Media Use and Production Diary

Media use and production is an engrained aspect of Journalism and Communication, now more so than ever as we enter a new era of social media. I have logged my personal media usage over a period of ten days, the results are displayed in the below pie chart. 

Social Media proved to be my most favored form accumulating 720 minutes, Television followed closely behind on 535 minutes, Radio is much less with only 75 minutes while Internet News and Newspapers/Magazines are on zero. It’s important to remember that while recording media usage over a ten day period is a good way to discover ones preferred media outlets and patterns it does not mean that I have never read news from the internet or a newspaper.

I was surprised that Social Media was so far ahead of Television, as I am a self-confessed television news freak. While I do engage in social media and enjoy it, I believe that it only accumulated the most minutes as I have been blogging and tweeting as part of the JOUR1111 course, which I have never done before. I only really listen to the radio on occasion in the car, so no surprises there; perhaps if I was to invest in a digital radio I would listen to it more often? No time spent reading magazines does not surprise me as it is something I have never really been interested in, the only magazines I read are other peoples. I do know that if I want to further my relationship with journalism and communication I will need to become more involved with using and producing media.    

Overall Minutes Spent Engaging in Media Daily: 

The above bar graph demonstrates which days I spent the most amounts of time engaging with media, the beginnings of a pattern in which I spike in my engagement after a few days without a lot of media use is evident.

Where am I when engaging with media I hear you ask? I started to notice that I was either in my room on my computer (as I don’t have a laptop) or in the lounge room as well as my bedroom watching television, when I was using media.  

The JOUR1111 cohort completed a survey in regards to personal media usage, the below data demonstrates student responses to personal internet usage. It appears that the majority of JOUR1111 students use the internet two to three hours a day. Compared with my peers’ internet usage I am in the minority as the day (Monday) I used the internet most I only accumulated two hours.

How much time do you spend on the internet each day?

Answered Question: 432

Skipped Question: 4

Hour(s)	Response %	Response Count
Under 1 hour	3.2%	14
1-2 Hours	22.5%	97
2-3 Hours	29.6%	128
3-4 Hours	23.4%	101
4-5 Hours	13.0%	56
5-6 Hours	4.9%	21
More than 6 Hours	3.5%	15
Other	-	1

Specific items I engage in with regards to television:

·         Q&A

·         The Gruen Transfer

·         Breakfast News

·         Evening News

·         Various television series, no specific series I follow religiously.

A clear pattern of choosing to watch news/information related programs is clearly developing in my television usage. I believe that this is because I find it hard to follow any drama series as I know they’re not factual stories. Also because I have a strong interest in national and international issues and therefore find news and programs such as Q&A really engaging and interesting. 

Specific items I engage in with regards to social media:

·         Facebook

·         Blogger

·         Twitter

As I stated earlier my use of Blogger and Twitter was initiated by this course, however I will continue Blogger after the course and I also know that to be a Journalist today I will need to eventually become well acquainted with Twitter.

So why do I engage in Media Use and Production? This is actually more difficult to answer than it appears; I guess using and producing media has just become such an embedded part of life as we know it, it is more than just a trend that will be forgotten in a year or so, it is the way of the future. Perhaps the primary reasons I engage in media is firstly for information and secondly for connecting with friends and family. What an exciting time it is to be living and experiencing the rapid boom in technology and media, there is no use in resisting; all you can do is embrace it!

Talk Less, Listen More

Well my week five lecture was an online listening lecture, which was great as I got to go home early on Monday! Carmel, my tutor, sat down with Richard Fidler and Steve Austin from ABC local radio, they were both very interesting men, who, along with Carmel had very soothing easy to listen to voices. Richard began by explaining that radio is a vastly different medium to television, it is much more intimate so you have to change the way you talk and the way you would explain something if you were on television. He said how the voice of a radio presenter shouldn’t come at you but appear to be coming from inside your head. He went on to discuss how as the presenter it is your job to make listeners feel included, to facilitate a discussion and to hold on to a sense of public service. Richard also mentioned a few tips if we were considering radio: worldliness, READ, ask questions and expose yourself to ideas of others you don’t agree with. He also gave some advice for when you are actually on air: don’t do anything on radio you wouldn’t do in real life, the less complicated a question is the more calls you will get and finally to be HUMAN, as human beings are after all, emotional beings.

As a first year Journalism student, Steve Austin made a point that really resonated with me, that it is okay if you don’t have natural ability or that you can’t seem to get a break, because if you want it enough and you are willing to learn then you will succeed. Sometimes it can feel a bit daunting getting into the field of journalism as there are so many talented people out there, he definitely made me feel reassured that it is okay to not be the absolute best at every aspect of journalism.

I’d like to finish with this quote from Steve,

“Talk less, listen more – listening implies respect”.     

The Power of Pictures

My last tutorial discussing Picture Stories and Photography reminded me of a year 12 Modern History lesson, when the teacher was showing us horrific pictures from the Vietnam War, he then went on to talk about a massacre in which innocent civilians, including women and children were brutally raped, pillaged and murdered by mentally frustrated and callous US soldiers. He wasn’t able to show us the pictures from this as they were incredibly disturbing. A girl in my class was outraged by the photographer simply photographing the situation and not helping the Vietnamese villagers. While I understand her frustration at such an inhumane act, I tried explaining to her that the photographer did the best he could, by capturing what was happening the soldiers involved were able to later be charged and imprisoned for their crimes. If the photographer had put down his camera and tried to stop the killings then he too would have been killed and the crimes would have most likely never even been known of, let alone brought to justice.

The tutorial taught me how powerful the inclusion of a photo or picture story can be to an article, or how a picture story on its own can be emotive and effective.      

This photo is quite confronting, but it is part of humanity’s history and says more than words could…  

Vision

My week four lecture (wow, I can’t believe I’ve been at uni for four weeks?!) on ‘Vision’ had me listening intently, even at the end of such a long day, as it was really quite interesting. Dr Redman went through a brief history of picture stories, going back to the Australian Aboriginals who painted their stories in caves, through to the way many religions told stories by drawn pictures and stunning stain glass windows, as much of their audience couldn’t read. He also mentioned how early newspapers had ‘line drawings’, then very scratchy photographs, it wasn’t until 1936 that the first ever newspaper was printed in colour. I realized then that something we take for granted so easily, being able to capture a moment, a memory with the click of a button, was an absolute phenomenon to people of the late 1800’s early 1900’s. In more recent years picture stories have entered into a totally new era, with digital capture and upload, photo manipulation and digital publishing to the point where anyone with a smart phone can become a journalist.

On the topic of photo manipulation, the above video is a real eye opener, which needs to be seen… 

Throughout the lecture Dr Redman also discussed what makes a great photo, showing us some very interesting examples! He covered the basics of framing, focus, angle (POV), timing and capturing ‘the moment’. He also mentioned exposure (light), saying that it is best not use the flash, instead use other forms of natural and unnatural light. I thought this was great advice; so many photos are ruined by the dreaded FLASH.    

So what did other budding young journalists out there think of today’s lecture? Did you find it as interesting as I did?

“If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that's a good picture" - Eddie Adams.

Journalism is Fun When Your Pyramid is Inverted!

The 'Inverted Pyramid' form of writing the most important aspects at the top (who, what, when, where, why and how) really does work and I find makes writing an article much quicker and easier. So why not sing a song about it too?!

Corruption from Above: Guilty or Not?

So ABC news tells me this morning that Rebekah Brooks and her husband, along with four others were arrested this morning for suspicion to pervert the course of justice, of course if you are as rich as she is you simply bail yourself out – which is exactly what she and her husband did. Now, is she guilty or not? I find it hard to believe that the Chief Executive Officer of a newspaper would have absolutely no knowledge of phone hacking going on within. Skye Doherty raised an interesting point earlier this week during my lecture when she commented, as a former Fleet Street worker, that everybody knew there was phone hacking going on for many years - how else were some journalists getting these stories? She said that it wasn’t until the phone hacking of Milly Dowler and her family was made public that it became wrong. Once it was an innocent, vulnerable family, people were willing to dig deeper and search for justice in this mess.

Will the complete truth about the corruption within Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers ever be known? I would say most likely not, at least not the full extent of it. However I would like to think that justice can be brought to those who need it and that Rebekah Brooks will be properly investigated, not simply allowed to hide behind her money.   

Words of Wisdom

Skye Doherty, a print journalist who has worked around the world for various media stations and newspapers (including one run by Rupert Murdoch) was a guest speaker at my lecture today. She was full of knowledge and wit – just as any good journalist is. Although Skye expressed her love for print, she also acknowledged the fact that journalism is well and truly advancing with technology and is now, predominantly online. She then discussed further what the creation of an online newspaper entails, and how much more it enables the journalist to achieve.

I found an article which Skye had posted online; the quote she included really reinforces her comments today regarding online journalism…

“Anyway, do you really think saving newspapers is just a matter of putting your old crap on a new device? … The iPad isn’t about saving newspapers. It’s about inventing new ways of telling stories, using a whole new language — one that we can’t even imagine right now...” (Steve Jobs).

Qld Reds vs Rebels

Last night I enjoyed an evening in a corporate box at the Qld Reds vs Melbourne Rebels rugby union game. The picture on the left is the view from our room and the picture on the right is my boyfriend Kane and I enjoying our complimentary alcoholic beverages, which, for me as a poor university student, is a very good thing! As we walked passed the various media control rooms I began to think about the different fields within journalism and how those presenting, reporting and filming, etc at the game came to be in that position. Did they start out as an optimistic journalism student just like me?

The positive potential of Social Media.

It is such an exciting time to not only be partaking in social media but to simply be an observer. When 'Kony 2012' links started flooding my Facebook page I initially thought it was spam or the result of bored Facebookers with way too much time on their hands. However once I had actually watched the film, my perception completely changed to the point were I have now pledged my full support. My admiration extends not only to the people behind the 'Invisible Children' charity but to my fellow adolescents and young adults who have taken this cause at the helm. In really what has only been a few days the younger generations have been able to demonstrate the true positive potential of social media. Turning our obsession away from what the Kardashian's are up to, to a real issue happening in the world - an issue that many world leaders have put in the 'Too Hard' basket. It is easy to see that 'Kony 2012' has already achieved their goal of making Joseph Kony famous, last night The Project aired a commercial free viewing of the film and then again this morning I wake to breakfast television presenters discussing the epidemic of 'Kony 2012'. Karl Stefanovic did raise a good point though - will this influx of support last? Or will it be as short lived as wearing fluro or posting 'like for a like' on your facebook page. I would like to think not. This is a challenge to us all, to raise the bar in what we expect of ourselves, eachother and world leaders.

I understand that there are horrible things going on in the world, particularly to children, acts such as being sold into sex slavery, or sold as a labouring slave, genital mutilation of young girls and the fact that millions of children die of hunger when we live in a world with essentially too much food, so much of it wasted and thrown out every day. While it can be quite depressing when you really start to think about the true extent of all that is wrong with our world, we have to start somewhere if we want to create change. Supporting the Invisible Children, 'Kony 2012', is the perfect place to start.

No matter how huge the earth may seem or how diverse the cultures and people are, it is that commonality, the fact that we are all human beings, that interconnects us all. It is our duty not only to respect one another but also to protect, particularly a child's right to being a child.  

I told myself that I would never be a blogger.

I told myself that I would never be a blogger. That I would never be sucked into the forever changing array of social media, that is Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Blogger - the list goes on! I have however, entered the world of Facebook, of course only to ensure that I am not a complete social outcast. Yet here I am formulating my first ever blog post (that is the correct terminology right?) To be honest, it's not quite as scarey as I had imagined it to be since my first Introduction to Journalism and Communication lecture, when Dr Redman first broke the news to me - not only would I need to become a Blogger but I would need to become a Tweeter too.

Despite my not so welcome reception to this news, it was this initial lecture which confirmed to me that I was pursuing the right degree, the words 'Journalism is the first rough draft of History' were clearly printed on the first PPT slide. This statement resonated with me so strongly and not only excited me for what was to come but inspired me also. It made me think of the imperative and honourable part many journalists have played within history and that to be a journalist doesn't have to simply mean you're a good gossiper. There are quality journalists and forms of journalism out there that emulate the Australian Journalists Assocation's code of ethics which are; honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others.   

By the time my second lecture came around I was intrigued as to what I was going to take from it and also what Dr Redman would bring to the table - and he brought Jelly Belly jelly beans! Yes, this was definitely the course for me! As I bit into a buttery popcorn flavoured jelly bean all I could think was how do they do it? So since I wasted half the lecture pondering these oh so important, life changing questions, I decided to go home and properly absorb the weekly readings. As I delved further into an article by Bradshaw and Rohumaa, which was discussing the art of blogging, I began to realise the unprecidented influece and power of the blog. On page 87 they outline how in the 2007 Myanmaar protests journalists were not allowed into the country, however it was through blogging and other social media outlets that the truth about Myanmaar, including the repression of it's people, was made public to the rest of the world. Also in 2007, blogs ranked higher than the New York Times for the top five news stories of the year. This made me realise that while I don't have to completely let go of my old fashioned love of print, I do need to embrace this exciting new era of Blogging. Besides, even if I get lost and confused I can always watch a handy 'How To' clip on youtube or even send out a Tweet?!