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EHU Journalism lesson one
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Jillian Hocking
@kabuladventure
Swinburne University
Victoria University
Deakin University
European Humanities University
UNAMA, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Cairo, Kuwait, China, KazakhstanAzerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia,
Georgia
BBC Trainer in Middle East and Eastern Europe
SBS, Training Manager
Government state broadcasterABC Radio, Producer/Presenter
INTRODUCTION TO COURSE• No journalism experience necessary• This course aims to introduce you to news journalism and the changing global news media industry
• Learn by experience – find your own news stories, research, interview, write….
• Learn about online, multimedia journalistic practice.
JOURNALISM SKILLS
• CURIOSITY• Discovery/Initiative• Research/Inquiry/Investigation• Interview skills• Sifting and evaluating information• Accuracy and verification• Summarising information• Clear, concise, engaging communication• Logistical skills
TODAY’S LESSON• Introductions exercise– find a news story
• Information about the course – what you’ll be doing, study materials, assessments
•What’s in the news?•What is news?•News gathering exercise….
The Role of the Media Have a fundamental role to play in ensuring an active and
vibrant involvement of citizens in the development of their societies.
Give people the information they need in order to identify issues that affect them, and make informed decisions to improve their lives.
Encourage community participation by providing a platform for dialogue, discussion and debate, where voices are heard, ideas exchanged and opinions formed.
Journalists Duty to Inform
Journalists have a duty in a functioning civil society to ensure that, in all corners of that society, the views of people on issues that concern or affect them are heard.
To do this effectively they must reflect the diversity of people, cultures, beliefs, interests and opinions within their societies.
Impartiality In practice, however, much journalism focuses on providing
news and information from external and official/governmental sources. Furthermore, the thoughts and opinions that are regularly reflected in journalistic coverage and programming tend to be those of people and groups who already have power and influence in society – people whose interests are already in general well represented through the existing political, economic and social power structures.
WHOSE VOICE HAVEN’T WE HEARD? As a result marginalized and disadvantaged groups
frequently see themselves being either misrepresented or excluded from the prevailing narratives of their societies.
Their thoughts and opinions tend to be neglected or sought only in relation to stories that see them in conflict with the interests, wishes, or opinions of the majority or of dominant groups – be they gender-based, cultural, ethnic, religious, commercial.
INHERENT BIAS AND PREJUDICE
Journalists are often guilty themselves of compounding the problem by repeating assumptions and pedalling bias and stereotypes.
The challenge journalists face today is to be more critical of existing patterns of coverage and to discover and report on diversity in all its rich complexity.
EQUAL PARTICIPATION
An effective functioning civil society is about more than just the right to vote and equality before the law. It is also about full and equal participation of all groups in society and about understanding and respect for each other’s qualities and differences, particularly when represented in the media.
ABOUT YOU……
• Pair off – Interview each other• Five minutes Q&A each • Find out the most newsworthy thing you can about
your interviewee -What’s the most interesting thing you can discover in five minutes of questioning?
• Report back to the group for 30 seconds only about the most newsworthy thing you’ve found out about them…(Please – no biographies!!)
LEARNING FROM THIS EXERCISE
• Welcome to journalism!!• Face-to-face interviewing with a stranger…• Framing questions to search for a ‘news’ angle
about your interviewee…• Identifying a single, key “news” point (rather than
just researching a life story!)…• Reporting back under time pressures…• Reporting concisely and clearly…
DETAILS ABOUT THIS UNIT
FINDING AND RESEARCHING NEWS LESSON 1 - INTRODUCTION – WHAT IS JOURNALISM? LESSON 2 – WHAT IS NEWS? LESSON 3 - HOW TO FIND A STORY LESSON 4 – RESEARCH – PRIMARY/SECONDARY SOURCES LESSON 5 – WRITING YOUR STORY LESSON 6 - INTERVIEWING LESSON 7 - REPORTING YOUR STORY LESSON 8 – PRESENTING YOUR STORY
DETAILS ABOUT THIS COURSE Class Attendance – Those who come to class do best in this course. A lot of this course is practical journalistic work.
Classes are more like workshops. You are adults, it is up to you to come to class to
work on your assignments. If you work independently from home or the
library then you must accept your work may not be to the standard I expect.
Consultation – arrange a time to contact or meet meif you need help or want to discuss anything relating to the course and the work required.
DETAILS ABOUT THIS UNIT
•Course Facebook page
Log in now – and check in regularly
ASSIGNMENTS
OVERVIEW OF ASSIGNMENTS:
Research file - 20% - Due Wed 4th JuneNews story for print media - 40% - Due Fri 6th JuneMultimedia news story - 40% - Due Wed 10th June
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK
All assignments are to be emailed to me at:
NO OTHER EMAIL IS TO BE USED. THANK YOU
When you start the day with the newspaper, you start with the recognition that you are a person in the world, with a need and responsibility to engage.This habit is good for our democracy.
Andrea Batista SchlesingerThe Death of Why?
What is a journalist?
Andie Tucher, Director of Columbia University, Journalism School's program, discusses what it means to be a journalist in a world where anyone can write and publish work online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsiDlHO9AWA
THE FOURTH ESTATE
The media are often, in the west, referred to as the fourth estate.
What does that mean?
There are four pillars of a democracy. What are the four pillars?
What are the four estates in a democracy?
Legislative – (Law making) Executive – (Policy making) Judiciary – (Reviewing the law) Media – (Reporting the system honestly) The police – must remain independent, cannot be an arm of
the state otherwise peaceful protests can never happen. The term "Fourth Estate" emerged in reference to forces
outside the established power structure, and is now most commonly used in reference to the press or media.
The Fifth Estate The Fifth Estate is most strongly associated with bloggers,
journalists, and media outlets that operate outside the mainstream media (and often in opposition to the mainstream media).
It may also include political groups and other groups outside the mainstream in their views and functions in society.
Social media is part of the fifth estate – facebook, twitter, bambuser, instagram. Citizen journalists are rapidly becoming a key component of democracy.
The role of journalism and journalists The Fifth Estate is not simply the blogging community, nor an
extension of the media, but 'networked individuals enabled by the Internet in ways that can hold the other estates accountable.
Good journalism keeps governments accountable. This is what Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Bradly
(Chelsea) Manning were trying to do – hold governments accountable. This is why they are hated by people in high places in the west.
People in positions of power, and some journalists in the mainstream western, corporate media are trying to criminalise journalism.
Julian Assange
Australian!
Came to international attention as the founder of the whistle-blowing Web site, Wikileaks.
Sexual assault scandal
Effectively under house arrest in Ecuadorian Embassy, London
http://www.theguardian.com/film/interactive/2013/sep/27/fifth-estate-wikileaks-timeline
Privacy under attack: The NSA files revealed new threats to democracy. Edward Snowdenhttp://bit.ly/1opgqjr
http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files
Edward Snowden
Greatest fear was that people wouldn’t care about the revelations.
Mainstream media in America have done everything possible to discredit him.
The Young Turks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INPkz9yQfTU
Who was Michael Hastings?Was a very vocal critic of the surveillance state and American government’s dishonesty to its people, particularly in relation to was in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hastings_(journalist) http://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/michael-hastings http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcPcD2AWTMQ http://
www.globalresearch.ca/journalist-michael-hastings-was-investigating-cia-director-at-time-of-deadly-crash/5346028
Who is Rupert Murdoch? Owns 70% of the world’s media. Own 75% of Australia’s media. He uses his media networks to further his own political and
business interests. When the previous Australian government tried to introduce
reforms to journalism standards he started an immediate smear campaign in his newspapers, against the government.
Any inquiry into media ownership laws was met with howls that echoed around the world. “Stalin”, “censorship”, “freedom of speech”, “attack on democracy”. Rupert Murdoch had an absolute tantrum at the very idea that the media should be held in any way accountable in presenting the truth.
The Newsroom What is journalism? From – 41’45”
GERMAN CAR PLANT EXAMPLE
The German car manufacturer, Volkswagen, today announced plans to open a new plant in the Middlesborough area creating 2000 new jobs. Local community leaders welcomed the news, saying it would provide much needed investment and employment in the region hard hit by the recession.
The German car manufacturer, Volkswagen, today announced plans to open a new plant in the Middlesborough area. They hope to exploit 2000 workers. It appears they were attracted by the plentiful supply of cheap labour in the area and the opportunity it presents for high profits. Trade union leaders urged all new employees at the plant to join a union, saying the company was known for its ruthless labour relations.
WHAT’S IN THE NEWS?•Tell me about news stories you’ve come across in the past week.
•News in Belarus?•News in Lithuania?•News stories in Australia?•News stories around the world?
CLASS EXERCISE In groups of three:
Research stories from each of these places and present to class:
Belarus Lithuania Australia Europe
ETHICAL JOURNALISM Ethical journalism concerns the way in which reporters,
editors and others provide commentary on the events that shape people’s lives.
It is rooted in moral values and has evolved hand in hand with human rights protection in Europe over 150 years.
Today journalism and human rights intersect at a moment of remarkable and historical change as a result of globalisation and the explosion of digital media.
The internet and journalism
Media is greatest influencer and provider of information in our society.
Therefore digital literacy and its function in our society is crucial, particularly in a media context.
Journalists have different attitude to news and information now that the internet exists.
To understand contemporary journalistic practice you must understand digital literacy.
WHAT’S IN THE NEWS?• Consume a range of news media daily -
newspapers, radio, TV, online• Important in journalism studies to consume as
much media as you can• Reflect on the choice of stories, the prioritising of
stories, the treatment of stories – how they are reported and how they are developed
• Be critical analysts not passive consumers
WHAT MAKES NEWS?• Many definitions….• “Events” or “information” • Must be ”previously unknown”, or “new”,
“fresh” or “recent” • It needs to be “noteworthy”, “interesting”,
“important”• It needs to be “reported”, “communicated” or
“transmitted” • It depends on your market/readers/audience
NEWS IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER TYPES OF JOURNALISM
• News – something immediate, needs to be reported at once - the 5 ‘W’s and H…
• Can be “hard” (disaster, war, crime) or “soft” (a celebrity’s new baby, a flower show)
• Features – background, in-depth information – less timely – could run any day of the week
• Commentary– informed discussion on causes, connections, consequences of stories
• Opinion – a personal one-sided view of a story• Criticism and review – arts or sports reports
Issues affecting ‘what is news’• CONVERGENCE AND MULTIMEDIA WORKING – THE
INFLUENCE OF ONLINE ‘HITS’ DATA ON THE NEWS AGENDA• PROFITABILITY AND FINDING A MARKET• NEW TECHNOLOGY• PUBLIC RELATIONS AND ‘SPIN’• CHANGING CONSUMER TASTES AND DEMANDS• CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND SOCIAL NETWORKING • INFORMATION PROTECTION BY GOVERNMENTS• ETHICS AND PRIVACY
Characteristics of News• Reference: Understanding Journalism – Lynette
Sheridan Burns 2013 Chapter 4 • Impact – the relevance of a story to the audience. • Timeliness – events that are immediate, recent and
help people in their daily lives – “news you can use”• Proximity – events that are geographically close to
people • Conflict – antagonism, opposing sides, violence,
warfare - “if it bleeds, it leads!”
Characteristics of News• Currency - how “hot” is the story or issue? Stories can
attract attention if they are similar to other recent events
• Novelty– events that deviate sharply from the expected – ‘Man bites dog’ rather than ‘Dog bites man’.
• Relativity - stories that are particularly appropriate to the medium or audience…
ATTEMPTS TO BE UNBIASED It’s important to understand that the centre, the so-called middle
ground between the two primary sides is a position itself, a bias.
Therefore, this stance of being in the middle is a justification for the bias rather than a denial of it.
The idea that the truth lies somewhere in between two primary sides is ill founded.
For example, Copernicus and Galileo said the earth went around the sun, while the Catholic Church said the sun circled the earth. The truth did not lie somewhere between the two.
TRUTH ON BOTH SIDES?
Thousands of survivors testify to the extermination of millions of Jews and others in the Nazi concentration camps. Holocaust deniers, like David Irving, claim this is all a hoax.
There is not some truth on both sides.
We know it happened, the evidence is incontrovertible. We’ve seen photographs, we have heard from witnesses.
TRUTH ON BOTH SIDES? Medical evidence suggested that cigarette smoking was a
serious cause of cancer. The tobacco companies denied it for as long as they possibly could.
They were not half right, they were LYING. Moreover the tobacco companies cynically exploited the media notion that “balance” consists of sitting on the fence to hide the truth about smoking just as the oil companies and other vested interests are doing by financing climate scepticism at the moment.
WHAT IS BIAS? So, given the media cannot help but be biased what question
do we need to ask ourselves?
What is the nature of that bias and how does it work?
Who is this bias supporting and how? From whose perspective is mainstream, corporate, western
media reporting?
News versus PropagandaEdward Bernays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tru6uiWs8Yo
NEWS VALUES EXERCISE•Eight fictional news stories•Put them in order•Put a ranking number beside each story from 1 to 8
•We’ll collate the findings•Reflect on the factors driving your choices
NEWS VALUES EXERCISE• Melbourne scientists discover a gene that is responsible for 60% of bowel cancer.
• Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton announce they are going to marry.
• An earthquake in Romania kills 200 people.• Michael Clarke announces he is standing down as Australian cricket captain
• Four children are killed in a house fire in Melbourne • Barack Obama is to have major heart surgery next week• The USA records quarterly GDP growth of 2%• Miley Cyrus is to have a baby
KEY LEARNING POINTS FROM NEWS VALUES EXERCISEWhat sorts of editorial judgements did you just make?• You used the different characteristics of news to
evaluate and prioritise the stories• You had to work out which element or elements were
the most important factors• You had to have some sense of who your
reader/audience was – what would they want to know? What would appeal most to them?
• If we change some of these stories slightly – how do your news judgements change?
NEWS VALUES EXERCISE• Melbourne scientists discover a gene that is
responsible for 60% of a rare kidney cancer. • Prince Harry announces he is going to visit
Argentina next month.• An earthquake in Auckland, New Zealand kills 2000
people.• Shane Watson announces he retiring from Test
cricket captain• Four children are injured in a house fire in Melbourne • Kevin Rudd is to have major heart surgery next week• China records quarterly GDP growth of -2%• Miley Cyrus reveals that Barack Obama is the father
of her new baby
NEWS WRITING EXERCISE• “Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no
accident. Very few sentences come out right first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard. It’s one of the hardest things people do.”
William Zinsser “On Writing Well”
Journalists Interested in their newspapers, website, webpage, twitter
feed, facebook wall, radio programs, news bulletins, features.
They have a healthy ego and want to be the first one to get a scoop.
Compete with each other.Journalists are suspicious of PR machines.Under enormous pressure to report across all media
platforms
Media is greatest influencer and provider of information in our society.
Therefore digital literacy and its function in our society is crucial, particularly in a media context.
Journalists have different attitude to news and information now that the internet exists.
To understand contemporary journalistic practice you must understand digital literacy.
The internet and journalism
BATTLE FOR THE INTERNET http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/listeningpost/2014/05/
battle-world-wide-web-201452415432260763.html
Threats to journalistic independence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qftOJX0oJ08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MutZoNkk3Yw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcPcD2AWTMQ
What’s happening in Ukraine? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT1eALgDAMo
Cutting edgemultiplatform journalism
http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/ http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/how-much-would-you-ris
k-to-start-a-new-life-in-australia/412/ http://www.rwandanstories.org/genocide/roadblocks.html http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=tunn
el-creek http://mediastorm.com/publication/a-darkness-visible-afghani
stan
