Lecture 9 - News Values

      Hello hello all, and welcome to the world of news values as I discuss what was talked about in lecture 9. Before we begin, the question must be asked: what are news values? This was the question I was musing over before the lecture began and soon I started to understand that there is SO much involved when understanding what makes a good story. News values can be defined as the degree of prominence of media outlet gives to a story and the attention that is paid by an audience. We learnt that there are four main elements to news values and these are impact, audience identification, pragmatics and source influence. Basically, impact is news that makes a reader say “Gee Whiz!” Audience identification is news 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 of your audience. Pragmatics are the ethics, facticity, practice/practical, current affairs and everyday news. Finally, source influence can be explained through how Journalism loves to hate PR, whether for spinning, controlling, access, approving copy, or protecting clients at the expense of the truth. Yet journalism has never needed public relations more and PR has never done a better job for the media.

·         News worthiness was then discussed and it has a broadly agreed set of values. These particular news values vary across different news services and different countries/cultures. The inverted pyramid was briefly reviewed and how the most newsworthiness information is at the top, then details progress later. Two main sayings were then learnt that "if it bleeds it leads!" which basically means that the more violence and drama a story has, the more newsworthy it will be. The second saying "if it's local it leads" also helps with promoting news stories especially in terms of TV news. A number of quotes by journalists were then looked at. Harold Evans, the editor of the Sunday Times commented on newsworthiness by saying: “A sense of news values is the first quality of editors – they are the human sieves of the torrent of news” Then, John Sergeant, a veteran TV reporter commented that: “Journalists rely on instinct rather than logic” – especially when it comes to defining a sense of news values. Finally, Judy McGregor stated that “Journalists do not adhere to formal codes of newsworthiness that can be identified or promulgated… instead, the informal code of what constitutes a good story is part of newsroom initiation and socialisation"

      The tensions of newsworthiness were then reviewed, particularly paying attention to Johan Galtung and Ruge who analysed international news to discover common factors and news agendas. Their twelve news values included: negativity, closeness, recency, currency, continuity, uniqueness, simplicity, personality, expectedness, elite nations or people, exclusivity and size. Three hypotheses were also established: The additivity hypothesis (the more factors an event satisfies, the higher the probability that it becomes news), the complementarity hypothesis (the factors will tend to exclude each other), the exclusion hypothesis (events that satisfy none or very few factors will usually not become news). Golding and Elliott were then looked at and their particular views on what the news values should be. Their ten news values included: drama, visual attractiveness, entertainment importance, size, proximity, negativity, brevity, recency, elites and personalities. Finally, three main tensions of newsworthiness were analysed, these consist of Journalism/Commercialization of media and social life, Journalism / Public Relations and Journalism’s ideals / Journalism’s reality.

A summary of different types of stories were discussed in the lecture. There are ten main type of stories and below is a list of them:

1. The power elite – stories concerning powerful individuals, organisations or institutions

2. Celebrity – stories concerning people who are famous

3. Entertainment – stories concerning sex, show business, human interest, animals, an unfolding drama, or offering opportunities for humorous treatment, entertaining photographs or headlines     

4. Surprise – stories that have an element of surprise and/or contrast

5. Bad news – stories with particularly negative overtones, such as conflict or tragedy

6. Good news - Stories with particularly positive overtones such as rescues and cures

7. Magnitude - Stories that are perceived as sufficiently significant either in the numbers of people involved or in potential impact

8. Relevance - Stories about issues, groups and nations perceived to be relevant to the audience

9. Follow-up - Stories about subjects already in the news

10. Newspaper agenda - Stories that set or represent the news organisation’s own agenda

      As mentioned previously, there were originally twelve news values established, which were then condensed to ten, and now Murray Masterson further condensed this to the big six news values. These consisted of significance (impact), proximity (location plus emotional, historical, cultural  & social significance), conflict (war, government, celebs, sport, neighbours), human interest, novelty (the unusual) and finally prominence (high profile, famous for being famous). There was then a final shortening of these values once again by Judy Mcgregor who condensed these values to four major categories: Visualness (appeal to TV/Online audience), conflict (a tried and true news value), emotion (tied up with human interest) and celebrification of the journalist. 

     The next particular section of the lecture was extremely interesting as it was explained that there are also negative elements involved with news stories and values. Firstly, the fact that journalism can be lazy and incompetent in what it has to offer and that it can be untrustworthy, irresponsible, misleading or incomplete. Secondly, the concept of tabloidisation, which is media falsehood, distortion of facts, tactics and propaganda and use of illegal news-gathering techniques. Finally, hyper-commercialisation was examined and how media mergers are rapidly creating one huge news cartel, controlling most of what you see, hear and read. On the other hand, there are also idealised notions of journalism that should be followed in order to avoid such negative results. These include: A first obligation to truth, a first loyalty to citizens, an essential discipline of verification, independence from faction, monitoring power and giving voice to the voiceless, provision of a forum for public criticism and compromise, striving to make the significant news interesting and relevant, keeping the news comprehensive and proportional and finally, freedom to exercise personal conscience.

   

      Towards the end of the lecture, the audience was focused on and Jay Rosen provided a very concise definition of audiences, that "they are simply the public, made realer, less fictional, more able, and less predictable." These days, there is a new balance of power between the journalists and audience. So questions must be asked about the future of news values. What are tomorrow’s news values? What drives the decisions made in media organisations about what is newsworthy? What do YOU think is newsworthy? These questions will be pondered on throughout this week and decisions made as to what makes a story truly newsworthy and worth reading! 

Everything in Moderation

Heeey people! Been a while since I've done a personal post and I thought today I would talk about the concept of moderating everything we do, whether it be work/love/food life! These days, we find it extremely hard to maintain a balance, especially in terms of eating the right foods, keeping our work and social life in place and spending equal amounts of time with our lovers. When it comes to food, most are extremely self conscious with their body image and are constantly trying to create the "perfect body". We replace snacking with salads and watching movies with constant exercise. Sure, these tactics are a great way to keep in shape and keep healthy, however there needs to be a balance between the two categories of eating what you want and eating what you should eat. For example, a bit of dessert won't hurt now and again and if you miss that run in the morning, don't kill yourself, you can always make up for it another time. 

In relation to work life vs social life, it is a very tricky game to play. On one hand, you know you should be working on that very important assignment due soon but your friends are pressuring you to go out and have some fun. What's the solution? Moderation! It may seem impossible, but there is a way to maintain the balance between working hard and blowing off some steam so to speak. It is extremely important not to constantly work too hard otherwise you will become stressed and burn out extremely quickly. On the other hand, if you constantly go out and socialise with friends, you will become lazy and nothing will get done in terms of work. Keeping a balance between the two will not only benefit you, but will help in the long run when you finally go to University or apply for a job. 

Finally, when discussing the dynamics of a love life, it is important to balance out the effort each person in the relationship puts in and also the amount of time spent with each other. It is not fair or beneficial for one of the people involved to constantly organise the dates, call/text the other person or maintain conversation. There needs to be an equal amount of effort put in on both sides. Also, an equal amount of time should be spent with each person without it becoming too much or too little. You don't want to seem clingy or neglectful in the relationship, balancing out the time spent with one another will maintain a healthy and happy relationship.  

In the end, everything in life needs balance or moderation in order to enjoy what we have to the fullest and not have any regrets later on.

Factual Storytelling Exercise

Hey everyone! Here is my factual storytelling assignment based on the story of my friend Simon, who has a mental illness. There is stigma surrounding mental illnesses and people treat those with the condition differently to others, why is this? We need to accept and understand the illnesses that those have and stop pushing them away or treating them as outsiders. Here is my link, I hope you are moved and enjoy the video :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9md4r0S-nmg&feature=youtu.be

Lecture 8 - Ethical Theories

Today's lecture would probably have to be one of my favourite sessions so far! It was extremely interactive and fun and really made you think. We all watched a number of advertisements, whether they were in poster or video form. Each of us then had to rate what we believed the advertisement demonstrated, whether it was  ethical or unethical, in good or in bad taste. The answers given at the end were extremely surprising! Next, the three ethical theories were discussed: Deontology, Consequentialism and Virtue. Deontology refers to the rules, principles and duties that people follow by and how you will do the right thing by following these rules. All Ethic codes are deontological. Consequentialism is getting a “good” or “right” outcome, without worrying how you got there. The end may justify the means and the greatest good for the greatest number. Finally, virtue ethics is all about goodness (aka happiness) and how it comes from good habits or dispositions of character. These habits are “virtues” such as courage, justice, temperance and prudence. Furthermore, these habits of character are the “golden mean” of behaviour. When mentioning courage, it can be defined as the mean between rashness and cowardice, whilst justice on the other hand is the mean between the in-justice of overzealous and excessive law and the injustice of lawlessness. The codes of ethics were lastly discussed and examples given such as MEAA Code, PRIA Code, AFA Code and AANA code. Overall, the lecture was a brilliant one and I thoroughly enjoyed learning the complications and art of ethics in journalism. 

Movies Provide Unrealistic Expectations!

Once again, helloooo people :) I have decided to do a very quick post about my experiences with glamorous, over dramatic movies that portray romance, action and drama in such exquisite ways that you become depressed over your own dreary life. I mean, in this day and age, what kind of person expresses their love to you through skywriting or a truck full of roses? Or when will you ever run away in slow motion from a house on fire, about to explode? Or have a love triangle between a prince and rock star? These ridiculous story lines convince our gullible selves that possibly one day, our life could mirror these exact movies. Why are these ridiculous plots set in place? Mostly to make us dream and become frustrated with the family, friends, lovers etc we have now instead of the beautiful and exciting ones we could have on screen. Last night, my friend and I were watching a soppy chick flick called "What's Your Number" and as usual, the quirky and misunderstood girl searching for love ends up with the perfect and ridiculously good looking guy. How is this fair!? Now we are left feeling sorry for ourselves, slightly lonely and annoyed. We have now developed these unrealistic expectations of what love should be like. Life becomes just that little more complicated. 

So I ask you all, why do we continue to watch these movies? In the end, everything is over-exaggerated and glamourised in order to evoke this type of feeling, nothing that happens in a movie is completely realistic. I guess it is a frustrating cycle yet one we all have to endure in order to create some sort of dream world in our head to get by.   

Reflection of Lecture 5, 6 and 7

Lecture 5 

This particular lecture was voice recorded instead of noted down. Its main message conveyed was about the impact of telling stories through radio and how the audience can react to this type of media. Radio (unfortunately) is dying out in this day and age and society is more reliant on online media sources such as social sites and forums. However, radio is an extremely crucial media form for conveying messages and stories across to its publics as there is no visuals to entice the listeners, simply a voice that must properly execute the news story or bulletin appropriately. Storytelling is a skill that is hard to acquire, especially when you can't see the person you are speaking it to! Therefore, I find radio a rather powerful tool in storytelling and conversing to others in general and find it extremely saddening that it is used less and less these days.

Lecture 6
The entire lecture was focused around commercial media, what it consisted of and the functions and challenges that arise from this type of media. Commercial media survives or fails on business success and can come in many shapes or forms such as Fox sports, NRL, Sky News, 20^th century Fox, The Courier Mail, National Geographic Channel, Brisbane times, Financial review, The age, domain.com.au, mycareer.com.au, RSVP and so on. However, the most interesting factor about commercial media is the negative portrayal it has and the many challenges it has to face. John Macmanus even commented on saying that commercial media is corrupt, has a lack of quality and the profit it acquires over-rides social responsibility. The world of commercial media is an extremely tough industry to enter into due to the many challenges it must face and criticism towards "ethical" policies it may have to make a profit or revenue. 


Lecture 7
In contrast to Lecture 6, this particular topic was about public media and how it is all about the appeal to the person/public as well as maintaining a public service ethos. Public media is about keeping the credibility that is instilled upon it right from the start and providing services across a wide range of news programs and TV shows. The style must have a sense of professionalism to it whilst still upholding the importance factor of the program instead of the interest. The audience is probably the most important aspect of public media as it is all about engaging and informing the public of news and other issues that are happening in our society. In-dependency and quality of the information presented are also contributing factors to create a successful public media medium.  

Lecture 7 - Public Media

      After a relaxing break, we came back to an interesting and information filled lecture on what is public media is and the many functions and dimensions it may hold. Public media is defined as media whose mission is to serve or engage a public. Less associated with taxpayer supported, may be for profit so long as that’s its ultimate purpose. There are many forms that public media comes in such as the Australian Media Landscape (which includes SBS, ABC, etc), the International Landscape of Public Media, the International Media Landscape (which includes BBC, TVNZ, NHK, CBC, arte, PBS etc), and finally Community Media (American Public Media, Community broadcasting foundation, 4ZZZ, 4EB FM, 31 Digital etc). The role of public media in a democratic society was then discussed and how public media must have public value. 

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·     Public Value is defined in four main sections: 1. Embedding a public service ethos 2. Value for licence fee money 3. Weighing public value against market impact 4. Public consultation. Public service broadcasting was then discussed and what it involved. The main factors that encompass public service broadcasting include its geographical universality and universality of appeal. There are also special provisions for minorities  and a special relationship to the sense of national identity and community. Public service broadcasting is distanced from all vested interests and has a universality of payment. Competition of programming was briefly touched on and how public media service should liberate rather than restrict.  

ABC and SBS were then discussed as to what they consist of and manage. For ABC, these included ABC News 24, ABC 2, ABC 3, ABC local radio,  ABC radio national,  ABC Classic FM, Triple J and ABC Radio Australia. The ABC was founded in 1929 as a nation building project and operate shows such as ABC News, Hungry Beast, Australian Story, Compass, At the Movies, Angry Boys etc. SBS on the other hand, manages stations such as SBS One, SBS Two and SBS Radio. SBS Television was launched as 0/28 in 1990 as a multicultural channel, it included shows such as World News Australia, Insight, Rockwiz, The World Game and Go Back to Where you Came From.

      The functions of public media was split into four main categories and what they included. This was a very informative part of the lecture as I didn't realize how many different forms of public media there were in the commercial world. These were: Nation Building (ABC, NBNCo Limited etc), National Heritage (Historical items, Anzac Day etc), National Identity (Ethnic mix of Australia, Heritage) and National Conversations (State of origin, Bowls etc). The commercial dimension has a widespread selection of news which comprises of BBC Worldwide, The World Game Shop, ABC Commercial  and others. Did you know that 41% of Australians get their news from the ABC and each week 12.6 million Australians watch ABC TV!

      Next, the style of public media was examined and how it was laid out. The stylistics of how public media should be presented is in a serious manner, as a broadsheet and how the importance of the news should have more value over the interest. News should also be considered and not quick and unchecked. However, some may view certain news channels as boring, elitist, of limited interest, poorly presented and out of touch. The communication styles of how public media is presented comes in many forms such as through the press, via entertainment/social spectrum and even using propaganda. However, there are many challenges associated with public media due to their audience's needs and expectations. Therefore, public media must go through a checklist to ensure success in presenting news. Elements include: produce quality, make themselves relevant, engage with the democratic process, inform the public and be independent. There are many commercial pressures involved and allegations of bias/agenda as well.   


     Overall, the lecture was insightful and useful in understanding the tools for public media and its functions.

Fact of the Day #2

I am literally obsessed with chocolate it's ridiculous, the other night my dad and I ate a huge slice of chocolate cake, churros and melted chocolate, chocolate milkshakes, Lindt bunnies and ice cream... yes that was in one day, I am addicted! I know it was just Easter so it's not unusual to eat that much chocolate, but I'm still a fanatic and can't resist a good bar of chocolate or hot chocolate mmmm even thinking about it now makes me drool!

Here are 10 fun facts I heard about chocolate, enjoy!

1. It is a known fact that chocolate has caffeine in it. But did you know that you would have to eat more then a dozen chocolate bars to get the same amount of caffeine from a cup of coffee? There are about 5 to 10 mg's of caffeine in one ounce of bitter chocolate, 5 mgs in milk chocolate, and 10mgs in a six-ounce cup of cocoa.

2. Chocolate is actually a valuable energy source. A single chocolate chip can provide enough energy for an adult human to walk 150 ft.
3. Chocolate has great health benefits It helps with depression, high blood pressure, Tumors and Pre-menstrual syndromes.
4. Chocolate does not cause or aggravate acne, this is a myth.
5. One ounce of baking chocolate or cocoa contains 10% of the daily recommended intake of iron.
6. Chocolate can be deadly for dogs. Chocolate contains an ingredient called "Theobromine" which can be toxic to a dog's central nervous system and cardiac muscles.
7. People spend more than $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.
8. The per capita consumption of chocolate indicates that each person consumes 12 pounds of chocolate each year.
9. Milk Chocolate is the most preferred type of chocolate, however dark chocolate is especially popular among men.
10. In Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" chocolate syrup was used to indicate blood in the famous shower scene.

Me munching on a chocolate covered cupcake!

Lecture 6 -  Commercial Media

·     
      Within the lecture listened to today, the commercial media world was uncovered and discussed as to what constitutes commercial media and the challenges it is faced with. I have grouped each points learnt into main categories below. This particular lecture was extremely interesting yet a little hard to follow sometimes due to the pace of the power point, otherwise I was intrigued by the many functions and capacities commercial media is able to have. 

            The Australian Media Landscape
      Commercial media examples include: Win, Seven, Ten, GO!, Gem, One, Eleven, Foxtel, Austar, News  Limited, Fairfax, etc whilst Public Media examples include: ABC, ABC News, SBS etc

·         Why does commercial media exist?

·         The main objective of commercial media is getting the audience to the advertisers, to sell the "product" as such, in reality, advertisers are the real customers.

·         What is commercial media?

·         Commercial media is basically a profit-driven media production that is not government funded or license funded. It also survives or fails on business success and its main objective is generating audiences. Basically, what happens is that you create audiences to generate profit through selling advertising to them. The major players which are involved within commercial media are mainly: News limited, Fairfax Media, APN, Nine, Win, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Ten, Telstra, Optus, Austar

·         What do the major producers produce

·         The major producers mainly produce Newspapers, cable TV, Film, Magazines, Books, Sports, regional newspapers, digital media, radio, outdoor advertising, free to air tele-coms and more. Below are a list of example that Commercial media is involved with: 

·         Fox sports, NRL, Sky News, 20^th Century Fox, The Courier Mail, National Geographic Channel, Brisbane times, Financial Review, The Age, domain.com.au, mycareer.com.au, RSVP, APN News and Media, Gympie Times, 97.3 fm, Finda, ADShell, Nine Entertainment, GO, Gem, Ninemsn, Nine, Woman Weekly, Cleo, Cosmo, Ticketek, Acer Arena, St George, TPG, B105, Triple M, Aus Stereo, Seven West Media, Pacific Magazines, Telstra, Optus, Macquarie

What is the form and function of Commercial Media?

The form of commercial media is in three major categories: Subscription, sponsorship, subsidization. Whilst the  function of Commercial media is more focused upon the propaganda used and social aspect

What is Commercial Media’s role in a democratic society?

Before this question can be answered, another has to be asked, can commercial media deliver on both commercial and social functions? 

Social responsibility of the Media in a Democracy

Within the media forum, there should be five main guidelines that should be followed by at all times:

 1. A truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning

2. A forum for the exchange of comment and criticism

3. The projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups of society

4. The presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society   

5. Full access to the day’s intelligence.

To keep these particular responsibilities under control, there need to be certain rules and requirements in place such as Formal State Requirements, Legal Prescriptions, State Oversights, Statutory and Voluntary requirements. To guarantee that commercial media upholds its social functions in a democracy, there needs to be a distinct, ethical wall set up between the commercial and social spheres (advertising/sales and editorial positions). Jurgen Habermas discussed the public sphere by stating its defintion: "The space between commerce and government where people can debate freely and form public opinion."

Functions – commercial, social and policies

·         C.P. Scott stated his particular opinion on the functions of commercial media: "The first duty of the media is to shun the temptations of monopoly. Its primary office is the gathering of news. At the peril of its 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." This quote is extremely thought-provoking, when is a comment counted as fact or truthful? 

New (social?) controls on commercial media

·         New controls that have recently been implemented within commercial media are through Government agencies where content is regulated, state press subsidies and now licensed journalism.

Style of Commercial media

According to John Macmanus, commercial media is "corrupt, lack of quality, profit over-rides social responsibility. Professor Michael Bromley somewhat agrees with this statement as he comments: "In this regard, one thing stands out above all others – the view that the very nature of the commercial equates to a corruption of the social. In other words, as media become more commercial, they do so at the expense of their social function. This is seen as a zero-sum game. Profits come before quality" 

Results of the Style of commercial media

Due to the style of commercial media, four main results have arisen such as dumbing-down of news stories, Tabloidisation, the desire to please the public and  “Mickey Mouse” news

Challenges for Commercial Media

Jonathon Holmes from Media Watch commented on the challenges for commercial media by stating:

·        “There was a time, not so long ago, when running a media company - be it one that specialized in newspapers, in radio, in television, or in all three - was a pretty simple job. Keep the costs within bounds, use your clout to ensure that governments didn't permit too much competition, make sure your content delivered audiences of a quality and in a quantity that your advertisers expected, and the money rolled in.”  There are many challenges associated with commercial media such as the advertising revenue for broadcast media is down and continues to slide down, the loss of revenue therefore means less investment and less money for quality production, subsequently, more bought-in content that is less original which then equals to more repeats of US sitcoms and reality shows. Back in the olden days, the connection between content and sales was indirect, and difficult to measure. Many needed a car, a unit, or a job and used the paper to find one. Many browsed the sports pages or the lifestyle sections or the magazines. Therefore, the evidence is in the number of clicks that each story attracts, this is what is measured. 

Is there any good news for Commercial Media
One piece of good news for commercial media is the taking up of the digital revolution, however is this true? Is commercial media actually moving into the technological revolution?

The future of commercial Media – A bunch of questions

How does Commercial Media continue to make profits if advertising revenue is declining?

How does it continue to make profits if advertising revenue is declining?

How does it continue to serve the advertisers, audience and the public good?

What kind of audience can it expect to get?

What cumulative effect does this have on the practice of journalism and public communication?


Some business solutions:
The quality of commercial media needs to be better, bigger and have greater content. There needs to be greater competition too and a large move for existing customers to move to digital. Perhaps, an alternative business model could be implemented?