It Matters Now!

"Getting paid for stuff that you do, rocks!"

Wise words Steve Molks, internet blogger of MolksTvTalk. Well, obviously we all agree, but when you're in the blogging world being paid isn't always expected. Stever Molks has been in the blogging world for two years and is just recently being picked up by various papers to pay him for his work. Impressive stuff, Mr Molks.

Something Steve kept installing into our brains was the importance of what we are doing right now. It matters. Our prospective employers want to see what we can do, and what we have done to do it. (Weird wording there) What I'm trying to say is - yes, we will finish with a degree, but what does that really show? Does it show we love light news and quirky columns, or down into the dirt investigative journalism?

Steve told us to write within our interests. When we are able to connect to something, our passion for writing ignites and that where the real fire burns. I know how easy it is to sit here and blog about what I've learnt in the lectures. Why? Well for one, journalism is my interest. But I am able to relate myself and my experiences with the content. I think we can all agree that it's much easier to write about something we like than an essay about something we barely understand.

I loved hearing the passion within Steve Molks. Who wouldn't love to watch television all day and write about it? Obviously, we couldn't all do it in a way that would attract buyers. I would have way too much fun with the investigating instead of doing the theory.

Steve completely changed careers during a mid-life crisis. It makes me wonder what my true interests will be in ten years time. Will I still be a commercial media addict, and love reading gossip magazines? Will I have finally changed my ninemsn homepage to something more handy? I would like to think yes - since I'll be sooo busy researching for my stories!

No one can predict what is going to happen, but I know right now this is what I love.

Signing off for possibly the last time! Who knows, maybe I'll come back on here from time to time. Like Steve says, what I do right now counts.

Until next time.

Hide and Seek

Disguising wig? Check.

Shady glasses? Check.

Dark trenchcoat? Check.

It's time to investigate.

HA. Yeah right. I obviously mixed up investigative journalism with movie star detectives. I really did think we would have a touch of mystery though. How wrong was I...

There are the 4 "IN"s when it comes investigating:

Intelligent

• must be well thought out

Informed

• facts, people involved, who is pulling strings

Intuitive

• rely on your gut

Invest

• a lot of yourself - money, time, mental health

I must admit, even though talk of investigating was nowhere near as cut throat as I imagined, it's pretty exciting to think I could investigate something. Imagine being the first person to discover something - cracking a case! Okay, now I'm thinking of detectives again...

I could not agree more with the quote from Lord Northcliffe - "...what somebody somewhere wants to suppress, the rest is just advertising."

Yes! For someone to really care about our story, we need to discover something the company/celebrity/friend is throwing at us. We all hear the same facts on each news channel each night - it's the shows dedicated to bringing new stories and questionable conclusions which really capture our attention.

Everybody must be hiding something. It is our jobs as journalists to find out what it is! Ahh, I can just imagine my shady dark raybans now, my brunette wig disguising my blonde locks...

Until next time.

Today's Agenda

Wow, the lecture on Agenda Setting was a lot to take in. I think if I touched on everything I learnt, I would be here for a very long time.

Ah, quoting the wise words of Redman. I do agree, though. Although the lecture was jam-packed of bits and pieces which all combine to create agenda setting, the theory is quite obvious.

The media plays a large role in 'construcing' or 'mediating' the social world.

NO WAY??!!

Yeah, exactly. However, we covered the different ways it does.

There are 4 agendas. These are

1. Public Agenda - topics percieved by the public as important
2. Policy Agenda - issues decision makers think are salient
3. Corporate Agenda - issues big business and corporations consider important
4. Media Agenda - issues discussed in the media

Obviously, public agenda is my type. I guess that's why the media spends so much time covering celebrities. It's obvious gossip magazines are what this is for (cannot waittt to read the Cosmo I bought today) but news, really? I like to switch on the news, ready to stimulate my brain cells full of new facts I can mention to people the next day and look so totally with-it. So I become very shocked when I see PARIS HILTON arriving in Australia all over the news. I love celebrity gossip just as much as the next person, but let's face it - Paris Hilton doesn't deserve my stimulating brain cells.

But, if Paris Hilton strutting her stuff through the Sydney Airport is what the viewers what, it's what they'll get.

“Agenda setting is the process of the mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the public come to perceive those issues as more important than others. Simply put, the more coverage an issue receives, the more important it is to people.” Coleman, McCombs, Shaw, Weaver, I couldn't have said it better myself. The amount of times I have heard something and let it pass straight over me, to then find myself chatting about the new updates I heard today, are never-ending.

And this is with filtered news. Can you imagine if we were told every single thing that was perceived as interesting? I definitely could not keep up with that.

Until next time.

YAY - I got something right

One quote from the news values lecture stood out to me for all the right reasons.

This is the quote by Julia Hossbawn. You see, I do a dual degree of Journalism and Communication, majoring in Public Relations. Many people question this - "Don't journalists and public relations HATE each other?"

When people ask me why I've chosen to do both, or how they connect, I'm never really sure how to answer. To be honest, when I chose PR as my major I wasn't even completely sure what it was. But, on my very first PR assignment, I chose to analyse an article written about the relationship between journalists and public relations. AND, would you believe it, I came to the same conclusions as Julia Hobsbawn!

#happylittlevegemite

Yes, I realise she is a PR executive, but it proves to myself I am actually on some sort of track (and am beginning to understand public relations, phew).

I know that journos and PR will always be in a competitive market, and obviously I can't be both. But I'm really enjoying the differences in them yet how they are so connected - even if it's not really for the right reasons.

It was such a thrill knowing someone worth quoting had the same ideas as me!

What do you value most?

This week we talked about news values. Although I was aware of such values through touching on them in all of my subjects, never had I learnt about them in so much detail.

Basically, news is:
"Anything that's intersting, that relates to what's happening in the world, in areas of the culture that would be of interest to your audience." -Kurt Loder

I think that sentence pretty much sums up news values and what is worthy enough to become news. But, just in case you disagree, here's the long version.

Newsworthiness - The 12+ Factors

• Negativity - bad news, death, tragedy
• Proximity - how meaningul a story is to the audience
• Recency - stories as they happen
• Currency - stories that have been around for a while and still seem valuable. Eg: Abductions remain high rating stories on the news as the story is not concluded until the abducted is found alive/deceased/releases a media release - whatever captures the attention
• Continuity - something to make the viewers tune in tomorrow
• Uniqueness - a two-headed elephant - often lighter, out of the oridnary news
• Simplicity - easy to explain
• Personality - human interest, often found doing celebrity stories
• Predictability - containing conceived ideas of those covering the story
• Elite Nations/People - importance
• Exclusivity - many stations thrive on "you heard it here first"
• Size - the bigger impact the better

Of course, this is only one perception of newsworthiness. In my other classes there was similarities and differences, and like mentioned in the lecture, different people hold other values. When I really think about it, I can not name one piece of news I have heard recently that doesn't contain one or more of those values.

Browsing ninemsn, (yes, I know, I haven't set Google as my home page...don't start) I found myself clicking onto the link about The Bachelor. Now, refrain from clicking out of me as I explain newsworthiness through The Bachelor. Trust me, I realise this isn't news... Or is it? It was on the ninemsn homepage, and it is entertainment. Even The Bachelor holds certain news values:

• Recency - the sites tell us what is happening in the episodes, as they happen
• Continuity - OF COURSE we want to tune in tomorrow to see if the unhappy couple can patch things up!!
• Simplicity - boy chooses girl, boy regrets choosing girl, girl wants to work it out
• Personality - I suppose you could call them passing reality "stars"

My point is, it is simple to make almost any story newsworthy. Just because we won't all find it interesting, the story appeals to the target group using chosen values. I didn't realise how many news values there were, and how different companies respect different values. I guess I shouldn't get too attached; through different careers who knows which ones I will need to value most. Hopefully they are something to do with The Bachelor - I think I could do continuity well - I must admit I did watch the final episode!

Until next time.