So, it's last lecture for my first semester of journalism and I literally cannot believe it.
I have decided to continue this blog throughout my degree, focusing on what I am learning as well as: travel, news events, current affairs and any music/art/writing that I decide to create during that time - all in relation to the media and public interest.
In doing this I am hoping to further develop my writing skills and also find out what area of journalism I am most interested in, what I'm most passionate about.
This semester has gone by so fast yet I feel as though I have learned so much about journalism, the Australian Media Landscape and exactly where I could fit into it all.
I have found this subject to be liberating in many ways and I very much look forward to what the next 4 years as a Journalism student hold in store.
So watch this space - because the media world hasn't seen the last of Anna Hartley!
Until next time.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
LECTURE #12 – ‘Page One. Inside the New York Times.’
Lesson 12 – A look into the New York Times – learning from the best in the business.
“Potent and provocative." - Rolling Stone.
Absolutely loved it.
‘Page One’ is a striking documentary that delves behind-the-scenes of The New York Times newspaper and comments on the future of print media and journalism as we now know it.
The film, shown in this week’s lecture, was a look into the chaotic, intimidating and extremely exciting world of the New York Times newsroom. What really appealed to me was the way that the documentary went into the lives and methods of the paper’s diverse group of journalists.
This added both a personal and practical element to the story, offering a day-to-day, hands-on view of how the best in the business go about the job. I found this to be both intriguing and of course relevant as a current journalism student.
There were three elements of the documentary which stood out to me above the rest…
1) The Relevance of Social Networking and The Internet to Modern Journalism
The reality it seems is if you not up with the latest technology, you’re a significantly large step behind the rest. Brian Stelter , one of the most widely read bloggers in America, was contacted by the Times due to his almost super-human level of technological competence and seems to be the pinnacle of network based journalism at the NYT.
The “New York Times has always been dying”, yet it is still here irrespective of the collapse in popularity of classifieds. The future seemed hopeful according to protagonists David Carr, Bruce Headlam and Brian Stelter.
3) David Carr
The hands down star of the documentary, David Carr brought a different intelligence to the film that greatly appealed to me. His frank, open and all round ‘no bullshit’ approach is one that clearly has earned him his place as Media Desk Reporter at the Times and could only come from having an incredibly textured past. The protagonist doesn’t shy away from his drug addicted past, conceding that his past life has contributed to the journalist he is today.
A quote from Carr about colleague involvement in the movie, which as a hopeful female journalist, adds to my high opinion of the journalist formed after watching ‘Page One.’:
“One of the things you’ll notice in the film is that it’s mostly men on camera. There were at least two really talented women in the Media Department – Stephanie Clifford and Motoko Rich . Both of them, I can tell you just from a standing start, are probably smarter and better than I am, really well spoken, brilliant journalists.”
IN CONCLUSION, ‘Page One’ offered an intriguing and multi-faceted view of the transformation of the international media landscape and gave us a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the inner-workings of the world’s most well renowned newspaper. The edgy documentary chronicles the highs and lows of the modern media industry and was an inspiring look into quality ‘real-world’ journalism.
You can check out the trailer for ‘Page One. Inside the New York Times’ below:
I seriously recommend that you do take some time to go and see the eye opening documentary and judge what you think of it for yourselves.
‘Showtimes at Schonell’.
LECTURE #11 – INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Lesson 11 – If you don’t seek, you won’t find!
“What passes for investigative journalism is finding somebody with their pants down - literally or otherwise.” – Robert Scheer.
Since I am also taking a course in ‘Investigative Journalism’ this semester, I found this lecture particularly relevant. The idea of investigative journalism for me is basically what the whole thing is, or should be, about – giving power to the powerless, a voice to the voiceless and informing the general public.
Since I am also taking a course in ‘Investigative Journalism’ this semester, I found this lecture particularly relevant. The idea of investigative journalism for me is basically what the whole thing is, or should be, about – giving power to the powerless, a voice to the voiceless and informing the general public.
This short summary of investigative journalism was very straightforward and helped me to understand journalism as part of the Australian and international media landscape better as a whole.
So, here are a few things about investigative journalism that you might not have been aware of…
Journalism puts the “IN” in “INVESTIGATE” – to do so journalists must:
· BE INTELLIGENT – e.g. – more than just a cat up a tree
· BE INTUITIVE – developing and using observations to draw conclusions
· GET INSIDE A STORY – find out what the real story is!
· BE INFORMED – know your stuff before you begin.
- INVEST ONE’S TIME AND SELF IN THE JOB – get involved; imbed part of yourself in every story.
BOLD, ROMANTIC AND TRUE DEFINITIONS OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM and IT’S PURPOSE:
1. CRITICAL AND THOROUGH JOURNALISM
- Active participation
- Substantial effort made.
2. CUSTODIANS OF CONSCIENCE
- Exposure the key idea
- “…’civic vice’ is exposed for society to respond.”
3. TO PROVIDE A VOICE FOR THOSE WITHOUT ONE AND TO HOLD THE POWERFUL TO ACCOUNT
- Social Justice
- Public Interest the key idea
4. FOURTH ESTATE / FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVT–
- “Watchdog”
- Perform the journalists’ duty
- Enforce right to know
Due to a lack of an upper house in Queensland parliament, anything the lower house puts forward cannot be challenged by anyone other than informed third parties - such as the Australian media. Australian investigative journalist, Ross Coulthart summarised a question that was on my mind during the whole lecture – isn’t all journalism investigative to some extent?
“Isn’t all journalism meant to involve questioning investigation of facts and opinions presented to us?” – Ross Coulthart
What To Remember?
· Sceptical not Cynical
· Fact checking is KEY - "If your mother says she loves you, check it out…”
· Little observations add to a story
· PR is the antithesis of investigative journalism, e.g. – one uncovered the truth and looks for facts, the other hides the truth and manipulates information
· Not every question can be answered by the almighty ‘Google’ – leg work is still a vital part of journalism
· Assume nothing
· Expect whistle-blowers to be crazy!
Types of Investigation Interactions:
· Interviews
· Observations
· Documents
· Briefings
· Leaks
· Trespass
· Theft
What I found interesting is when Bruce made the comment that the growth in PR is equal to the shrinkage in journalism. Public Relations constitute a resistance to exposure, dodging questions, massaging ‘talent’ and cleaning up stories – pretty much everything that investigative journalism doesn’t stand for…
What this growth in PR means for journalism:
· NO INTERVENTION
· NO SHOE LEATHER (field work)
· LACK OF DEPTH (junk news)
· It can also lead to, FORMULAIC REPORTING, as Charlie Brooker so kindly illustrates…
IN CONCLUSION, I’ve learned that real ‘Investigative Journalism’, takes a lot of work to produce a quality, well balanced investigative article, but the results are always worth it. Anyone can Google search a topic, but only it takes a journalist to investigate the truth.
I’ve included a link to the ‘Production Brief’ for my first investigative journalism piece about the reality when it comes to effects of children raised in same-sex families.
LECTURE #10 - NEWS VALUES
Lesson 10 – If it isn’t valuable, it isn’t news!
“All the News That’s Fit to Print” – The New York Times (1987)
That’s all well and good you may say, but what exactly constitutes how “fit” a news story is to print?
News Values – a simple definition:
“The degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience.”
Still unsure what makes worthy news newsworthy? Well, here are a few tips about News Values picked up from the lecture:
1. They must have an IMPACT
“News is anything that makes a reader say “Gee Whiz” – Arthur MacEwen, American Editor.
2. IDENTIFY with an Audience
“News is anything 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 to your audience.” – Kurt Loder, US Journalist.
3. PRAGMATICS
Ethics-facility-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.
NEWSWORTHINESS:
“News journalism has a broadly agreed set of values, often referred to as ‘newsworthiness’…” – A.Boyd.
Basic News Values:
For journalists at work we come right back to the ‘Inverted Pyramid’:
What are News Values?
- If it’s local, it leads!
“A sense of news values” is the first quality of editors – they are the “human sieves of the torrent of news”
- Harold Evans – Editor of The Sunday Times (1967-1981)
- John Sergeant – Veteran TV reporter.
“You just know, you just know that something’s gonna be a good story”
– Bruce Redman.
WHAT MAKES A HEADLINE?
| Value | Description |
| Negativity | Bad news - involving death, tragedy, bankruptcy, violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval or simply extreme weather conditions - is always rated above 'positive' stories (royal weddings, celebrations etc) |
| Closeness to home (Proximity) | Audiences supposedly relate more to stories that are close to them geographically, or involve people from their country, or those that are reported that way(eg '12 Hong Kongers aboard Australia Crash Plane'). News gatekeepers must consider carefully how meaningful a story will be to their particular audience |
| Recency | Newspapers are very competitive about breaking news - about revealing stories as they happen. 24 hour news channels such as CNN and BBC World also rate this value very highly. However, as we have seen with the events of September 11, stories may take a while to develop, and become coherent, so recency is not always the best value to rate. |
| Currency | This is almost opposite to recency, in that stories that have been in the public eye for some time already are deemed valuable. Therefore a story - for instance about the abduction and murder of a child - may run for weeks and weeks, even if nothing new really happens. |
| Continuity | Events that are likely to have a continuing impact (a war, a two week sports tournament) have a high value when the story breaks, as they will develop into an ongoing narrative which will get audiences to 'tune in tomorrow'. |
| Uniqueness | 'Dog Bites Man' is not a story. 'Man Bites Dog' is. Any story which covers a unique or unusual event (two-headed elephant born to Birmingham woman) has news values |
| Simplicity | Obvious, but true. Stories which are easy to explain ('Cat stuck up tree') are preferred over stories which are not (anything to do with the Balkan or Palestinian conflicts) |
| Personality | Stories that centre around a particular person, because they can be presented from a 'human interest' angle, are beloved of newspapers, particularly if they involve a well-known person. Some say this news value has become distorted, and that news organisations over-rate personality stories, particularly those involving celebrities ('Posh Goes Shopping'). What do you think? |
| Expectedness (Predictability) | Does the event match the expectations of a news organisation and its audience? Or, has what was expected to happen (violence at a demonstration, horrific civilian casualties in a terrorist attack) actually happened? If a news story conforms to the preconceived ideas of those covering it, then it has expectedness as an important news value |
| Elite Nations Or People | Any story which covers an important, powerful nation (or organisation) has greater news values than a story which covers a less important nation. The same goes for people. George Bush is newsworthy whatever he does. |
| Exclusivity | Also a major factor when setting the news agenda. If a newspaper or news programme is the first and only news organisation breaking a story, then they will rate that very highly. The UK Sunday papers are very fond of exclusives, and will often break a story of national or international importance that no one else has. |
| Size | does matter when it comes to news stories. The bigger impact a story has, the more people it affects, the more money/resources it involves, the higher its value. This is also known as threshold |
IN CONCLUSION, according to the pros the best way to tell if something is ‘newsworthy’ is to simply follow your gut instinct – something, I’m learning, is a key element of becoming a great professional journalist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)