newspaper, The Age. This article, unlike the ABC’s three minute video piece, focuses entirely on Facebook’s recent stock market launch. It is of great depth and analysis and includes many statistics and educated quotes from the likes of Max Wolff, an analyst with Greencrest Capital in New York, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia and Bruce Aust, an executive vice president at the Nasdaq exchange – all offering their professional opinions regarding the reason behind the disappointing reaction from Facebook’s much anticipated IPO (Initial Public Offering), shares dropping by 16% since initial sale. The authors of this piece offer inside information into both the antics of Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook and also the complicated ins and outs of the stock market, however they do this without bias and in a clear and uncomplicated manner. Not only was this article  used by The Age, one of the newspaper giants which has been published in Melbourne  since 1854,  but also by the Sydney Morning Herald, The Republic, The Columbian and many more reliable newspapers all around the world, making this text a very credible information source.

Moore, M. J., Spears, L., & MacMillan, D. (2012, May 23). Facebook IPO Debacle Triggers Legal Debate. Retrieved May 24, 2012, from Bloomberg: Business Weekly: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-05-23/facebook-ipo-debacle-triggers-legal-debate

Unlike the previous two pieces the authors of this piece, Michael J. Moore, Lee Spears and Douglas MacMillan, comment on the legal debate surrounding Facebook’s recent IPO disappointment in the distinguished Business magazine, Business Weekly. As said, this particular article focuses on the legal perspective of the Facebook IPO, the authors proposing that Facebook’s initial public offering, of which fell short of its anticipated value, has triggered allegations that the social network selectively disclosed crucial information to investors. However it also proposes that the law surrounding such accusations is unclear and the authors have included several interview quotes from legal Professors such as Tamar Frankel, a professor at Boston University School of Law, commenting on the ambiguity surrounding this, Frankel regarding it to be “a gray area” within the legal system. To add further to the credibility of the source, the magazine, Business Weekly, is run by Bloomberg L.P, a very prestigious American multinational mass media corporation based in New York City and of which makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market. All in all this piece of writing offers a different perspective on a very recent and much anticipated issue in a reliable and coherent way.

Lecture Eight

This lecture surrounded the subject of ethics. Here we learnt that something can be technically "good ethics" but portrayed in bad taste and vice versa, whereas I just believed that bad taste meant bad ethics. This was then elaborated in terms of Ethical Theories: Deontology, Consequentialism, Virtue. After hearing these, I personally believe in the virtuous theory of ethics, such as courage, justice, temperance, prudence - habits of character. However since, unfortunately, not every journalist, such as not every person in general, possesses these caricatures, the Deontological guidelines enforced upon the journalism world do ensure, for the most part, some sort of virtue. Alas in saying that there is still many a journalist out there with a consequentialistic stance on ethics.