Journalism-Lecture 9-News Values

Today's lecture was based around news values in the journalism industry. 


News Values can be defined as, "the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story and the attention that is paid by an audience". So it is essentially how stories are written and how they are marketed to the audience and then how the readers respond to that piece.


An interesting question involving this topic is how do you choose which will be the lead story on the news or in the newspapers or on television?


One quote which was really cool was" News is what a chap who doesn’t care much about anything wants to read. And its only news until he’s read it. After that its dead". Bruce said that this quote was really old but when you think about it, it is still really relevant to modern times. 


We were told that there are four factors which govern news values and they are  Impact, audience identification, pragmatics and source influence. Impact refers to anything that makes reader surprised or excited or impressed. Audience identification refers to the readers wanting to know what is going on and feeling a sense of ownership and pragmatics refers to ethics and current affairs. Finally, source influence basically means PR and how it is becoming more prominent with journalism.  


We were then posed a question; · are news values the same across different news services? Are news values the same across different countries/cultures? And the answer was no!! News values are very different across cultures and countries. It is very much subjective, however there are some exceptions.


The two slogans "If it bleeds, it leads" or "If its local, it leads are common predictors of what will govern the front page of the news. If it bleeds refers to anything relating to deaths of superstars, murders, car accidents or tragedies and if its local refers to floods, droughts, elections, sport or charity things. 

We were then introduced to the initial 12 factors of newsworthiness. They were  Negativity, closeness to home(proximity), recency, currency, continuity, uniqueness, simplicity, personality, expectedness, elite nations of people, exclusivity, and size.

However, from that point on there have been people who have reduced the factors to less and added in some new ones. For example, some are   drama, visual attractiveness, entertainment, importance, size, proximity, negativity, brevity, recency, elites and personalities. O'Neil and Harcup said that the most important factors were the power elite, celebrity, entertainment, surprise, bad news, good news, magnitude, relevance, follow-up and newspaper agenda

Murray Masterson narrowed it down to 6 news values which were significance, proximity, conflict, human interest, novelty and prominence. 

One of the main things I learnt from this lecture is how the factors of newsworthiness are constantly changing as time goes on and people can dictate what they think will make news to their own personal opinion.

I thought this lecture was interesting because of these factors and the different headlines for what makes a lead story. 


Below is a link to a website which states almost the exact same news values as was stated in the lecture but slightly less. Take a look. 


http://www.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/NewsValues.html

Factual Story Telling

The Success of Tengdahl Australia

The well-known Queensland designer, Julie Tengdahl has come a long way since her days in the small rural suburb of Canon Hill, Brisbane. From her years working in a bridal salon and as a fitness instructor to having three successful stores in Brisbane’s most engaging suburbs, Tengdahl reflects on her fashion-designing career. She admits it hasn’t been all glitz and glamour.

Fashion wasn’t always Tengdahl’s first choice when it came to her career. A determined student, she says that she can pinpoint the beginning of her career when she attended her college typing class in an outfit she had created herself the night before. Tengdahl recalls that as soon as she saw her teacher, she was told she was “in the wrong career” and that she “should be switching as soon as I can”. She explains that moment as starting her off into a completely different direction of where her career was heading.

Still 17 years old and living at home, whilst her mother was a talented dressmaker and a tremendous influence on her life, she had never considered a career in fashion. At the time, Tengdahl was working as a fitness instructor at the local gym. However, shortly after the “1980’s fitness boom” as she calls it, she began selling aerobic gear she had made herself. She explains this is where her flare for fashion began.

Tengdahl’s fashion career began with her work at bridal salon, Dion’s, while studying part-time at college. The experience enabled Tengdahl to discover her fascination for luxurious fabrics. She adds, “making bridal gowns gave me a really good grasp of couture because they were outfits for each individual woman”.

Inspired by the individuality, Tengdahl moved into the fitness industry, designing her own fitness brand labelled Sunfit, which consisted mainly of triathlon clothing.

Following this she moved into mainstream fashion, starting a business with her friend entitled Principles Pty Ltd. The partnership was a business-savvy match adding that her partner was “a model and very connected in the industry whilst I had the technical skills of sewing and an extensive knowledge of fabrics”. It was there that Tengdahl found her passion for designing mainstream fashion. She thought the fashion industry was lacking, and needed  “… a market for girls wanting an outfit that wasn’t a black suit…it was a very masculine world…there was only black and navy offered with a white shirt”. Tengdahl and her partner, who shared the same passion for dressing women, decided to design creative outfits with brighter colours, which were more fashion orientated.

  Despite their success, the partnership soon dissolved as Tengdahl recalls feeling unhappy with the direction of the label and feeling a shift in her own designing capabilities. Shortly after, at 32 years old, in a time where, “the designer was the brand and people had a direct connection with the designer ”, Tengdahl launched her self-titled business named Tengdahl Australia.  

Tengdahl in her designing showroom

Source: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/08/22/59881_local-news.html

Whilst owning her own business can be very stressful at times, Tengdahl says that over the years, she has become accustomed to the chaos and calm nature of the industry. However, she does admit that, “It is stressful when I put a collection out and I put myself out there on the catwalk, that’s very exposing but also very challenging and rewarding”.

 An outfit from Tengdahl Australia

Source: http://tengdahl.com/portal/index.php

 Moreover, when asked where she gathers her inspiration from, she responds, “just being observant and looking at colours, street life…fashion is a reflection of your identity and an expression of your personality… so its about stepping back, viewing, soaking it up and creating it back into a garment”.

An outfit from Tengdahl Australia's previous collections

Source: http://tengdahl.com/portal/index.php

Every successful fashion designer has a purpose for his or her creations and Tengdahl is no different. She says it is “always to make women shine and feel beautiful, to produce beautiful pieces with integrity, act with integrity with my business skills and I think I’ve always done that which is why my brand is still successful”. 

In terms of her dream goal, Tengdahl says it has been the same as it always has been, to align with her purpose. To be, “successful, stay in the business, to love looking after women and making them shine, making them feel beautiful about themselves by putting a lovely garment on them and seeing how their chemistry changes by a new outfit”. 

Despite the international economic crisis, Tengdahl says she will make sure the future of her business does not suffer. Her future plans include, “building up a marketing strategy for an online business”. Due to the fact that Tengdahl may be one of the few brands that manufacture and retail in Brisbane, she hopes that, “continuing to work on creating beautiful clothing and an online business will open me up globally”.

When asked if Tengdahl thinks the fashion industry has changed over the years, the answer is a resounding yes. She adds, with the ever-expanding nature of the industry, the development of the online shopping phenomenon has opened the fashion industry up to the world as customers. On a more personal level, Tengdahl says that “…fashion keeps on evolving and each year you pick up things from the past… it’s about creating something new from things that have succeeded in the past”. According to Tengdahl, every designer should have a constant piece in his or her collection, which never goes out of style.

Furthermore, with the recent developments of the industry, Tengdahl says the future of the fashion industry will be online as well. Not only is the World Wide Web making fashion brands accessible to consumers in remote areas, but it is also providing small brands like Tengdahl Australia with the exposure they need. However, she adds, “fashion is about connection, people will still want to be connected to their local stores for the experience of shopping and the advice you receive from a retail assistant… retail will never be phased out”.

While there is no doubt that exciting things are on the horizon for this Brisbane designer, Tengdahl says her next collection will be focused around the upcoming trends. She adds that she is gathering inspiration from magazines and the Internet to deliver a collection with an “Italian feel of bright colours, flowing fabrics...whilst still taking shapes from previous collections”.

 Tengdahl has been extremely successful in her career, however she admits when she was younger; she never imagined her life would take this path.  “I wanted to be successful when I was young but at that point I didn’t know how I was going to be successful and how I was going to make my mark in the world,” Tengdahl says. She adds with a smile, “I’m really happy with what I have achieved, it has been far greater than my thoughts”.

Journalism-Lecture 8 - Ethics

This week's lecture was all about ethics and how they can differ between people. We had a guest speaker come to talk to the group, his name was John Harrison and he had worked with Bruce in the past.

We started off the lecture with a picture of a ethics cross with the words good taste, bad taste, ethical and unethical around the quadrants.
We were then shown a series of 10 advertisements or television commercials and asked to rate them in the quadrants according to our feelings about them.
I thought some of them were unethical and inappropriate but some were good advertisements.
These are some examples that we were shown...

After we had finished scoring all of the examples we were then asked how to we distinguish between the good and the bad, the ethical and the unethical, the right from the wrong, the difference between the bad, the wrong and the simply tacky?

How do we work it out? After looking at the advertisements, more importantly who has the right to say if it is right or wrong, good or bad, ethical and unethical? 

Primarily because it seems like everyone has a different opinion and view on things.

We were then informed of the various ethical theories which were deontology, consequentialism and virtue. Deontology involves  rules, principles and duties. Principles such as you will do the right thing by following these rules, all ethics codes are deontological, and a choice between an absolute right and an absolute wrong. 

Consequentialism is about getting a 'good' or 'right' outcome that matters, doesn't matter how we got there, the end may justify the means, and the greatest good for the greatest number. 

Finally virtue ethics means that "goodness" comes from good habits or dispositions of character and these habits are 'virtues' such as courage, justice, temperance and prudence. 

These habits of character are in the 'golden mean' of behaviour. 

The mean, for example courage is the mean between rashness and cowardice. Justice is the mean between the in-justice of overzealous and excessive law and the injustice of lawlessness. 

There are several types of ethics codes. They include the MEAA code, the PRIA code, the AFA code and the AANA code. 

The main thing I learnt from this lecture is how different people's opinions can be in relation to ethics and how they are applied to real-life examples. 

I don't think ethics should be necessarily put into categories but everyone should be allowed to label something how they see it. 

Furthermore, considering ethics is such a controversial issue in journalism I looked into some websites  relating to ethics in journalism and their codes they abide by.

Below are some links to some interesting reads.

http://www.australian-news.com.au/codethics.htm

http://www.alliance.org.au/code-of-ethics.html

It is interesting because some websites share similar principles of ethics, whereas some have more or less codes to abide by. 

Journalism-Lecture 7- Public Media

This week's topic for our journalism lecture was Public Media. Some of the topics which were discussed were what is public media, what is it's role in a democratic society, who are the major players, the various functions and challenges media producers may face and some functions of public media.

The definition of public media is essentially to provide media which will serve or engage the public without the intentions of creating a profit. One of the quotes used in the lecture, which I thought creatively summed up the difference between commercial media and public media is by Nigel Milan, the former managing director of the SBS. He states, "the difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens". I really liked this quote because it highlights the difference between the aims of commercial and media broadcasting. The major distributors of public media in Australia are ABC and SBS and their various digital programs and radio programs. 

Both broadcasters are on free-to-air television, radio and online so they are on a multi-platform level. In terms of financial aid, both companies are funded by the Australian Government.  However, the SBS is partially financed by advertisers and sponsorships. In particular, the ABC is operated within a charter which ensures that the ABC remains independent, unbiased and most importantly, representative of Australia. 

Furthermore, the ABC aims to show and share a multiplicity of views. Whereas, the SBS focuses on reflecting the diversity of Australia through a multiplicity of voices. 

There are also examples of public media all over the world for example BBC in England. Basically we learned that every country has their own public and commercial media companies. 

When discussing the role of public media in a democratic society, it aims to broadcast media which is in support of the public and democratic processes. 

One of the things that I was surprised to hear was that the ABC have no resources and barely any extra money so they have to copy the news from the other broadcasters and present it as their own. This is because they simply do not have the funds to report the news properly. 

The ABC was founded in 1929 and was dubbed the 'nation building project'. Ever since then, it has always been a well respected corporation in Australia. It creates shows such as Angry Boys from Chris Lilley, the Australian Story and Hungry Beast. 

On the other hand, SBS was launched in 1980 as a multicultural channel which aimed to reflect the changing nature of Australia. In modern times, SBS has since changed from no advertisements to having about 20% of their funds coming from advertising. Some of their programs include world news and Insight.

I found the challenges that Public Media face on a daily basis really interesting. These include, to produce quality programs worth watching, to make themselves relevant to a large audience, to engage with the democratic process with relation to political opinions, to inform the public of current issues in Australia and finally, to be independent. 

Some of the functions of public media which were mentioned in the lecture were nation building, national heritage, national identity and national conversations. 

I enjoyed this lecture because I was able to see how much the public media relies on funding from either the government or from advertisers. I also really respect ABC and SBS for continuing for this many years producing authentic Australian programs which the nation as a whole can enjoy. Furthermore, I found learning about the history of ABC and SBS and seeing all the programs they produce really insightful. 

I really hope they are able to keep broadcasting programs and keep Australian media genuine and true to our Australian ethos. 

Easter Break Media Viewing

Over my Easter Break I was watching the 60 minutes program on channel 9 on Sunday's at 7:30pm-8:30pm. This program is one which I love to watch and try to view the stories almost every week if I can.
This past week's program had two very interesting stories aired and they both were focused around topics which receive very little media awareness.
The first story was about crimes committed on cruise ships and how the cruise companies solve them. The answer? They don't! I was absolutely astounded and horrified to discover that if a crime is committed on a cruise ship... there is no investigations or convictions but rather it is just swept under the rug. I was also surprised to hear that so many crimes have occurred and nobody has heard about them and the poor families have to live without knowing the answers to the disappearances of their loved ones.
Below is the link to the 60 minutes website and the video and transcript it available to view. The story is called, "Ships of Shame".

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8447235

Moving on to the second segment on the program, a story titled, "The Fat Gene". This story was very interesting because it showcased some studies and opinions which had never before been heard. The point of the story was that if you are overweight, and after diet and exercise you lose weight, your body will just put the weight back on because it wants to be bigger. This study was done by the University of Melbourne and it gives a lot of overweight people answers as to why they just gain the weight back on again. I thought it was an insightful viewpoint and study because it highlights a reason for our obesity epidemic in Australia. However, there is a contrasting study from America which concludes the age-old prophecy that you just need to exercise more.
Below is the video and story transcript to the segment.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8447228


I really enjoyed this week's 60 minutes and I think it is a great program for delivering really interesting stories in a mature and sensible way.

I hope everyone is having a relaxing Easter break!

Journalism-Lecture 6- Commercial Media

Today's lecture was around the topic of Commercial Media.
 I thought this lecture was one of the most interesting ones yet. We firstly focused on the question, why does commercial media exist?
 Well essentially so advertisers can get their message out and seen to as many people as possible. Furthermore, when commercial media is defined it means profit driven media production which is not funded by the government. It is so production companies can create audiences to sell advertisements to and thereby creating a profit for them.

The major players in this industry are News Limited, Fairfax Media, APN, Nine Entertainment co etc. We then broke down the different companies into what forms of media they produce e.g film, television, newspapers and then which publications each ones own.

 I learnt things through this because I didn't know that some publications belonged to certain companies and that some are linked together.

The form of commercial media is organised into three groups; subscription eg. Foxtel, sponsored e.g Nine network, and subsidised e.g by the government.

The function of commercial media is mainly for social and propaganda purposes.

We then were asked what is commercial media's role in a democratic society?

 To which the answer on the screen read, "can commercial media deliver on both commercial(profit) and social ('public trust') functions? (or is it really just about the mighty $ dollar?)

Some opinions of what the social responsibility of the media in a democracy are "a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day's events in a content which gives them meaning; a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism, the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society, the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society, full access to the day's intelligence".

We then talked about the policing of the functions of commercial media and various quotes were shown making insightful points on how the media should be a government-free zone. 

If control were to be placed over commercial media, it would be in forms of the government agency regulating the content, state press subsidies and licensed journalism.
In terms of the style of journalism, many critique claiming it has little quality or substance which  may be true in some cases. Thus, results of the style of commercial media is the dumbing down of news on programs such as today tonight and a current affair and the tabloidisation of programs. 

There are many challenges that journalism and in particular commercial media are currently facing for example the advertising revenue is decreasing steadily and if that decreases the amount of money available for television will decrease. 

I really enjoyed this lecture because I learnt a lot about the different media companies and how much they really own and how many different forms of media they have access to. In a way it scares me how much control Rupert Murdoch etc have over today's media because he is able to manipulate the way the media is depicted and what is held back and what is not.
I also was surprised to hear that the advertising revenue is decreasing and as a result the television productions will fall. I think it is very sad and some things need to be put in place to ensure our television programs are able to keep producing to the public.