ETHICS? ETHICS!

The Ethics lecture was the lecture that made me think about the ‘real world’ journalism. Ethics, according to the dictionary is; a complex of moral precepts held or rules of conduct followed by an individual. Here, the word we should most focus on is ‘individual.’ Thus, the definition of ethics is different to every people.

The lecture opened with different types of advertisements, billboards and many more. Our task was to fill in a chart sorting out whether the ads are good taste, bad taste, ethical or unethical. Through this task it was evident that many people had a similar concept of the taste and the good and bad were quite easily distinguished. Everyone, however, had different ideas about ethical and unethical category. As for me, it was very hard to determine whether the ads were ethical or unethical.

Also, it was raised during the lecture that many people get confused between the unethical and bad taste. I thought that an advertisement was “bad” when it didn’t have a story or meaning in it. Through the statement, however, the fact that ethics and taste are two very distinct concepts it didn’t necessarily mean that the ad is unethical just because it doesn’t have any story. So, what exactly is ethics in journalism?

There are three paradigms; deontology, consequentialism (teleology) and virtue. Deontology was the rules, principles and duties we have to follow when producing the advertisement. Thus, it was stated that when you follow the rules it is ethical. I, however, disagreed with this fact. The rule stated here is the rule of general television broadcast or company. Thus, if you don’t follow the rules it doesn’t necessarily mean the advertisement is unethical. It might not seem ethical due to the images and might be repulsive in some aspects, however, if the message conveyed in the ad is reasonable, it could still be ethical. As previously stated, people have different definition of ethics, therefore, the rule set by an individual may not satisfy others.

Ethics, is something that is broad which can be different to many people. It is something that can be confusing as its borderline is very thin, however, it is something that can change the world dramatically. Also, ethics in journalism may be restricted under some rules, however, the message conveyed should always be considered before determining whether it is ethical or not. We should always consider what we want to say to change the world, not limiting ourselves to the rules given.

Jour 1111- Annotated Bibliography

Gurau, C, & Ayadi, N (2011) "Political communication management: The strategy of the two main candidates during the 2007 French presidential elections", Journal of Communication Management, 15, 5-22 doi: 10.1108/13632541111105222

The two authors, Calin Gurau, and Nawel Ayadi are both experts in the field of marketing who has gained credibility in that certain area. This journal article, depicts the political communication strategies using a case study approach through real life examples; two main candidates in the 2007 French presidential elections. The journal article introduces the readers/ viewers to the importance of political communication and how it is used in order to win votes. The two different types of political communication are portrayed through the article and the preferred strategy is identified. There were three different strategies outlined by the authors which were; the differentiation of the candidate within their party, the presentation of the political programme and the final confrontation between the main candidates. This was a credible journal article as the two authors use examples from the real world instead of just listing theories. Thus, these theories are applicable in actual situations and although the example is limited to two France candidates the strategies can still be encountered in most democratic systems. The article, however, loses credibility in the fact that both authors are not related to a political field. Thus, the political reasoning within the article would be opinionated losing credibility for the article.

Vogel, E (2012, May 12) Same-sex marriage separates candidates. Retrieved from http://www.lvrj.com/news/same-sex-marriage-separates-candidates-152253885.html

The author wrote the article on the Las Vegas Review Journal Article website about the separation between Candidate Mr. John Lee and Mr. Patricia Spearman. This separation occurred due to President Barack Obama’s support towards marriage equality. Mr. Lee disagrees and Mr. Spearman agrees with President Obama. The article depicts the different cultural background the two candidates hold and how this effects their decision. The article conveys both candidates’ positions and their political communication, therefore gaining credibility from the readers. Also, instead of the publishing the author’s own opinions the author only portrays the opinion of the two candidates. This is an example of a recent real life situation thus, depicts the story without being bias. The website the article is from is a commercial media where the audience are the consumers; this is different to the ABC news which is a form of public media. Thus, ABC focuses on the announcement of the President delivering solely facts about the situation unlike this article where it depicts a political fight. This is due to the fact that commercial media focuses more on producing ‘entertainment’ for the readers, therefore, this article loses more credibility compared to public media, ABC news.

  

O’Malley, N (2012 May 11). Obama finally comes out with views on gay marriage. The Age, p.8

The article portrays the fact that president Obama has been escaping in presenting his support towards gay marriage in public. It states, “IT IS a surprise to no one in the US that Barack Obama supports gay marriage,” implying the fact that President Obama has been secretly supporting gay marriage. The one thing it does not state is why he has been hiding his support. This is where the author loses credibility as he says, “That's not quite clear.” The article is opinionated throughout and does not clearly justify the reason for the thoughts. Although the author talks about the political communication and the impact, it is less emphasised behind the author’s opinions. This is another commercial media portraying similar aspects to the online article stated above. This print article, however, seems to have less credibility than the online article as the author of the online article excludes his own opinion. Being bias and opinionated can loses credibility which is not a good political communication. Both articles, created different stories for more entertain the readers/ viewers around the situation and unlike the ABC News tend to focus on one or two politicians.   

Klein, R (2012) President Obama - Gay Marriage: Gay Couples 'Should Be Able to Get Married'. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGMTPab9GQ

The ABC News presented the issue of President Barak Obama supporting same sex marriage. The News not only depicts the fact that President Obama stated that gay and lesbian couples should be treated equality, however, also focuses on the political communication and the impacts this announcement could lead to. The fact President Obama stated the announcement, not any other, earned some credibility to the news. Also, how the news is presents the views of the politicians opposing to marriage equality depicts the fact how the news presented are unbiased, thus, increasing the credibility of the source. Unlike the two previous sources, the news does not focus on the entertainment, however, it focuses on getting the right message across. This is done through the interviews with President Obama himself and neglecting any opinionated views by others. The news portrayed the importance of political communication through the conversation of the new presenters. This however never focused on one politician, instead, they presented a general view on the two sides of the issue. ABC news portray many public media values which is another reason why many viewers would chose ABC news compared to The Age or online review journal article.  

JOUR1111 item 2 - Moments..

Moments are precious..

Moments, are very important part of our life creating memories and changing ones character. Have you ever had a moment where it changed your life in any way? That moment where you are so hurt, or desperate that you just don’t want to experience ever again? Like everyone, I also had many “moments” throughout my life. All the moments of my life are memorable and special, however, there is one moment that I can never forget…

The day was dark and cloudy...

I was eight years old and I remember the day being cloudy and dark and everyone was trying to fight the wind. Despite the unpleasant weather, our family and friends decided to go to the Surfer’s Paradise beach. At the time, the weather didn’t mean much to me, if I could play with my friend nothing really mattered. I recount my friend and I making sand castles at first, then got sick of it and decided that we wanted to get into the water.

“Can we please go down to the water and play?” I asked my mum.

As soon as she gave a positive reply, my friend and I ran down to the waters with my uncle in excitement. Nobody ever knew what was going to happen next.

The waves were high, I couldn't get out...

We arrived at the water and carefully placed our foot into it. Shivers ran down my spine from the cold water and I couldn’t resist getting in further. I looked at my friend and her eye was sparkling with happiness. We immediately ran down to where the waves were and started to splash around. My uncle was watching over us while enjoying the scenery of Gold Coast beach. After a while we realised that the height of the wave somehow shrunk, and in curiosity walked into the deeper end. We were too young to know what was dangerous and what was not. Constantly, we walked deeper into the ocean to catch the wave, then, we were stuck. I was so scared I couldn’t move. I just stopped, everything stopped. Nothing moved around me and the before I could even start to think, I was swept by a wave into the vicious water. I tried to swim back to the shore but every time I thought I reached it, I was pushed further away from the destination. It seemed like there was nothing I could do anymore. I was worried about my friend and was frightened at the same time. Then, the thought of death started to kick in. I started to pray, for my family and for my friend. I don’t know why I didn’t pray for myself, but I just prayed for the people on the shore anxiously waiting for me and my friend. Ironically, I was still desperate to get out of the situation as soon as possible. I know I was only eight, but when I felt like I was actually going to die, my life passed through like a panorama. My bad attitude towards parents, friend and family, things I have experienced, and things I still had to experience. Then I started to think why it was happening to me. By now, I couldn’t really feel my body, my temperature was going down and it felt like I was sinking into the water. At that very moment, when I was just about to give up everything, I saw someone coming towards me. It took me a while to figure out they were life guards on surfing boards. I was out of my mind and didn’t really realise what they were doing until they placed me onto the board. I was safely pushed back onto the shore when I saw my mum. In relief tears started to run down my face and she ran up to me and gave me a hug, I was wet but that didn’t really matter to her and soon after my friend was next to me. The life guards said we were lucky to be found and that they were doing the last check before going back home. All I could hear was mum thanking them and holding me tight against her.

The moment, when my mother gave me hug will always be remembered.

That was the moment that I could never forget. The moment when I realised how precious it is to live and from that day on, I thank every moment of my life. I don’t know why my mother’s hug was more greatly remembered then the actual event. Maybe I don’t want to remember the event. It is, however, all a part of my life and it is a moment that created me to become what I am now. It is a memory to treasure and story to tell and it something that should be special to everyone..

Government SHOULD hate Public Media

To be honest, I thought public media would not be as interesting, compared to other lectures. It was however, quite interesting especially how I could compared and contrast PM with the commercial media. Before studying journalism, I personally did not know anything about media which was why all the lectures were interesting. Through this course, I was able to distinguish the different media types and the reason why it is the media it is.

Lecture 7 was about Public media which was defined as ‘a media with a mission to serve and engage a public.’ The first evidence about this definition was that PM doesn’t earn profits, and if they do, it solely goes back into producing. The two well known public media in Australia are ABC and SBS. There are, however, many other international public media channels, such as, BBC, PBS, NHK and many more.

Public media compared to commercial media had positive and negative points, which are listed below.

Positive

w  It is more serious

w  It is broadsheet style

w  It broadcasts importance over interest

w  The information is considered not quick and unchecked.

Negative

w  It can be boring

w  Elitist

w  The information can be of limited interest

w  It is poorly presented

w  Out of touch

Public media is more serious and careful about what they produce which is evident through ‘Tweeter.’ It was stated in the lecture ABC was usually the last people to post any news on Tweeter due to the “checking process” before publishing any information to the public. This is unlike the commercial media, such as Brisbane times etc. to post with out and confirmation.

One thing that caught my attention the most was the fact that government should hate public media. Firstly, I thought governments would like the public media as it produces more reliable news and information. Secondly, the governments are the sources that fund such institutions, thus, I thought the government liking the public media would be a benefit. It was, however, stated that it is “good” that governments dislike public media. This was due to the fact that public media should sit above the government and be independent. So, what exactly is “independent” in public media? I believe the term independent in this sense is that being alone and away from the trend of the world and just solely “owned” by the public’s itself.     

Through this lecture the difference of commercial media and public media became clear. It wasn’t only the fact that one earns profit and one doesn’t (which is the most obvious difference) however, the difference in their broadcasting. To me, before the two lectures, all news and channel seemed exactly the same but now I can see the difference and the reason for this contrast. There are positives and negatives for both types of media, but public media is the last bastion of long form investigation journalism after all.  

I think I'm ugly...

As stated in my first post , I am in LOVE with KPOP thus, KPOP will be my topic for today. Well, the ‘Korean’ media says that KPOP is a boom around the world, however, there are still many people that aren't familiar with POP. There are many types of KPOP singers, but the singers that are most popular across the world is 'Idols.'

Idol stars have been and still are known by many Koreans to be a group of people who are just good looking, without any singing skills. The Koreans believe that it is only the appearance which allowes them to debut. This is partially right and I kind of believe it as well. Basic singing skills are shown through many of the idol stars, however, since they are in a group of minimum 4 to 13 'good singing abilities' aren't neccessary to everyone in the group. Thus, there are couple of lead singers and thats it. This was an issue that has beed upheld for many years in the industry thus, the companies or entertainments focused on building basic skills for every member. Another issue was, the division of parts among the group. A song is usually 3~4minutes long, thus if the parts are equally divided among the members, you will only be able to sing something like 40 seconds. Due to this it is hard for the idols to sing with emotion or be true with the song. There are, however, a group that is talented in many ways, singing, rapping, dancing and getting the message across. This group is called, 2NE1.

2NE1 is a group consiting of four girls who normally sing a genre of hip hop. They are known as the 'talented' group as they don't just go by their appearence but tries to get something across to the listners. One of the song that I personally favor from 2NE1 is ‘Ugly.’ The lyrics metaphorically conveys a message of the "ugly world" and how, many people are hurt from lies and affections.

Through the KPOP singer, 2NE1, it gave me an idea of being a good journalist. To become a good journalist I would have to convey a message that would touch many hearts. Also, I would have to truthfully write about the issues around the world and not just for my satisfaction but to make the world a better place. There was a reason for 2NE1 being one of the best singers in Korea, not the style, singing, dancing, rapping or catchy songs, but the truthfulness and doing it for something and I hope I would remember this moral in the future years.

Below is the link to 2NE1’s ‘Ugly’ and the lyrics of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGe0hHvAGkc 

(The credit goes to YG entertainment)

UGLY

밝게 웃어보지만

I'm trying to smile brightly but

내 맘에 들지 않아

I don't like it

난 예쁘지 않아 아름답지 않아

I'm not pretty, I'm not beautiful

노랠 불러보지만

I'm trying to sing but

아무도 듣지 않아

No one is listening

난 예쁘지 않아 아름답지 않아

I'm not pretty, I'm not beautiful

난 왜 이렇게 못난 걸까

Why am I this ugly 


어떡하면 나도 너처럼 환하게 웃어볼 수 있을까

What must I do for me to be able to smile brightly like you?

또 화가나 왜 늘 완벽하지 못해

I'm getting angry again, why can't I ever be perfect

이 깨진 거울 속 못난 모습을 향해 탓하기만 해

I simply put the blame on my ugly appearance in this broken mirror

쳐다보지마 지금 이 느낌이 싫어 난

Don't look at me, I hate this feeling right now

어디론가 숨고만 싶어 벗어 나고 싶어

I just want to hide away somewhere, I want to escape

이 세상은 거짓말

This world is full of lies

I think I’m ugly

And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty, I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face tellin’ me I’m pretty

I think I’m ugly


And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty, I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face cuz I know I’m ugly

날 쉽게 이해한다고 하지마

Don't tell me that you can understand me so easily

못 생기고 삐뚤어진 내 마음이 널 원망할지도 몰라

My ugly and crooked heart may even come to resent you

말 시키지마 난 너와 어울리지 못해

Don't force me to talk, I'm not right for you 


그 잘난 눈빛 속 차가운 가식이 날 숨막히게 해

The cold facade inside that patronizing gaze suffocates me

다가오지마 너의 관심조차 싫어 난

Don't come closer; I don't even want your concern

어디론가 떠나고 싶어 소리 치고 싶어

I want to leave away to somewhere, I want to shout out

이 세상은 거짓말

This world is full of lies

I think I’m ugly

And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty, I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face tellin’ me I’m pretty

I think I’m ugly


And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty, I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face cuz I know I’m ugly

All alone, I’m all alone x2

따뜻함이란 없어

There is no such thing as warmth 


곁엔 아무도 없어

There is no one by my side

All alone , I’m all alone x2

(I’m always all alone)

따뜻함이란 없어

There's no such thing as warmth

곁엔 그 누구도 날 안아줄 사람 없어

Next to my side, there's not even anyone to embrace me

 

I think I’m ugly

And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face tellin’ me I’m pretty

I think I’m ugly


And nobody wants to love me


Just like her I wanna be pretty I wanna be pretty


Don’t lie to my face cuz I know I’m ugly

Is commercial media really that wrong?

Back to the normal lecture room with power points and, commercial media it is! The difference between public media and commercial media always confused me, which was clarified through the lecture. First of all, what is commercial media?

Commercial media is;

l  - Profit-driven media production

l  - Not government funded (or license funded)

l  - It survives or fails on business success

l  - Its business is generating ‘audiences’

l  - Create audiences to generate profit through selling advertising to them

Through the lecture, the importance of advertisement in commercial media was discussed. On issue within this was that commercial media were now concentrating on the ‘money’ instead of the ‘quality.’ It was told that The question is, ‘is this bad?’

In the olden days, running a commercial media was not this hard, because you only had to focus on newspapers, televisions and radio. Then, however, the money came in and everything started to get difficult. Through this, commercial media started to lose its quality. Below is from the lecture power point about the changes in the commercial media.

Loss of revenue =

Less investment =

 Less money for quality production =

More bought-in content (Less original) =

More repeats of US sitcoms, more reality TV.

One statement out of many is very memorable and that was that ““Audiences want and will pay for quality …” I believe this is true and I would pay for quality, however, the cost of a quality production would be huge. This means that there would be more money invested into the production and what would happen if production costs more than the sell? Since the government doesn’t fund the company, the organisation has to work from their own money. Also, many people won’t pay for certain things, such as the online newspapers, then how are they going to earn money? Asking for a quality production with a limited amount of money seems a bit unfair. Thus, I believe that the fault of the loss of quality isn’t solely on the commercial media organisation, however also on the audience. If we stop believing that we are entitled to various commercial media, we would be able to earn ‘quality’ from them.

I, however, believe that commercial media is a fundamental part of the “media world” and that it will somehow develop through the future. Quality is important however, I hope many people would also consider the situation and support the commercial media. I strongly believe that the supports of many audiences would help commercial media to gain its ‘quality’ again.

We are not rational, we are emotional

Lecture 5 was a special lecture where sound was the only reliable source. The lecture was in an interview format which caught my attentions straight away. This was because, sound media is also known as ‘radio’ and the interview sounded like a small imitation of a radio. I could imagine a radio studio while listening to the lecture through my headphones, and I believe it was a very effective way of teaching “sound” to students.

Sound media, especially radio, was thoroughly dealt with in the lecture.  Through the discussion and interview of sound media, the fact that it is “harder to lie” arose. It was a very interesting point as I always thought visual media was more difficult in hiding the expressions. It was explained through the interviewee, Richard that the image on the visual media distracts the audience, as to radio where people are more concentrated. There was one thing that confused me from this statement. Previously, the interviewee commented that radio is something many people listens to while multitasking. Thus, if you multitask while listening to the radio, how is it “more concentrating” then visual media, where you sit down and watch?

Another interesting fact that struck me was that “silence” is really powerful in radios. Who would have ever thought that? I mean, I personally haven’t. Silence, however, is a part of sound. So, if it is used in middle of the conversations it could convey a better message then just talking for the whole hour or two. In fact, it could give the listeners a ‘space’ to think. It was quoted that giving spaces to guests would set a friendly atmosphere, obtaining more information than constantly asking questions. Thus, by giving the listeners a ‘space’ to think, they would more effectively engage with the radio.

There were many interesting facts about sound media in the lecture, however, the way the lecture was set out was most memorable.  Through the lecture, I could experience in first hand, what “engaging and interacting” is as a listener.  It wasn’t just learning but understanding the audience’s perspective at the same time. Thus the content taught through the lecture was easier to understand. Now, I know what the audience want and how to achieve it through journalism. So… what do you want?