Annotated Bibliography Assignment

“Journalists have been shaping the language, thoughts and politics of the world at large” (Niblock, S., 1996).  Through communicating messages and information to the public, journalists and reporters are able to mould the perceptions and views on certain issues globally. This report will focus on the recent news story of President Barack Obama supporting gay marriage and will be analysed through the news sites of: The Sydney Morning Herald, CNN Politics and ABC Radio National. The mediums that have been chosen are: a news article, a television report and a radio interview. Each media forum provided similar perspectives on the situation yet presented the findings in contrasting ways to gain audience interest and provide a sense of credibility for each news station. Along with the three texts covering the news story, an academic book on the subject of Professional Communication and Journalism will also be critically evaluated.

Niblock, S. (1996). Inside journalism. London: Blueprint.

Sarah Niblock, the author of Inside Journalism, is a journalist and writer whose scholarly research covers the discourses associated with journalism studies, media and cultural studies, visual culture and communication technologies. Her extended studies in Liverpool, including freelancing news for the national press and writing regular features for Cosmopolitan and Company magazines, prove her credibility in regards to the literature world (Brunel University, 2011). The book exposes the internal workings of the field of journalism and how the industry operates through covering traditional press and magazines to radio and television shows. Niblock also focuses on future technological changes that journalists must deal with in order to continue to communicate effectively to the public whilst maintaining an understanding of these transformations (Niblock, 1996). The book is dissected into the concepts that a journalist must acquire in order to become successful in achieving the most newsworthy story. Niblock discusses the intricacies surrounding what makes a good story and the entertainment value involved with each event that is presented to the public. However, not all emphasis is placed on just the news story projected but the preparation that the journalist must go through in order to completely understand the story and how it will be received by the audience (Niblock, 1996). Multiple diagrams and examples are provided throughout the book to add credibility to the piece along with bolded headings for easier reading. The ideas and cases provided in Niblock’s book addresses the key factors of successful journalism and what has to be done in order to obtain a newsworthy story.      

“Evolved” Obama backs gay marriage. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/world/evolved-obama-backs-gay-marriage-20120510-1ydsj.html

The Sydney Morning Herald released a comprehensive news article on the recent support president Barack Obama declared in regards to the controversial issue of gay marriage, marking an end to the prolonged dispute (“Evolved” Obama backs gay marriage, 2012). The article delves into the reasons behind Obama’s decision and how the new position realigns himself with the growing number of Democratic officials who have embraced full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Opinions and responses to this announcement were also included to provide an overall understanding of the impact that Obama has created not only to Americans, but to people around the globe (“Evolved” Obama backs gay marriage, 2012). The number of timelines, images, statistics and quotes that are provided throughout the article prove the extensive research that has taken place for the news piece to be created, hence verifying its credibility. When comparing the Sydney Morning Herald’s pieces with the style and approach of CNN, the contrasts are extreme. Due to CNN being globally recognised and widespread with its information and coverage of world news, it is a more commercial medium compared to the localised Sydney newspaper (Gast, 2012). As CNN broadcasts to over 212 countries, the news broadcasted is trusted by the public as a reliable news source and therefore, more people would be inclined to watch the report than read the local newspaper.            

Gast, P. (Writer). (2012, May 9). Obama: Gay marriage “should be legal” [Television broadcast].  Washington, D.C.: CNN    

The CNN Politics television report provided the speech that Barack Obama recently gave to ABC about his beliefs on equality for gays and lesbians and the reasoning behind his initial hesitation to support gay marriage (Gast, 2012). He further explains the importance that is put upon the word “marriage” for all communities around the world and that people still feel constrained within their own rights to marry who they please. He ends with the line: “For me, I believe same-sex couples should be able to marry” affirming his previous outlook on the matter and solidifying the views he supports for the future (Gast, 2012). In terms of credibility, due to CNN utilising the coverage of the Obama interview from ABC, another reliable and widely known news station, the report is proven to be trustworthy and impartial. The footage is maintained in the exact same format and presented in a formal and professional manner. CNN and ABC are similar in their news broadcasting styles due to their global representations that must be upheld to gain public interest and importance (Kelly, 2012).  Both stations have a commercial edge to their broadcasting. In this circumstance, the fact that ABC reported this new report first, proves that ABC was more up to date and current than CNN.               

Kelly, F. (Writer). (2012). Obama supports same-sex marriage [Radio program]. Washington, D.C.: ABC Radio National 

ABC Radio National publicly announces that Barack Obama is the first US president to openly support same-sex marriage. It is explained that he finally made his position clear a day after voters in North Carolina approved a state constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships (Kelly, 2012). An interview is also conducted with David Mark, a Senior White House writer with politico.com and he speaks from Washington DC on why he believes Obama has chosen now to announce his support for gay marriages. The interview provides an insight into the dealings with marriage and what effect Obama’s declaration will have for Americans and people around the world (Kelly, 2012). The previous interview from Obama that was recorded by ABC was played at the beginning of the radio show followed by the interview from David Mark. This order of events displays the credibility of ABC Radio National as the speech from the president is supported and explained by a credible politician afterwards. The interview proves further research and clarifications of the reasoning behind Obama’s decision. The comparisons between ABC and The Sydney Morning Herald are quite extensive as once again, ABC are a widely known and global form of news whilst the SMH relies purely on local opinion and audiences (“Evolved” Obama backs gay marriage, 2012). With ABC broadcasting around the world, it proves to be a more reliable and trusted source. The locally reported news usually gathers information and statistics from national news programs such as the ABC, in order to present trustworthy material.            

It is observed through the three separate mediums of a news article, television report and radio show, that the event of Barack Obama announcing his support for gay marriage can be presented differently. Although each source may have its own expression upon the matter and report in a slightly altered manner, The Sydney Morning Herald, CNN and ABC all uphold their credibility as reliable and trustworthy news forums. Although two of the news stations may be recognised internationally and the other directed at local audiences, all news sources follow the practices of good journalism (as outlined by Sarah Niblock’s book) and provide a newsworthy piece.  

Lecture 10 Agenda Setting – How the media constructs reality

·       
    Hey hey hey! It's been a while since the last lecture and now we are onto lecture 10! Can you believe how fast this semester has gone? Anyway, the topic that was discussed in the lecture yesterday was agenda settings and where it came from, what it is and the strengths and weaknesses associated with it. This particular lecture was packed with information and sometimes proved overwhelming! In the beginning we learnt that an individual’s conception of reality is socially constructed through a process of communication using shared language. Reality exists but the way we come to know it, talk about it, understand it, is mediated through social life. The media play a large role in ‘constructing’ or ‘mediating’ the social world as we understand it. The next part that was discussed really interested me, it was about how agendas are classed into four main categories. These were:
  

·         1) Public Agenda - the set of topis that members of the public perceive as important.

·         2) Policy Agenda - issues that decision makers think are salient. (i.e. legislators)

·         3) Corporate Agenda - issues that big business & corporations consider important.

·         4) Media Agenda - issues discussed in the media.

·  

·    The lecture then continued onto the subject of agenda settings and what exactly it was and what it consisted of. Agenda setting is defined as the process of the mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the public come to perceive those issues as more important than others. Simply put, the more coverage an issue receives, the more important it is to people. In relation to the mass media, we learnt that it does not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it and also that media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.


     The origin of agenda settings and the influence of mass media was then examined. Harold Lasswell (1920) developed a theory called the hypodermic needles model. Basically, it states that the mass media injects direct influence into the audience. There were also limitations to this model, such as how it was all one way, large lack of thinking and finally biological uniformity of reactions. Then there was Walter Lippman (1922), another theorist, who stated that the mass media creates images of events in our minds, the pictures in our heads. A quick explanation of what propaganda was and how it was used was discussed, which then led into the topic of Maxwell McCombs and Donald Show's experiment. Maxwell and Donald surveyed 100 undecided voters on the key issues and measured that against media content. Their hypothesis was that the mass media set the agenda by emphasising specific topics.


      There are two main types of agenda setting theories, as the class learnt, which consisted of first level agenda setting theory and second level agenda setting theory. First level agenda setting theory is for the most part studied by researchers and emphasises the major issues and "the transfer of the salience of those issues." At this level the media suggest what the public should focus on through coverage. On the other hand, second level agenda setting theory is essentially, how the media focuses on the attributes of the issues. The media suggests how people should think about an issue. The basic process of agenda setting is firstly, the transfer of issue salience from the news media to the public, then the transfer of issue salience for both issues and other objects such as political figures and then the elite media often set the agenda for issues in other media.


     Within agenda setting, there is an "agenda setting family" as such which consists of seven main parts. These were explained in detail in the lecture and it was extremely interesting to learn these family member parts. Firstly there's media gatekeeping which is the exposure of an issue and what the media chooses to reveal to the public. Secondly, media advocacy, the promotion of a message (e.g. health) through the media. Next, agenda cutting, which is when most of the truth or reality that is going on in the world isn't represented. Then, agenda surfing (“bandwagon effect”), this is where the media follows the crowd and trend, the media surfs on the wave of topics originally mentioned in the opinion-leading media, hence the name. Bandwagon effects are how existing public opinion influences others towards that opinion. After that there's the diffusion of news, the process through which an important event is communicated to the public, how where, when, news is released, who decides etc. Next was the portrayal of an issue, the way an issue is portrayed will often influence how it is perceived by the public. Different media outlets with different portrayals can cause the public the public to formulate their own perception. Finally, media dependence was defined as: the more dependent a person is on the media for information, the more susceptible that person is to media agenda setting.The most common media dependency is Facebook /Twitter. It has become a way of life as people are constantly feeling the need to check Facebook or Twitter every couple of minutes.


      The strengths of the agenda setting theory were then discussed and it was seen that there were six main strengths that the agenda setting theory has. Listed below are these particular strengths:

•       It has explanatory power because it explains why most people prioritize the same issues as important.
•      It has predictive power because it predicts that if people are exposed to the same media, they will feel the same issues are important.
•      It has organising power because it helps organise existing knowledge of media effects.
•      It can be proven false. If people aren't exposed to the same media, they won’t feel the same issues are important.
•      Its meta-theoretical assumptions are balanced on the scientific side.
•      It lays groundwork for further research.

      The subsequent weaknesses were then laid out for the agenda setting theory. These included that media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they pay casual and intermittent attention to public affairs, often ignorant of the details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. News cannot create and conceal problems. The effect can merely alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attach to a set of problems.

    

j     Towards the end of the lecture, the 24 hour news cycle was analysed and how there is an increase for demand in stories for the news. The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of cable channels, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers^. A high premium on faster reporting would see a further increase with the advent of online news. A complete news cycle consists of the media reporting on some event, followed by the media reporting on public and other reactions to the earlier reports. The advent of 24-hour cable news channels and, in more recent times, news sources on the WWW have considerably shortened this process. Finally, an overall question of how climate change could play a major part in the future for agenda settings was explained.

Putting Meaning Into Life

Good afternoon people! Hope you all had a lovely weekend and enjoying your Monday :) Today, I wanted to delve into an interesting topic about the whole concept of what life means to each of us and how we should be living every day. Every person has a different opinion on what life is to them, whether it is full of risks, meaningful life lessons, beauty, richness, serenity etc. But in the end, isn't it the meaning we ourselves put into life, the true meaning of life? Bit of a mind bender I know but I thought I would share some quotes on the matter itself to understand the different perspectives that individuals have on the matter.

  “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

― Albert Camus

“Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.” 
― Mark Haddon

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.” 
― Anaïs Nin

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” 
― Joseph Campbell

“When have you been aware that language was an 'ideological struggle for meaning?”

Good afternoon everyone, hope you've all had a wonderful labour day and relaxed today! I thought today I would share a response that I did for a homework question not long ago for one of my subjects and found answering it extremely thought-provoking. Language is a powerful tool and when combined with culture, it becomes extremely interesting conversing with others. Volosinov further explains this concept and how we have all had experiences with communicative devices with people everyday.  

Volosinov, a fundamental figure in the development of constitutive approaches to language, once said that “language never exists in a vacuum”. In other words, our language has many cultural and political contexts so it can never be neutral or objective. Volosinov also suggested that language is an “ideological struggle for meaning”, that when we speak with one another, we are constantly trying to find meaning and connect with them on some level or another. Even though our backgrounds and understandings differ, we are continually trying to get on the same page as the other person. Through this communication process, we in turn develop an agenda. This is the struggle aspect that Volosinov mentioned previously as each of us have a preferred vision or perception of ourselves and the world, therefore we must negotiate with others who may or may not agree to understand our point of view. Many different factors influence a person’s understanding of the message communicated by the other person and we are sometimes limited in expanding our own opinions and views by language. (Below is an image Volosinov)

A particular moment when I was aware that language was an ideological struggle for meaning was when I had a discussion about gay marriage with a very religious friend of mine. On one hand, I had grown up believing that everyone was equal and had a right to love and marry whoever they want. This viewpoint was developed through the many morals and concepts my family taught me when I was younger. However, my friend had grown up in a strict catholic background and therefore believed that marriage between two people of the same sex was wrong and a sin, her family’s religious beliefs controlled her understandings. When this particular topic came up, there was a clash of two very different opinions and viewpoints due to our different upbringings and even cultural contexts. It was very hard for me to understand her views and try to connect to what she was saying about gay marriage due to my strong agenda already set in place. However, in the end we both decided that each person is entitled to their own opinion and left the topic of gay marriage aside. That scenario definitely made me aware that language was an ideological struggle for meaning but that each person will have their own agenda and understanding due to their differing background and we must respect their views in order to communicate successfully.    

Fact of the day #3

Hello my fellow bloggers/blog lovers! It's now time for another fact of the day, this time the topic revolves around my love for romantic movies and how without a doubt, every time, I will cry at the end of them. Maybe this is because I'm an emotional 18 year old girl who craves a romantic story depicted in the movie or the story line is a genuinely sad one. My favourite romantic movies of all time would have to be: Love Actually, One Day, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and Titanic. Most of these are the classic epic love movies and I'm sure most of you are rolling your eyes at me but come on, the emotion that is evoked from these movies really make you sob! Not to mention I usually eat a packet of Tim Tams or a tub of chocolate ice-cream after the movie is finished to try to make myself feel better (somehow!) Each of these movies are beautifully crafted and I believe a movie isn't truly great unless there is a reaction from the audience, in my case it's sobbing until a river starts to flow through my house! Basically, the fact for today is that I am quite the emotional wreck when it comes to romantic movies and I can't help it. I recommend every single one of you watch at least one or all of these movies because they are truly amazing and I guarantee at least one tear shall be shed. 

   

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.