Monday, 28 May 2012

Lecture 12

Today, as our last lecture in JOUR1111, we had a guest speaker called Steve Molkington. Steve discussed his journey, from being an undergraduate in chemistry, to suddenly wanting to become a journalist. He is now renowned as one of the most entertaining bloggers in the country. He emphasised the importance of our "own brand", consisting of what we do, where, who with, and most importantly, how it is going to help us to get a job. Steve further discusses the great opportunities we have from the internet and social media, enabling us to control what we write and put out to the public. He discusses that by obtaining a journalism degree does not automatically make you legible to whatever job you please, but by the way you carry yourself, through blogging and social media, is what will make you into an employee machine. After this subject, I have come to the realisation that I don't think journalism is the thing for me. I again worry about the little job opportunity as well as poor salary in the industry, and am heading towards PR as a career. With Steve discussing blogging and having to constantly be on the ball and putting yourself out there, I now know for sure that this is not the thing for me.

Thursday, 24 May 2012

Annotated Bibliography



Journalism is a form of professional communication used to investigate and report to a broad audience on events, issues and trends. The following annotated bibliographies will explore the present news stories surrounding the Inpex Project in Darwin, Australia. Various mediums such as television, online, magazine and academic articles are used to convey similar and contrasting opinions on the project in order to build credibility and critically engage to a wider audience.

Source 1:
Coggan, M., (2012). Inpex under fire over carbon offset scheme. ABC News Online. Retrieved on May 18 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-13/130112-inpex-announcement/3770578

The ABC Online news article was published by Michael Coggan, the lead anchor for the ABC News in the NT, and discusses a new gas scheme by Japanese company Inpex, to proceed with the planned $33 billion project in Darwin. It outlines growing concerns for increased emissions in the NT by 30 per cent, with the project expected to generate 280 million tonnes of emissions over 40 years. Stuart Blanch, from the Environment Centre Northern Territory, comments that “The Inpex project is Australia’s most polluting greenhouse gas project ever envisaged.” This claim made by Blanch contrasts greatly to the Australian Property Investors (API) Magazine, which comments the project will “contribute significantly to the growth of the Australian economy.” These controversial statements can be questioned, as being the most polluting project in Australia will provide great risk to the economy after increased emission payments, rather then stimulating it. ABC has over 2.26 million pages of online content and is credited by 85% of Australian’s stating that ABC content is not bias. API Magazine specialises in property investment and management, and is not a credible news site. Therefore, the public would be more likely to agree with ABC’s view on the project rather then API’s.

Source 2:
Inpex approval (2012). Australian Property Investors (API) Magazine. Retrieved on May 18 from http://www.apimagazine.com.au/api-online/news/2012/01/inpex-approval-puts-gas-back-into-darwins-property-market

The Australian Property Investors (API) Magazine article, discusses Inpex’s approved project to be undertaken in Darwin. The article outlines that the new project will be the turning point for Darwin’s struggling market, with an estimated 3,000 temporary jobs and 700 permanent jobs being secured for residents. This statement can be verified as it coincides with source four’s article, which discusses the same figures. Quentin Killian from the Real Estate Institute NT comments that “It’s not the fix all to economic problems having Inpex here, but it’s certainly a great start.” Mr Killian continues to discuss new job opportunities and increasing house prices that Inpex will provide. This statement concurs with SBS’s report, where Mr Henderson states that the project will provide 20% of the NT’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, these reports contrast greatly to Mr Blanch’s comments from ABC online, stating, “The Inpex project is Australia’s most polluting greenhouse gas project ever envisaged.” These statements are controversial, as being the most polluting project in Australia will provide great risk to the economy after increased emission payments, rather then stimulating it. Although API magazine, with no author stated in the article, can be defined as an unreliable source, its contents relate to SBS’s report. As SBS and ABC are both unbiased and reliable sources, it is questionable with angle of the story is most credible.

Source 3:
Inpex Project approval (2012). SBS Online Report. Retrieved on 18 May from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1651495/PM-talks-positive-amid-global-market-rout

The SBS Television Report discusses the expected change the Inpex project will have on the north forever. James Glinday reports that it is said to be the second biggest investment in a single project in the history of Australia. Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, comments, “We’ve made it. And what a long journey this has been.” As well as strengthening diplomatic ties, Mr Henderson believes that the project will provide 20% of the NT’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This statement coincides with API’s article, commenting, “It’s not the fix all to economic problems having Inpex here, but it’s certainly a great start.” However, Stuart Blanch from the Environment Centre of NT and ABC online, argues his concerns of environmental damage the project will have on Darwin, commenting, “I don’t think anyone wants to see dead dolphins floating in Darwin Harbour.” This claim made by Blanch contrasts greatly to the Australian Property Investors (API) Magazine, which comments that the project will “contribute significantly to the growth of the Australian economy.” These statements are controversial, as being the most polluting project in Australia will provide great risk to the economy after increased emission payments, instead of stimulating it. SBS code of practice involves accuracy, impartiality and balance of information, whereas API Magazine specializes in property investment and management, and is not a credible news site. Additionally, SBS information coincides with ABC, one of the most reliable news sources in Australia. Therefore, the public would be more likely to agree with SBS’s view on the project rather then API’s.

Source 4: (Academic)
StJohn, J. (2010) Inpex Gas Field Development Project. The Wilderness Society WA. Retrieved on May 18 from http://www.inpex.com.au/media/26172/c075-ipx-ipx-le-0001_106_100910_jill%20stjohn,%20wilderness%20soci.pdf

Source 4 discusses the background information of the Inpex project, as well as potential impacts the scheme will have on pipelines, threatened species; greenhouse gas emissions and the lack of oil spill contingency plans. These threats can disrupt and greatly affect Darwin and its surrounding environment and wellbeing. This article can be verified as Jill StJohn, Western Australia’s Marine Co-coordinator and member of the Wilderness Society WA, signed the formal academic article. Through her qualifications, it is clear that this source is reliable and has credibility, as Ms StJohn is a professional in the environmental and marine area. This article can also be compared to source one, which discusses concerns of environmental damage the project may have on Darwin. In particular, Stuart Blanch, from the Environment Centre Northern Territory and ABC online, comments, “The Inpex project is Australia’s most polluting greenhouse gas project ever envisaged.” However, Chief Minister Paul Henderson, from an SBS report, believes that the project will provide 20% of the NT’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This statement coincides with API’s article, commenting, “It’s not the fix all to economic problems having Inpex here, but it’s certainly a great start.” Although API is not a credited news site, SBS strives on accuracy, impartiality and balance of information. ABC is a very reliable source, as is this academic article, which leaves questions as to which news story is most reliable and unbiased.

Monday, 21 May 2012

Lecture 11


Bruce’s topic for today was ‘investigative journalism’. Firstly, to engage us in the topic, we learnt the ‘ins’, which included intelligence, informed, intuitive, inside and invest. All these words outline what investigative journalism is all about. We discussed the deeper definitions and purpose of investigative journalism which involved critical and thorough journalism, custodians of conscience, social justice and the fourth estate. In particular, there were four key ideas retrieved from these definitions, including active intervention, exposure, public interest and the role of the media. We also learnt that online news is a major threat to investigative journalism. This is as less money provides fewer journalists, which in turn provides less time. An interesting concept discussed was that as the growth in PR increases, journalism decreases. I found this very noteworthy as I am currently studying a bachelor of journalism and communication, majoring in PR and am still considering which career path I wish to take. After listening to this fact, it got me questioning whether journalism would be a successful path to take or would end in a downward spiral. Overall, I think the career path I’m going to take may end up being PR due to the job availabilities, however I think journalism is an essential skill to have when entering the PR industry. 

Monday, 14 May 2012

Lecture 10


In lecture 10 we discussed agenda setting, which can be defined as the process of the mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently, resulting in the public perceiving those issues as more important then others. The pre-amble can be described as an individual’s conception of reality socially constructed through a process of communication using shared language. Four agendas through agenda setting were outlined in the lecture. These include public, policy, corporate and media agenda. In particular, some basic assumptions of media agenda setting involve the mass media not merely reflecting and reporting reality, but filter and shaping it, the mass media leads the public to perceive some issues as more important the others, and finally the mass media creating images of events in our minds. An interesting concept learnt in this lecture is propaganda and the fact that people rely on the images in their minds in formulating judgments rather than by critically thinking. Now that I think of this concept, I agree with it and see myself expressing thoughts this way. We also discussed two types of agenda setting theories, the first level emphasizing the major issues and the transfer of salience of those issues, and secondly, what and how this is done. Through these theories, the agenda setting then transfers issues salience from the news media to the public. Following this, we learnt the strengths of agenda setting theory including explanatory, predictive and organizing power. Interestingly, the weaknesses seemed to have a large effect on agenda setting. Some of these include people who have already made up their minds on a particular topic, and people who may not be well informed or deeply engaged in the topic to have an opinion on it. Although some of this information seemed very straightforward and general knowledge, I found it helpful in having a better understanding of the influence media has on public opinion. 

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Lecture 9


In lecture 9 we discussed “News values”, which can be defined as the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience. For a news story to be valuable, it needs to provide impact, audience identification, pragmatics as well as source influence. The standard and value of a news story often vary across news services and different countries and cultures. The success of a news story is dependent on the negativity, closeness to home, recency, currency, continuity, uniqueness, simplicity, personality, expectedness and exclusivity just to name a few. I found whilst we were discussing news values, that there was a major (and unnecessary) quote overload, which all were focused on similar angles and made the lecture very repetitive and tedious. Additionally, we went through at least ten different lists of people who came up with what they thought were “news values”. Funnily enough all the lists were fairly identical except for a couple of new ideas in each theory. After finally moving on from different news values, we went on to discuss the threats to newsworthiness. Such threats include journalism and commercialisation of media and social life, journalism and public relations and journalism’s ideals and reality. This lecture was essential in learning about news values no matter how repetitive it was!