Annotated Bibliography

Domingo, D., & Heinonen, A. (2008). Weblogs and Journalism: A Typology to Explore the Blurring Boundaries. Nordicom Review 29 10-12. Retrieved from http://jclass.umd.edu/classes/jour698m/domingoblogs.pdf
 

Domingo & Heinonen PhD investigate three variations of Weblogging by journalists within Media institutions in their typology of journalistic weblogs. Domingo & Heinonen illustrate media weblogs as a rather freeform expression of news, free from the editorial pressures of more public news media. While the authors might articulate this as a positive step towards transparency in the media, they also admit to a certain divergence from traditional journalistic practice that causes blogs to become sloppy and irrelevant. This might also be interpreted in the subject of tabloid journalism and reflect a redirection of news values from pressing issues to entertainment news. The authors break down media weblogs into three categories, outlining their important in online media. The first of these is the ‘special event weblog’ that covers breaking news and current affair, in the author’s own words; “the story is born and dies with the event’s newsworthiness”. These stories are very apparent through social media as well as large media institutions and are useful, as Domingo and Heinonen explain, in breaking news to the public as quickly as it happens. Opinion Weblogs make use of the unregulated nature of Weblogging by presenting issues through the authors own perspective and allowing personal opinion within the piece. These types of blogs are useful as they give the audience a chance to weigh in on a subject, creating an online forum for the issue through a comments section within the piece. News commentary weblogs are an elaboration on particular stories by correspondents or the author that aren’t published with the initial story. A useful extension of these weblogs is the author’s ability to interface with their audience, sharing sources and facts and receiving advice on how the story should be constructed.

Israeli Prime minister dissolves parliament for January election.

Pollard, R. (2012, October 11). Netanyahu calls early election to halt ‘turmoil’. The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/world/netanyahu-calls-early-poll-to-halt-turmoil-20121010-27dfb.html

Middle East correspondent Ruth Pollard reports on proceedings in Jerusalem through a fairly specific lens; though the article works its way through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political standing within Israeli parliament and makes no allusions to the one-sidedness of the coming election, attention inevitably turns to the looming threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. Recent tension between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama has led to perceived support of Netanyahu’s coalition party for Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who supports more direct action in Iran than the incumbent Obama. This opinion is resonated through-out other news sources, Al Jazeera’s Cal Perry reported that Mitt Romney is more willing to support Israeli military strikes. The Israeli PM has already been remanded by the U.S. for threatening words towards Iran at the UN general assembly, however Israel continues to threaten that the international community has “until the middle of next year” to halt Iran nuclear production permanently. Pollard assumes that the intensions of the Netanyahu administration are to win an unopposed election, strengthening the mandate for military action against anti-Israeli Iran; however through the media this has become relatively transparent. This assertion is supported by similar online news articles who give no allusion to the intention of warfare by Israel; however this article examines only the surface of the political and economic reasons behind the Likud party’s dissolution of parliament for the early election. 

Heller, A. (2012 October 15). Israeli Parliament dissolves for early election. Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-15/israeli-parliament-to-schedule-new-election

Aron Heller’s Bloomberg article is a perfect example of Domingo and Heinonen’s special event weblog. Published on Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Heller’s article gives a deeper insight into political and economic reasons for the reschedule of Israel’s primary election. Heller opens by reinforcing the fact that Netanyahu’s party runs against an opposition that is fractured and leaderless. This is reflected in accounts of disorganization amongst parliamentary debate and the majority coalition that Netanyahu heads. Heller turns the focus to the administrations social and economic policies; massive protests in Tel Aviv against the growing division between rich and poor and complaints of segregation in the west bank throw doubts over Netanyahu’s strong campaign. Working from Jerusalem Heller is able to give a more intimate look into the politics behind Israel’s early election; unable to pass a budget under the fractured coalition government in power, economically minded Netanyahu (being the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel) believes that the economy cannot sustain until the elections previous scheduled date in October 2013, information that is reflected in the Al Jazeera news report. Heller’s article tips the weight toward Netanyahu’s political image amongst his opposing parties writing that the Likud coalition’s opposition will seek to capitalize on Netanyahu’s image as a cold capitalist in their bid for votes, as well as his controversial policies that involve religious privilege for ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Perry, C. (Producer). (2012 October 9). Israeli PM calls early election [News report]. Gaza: Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera’s Cal Perry is somewhat of a veteran of Middle Eastern correspondence and adds a new dimension in a news report on Israel’s early election. In footage from an interview we find that the opinion of Netanyahu’s rush to the poll is in a bid to engage Iran militarily confirmed by an Israeli citizen who declares that “he has no-one above him…. He can pass a budget, he can make a war, whatever he wants”. Again we see a negative connotation of Netanyahu’s intent in pushing forward the election; we can also perceive that this whole issue is very transparent, through society and the media. Adding to the scope of the subject, Perry gives voice to the Palestinian movement Hamas who claim that no Israeli government will give Palestinians their full right and that Jewish settlements on the west bank are obstructing the partition between the Islamist Hamas and the Jewish Israeli territory. These comments come not only in the wake of the anti-Zionist threats from fundamentalist Islam in Iran but also from accusations in the Knesset by opposition leader Shaul Mofaz of turning Israel into a bi-national state by bending to Hamas’ partition. Consistent with other representations of Netanyahu and the character of his government; Perry’s report from Gaza highlights the arguably undemocratic state of affairs within Israel, representing the Israeli government determined on a military conflict with Iran. While Al Jazeera is respected for its transparency, it holds a tendency to scrutinize acts of belligerence (easily perceptible in this event) in a leftist perspective.

2000 Leagues across the Indian

By Thomas Frayne

The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the Living Infinite – Jules Verne (1870)

To Mr. Verne, writing in 1870, the sea is a mystery. It contains neither the occupancy of man, nor the savagery of his will. Over a century later, one young man shared this philosophy and set about on a voyage to sea that would forever alter his perspective and aspirations. Philip Frayne, born 1952, was the youngest son of Frederick and Rita Frayne, and second youngest of five children. At an early age Phil found his fascination with seafaring aboard his Grandfathers boat, of which his brothers would hear no end. The ocean played a vital role in phil’s formative years, he was taken with surfing and this free and welcoming lifestyle appealed to a young man who had grown up with the leftist ideals of the 60’s and 70’s. After finishing school, as most young men do, Philip travelled to Europe and Britain. While abroad, Phil’s ideals led him into a certain sort of perplexity with the world. America was fighting the impoverished nation of Vietnam in an unjust war, segregation plagued Africa and the Beatles had split up. Such was the voraciousness of the “civilized world” that the young man dreamt of an escape. After returning to Australia and moving to Sydney, Philip’s passion for sealife was once again re-ignited, racing yachts with an old employer around Sydney harbour just a small hint at things to come.

However, the Sydney life came with all the cluster and confinement one might expect, hunger for adventure began to call for action, and at the close of the 1970’s Philip made his way north, to Cairns in expectation of employment and with the ultimate goal of setting sail. One morning, an opportunity presented itself in the form of a want ad, posted on the Cairns Footloose yacht club noticeboard:  A young family looking for extra set of hands about 45 foot sloop, bound for South Africa then on. John Gardener, his wife and two young daughters shared Philip’s dream of travelling around the world through the waters, living at natures every whim, and escaping the hostile culture and endless politics the Cold War had fostered. The journey began in Cairns and took them north, along the East Coast until they reached Lizard Island. Whilst landed at Lizard Island, the first bump in the road appeared; John managed to break his leg whilst climbing on the rocks that scattered the beach. Phil and the family managed to sail the boat north to Thursday Island, where John was flown back to Sydney accompanied by wife and children. Determined to sail on after the injury healed, John entrusted the boat to an experienced seaman named Ray, who would take the boat to South Africa where John would re-join the crew. The drink had filled Ray with an overbearing attitude; he was quick to criticize and uncomfortable to talk to, though he took charge of the boat with determination. This hiccough also added another member to the crew, a rather listless man known only as Halliburton (or Halli as he came to be known). He was the easy going sort, though to Philip he seemed inane, a follower; one who would struggle to find his way to the top. Though the estranged pair provided company, it was not without a certain tension that the three co-existed.

With the new crew all attuned, the journey took them round the northern cape of Australia. Here, in deeper, more expansive ocean, the dream of the young man had become an envious reality. The open ocean, calm or seething, gave certain clarity on the scope of nature. The scale of the world and the insignificance of man on its surface, seemed a much more simple concept to grasp aboard a vessel of three, less than fifteen metres long. The troubles and calamity of the outside world drifted away and the sailor was lost in the routine of sailing. This feeling endured past the crews landing at Darwin and onto the open Indian Ocean. After the addition of several crew at Darwin, their journey through Australian waters continued North West to Christmas Island and eventually west to the Islands of Cocos before sailing across the Indian Ocean bound for South Africa.

Days drift by at sea. There is a routine one makes himself familiar with, it is this that captured Philips love for navigating the high seas. Each day the sails must be manipulated to stay on course and different winds call for different courses of action (beit far from this writer’s ability to try and guess at each manoeuvre), But to Phil it was the life. Sea air rushing through the skin as sails are furled and fixed, the ancient methods of capturing the vessels position on the globe with merely a compass and sextant. A life of substance and order, of methods utilized by the greatest navigators of all time, a life of peace, above all else. Far more that can be said for the world of the early 1980’s. Navigating from Christmas Island to Cocos Island, the West Indian culture showed itself in variety and contrast. From the free labour phosphorous mining community on Christmas islands to a culture, just throwing off the shackles of autocracy and feudalism under the Clunies-Ross family on Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The latter of these islands served as the final supply stop before crossing the Indian Ocean to Rodriguez, however very few Malay inhabitants of Cocos Islands were present at the island market, having been segregated to the northern (or Home) Island. This system of segregation would appear again in South Africa, however with more racist undertones, and would drive Philip’s ideals of liberty and equality even further to the left. However, leaving Cocos, the young seafarer was filled with enthusiasm and determination in the wake of the fare across the Indian Ocean.

The wide open sea, a 45 ft. boat in the middle of a 73 million square kilometre ocean, a simple shrug from nature and this tiny vessel might disappear forever, its fragments lost underneath the vast blue sea. Standing at the prow and gazing back over the boat it is this perspective that strikes the young Philip, worrying, yet at the same time exhilarating, to truly feel the scope of the earth. Are we not all at the mercy of nature? Has it not the ability to break open cities, to wash away towns? Yet it is so often taken for granted by its inhabitants. While credit is given to the calamitous wrath of nature, so to must it be given to the keen survivalism of man. On a bright day upon the ocean, a strong headwind required sails be furled and fixed to the boom. Whilst furling this sail, young Philip, leaning on an unfastened boom, was cast overboard into the windy seas. Fighting to remain on the surface and to find a way back to the boat, he caught on to a trail of fishing wire that leads back from the stern. The sensation of wire rushing through clenched hands can only be imagined and it soon had to be let go. Having been at sea for almost 8 weeks now, Phil knew, even as soon as he had touched the water that, if he lost the boat, soon after he might lose his life. Spotting a tiny figure in a vast ocean is a veritable needle in a haystack. Luckily, his grasp found the log (a long rope attached to the stern used to determine speed) and was carried under the waves until the boat came to a stop.

Unmarred by the near fatal experience upon the high seas, Philip was more than willing to get back on the horse, and, after 18 days on the open Indian Ocean, the little vessel made it back into populated waters. Their next ports before landing in South Africa were several small Islands off the East African coast. As the journey began to wind down, so too did the nature of the islands societies the crew visited. The boat was greeted by some hundreds of children at Rodriguez, fascinated by the only Europeans currently on the Island. Mauritius, a large tourist hotspot, began to feel more like home than those Islands in Australian water. By this time the crew had whittled its way up to five, and the mood on board took varying degrees of tension. Being confined for nearly a year on a 45 ft. boat certainly took its toll on relationships, but Philip kept his cool and diplomatically kept himself in favour with those that he could. But as the boat sailed on from Mauritius to Jeffery’s bay in SA, Philip had grown tired of subservience on another man’s vessel, he needed his own craft, his own crew, people he could relate to. Thus, it had come time for Phil’s journey to end; landing in South Africa, strict immigration rules dictated that the crew may only leave by plane back to Australia or to sail on. Opting for the former, Philip left South Africa some weeks after arriving, resentful at being embroiled in the savage racist affair of the apartheid by much of the population.

This departure from Johannesburg signalled the end of a beginning. After arriving back in Australia Philip would go on to write his own adventures around the pacific islands, with much more desirable company. It would not be until 1991, and the arrival of a son (the author of this story) that Philips sailing years would have to be shelved until a later date. But as he reminisces the old seafaring days, a certain desire seems to light itself once more. Memories of such adventure are not so quick to die, and it is with excitement that one might imagine that the greatest adventure is yet to happen.

Jour1111 Lecture 4

Im not a radio person, probably never will be. ABC radio host Richard Fiedler describes the job of the radio presenter as a facilitator, an engager, someone who can really get into an on-air guest's mind and helps bring a story to life. His approach to journalism is one that allows guests to construct their own story from his questioning, he stresses the importance of asking questions that are open ended and can be answered in a way that give a story depth and meaning.

Personally I have never listened to Fiedlers show, radio simply doesn't sit well with me, though his method is one that appeals to me, it is simply a medium with which I cannot engage. I find myself put off by the loud jocks that push their stations sponsors, dont engage guests or discuss things that have no relevence. Disproportionate advertisement time also turns me off radio completely, a few times I have tried scanning for stations in my car, most stations are mid advertisement so i simply give up and switch to a CD.

Podcasts, this is a form of radio I can engagewith. Often unsponsored, plenty of topics are being covered constantly, no need to listen to the music that a station might push or the loud annoying jocks.
 
There isnt much else I can say, I listened to these interviews with a detached bemusement, perhaps picked up a few interviewing techniques but no passion for radio was ignited, nor any difference of opinion.

Jour1111 Lecture 3

On the way home from Ms. Doherty's lecture, I picked up a Sydney Morning Herald to check out the information pyramid; nearly every article had the same structure, important stuff → General info →Fluff. I wondered; If you remove the fluff part of the article would it withdraw some of the colour or positioning intended by the writer and help the reader to make a critical evaluation of the information present, based on his or her own reaon? Just a thought.

I never really intended to involve myself in print media but the option is becoming more and more enticing as the opportunity slips further and further away with the regressive state of newspaper business. The idea of pure text story is appealing to me as I'm a horrible photographer and video-maker-guy. However, the current employment opportunities seem grim at best and newspapers are crammed with so much fluff the chances of writing about the botanical gardens new flower installation seems fairly high. 

The visual advertisments on web papers and even print papers never really struck me, I often glaze over the pages until I find something worth reading, but again picking up the SMH it is apparent that your eye is drawn to the large colour banner at the top initially, though this very rarely influences the stories I view, most I simply skip.

The other appeasing element of newspaper journalism is its apparent freedom of expression, especially in democracies such as ours. The SMH gave the devious Mr Abbot quite a wrap about his parliamentary misbehaviour and an extract from The New York Times likened Mitt Romneys running partener Paul Ryan to the leader of a lynch mob. This assures me that expression is still generally free amongst print media (though Heir Murdoch likes a good spin in our Aussie papers).

I wonder if Julian Assange would be taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy if Wikileaks had have been a book......

Jour1111 Lecture 2

The first substantive lecture in Journ1111 gave an overview of the evolution and development of the web through its three manifestations as well as the various elements included in these stages. This makes me reflect on the first few sites that I browsed growing up. Perhaps the most vivid memory of Web 2.0 was the old neopets game or MSN messenger, sites built around wide social groups that facilitated a sort of social interaction through entertainment. Being someone who likes to keep an open eye of the outside world, the idea of hyperlocalisation gives me this sense of insular, uninteresting online culture with the emersion of Web 3.0 (semantic web). I feel it is very important to maintain a constant intake of news from around the world, especially in cases such as the Eurozone economic crash and largescale social and political movements such as the Arab spring. The world roils and seethes all over and grows to affect us no matter how far away we live. It's easy to lose sight of the grand picture, we're all a part of it, if we show ignorance in the face of plight, how will any problem ever get fixed? I believe the web has an important role to play in international socio-political affair and the reduction of news to a hyperlocal level would obstruct this role. Recently several online entities that I frequent have gone behind paywalls, a strategic move economically but I often understand paywalls as a promotion of exclusivity for those who can afford it; eventually creating an information gap as those on the higher end of the socio-economic scale are able to afford more news than those on the lower. I dont hate the internet, however I constantly see its influence and utility being abused, I.E. Kony 2012: Not a bad cause, however, the creators weren't honest about the recipients of their donations and their information (whether purosely so[in the case of the Ugandan Military]) was flawed and inaccurate.
 
The other concern raiseed in lecture 2 that resonated with me was the idea of news as just entertainment. My choice of news intake is the paper, unless I watch SBS news which is very rare. Commercial news however, makes me weep on the inside, its hysterical, pandering, oversimplified and trashy, the perfect example of entertainment news. My mother watches Seven news, so at times I have been obligated to view as well.
I remember sitting through about 15 minutes of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes breakup news; interviews, custody disputes, prenup arguments, the whole shabangabang! Then, a tiny little addition at the end of the main news headlines: "33 egyptian civilians kidnapped in Israel, Israeli govt. suspects Hamas...." then sports... not even a DoA on the poor Egyptians. I'm not sure who watches the world from such a perspective but I think Australia needs its own version of E.T. where wannabe journo's can dump all their crap about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and let news networks be news networks. All the channels could take a share of the shows profits, depending on who covered which nosejob/breakup/african child adoption.

Media Use/Production Diary

The above table shows my media usage from Wednesday the 1st of August to Friday the 10th. As it is evident from a first glance, one can see that my current use of media is dominated by the music category, not the highest in my viewership but most consistently high. This stems from my personal inability to succeed at most activities without some sort of melody amusing my subconscious, allowing ideas and creativity to flow more freely. Later in the week, I attended a live performance in Fortitude Valley to which I attribute the large spike of six hours on Thursday the 9th. I was slightly dissapointed to find out that only 27% of my classmates enjoy live music, I would encourage this to be alot higher. On the other side of the music spectrum, the end in which I produce music rather than listen to it, the period shows rather disappointing results; only dusting off the Bass guitar for four and a half hours over ten days. Excusably, however, this neglect for the beloved bottom end comes as the instrument suffers a slight string shortage. Exempt from the audio section of my media analysis is radio, as I have neither the interest nor patience to find the channels that don't emulate the annoying shock jock/sound gag DJ's that so chill my spine, therefore this form of media is totally neglected by this user, who keeps his car full of Cd's.

Fact: 7.2:1 the ratio of music listened to against music produced.

My Visual Media usage

The next form of media is the visual, one that conglomerates Television, Film, online Video and Video games. At right you can see all visual media divided into its elements. While others might prefer their news from television news, I prefer to creep through Youtube until devilishly late hours watching news items by The Young Turks, Al Jazeera or various other news channels. This outsourcing of information comes from a generational mistrust of evening news amongst my family, whom encourage independent journalism and maintain that many stories are much more intricate and complex than they are made to appear on television. Thus the twenty odd hours of television watched each week is a combination of sitcoms, drama, anime and other general entertainment. Whilst recording the data on television viewership I was surprised to find that I don't actually watch as much as I thought I did; oftentimes a day can slip by after just one episode of "Wilfred", though this is most likely attributed to increased social activity during the recorded period, however I am still viewing more TV that 77% of my classmates. Some weeks television might include very limited sports viewership such as Rugby Union, (a family occurrence in which a father and son yell into a phone at an absent umpire) however, recently I have been unable to watch games due to their broadcast being between 3-6am. Another formidable time-killer is my intense love of video games (A category that received a neat five hour bonus due a LAN party on the final day of recording). A quick escape from an intense day of University, a long battle with study or to simply kick back for 5 hours of Far Cry 2 with some old friends; Video games resonate with me as I see them as a method of escaping to a reality where the imagination is the limit of possibility, where possibilities are infinite and where you can run up buildings and throw helicopters into tanks. Lowest on the list of visual media is film, having only viewed two films in the past ten days. This is fairly normative as I often prefer the twenty minute format of television to long, often disengaging films, however this period has fostered a renewed trust in film after viewing The Dark Knight Rises on Friday and Empire of the Sun on Tuesday. As for visual production, there is little to be said; one sixteen second video of  Caligula's

The next Scorsese strikes again!

Horse, from the show in Fortitude Valley and a photo of the inside of my pocket (left) taken some hours later. I am not one who constantly records or captures holidays or events, instead I like to indulge myself in what is right in front of me, as there is a chance that it may never be so close again, and countless photographs couldn't possibly represent the sensory explosion of being completely enveloped in another culture or surrounded by rhythm and sound.

Finally, text media comprises the use of books, newspapers and online articles. Being fairly avid reader, these numbers come up fairly short of my expectation due to a lapse midweek in which I finished Mr. Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey and was charged with finding another classic to quench my thirst. In addition to Youtube, text media is my predominant means of gathering news and current affairs, with my preferred papers being the Courier Mail and the Australian (the best of a Murdoch situation) whilst various other international sources I view online (the New York Times, Al Jazeera, Huffington post). I prefer news in the form of text media as text advertisements are simply leaflets that don't require a sudden crazed hunt for the remote's mute button and can simply be passed over with a mindful eye. My Jour1111 cohort seems to be fairly differently minded as I am one of only 3.6% who receives most of their news from newspapers, and only 5.5% recieve news from Youtube. (Below right shows Journ1111 class' prefered news sources)
 My production of text media narrows down to university notes, general writing,(in which I have included my social media production) and songwriting. the former has seen me write for up about 7 hours, not that impressive for mid semester, however the other two categories were even more neglected: characterized by my lackluster attitude toward social media, the three posts on facebook and an email would never really excel me into the league of social media moguls. Suffering most was my production of personal literacy projects; on which one hour was spent in ten days. Perhaps over-socialisation (if such a phenomena exists) and an anti-motivational state of mind (still reeling from holidays) are to blame for such slack output.

So, thus ends the analysis of my media usage, set in a sporadic week of eventfulness and revelry. Hopefully this will prove helpful for reflection if I suddenly need to discover what I was doing whilst I should have been studying.

La Fine

Jour1111 Lecture 1

After the drudgery of the first week in first semester, my antipathy toward introductory classes had peaked and I was rather inclined not to attend any in the new semester, knowing them to be the same liturgy of glancing forward at cirriculum and the easily anticipted anti-plagiarism talks. However, dragging my bones to the lecture after buying textbooks, I was pleasantly surprised at the way Dr. Redman introduced the course material (usually obtained by skimming the course profile) and the engaging and entertaining way in which it was offered. Before the course had even properly begun I had begun to anticipate some of the later classes on Agenda Setting and Regulation & Ethics in Journalism. Dr. Redmans presented quotes from several acclaimed journalists and public figures aptly revealed the mindset behind becoming a journalist and making it in the world of journalism.

However, a great detraction from my enthusiasm came when it was revealed to me that I would be forced into contact with a personal enemy: Twitter. Since the beginning of the site, I havent seen the appeal, even after having used twitter and understanding the benefits a little better (yes this was written rather retroactively), I still dont. It seems to me that exposing myself to wider media might be handy, however, I've yet to see the great 'online social movement' implication that twitter supposedly holds. To me Twitter seems to be nothing more than another insular brain fart platform that is swamped with advertisements and as much information about what people had for lunch or which weirdo is on the bus as you can possibly take.

Lest my old man cynicism consume me I will end this brief reflection of an intro class on a positive note and state simply that I hold great expectations for this class and the coming topics.

Das Ende