Fifth Lecture - Ethics By John Harrison

John Harrison started off by engaging the audience with his first slide "WARNING SOME OF THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL MAY OFFEND SOME VIEWERS", reading this I had a million different scenarios going through my head of what this lecture could entail. He then involved the audience more by asking us to do a survey of a few advertisements that we thought were tasteful or tacky, and ethical or unethical. It was very interesting to see what my opinion of what was tasteful or tacky, and what I thought was ethical or unethical. I now know that I have some different views to the majority. We were also given a rundown of the different types of ethical theories. It is also good to see that companies follow certain codes of conduct. 

I think that virtue and deontology have a lot in common. I have studied ethics before and to become a virtuous person you have to follow some rules too.

Fourth Lecture - Online Lecture - 15th of August

“Radio is about the audience, not the presenter.” – Steve Austin

The people who listen to the radio show are the ones who control what is heard on the radio. They keep the radio show going by listening and getting involved in the discussions which are being discussed on the show. Therefore the discussions have to be relevant for the majority audience. That all depends on what time in the day the show is broadcasted.

Radio is the most intimate media, it includes and involves the audience in its discussions. Richard Fidler’s approach to callers is friendly and treats them as though they are guests on the show. His tone of voice makes the caller feel welcome and give their real opinion on the matter. He also pictures the caller in his head and finds it easier to then relate to that person. That is what I do when someone calls me. When a friend calls I picture them, where they are, and what’s going on at that exact moment. It helps me talk them through a situation or makes me understand their opinion on the situation.

The advice both Steve Austin and Richard Fidler gave was beneficial for if I want to go into radio. As I am not sure what career path i want to choose, so any advice I can get is welcomed. 

What I took away from the interview that will help me in any career was be open-minded, listening to someone implies respect, and don't give up! 

Third Lecture - Telling Factual Stories with Pictures - 8th of August

"A picture has no meaning at all if it can't tell a story." - Eetu Silanpaa

What does that say about pictures that have been digitally modified to be perfect? In the lecture we learnt about digital manipulation and fauxtography, where photojournalist misrepresent a photo or manipulating it with photoshop. These photos represent a fictitious story that the media wants us to believe. The media is supposed to report factual stories so their photos should be accurate. 

I thought the Dove commercial was very powerful and got its meaning across very effectively in showing how digital manipulation is used.  

It was also interesting to learn that the techniques for a good photo is very similar for moving pictures as well. Very useful skills to have as a journalist and other occupations around media.

Personal Media use and Production Diary

Over the past two weeks, I have been logging my media usage and I’m not very surprised at the outcome. Most people would be shocked at how much time I spend on Facebook or texting, but I communicate better in writing than I do in speech. From my wide range of different media uses, I have narrowed down some key productions I found relevant to journalism and communication.

The key productions that I picked out were Facebook, Youtube, radio news, television news, online news, other web usage, and texting. I decided to pick out a few that had a range in usage, not just the ones that I used most.

I have also grouped together these productions to compare and show how I personally link them together.

Facebook, Television & News:

When I first logged my television I linked news, online viewing, and television programs all together. So when I went to graph my television usage, I thought it would give a good comparison if I showed how much television I watch and then how much of it was news.

I occasionally watch a full news program, but not very often. When I watch a lot of television programs in a row, there tends to be news updates in the ads so I get a small glimpse of that is going on.

The reason I paired Facebook and television together is because I like to multitask. It’s a habit and most of the time I don’t know I’m doing it. I use Facebook a lot when I’m watching television. Especially during the ads, I will check Facebook or will update my status. Sometimes I will be commenting on what I’m watching or access it because I am bored. I have unlimited access to Facebook via my phone and unlimited usage because of my phone plan. It makes it unbelievably easy to use and become addicted to.

Youtube & News:

Logging onto Youtube everyday has become apart for my daily routine. I am subscribed to a few channels on Youtube that I find interesting. One of my subscriptions is to sxephil, he does a daily news show where he gives his opinion on the news headlines around the world. It is a very interesting take on the news and also very entertaining. It could be in fact the future for journalism and communication.

Most of the time I get my news from the radio, mostly in the car or when I’m listening to the radio on my phone. I have recently started listening to The ABC News radio after our online lecture. I found it really interesting and was captivated by the presenter’s voice. I do like the radio more because you can only hear the presenter’s voice and it is an intimate media. I’m more of a listener than a seer, and being able to feel the story from the presenter’s passionate voice instead of seeing it, in my opinion is more influential. However, when I want to know more about the story I will then go online and research the story. When I want the cold heart facts I will go online and research a story. Radio news has a lot of commentary instead of reporting. I like the commentary because it prompts me to express my opinions on the subject.

Procrastination:

I have titled my last key productions as procrastination because I have a tendency to use these productions as procrastinating tools. I can search the web anytime and anywhere but with great advantages comes disadvantages too. I mostly use the web to avoid doing uni work. The web is a great tool for research but it is also a detrimental for people who have a tendency to procrastinate. However, this is good for the journalism and communication industry because from my procrastination they are earning money.

I am also an over-texter. I should probably get some help for it. I tend to do it a lot while I’m working on assignments, watching tv, on my way to uni, and just anytime something pops into my head that I need to ask or say to someone. If I used this sudden urge to text someone for other things like professional writing, maybe I’d be a better writer.

(Showing texting in the graph 1 min = 1 text)

Racy Pictures in Vogue

10-Year-Old Model's Mom Defends Racy Vogue Pictures of Daughter.

This young girl is being exploited for her beautiful looks by her parents. Who else would be benefitting from these photos?
Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau, had her own Facebook fan page until, seemingly, her mother had it deleted. Her remark about the page was "… thylane doesn't know about the buzz and i want to protect her from the deapest of my heart ,,, she's so young ,, so we are going to close this accompte for a while ,,i know all of you are good person who like her so i send you a big kiss,,thanks [sic]."
This is outrageous! If Thylane's mother truly wanted to protect her daughter from the "buzz", she wouldn't of put Thylane in the spotlight. 
Thylane is a child, but is being exposed to an adult lifestyle far too early. Child psychology experts have been brought in on the subject in America; I would be very interesting in what they had to say about the psychological damage being done to this little girl.
What message is this sending to other little girls that happen to see these photos? Or even some adults that see this as the new tend?
It is disgraceful. There is a difference between playing dress-ups and being wrapped in expensive clothing and jewellery worth about $4.3 million.

Remaking Old Classics

Dirty Dancing Remake Confirmed.

A remake of an old classic, are they serious?
Nothing could beat the original. They want to add new songs from the 1960's and make compositions of some of the original songs from the movie. Lionsgate film group president said fans stay leigon to the brand that is special to them. However, I don't believe they are staying faithful to the filmmaker but the movie itself.
Some movies should always remain classics, that is what makes them special.

Second Lecture, 1st of August

The second lecture was present by Rod Chester, he gave a real perspective on journalism and didn’t sugarcoat anything. He provided us with the building blocks for a news article. The inverted pyramid showed us that the lead, which is the crucial information, comes first (the who, what, where, why, and how), then important details, and then other details. Rod also gave us some questions to ask someone who we are interviewing and showed us different ways of starting our work to make it interesting. By seeing all these different types of styles it really had me thinking, which is my style?

The best tip, clearly something I should already be doing is to read and write. The more I read and the more I write, the sooner I will find which is my style.

First Lecture, 25th of July

The first lecture was an insight into what to expect from this course. It also helped to get a grasp on why study journalism. Dr Bruce Redman started his lecture with some quotes from people involved in Journalism. The one that affected me the most was the words from Henry Anatole Grunwald:

"Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echos of wonder, the claims of triumph and signs of horror are still in the air."

The world will always need journalism because people will always need someone to report the wonder, the triumphs, and the horror of disasters. 

We were told there were current challenges in Journalism. Technology is being considered the death of newspapers because of paywalls and social media. I struck that as possible becoming true. I watch a lot of Youtube videos, which is a social media. Yes, I look at the funny videos some of the time, but there are some vloggers (video bloggers) that have their own Internet shows. One I find particularly interesting because it’s based around the news and what’s going on in the world, is The Philip DeFranco Show. It is a guy talking about the news of the day in his opinion. Like The 7pm Project, he uses quite a lot of humour to engage his 1,751,281 viewers.

Will Internet news shows like this one going to be the death of newspapers or will it make people turn to newspapers or paywalls to make sure the facts they are hearing are true? 

Introduction

Hey, my name is Bronwyn Beamish and this is my first year at UQ. Although it is my first year here as a student, I have been coming to university since I was five-years-old. That may make you think I know this place like the back of my hand, but really I don't. It was quite daunting as a child, so I stuck to the places I knew well and never strayed from them.
Now that I am older, it's time to break those boundaries since I'm definitely not going to follow in my father's foot steps to become a mining engineer. I am doing a BA majoring in Writing and Logic and Philosophy of Science. I have always enjoyed writing and only recently found my passion for logic. I have no clue what career path I want to take or if writing and logic will take me in the right direction. But I am going to do something I love doing and figure out the future later. I am still young, there is no rush.