Lecture Eleven

Investigative Journalism.

The Age is a great Australian example of investigative journalism.

http://www.theage.com.au/investigations

The News Manual explains investigative journalism as:

Investigative journalism is finding, reporting and presenting news which other people try to hide. It is very similar to standard news reporting, except that the people at the centre of the story will usually not help you and may even try to stop you doing your job.

The purpose of investigative journalism:

1. Critical and thorough journalism

(Dutch Association for Investigative Journalism)

CRITICAL= The journalist is an active participant

“ ACTIVE INTERVENTION” –the key idea

THOROUGH= Journalist makes a substantial effort

i.e. Time Spent

Sources Consulted

A thorough approach

2. Custodians of conscience

(Ettemaand Glasser)

Investigation takes society’s morals and norms and holds breaches up to public scrutiny; in other words, what they call ‘civic vice’ is exposed for society to respond.

“EXPOSURE” –the key idea.

3. To provide a voice for those without one and to hold the powerful to account

(Centre for Investigation Journalism, City University London)

Social Justice –power to the powerless, voice to the voiceless.

“PUBLIC INTEREST” –the key idea.

4. Fourth Estate / Fourth Branch of Govt/ Watchdog

Fourth Estate

Journalists represent the interests of those without power to balance the power of government

Fourth branch of government

Journalists ensure free flows of information necessary for the functioning of democracy by interrogating the judiciary, executive and legislature

“Watchdog”

Journalists make accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life

The Future of News: Investigative Journalism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbTtS0UWpsE

“Isn’t all journalism meant to involve 

questioning investigation of facts and 

opinions presented to us?”

Ross Coulthart–

Australian Investigative Journalist

The 'in's' of investigative journalism

INVESTIGATIVE

INTELLIGENT

INFORMED

INTUITIVE

INSIDE

INVEST



Investigation Methods

Interviewing
Numerous interviews with on-the-record sources as well as, in some instances, interviews with anonymous sources eg. whistleblowers


Observing
Investigation of technical issues, scrutiny of government and business practices and their effects. Research into social and legal issues


Analysing documents
(law suits, legal docs, tax records, corporate financials, FOI (Freedom of Information) material)

This was the final lecture of the year. It taught us about investigative journalism and the way it's constructed. In my personal opinion, the branch into online journalism in recent years will lead to the death of investigative journalism (or at least extreme slow down). This is because access to news online means that consumers demand news quickly and efficiently. Investigations take time which usually means that consumers will lose interest in the subject.

Overall, I've enjoyed this course. I was never very keen on twitter however, and never really used it. Probably tweeted like 2ce in the whole semester. Can't say I've really caught onto the blogging either, but I did it cause I had to. That's not to say it was a bad experience. I did prefer putting my assignments online, rather than having to go into uni and hand them in. It was for sure, a breath of fresh are and made doing assignments a lot easier. The content of this semester was also very enjoyable and the different ways of presenting (jelly bean lecture, by far the best) and getting a few guest speakers, made the course more interesting. 

Lecture Ten

News Values. 

News values, occasionally referred to as “news criteria” or “news factors,” are a conceptual framework used within journalism studies and journalism education to describe the gatekeeping practices of the mainstream news media.  Specifically, news values are defined as qualities of events that increase the likelihood of their being covered in the news.

http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/icdc-content-folder/news-values/

(By Joshua A. Braun, Cornell, 2010)

"News is what a chap

who doesn't care much

about anything wants to

read. And it's only news

until he's read it. After

that it's dead."

Arthur Evelyn Waugh

What are News Values?

1. IMPACT

The impact of news is generally to deliver information that is in the interest of their consumers.

2. AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION

News is information about anything that is/has happened in the world. It generally needs to be of interest to views and informs them about events/information that they were unaware of.

3. PRAGMATICS

ethics – facticity - practice / practical

current affairs - everyday

4. SOURCE INFLUENCE

"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."

Julia Hobsbawm, UK PR executive

In this lecture we linked a fair bit back to lecture one when we talked about how to construct news. Again, the upside down pyramid is relevant. 

"Journalists rely on

instinct rather than logic‖

when it comes to the

defining a sense of news

values."

Sergeant (2001)

This lecture closely linked to last weeks lecture about 'agenda settings'. Although, as journalists we can choose what we want the public to see and what we choose to show them over other news stories, we have to consider whether the audience will even be interested. If we continue to present news about information that no one cares about, then yes, the journalism industry will come to an end. So we have to find a perfect balance between news values and want we want to create as agenda setting. Ultimately though, it is the audiences decision about what they want to hear, cause without them, journalists would be nothing. There is no point reporting if no one wants to read it.

Lecture Nine

Agenda Setting.

How the media constructs reality.

A few videos on Agenda Setting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bTqsbDaleU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCYr-U7MAQ

The four types on agenda settings:

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.

THESE FOUR AGENDAS ARE INTERRELATED

Miller K. 2007 Communication Theories:

Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts

Two basic assumptions about media agenda setting:

The Mass media do not merely reflect and report reality, they filter and shape it.

Media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.

Where did it come from?

“Propaganda is used as a tool to help shape images in the minds of human beings in support of an enterprise, idea or group. Propaganda can be used to substitute one social pattern for another.”

Adolf Hitler was a man who knew a lot about the power of images and used propaganda heavily in order to capture public attention and gain power successfully. 

His Swastika and Salute were the two most prominent symbols about Hitler. 

Youtube videos on Nazi propaganda:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRcBt904OJ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVurfhMw1UU

Strengths of the theory: 

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 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.

It has organisingpower because it helps organiseexisting knowledge of media effects.

Weaknesses of the theory:

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.

NEW MEDIA is a whole new ballgame in terms of Agenda setting

I can safely say that agenda setting does work. I mean, what made us care more about the events of 9/11 when the world has millions more people starving. What makes climate change such a big deal right now? 

After studying Hitler and propaganda in school, there was no doubt in the world that propaganda is a great tool in brain washing. Hitler wasn't a very nice man, but he certainly was a very smart man. He tricked a whole nation into following his ways and believing his ideals, even though most of them, in their right mind, would never consider his way of life 'right' or 'just'. 

As journalists, what we report on and how we go about reporting it is of utmost importance. We have to know what the public wants/needs to hear, but we also have the ethical obligation of telling the truth. What we choose to report on and how we choose to approach what we report, ultimately shapes the wider communities opinions. 

Lecture Eight

Public Media. 

*continue on from previous weeks lecture...

*this blog is a summary of lecture and powerpoint by Dr Bruce Redman

‘The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens’

Nigel Milan (former Managing Director of SBS)

• What is Public Media?

Profit-driven media production

Not government funded (or license funded)

It survives or fails on business success

Its business is generating ‘audiences’

Audiences generate profit through selling advertising

• What is Public Media’s role in a democratic society?

Public Media should have 'Public Value'. 

According to BBC, 'Public Value' is: 

1. Embedding a ‘public service ethos’

2. Value for licencefee money

3. ‘Weighing public value against

market impact’

4. Public consultation

• Who are the major players?

Examples of major players: BBC, ABC, SBS

• What do they make?

What does ABC make? 

ABC

ABC Kids

ABC News

ABC 2 

ABC 3

ABC Local Radio

ABC Radio National

ABC Classic FM

Triple J

ABC Radio Australia 

Movies 

TV series

• The various functions of P.M.

If we continue on with ABC being the example, we can see how it helps to build up a nation by sharing and creating national conversations, sharing national heritage and discovering national identity.

Another key mechanism of Public Media is news. 

- CAFF41% of Australians get their news from the ABC

- Each week 12.6 million Australians watch ABC TV.

- Only source of radio news analysis and ‘current affairs’ (an explanation and analysis of current events and issues, including material dealing with political or industrial controversy or with public policy).

- Only source of lengthy interviews with politicians and nations leaders in the media other than talkback.

• Challenges for Public Media

Although different in orientation –both commercial and public media need audiences.

A simple matter of competition then? –surely the bread and butter of commercial media

Well, not really……..

According to Murdoch. Government regulation of commercial media and big public media:

penalise the poor. (constrain choice, BBC licence fee, Government allocated funding

promote inefficient infrastructure (duplication and waste)

build inaccessible institutions (ABC, BBC, ARD, RHTK)

threaten the growth of independent news and investment in new forms of journalism (How?)

stunt the growth of the creative industries dampens innovation (How?)

• The Future of Public Media?

‘an expanded vision for “public media 2.0” that places engaged publics at its core … educating, informing, and mobilizing its users. … an essential feature of truly democratic public life … media both for and by the public. …’

http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/public_media_2_0

_dynamic_engaged_publics/#execsum

All in all, we gained an understanding of what Public Media is in comparison to Commercial Media. But what effect does Public Media have on Journalism? According to Robert Richter, Public Media is important because is the last bastion of long-form investigative journalism.It “is such a special vehicle for voices to be heard … [for] visions and viewpoints … ignored by commercial media.”

http://beyondthebox.org/vol.23/BTBSF04_1.html

Robert Richter: independent producer who has made more than four dozen docosfor PBS, CBS, ABC, NBC, Discovery Channel

Lecture Seven

Commercial Media. 

This lecture coincided with next weeks lecture - Commercial Media vs. Public Media (next week). 

• The Australian Media Landscape

• Why does Commercial Media exist?

Commercial Media exists as the eyes and ears to advertisers. It is the money makers for both television broadcasters and advertisers. It is a great way for TV to make money off advertising and a great way for advertisers to capture their targeted audience's attention and show off their goods and services.

• What is Commercial Media?

Profit-driven media production

Not government funded (or license funded)

It survives or fails on business success

Its business is generating ‘audiences’

Audiences generate profit through selling advertising

• What do the major players produce?

Major players include: Foxtel, Nine News, News Limited, 20th Century Fox, Fox Sports, Sky News etc. 

Major players produce: Newpapers, film, Cable TV, Magazines, Books, Sports, Radio etc.

• The Form and Function of C.M.

FORM - Commercials - Subscription (Foxtel), Sponsored (9 News), Subsidised (government $$)

Social responsibility of The Media in a Democracy:

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 in the society;

4.the presentation and clarification of the goals

and values of the society;

5.full access to the day’s intelligence.

(Hutchins Commission 1947)

How do we keep Commercial Media under control? 

1. Formal State Requirements

2. Legal Prescriptions 

3. State Oversight 

Statutory Control: Australian Government - Australian Commercial and Media Authority

Voluntary Control: Australian Press Council

FUNCTION - Commercials (Austereo), Propaganda (Fox News Channel), Social 

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 factsare sacred.

C.P. Scott (Editor / Owner of The Guardian)

• Challenges for Commercial Media

There is a decrease in the need for broadcasting media and therefore revenue for this kind of media continues to slide down. Loss of revenue means less investment, less money for quality production, more brought-in content, and more repeats of sitcoms and reality TV.

• The Future of Commercial Media?

Commercial Media needs to focus less on their revenue from advertising and more on improving the products that they have to offer. Consumers will pay more if they are getting better quality picture, shows, and service. If they improve their image and content then they will make more money off selling their product to existing and new consumers. They can move their existing consumers to digital TV with will satisfy their customers and ultimately produce more revenue for them in the long run. They can also introduce more Paywalls on the internet. 

After this summary of the lecture, we can see that Commercial Media mainly serves the purpose of making money through advertising and bringing this advertising the the attention on consumers. However, the decline in demand for media advertising has meant less revenue for broadcasters. What effect does this have on Journalism? Well, the news we produce will usually end up on one of these channels, in a newspaper or magazine which survives on the help of Commercial Media. If Commercial Media dies out, then so will these mediums in which we need to publish our work. 

Lecture Six

Going beans.

Imagine you were given 12 jelly beans.

Told they were all yours to eat. 

You were told you eat one.

Taste it. Love it. Crave more.

Then told "thanks, they're $10. If you don't want to pay, give them back."

What would you do? 

Wouldn't you feel like someone was taking away what was given to you? Taking what was, so you thought for a short while, rightfully yours?

This is what Dr Bruce Redman tried to prove to us when he handed everyone in the JOUR1111 lecture 12 jelly beans in a zip-lock bag. We call looked at him with a bit of betrayal, and a bit of disbelief. Not one person in the room kept their jelly beans and headed up the front to pay-up their fee. 

What was this all for, you may ask? 

His point was to prove that putting a price on internet news wouldn't work now that we've had so many years of free access to news in the online media. The public feel like it's their right to get news for free. So what will this mean for journalists. How will journalists get paid if no one pays to read the news they are writing. However, famous online news papers such as The New York Times allows for the public to see basic news stories, but they also have a log-in area where consumers need to subscribe and pay if they want to read more. Also, online mediums allow for news publishers to make more money off advertising and use this to pa their journalists. So no, I don't believe that the fact that people now consume news for free is a problem. News papers still make enough money through other means to pay their journalists adequately. I don't believe journalism is dying, just evolving into new dimensions and mediums. Citizen journalism is growing rapidly in popularity, but it is ultimately the paid journalists that get the news out first and allow for citizen journalists to re-blog or re-tweet. 

Lecture Five

The good, the bad and the ugly.

This lecture dealt with 'ethical' vs 'in-good-taste' in the media. 

eth·ics

  

plural noun

1.

(used with a singular or plural verb) a system of moralprinciples: the ethics of a culture.

2.

the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particularclass of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.:medical ethics; Christian ethics.

3.

moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbadebetrayal of a confidence.

Retrieved from: www.dictionary.com

• His Holiness the Dalai Lama's public talk "Secular Ethics, Human Values and Society" given at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California, USA, on May 3rd. 2011. (www.dalailama.com). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_TwSx0520

• Dilbert cartoon about ethics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WTkltRfphM

taste·ful

adjective

having, displaying, or in accordance with good taste: tasteful clothing; a tasteful room.

Retrieved from: www.dictionary.com


This lecture we were greeted by a guest speaker who gave out chart handouts, in which we had to mark where we thought each ad belonged. We had to decide whether the ad was made ethically or in-good-taste, and how ethical/unethical vs tasteful/distasteful the ad would be deemed in today's society. The chart was as follows: 

I'd have to say, the more interactive lectures make sitting down for an hour (especially for someone like me with a very small attention span) more bearable and pass faster. I guess I never really thought about comparing ethics with in-good-taste when it comes to media and this lecture changed that. It also made me question how much you could actually get away with in advertising and how different people react to this material.