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?

JOUR 1111 - Media Use Diary

Media has become a fundamental part of our society and through the media use diary, the frequent use of media was observed. It is so difficult to imagine a society without any media and this would be same for many others. So, why is it so important?

Above, is a graph of my media use over the 10 days and as shown in the graph, Facebook, Twitter and general surfing was most frequently used as it was used every day. This was due to the easy access of social media by phone applications which is accessible throughout the whole day. Also, my interest towards K-POP and Korean boy bands leads me to check and browse twitter and internet all day.

The graph above is the results from the survey monkey, answered by 436 JOUR 1111 students. Through this, the type of media students spend most of their time doing was shown which was Facebook followed by general browsing. This represents how “socialising” is a significant matter to many people and how it has developed from the past. Compared with my results, however, twitter wasn’t so popular, in fact, 70.8% didn’t have a twitter account before they enrolled into JOUR 1111. I believe this is due to the vast arrays of social networking site, thus, twitter being slightly infamous would not be a popular use to many people.

So, how is social networking sites relate to journalism? I believe social networking sites soely relate to journalism and communication as it is an online space where you can post your thoughts and interests. Blogging is considered as a type of journalism, for the previous reasons. Blogging is a social networking site, so is Facebook and twitter.

Old media, such as television, radio, news papers and magazines, are still very significant and popular today. Many people still get their news off these old media, as shown in the graph below. In fact, 71.1% consume their news through TV, followed up by “online newspaper.” Personally, hours spent watching TV over the 10 days was 12 hours. All the hours however, were spent watching either KPOP singers or Korean dramas. This is because, I prefer reading the news through online or by the papers unlike the general pattern of watching news on TV. Through the survey, however, it is also evident that nearly 50% get their news from Facebook. Due to such popularity of the site the news spreads very rapidly and out of curiosity many people ‘click’ on the link to figure out the reason why it has so many “likes.” Also, it is an ideal site to catch the mainstream of the week instead of having to read through numerous uninteresting articles. The fact that you can debate and share your ideas about the news and that any news can spread worldwide greatly relates to journalism. It doesn’t have to be some kind of formal news report, journalism is simply expressing your opinions and engaging and interacting with others.

Through the survey and my media use diary, I have realised how significant media are, to me and to the society. It has also come to my attention how much I, personally use social media and how journalism is represented through my posts and ideas. Also, that online media plays a fundamental role in our lives as it helps to engage and interact with others and the world. Media will develop and we would move along with it in order to stay engaged with everyone.

Can you believe photos..?

Picture stories, was the “headline” for lecture number 4 (19 March 2012). The first thought that came into my mind when I read the word, was a children’s book. Of course, the lecture was about something that was more in depth and related to journalism. There are many different picture stories, in fact, they are everywhere in our lives. They are on TV, magazines, phones, computers, billboards, movies and many more. Many facts about photos were discussed in the lecture including the basic history and the developments. In the past, photo was a way of communicating or telling a story as the people with the ability to read were limited. In the modern society, however, photo is used to support or to add more aspects to the story. Most of all, photo can be changed through programmes such as, photo shop to manipulate the audience. The fact that a photo can be changed, personally, seemed to be a downside of the development as false stories can be told through it. So, the question is, ‘is this development of photo journalism, good or evil?’

The second major aspect of photo journalism discussed in the lecture was “What makes a great photo.” There were many elements that made a “good” photo, such as, framing, focus, angle and point of view, exposure, timing and capturing ‘the moment.’ Personally, however, a quote by Eetu Sillanpää was stuck in my mind. The quote states, “A picture has no meaning at all if it can’t tell a story.” It made me think about how a picture could effectively tell a story. Well, taking a photo using the above elements would create a “good” picture, but would it necessarily tell a good story?

 
I have been trying to answer these two questions and it hasn’t been fully answered it yet. I, however, believe the development of the photo journalism is a positive factor and that it is a new opportunity to many journalists. Also, I believe that when a picture holds the ‘truth,’ it tells a good story, thus, as a journalist we should try and manipulate audiences to believe the "truth" not attracts them the most. Well, nothing would ever have a meaning if it isn't true.

My First ever Lecture!

Honestly, all I can remember from memory is how I felt in the lecture. Well, for many people and especially for me, it was the first lecture. I was somewhat very nervous and scared but excited at the same time. The lecture was about what we would be learning in the course and what assessments we needed to complete. I personally though journalism was not related to media so much, however, through the overview of the semester, I was proven wrong. Words and writing may have been the major part in journalism in the past, however, media is rapidly evolving and journalism should not be focused purely on text.

The second lecture was about web iterations and old media. Through this base topic the different webs were discussed and how the web focuses on different aspects. Web 1.0 which is also called the information web is very advertising friendly, thus focuses more on the companies. The New media or Web 2.0 is the ‘social web’ such as Facebook, Twitter, msn etc. This web focuses on the social groups. Finally web 3.0, the semantic web makes sense of information and multi layered questions which focuses on the individuals the most. The most interesting part of the lecture was the ‘jelly beans.’ How the concept of ‘entitlement’ was imaged through the packet of jellybeans. Also, the fact that many people including me think that we are entitled to free online news, which isn’t quite true. We are privileged to be able to watch news online, thus, we cannot complain if the company puts up a “paywall.” It made me think about how we, as a journalist will work in such industry where it is known to be “dying,” and how the definition of ‘journalism’ will developed throughout the years.