Public Media; Can it survive the battle against commercial media?

The lecture following mid semester holidays focused on public media linking to the previous lectures topic, commercial media. As I watch little (if any) public media, prior to this lecture I knew close to nothing on the topic. The lecture opened with the quote:

 “The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens”

This quote spoken by Nigel Milan effectively summarises many people’s view of public media, more often than not being seen as the good in the battle of good and evil. Unlike commercial media, public media is not profit driven with its ultimate aim rather being to serve or engage the public. It is generally funded by the Australian government and has no advertising. ABS and SBS are examples of public media within Australia. Particular points made in the lecture  which I found I could really relate to is that public media is often seen as; boring, elitist, of limited interest, poorly presented and out of touch. I myself find the news on commercial media channels much more interesting and relatable. This can be seen as one of the challenges for public media. In order to still attract viewers it is imperative that their shows and news remain relative to the people of the 21^st century.

Commercial Media; Aims to earn profit or public trust?

The last lecture before mid semester break would have to be in my opinion the most interesting lecture of introduction to journalism to date. It focused on commercial media, a topic which is certainly relatable to my age group. Due to my unhealthy addiction to television you would think I would have a vast amount of knowledge on the subject of commercial media however the majority of what was taught in the lecture was new information to me. I was never aware that all of my favourite shows are almost solely funded by commercials. The answer to the question “why does commercial media exist?” also really startled me. The idea that my favourite TV shows were essentially only created to allow advertisers to reach larger audiences is in my mind quite astonishing. A topic thoroughly debated throughout the lecture was that the social responsibility of the media is lost in commercial media as profit overrides social responsibility. It is often being argued that the quality of shows on television or articles in magazines are “dumbing-down” in an attempt to draw in larger audiences or more readers. Larger audiences or more readers allow television companies or magazines to charge more for advertising. This point certainly interests me and it is very easy to notice this happening in our society with the rise in reality TV and current affair shows (news that is often considered rather trivial however interests many people).

Sound Lecture

In week five, introduction to journalism’s usual lecture was replaced by a sound lecture which revealed the qualities or characteristics a person needs to pursue a successful career in radio. In the first half of the lecture, Richard an experience radio host, reflected on his experiences in radio and the challenges he faced going into radio after working for a lengthy period in TV. The comments he made on the difference between tv and radio particularly interested me as before hearing this lecture I had never been aware of how different the two communication outlets are and how different a person has to act to be successful on radio when compared to tv. A lot of what he said implied that working in radio is in fact more of a challenge then working in tv as you essentially only have one resource at your disposal, your voice. Another interesting point that Richard expanded on was how radio hosts have to learn to draw listeners in to the conversation that is being had and make listeners feel as though they are part of it rather then lose track and go on their own tangent. Following on from the interview with Richard, Steve Austin was interviewed. I found his story really inspiring as he has had such a successful career in radio despite the fact he had little experience and claims to have little natural talent in the area but instead worked hard to become the talented radio host he is today. His voice like Richards is certainly compelling to listen to and I believe this is because of the charisma and enthusiasm that it radiates. Something he said which particularly interested me was how speaking on radio is so very different to speaking in regular conversation you would have with family or friends as you have to properly annunciate your words and have much less thinking time.

Hunger Games Review

My friends and I were lucky enough to win tickets to the first ever screening of the hunger games in Queensland at Garden City Shopping centre on Wednesday the 21^st of March. As a massive fan of the series I was unexplainably excited having anxiously anticipated this moment for months! Though before I was even able to enter the cinema my bag was thoroughly checked for any kind of communication outlet to ensure that no information or footage was leaked during the movie as it had not officially been released yet. As I was unaware of this rule I had my phone and ipod taken off me, only for the period of the movie of course. This did not dampen my spirits however and the high expectations I had set for this movie were definitely not lowered. I am very glad to share that when walking out of the cinema I did not feel even slightly disappointed! In my opinion the movie certainly did justice to sue Collins best seller. It remained extremely true to the book and when watching the movie I felt as though someone had literally been inside my imagination when I was reading it: almost every setting and character was just as I had pictured. It has evoked great emotion in its audiences and despite its generally sombre tone there are still appropriate moments of light and humour nested within. Universal discourses of love, family and jealousy are all thoroughly explored within the movie making it relatable to a large array of people. I would already consider this movie after only one viewing one of my all time favourites.

Is a Picture Always Worth a Thousand Words?

It has become a known phrase that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and in most cases I believe this to be true. Lecture 4 of introduction to journalism focused on the importance of pictures in journalism and how a picture alongside an article can in fact make or break a story. A quote which particularly resinated with me in the lecture is one said by Eetu Sillanpaa reading

 “a picture has no meaning at all if it can’t tell a story.”

This quote really captures the entire purpose of a picture; particularly in journalism and portrays how and why a picture can in fact be worth a thousand words. However I believe that digital manipulation, a fairly recent development in photo journalism, is in fact corrupting the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Digital manipulation is a topic that was thoroughly analysed within the lecture and has really caught my interest. It is used in its most extreme form on celebrities to improve their appearance and make them appear, what particularly magazine journalists believe to be more desirable to readers. There is much debate as to whether this development is in fact good or evil. In my mind there is no debate; digital manipulation is a tool for pure evil, portraying beauty which in most cases is impossible to attain, leaving readers with a distorted view of what real beauty is. Examples of digital manipulation were provided in the lecture and one which particularly appalled me is shown below. It is undoubtedly evident that Beyonce’s legs have been digitally manipulated to look thinner and if readers weren’t able to see this comparison it is very possible that they would see this picture and believe it to be real, providing an example of how readers can be left with a distorted view of what real beauty is.

Digital manipulation is providing readers with fake images and how can these images be worth a thousand words?

TEXT

TEXT. What is it? How can it be used? The third lecture of introduction to journalism revealed that text has so many more aspects to it than many people would imagine. Text is:

·         Fast

·         Flexible

·         Allows complete control

·         Portable

·         Searchable

·         Dominates online etc.

It was illustrated in the lecture that text is only as effective as a person makes it and in the field of journalism it is essential that text is presented in an effective way in order for readers or viewers to respond well to it. This lecture explicitly illustrated the importance of text within the field of journalism and made me think about the way in which I use text on a daily bases.

Journalism: A Dying Profession?

The second lecture of introduction to journalism focused on the new ways in which people can receive news due to rapid increases in society’s technology. The 21^st century creation, the web provides easily accessible news free of charge, resulting in people no longer having to pay to receive their news. The death of old media, particularly newspapers is a consequence of this creation and is evidently having a significant effect on journalism,as why would people continue to pay for their news when they are easily able to access it for free? This question does pose as a worry to me as I obviously do not want to be qualified in an occupation which has limited job opportunities. However Rupert Murdoch’s monetising strategy which involves the public paying for their online news does provide hope that the field of journalism can flourish once again. His theory that people will pay for their online news is however somewhat floored in my opinion. As said in the lecture

 “why would people pay for something they believe they are entitled to continue to have for free?”