Factual Storytelling Assignment

Experimentation

You should get Facebook, it's really good.

Early Addiction-trying it once is never enough

I need a nice profile picture.

Abuse Phase: Denial

But I only just logged in, and I have plenty of time to do homework.

Abuse Phase: Secrecy

Seriously, I am going to go to bed soon.

Abuse Phase: Apathy

 Can you wait? I'm talking to someone on Facebook.

Heavy Dependency

I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't help myself.

The Struggle-incompatible needs collide

 There isn't enough time, it's all too hard.

Rehabilitation

 I'm sorry for being such an idiot.

Recovery

Now that I've seen how addictive it can be, I won't fall into the trap again.

W8 Lecture: Ethics and Regulation

Going over the PowerPoint slides from this lecture, I am struck by the humour in the topic. There is also a far more serious side to this, so keep that in mind. Without any further ado, please enjoy my weekly journalism lecture post.

The images to the right are two classic examples of how sexual themes and profanities attract consumer attention, whether through humour or other mechanisms.

Another tasteless--bordering on unethical--advertisement I had already seen, is this banned one for Guinness:

Many of you would have found this an extremely distasteful ad, especially if you are female. This is where the theories of ethics come in, because journalism practice and professional communication are guided by deontological ethics and codes.

1. Deontology: duties, rules, principles. All ethics codes are deontological, 'you will do the right thing by following these rules'.

2. Teleology/Consequentialism: where the ends may justify the means, and the 'how' doesn't matter, as long as the right outcome is reached.

3. Virtue: the courage, justice, temperance and prudence of a character are the 'golden mean of behaviour'. (i.e. courage is the middle-ground of cowardice and rashness; justice is the middle-ground of the injustice of overzealous law and that of lawlessness).

The codes include MEAA, PRIA, AFA, and AANA. The MEAA principles include honesty, fairness, independence, respect for the rights of others. Among the aptly named 'Code Overkill' list containing the various and many codes on journalism, were only some codes which were familiar to me, such as the Commercial TV Code of Practice, Commercial Radio Code of Practice. Yet, these codes must have a big influence on the content that viewers and listeners access and are presented with, for example the AANA Code of Ethics or Code for Advertising & Marketing Communications to Children. Potentially, these codes ensure content is appropriate and yes, ethical.

-Bon

The irresistible draw of poorly written teenage vampire romance dramas

...is-you guessed it: the (attractive) male actors! How is it that this terrible, terrible TV and book series is so addictive? What is it about The Vampire Diaries that makes it so difficult NOT to watch?

Here is a take on the whole thing that I loved (It will make more sense if you actually watch the program).

http://indianajen.com/2011/05/06/the-vampire-diaries-season-finale-my-take/

Personally, I hate that I conform to the pseudo-stereotype of the vampire-obsessed Gen Y teenage girl. I try to reconcile this undesirable character flaw by having some relatively mature interests and tastes--like Dickens. However, this doesn't really help because the BBC always has really attractive men playing characters in their renditions of literary classics (Harry Lloyd in Great Expectations, Matthew McFayden in Little Dorrit...). Do you see a trend here?...I can't take myself too seriously when the main draw of my interest is attractive actors. How pitiful I seem. But then again, I can always watch a bit of TV to cheer myself up. Mmmmm Damon...

-Bon

W7 Lecture: Public Media *Oh Goodie!!*-no, really.

After the lectures for weeks six and seven, my opinions about commercial and public media have not changed (public media 'FTW'). I can say that I am well informed now though, as I hope you will be too, after reading this post. Feel free also, to comment about how awesome public media is compared to commercial.

Public media in Australia includes ABC, SBS, the digital variations of both (ABC 1, 2, 3 & 24 etc), and the associated radio stations. Publci media also includes 'Community media': 31Digital (Bris31), 4zzz. Historically, the 'Auntie ABC' has been considered as less 'groovy' than SBS etc.

The mission of public media is to serve and engage the public; bring the nation together; build heritage and a national identity, and have conversations. It's role in democratic society is to support public and democratic processes. Public media is allowed to generate profit, so long as the ultimate purpose is to serve the public. This means that public media often sets the political agenda, such as with the 4 Corners story on the live cattle exports.

The characteristics and requirements of public media are:

              -value to the public

              -public consultation (the public should be able interact with it)

              -geographical universality (widely available)

              -universality of appeal (cater to many tastes-including minorities)

              -a relationship to national values and identity

              -be unbiased (distanced from vested interests)

Style: The press, entertainment, utility (the weather), social (sport, cooking).

Digital radio hasn't taken off, as it isn't widely available on the most commonly used medium for listening to radio, i.e. in the car, and because it is not available everywhere (partial coverage). ABC started in 1929 as a 'nation building project'. The ABC used to be very posh, as the 'tacit answer the the nation we thought we ought to be'. SBS was launched in 1980 as the 'multicultural channel' to reflect 'the changing nature of Australia'. SBS is an example of hybrid funding, as 20% of its funding is from advertising-though it wasn't always the case. Are they selling out? It has been said that once you go commercial, you never go back, as in the tragic example of TVNZ.

~Just to break up the prose that this post is turning into, here's a picture from one of the quality programs (Robin Hood) that has been on the ABC. Commercial media has nothing on public. ;)





SBS's content is slightly more free than ABC's and provides entertaining and informative multicultural programs. I liked the description from the lecture "Friday nights on SBS are Sex Between Soccer". The news is a big part of public media because it is cheap programming and people want to watch it. I think it also ties in with serving the public and providing them with the important things. Not to mention that public media's reputation for unbiased and reliable news is much better than commercial media's. The news on public media is reliable as it is checked before it's released, which means it's generally not as instant as commercial news.

The public media news programs tends to be more serious and broadcast on the basis of importance over interest. Bruce said that some find public media to be elitist, boring and of limited interest. *I would slander this view as coming from the simple-minded, but the word 'elitist' is not simple-minded. "Everything in moderation" may even be applied to quality (i.e. public media)-it is nice to watch and listen to a bit of 'fluff' (commercial media) for a break, now and then.

The challenges facing public media are remaining relevant and 'cool', and being democratic and independent, which may be problematic because of they're funded by the government. having said this, we, the consumers actually own public media-not the government. Still, in a way, public media 'must bite the hand that feeds it' by being the watchdog of the government. So if the government is ever happy with public media, there is something wrong: there could be bias in public media.

~I'm going to justify the inclusion of yet another picture of yet another attractive man from BBC's Robin Hood, (and other, less important TV shows like spooks etc.). This meme is more related to the topic of how Australia's commercial media has to buy in bad American television because proper programs and good Australian drama is too expensive to make, thus:

-Bon

Hey, an attractive man! Made you look...

 Just put an attractive man's photo on the internet and what do you get? The latest web craze/fad/obsession. See? Attractive people really draw people in...

The story, or so I'm told:

Apparently, on March 31st, a computer programmer named Will King uploaded to Facebook or Flickr nearly one hundred photos of the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, South Carolina he had taken. One of which, was the (unadulterated-as in, non-meme) image seen above, of Zeddie Little, a twenty-five-year-old New Yorker, and otherwise now known as 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy'. The name was given to the angelic-faced runner by a friend of King's and it stuck. The photo, which was posted to the social news website Reddit on the third of this month, is said to have received 300, 000 views within an hour of the photo being posted to Flickr . From that point, there have been many new memes featuring the smiling athlete. And no, I'm not posting pictures of an attractive man just to attract attention to this blog...well not entirely anyway. ;)



Next for the overnight celebrity was an appearance on Good Morning America on the 11th of this month, to talk about his unexpected internet fame. Little's reaction to his fame was in good humour, and he was pleased that the joke was a positive one, rather than cruel, like a lot of other, similar things out there. It was also a good opportunity to get coverage for the next run he is planning to do to raise money for the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health.

I couldn't believe this story when I was first told it; I thought it a massive indicator of how narcissistic, and downright strange, online society can be. The more I read and watched about this however, the more reconciled I became to the idea. I mean, why not? No one has been cruel to anyone else, and some of the awareness raised may be directed at the John Ritter Foundation. Not to mention, there are many, many more photos of an attractive man on the internet. How could that be a bad thing? Just saying.

If you would like to read more: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ridiculously-photogenic-guy-zeddie-little

Or, you know, you could just look him up on a meme site, for a few laughs.

-Bon

Violence in films/books: The Hunger Games



After the blunt title, you will be able to guess what this post is about. Below is a link to the post which originally sparked my attention about the issue of whether violence is an appropriate and effective theme to be used to convey meaning in texts. Polly makes some good points about the backlash to the violence in The Hunger Games movie and books. Hopefully, you should be able to see the comment I left on the original post. Generally, I think it is a very effective form of expressing significant--especially ethical--themes in texts. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a classic literary example. Not to mention a brilliant book. :)



http://found-at-sea.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/hey-this-is-my-blog-i-can-use-it-to.html?showComment=1334545120971

-Bon

W6 Lecture: Commercial Media

"Commercial media sells eyeballs and ears to advertisers."

Commercial media  encompasses:

   -Freeview: channels 9, 7, 10 and their digital counterparts GO!, 7mate, Extra etc.

   -Pay TV: Foxtel, Austar.

   -The news companies: News Limited, Fairfax.

Public media in Australia includes ABC 1,2,3 & 24 and SBS etc.

For commercial media, the viewing, reading, and listening audience aren't really the customers, despite what the commercial companies may want you to think. Commercial media is not funded by the government, making it business dependent, therefore; commercial media is profit and share-holder driven. The three forms of funding it uses are sponsorship (normal Freeview commercial stations 7, 9, 10 etc.), subscription (pay TV-Foxtel etc.), and subsidised (partly government funded). It has three essential focuses: commercial (making a profit), social (informing and entertaining the public), and propaganda (influencing the consumer). *On the topic of propaganda, I was amazed to learn that Fox News is considered the most trusted news in America. o_O

*The topic of trust is actually rather interesting, as the commercial side of things facilitates the social side, but if there is too much slant on the news, the viewers will not trust that station or news. Just think of Nine News' "You can trust us..."-and that just sounded so creepy out of context.

The media has a social responsibility in democracy as a:

1. truthful, intelligent, and comprehensive account of the day's events

2. forum for the exchange of comments and opinions

3. representation of societal groups

4. presentation of the goals and values of society

"The first duty [of the media] is to shun the temptations of monopoly. It's primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of it's soul it must see that the supply is not tainted. Neither in what it gives, nor in what it does not give, nor in the mode of presentation must the unclouded face of truth suffer wrong. Comment is free, but facts are sacred." -C.P. Scott (Editor/Owner of The Guardian)

To make sure that everyone is behaving themselves, the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) and the Australian Press Council enforce broadcasting guidelines. The 'ethical wall' ensures commercial-social functions are upheld, a separation of Church and State, if you will (Simons). The ethical walls should balance the pressures of profits and public interests (social responsibility). However, over-regulation is also detrimental to reliability in the media, as seen with Steven Conroy's bid to sensor the internet. This is fraught, as the regulations are dependent on someone's opinions, and thus, is subjective.
 

Do the pressures on commercial media make it favour profit over quality and social responsibility? Are these pressures to blame for the atrocities of tabloidisation: A Current Affair and Today Tonight?

*If it isn't already obvious, I prefer to watch non-commercial TV-ABC- which is due in a big way to over-dramatised and conspiracy hype programs like ACA and TT. Tabloidisation also means that commercial media is somewhat 'dumbed down'.

A challenge facing commercial media (Oh, you poor babies) is competition. The high level of competitiveness results from that fragmentation of the media and internet popularity. An additional challenge is advertisement controls as it reduces revenue. From all of these challenges, the stations lose revenue, resulting in more 'bad quality' programs, predominantly in the form of bought-in programs (mainly American sit-coms) that are then endlessly rerun.*I think you can only watch reruns of Seinfeld, I dream of Jeannie, and Charmed so many times before you you convert to non-commercial media.

So how does commercial media continue from here?

"The only way to sell something here [programs in Australian TV] is by being able to sell it overseas."-DR BR

*I, would watch commercial stations if they had better quality programming. I would like to add that if the advertising was were more targeted, I would not be put off quite so much. Being bombarded with life or funeral insurance plans while eating lunch in front of the TV isn't anyone's ideal chilled-out lunch. Oh, not to mention being visually assaulted by the ridiculously dark tan "ahhhhhmazing Zumba-ahhhhhhbs" a particular advertisement features.

With that, I leave you to chew over the content of week 6 lecture; and don't worry, this deal will not require 3 instalments of $39.95.

-Bon

Notes on blogging

For a blog to be considered journalism it must be a form of expression that reports ideas and/or events. It must comment on the event, which will hopefully, induce public circulation or coverage of the event.

Journalism blogs should be the 'here and now'.

Ok, sounds great right? Now I just need to do it!

~But first, I love this picture:



 -Bon

It's amazing what you can find on the internet when you aren't looking for it.

Ooooh, I do like this website. There are a few quirky little things happening there. http://wheelercentre.com/about-us

For example:
http://wheelercentre.com/calendar/event/chris-stedman-faithiest-how-an-atheist-found-common-ground-with-the-religious/
"Lunchbox/Soapbox: Chris Stedman:Faithiest:How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious"
-Bon

Someone to aspire to

Michaela McGuire is an inspiration for me to blog. I love her writing, it feels so intimate-as if she were talking to a friend or writing in a diary. :)

This is an article about Michaela's writing:
http://www.killyourdarlingsjournal.com/2010/08/on-writing-michaela-mcguire/

Another article which resounded very strongly with me personally: 'Am I a feminist?'
http://wheelercentre.com/dailies/post/38deec30cc16/

Enjoy!
-Bon

A little snake caught my eye...

I just read this article from UQ News because the picture was really intriguing. It must be incredible doing this sort of work. Notice also, the inverted pyramid structure of the writing. Here's the article, now if only I could find that attention-grabbing picture again... enjoy!

Published: 30 March 2012

UQ veterinarians save pet tiger snake

Veterinarians at the UQ Gatton Veterinary Medical Centre saved the life of a venomous tiger snake.

Mr Ian Jenkins, of Snakes Downunder Reptile Park in Childers, brought his eight year old Tiger Snake, Aggro into the clinic after being referred by the veterinarians at Childers Veterinary Clinic for a tumour on its head.

Head of Service of the Small Animal Hospital Dr Bob Doneley and Specialist Anaesthetist Dr Martin Pearson operated on Aggro.

Dr Doneley is a specialist avian vet, with extensive experience in reptile and small mammal medicine and surgery.

“Surgery on snakes is uncommon and surgery on venomous snakes is very uncommon,” Dr Doneley said.

“At the UQ Veterinary Medical Centre we have the resources and trained staff to be able to handle unusual cases with avian and exotic animals.”

“My colleague Dr Pearson anaesthetised Aggro while I removed the tumour using a skin flap to cover the area. The surgery was a complete success and Aggro has made a full recovery,” he said.

The tumour turned out to be benign, and it is not expected to re-occur.

The University of Queensland Gatton Veterinary Medical Centre is an advanced veterinary clinic and teaching hospital that services South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales and is equipped to handle unusual cases.

The UQ Gatton Veterinary Medical Centre is open to the public and offers medical and surgical facilities for dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, small mammals and fish. It specialises in surgery, internal medicine, ophthalmology; to book an appointment phone (07) 54601788.

Media: Erin Pearl (07) 5460 1229, 0409 265 587 or e.pearl@uq.edu.au

-Bon