Polictical economy and Investigative Journalism

Political economy of the media

Political economy has core concepts for the media such as, ownership, control, regulation, audience labour and surveillance. In the media there is nothing natural about society, the media manipulates to receive as much profit and views. There are gatekeepers for the political economy which are the mass media, they decide what information is shared but once again it all depends on the money.

If the mass media gatekeepers viewed a program and a member of the public thought it was inappropriate, the gatekeepers would call this negative feedback “Flak”. Constructive criticism is always good but the mass media shouldn’t be receiving “Flak” because they are the gatekeepers, who are there to protect society of what we are and aren’t allowed to see. The mass media are controlled by money, they sell audiences to programs to receive bulk profits.

Investigative Journalism

Some say that investigative journalism is in-depth journalism, it deeply digs into a public interest issue and pulls out interesting, true facts. Investigative journalism requires a whole lot of research and in a way investigate journalism is like being a detective because you have to go out on field and find the facts yourself, so that you know they are credible. Also important factor within investigative journalism is that it needs to have a public interest.

A picture can tell a thousand words

A picture can tell a thousand words

A photojournalist’s job is to take photos to accompany written work. The photograph is to express in detail and give the reader a more in depth view of what’s happening. A photojournalist travels the world and sometimes views the most horrific events especially in third world countries, war zones or even natural disasters.

A good photograph follows the rule of thirds (golden mean). If a grid is put over a photo and the focal point of the picture is within in the middle of the grid it therefore follows the rule of thirds. What makes a great photo is the framing, focus, the angle or point of view, exposure, timing and “capturing the moment”.  If a picture is framed well it creates a finished look making the picture look more professional. A photograph needs a main focus point, to capture the readers eye, if the picture has a great focal point it can create emotional outlook. The angle or point of view of a picture is vital, throughout all different magazines on one special topic, there will be many pictures from all different angles trying to capture the one that speaks the best. Exposure or light of a photograph is important, if a picture has little exposure it could be done purposely to create a dark feeling, similar if the photograph had too much exposure. It is the photographers view on whatever topic. Similar to exposure, timing is key! Timing is important in certain areas like war or natural disasters. A photographer might spend minutes to even hours trying to capture the right moment or sometimes a photographer could be doing something and quickly take a snap and that picture could turn out great.

Pictures have been around since the cave paintings and it has progressed through religious window, stained paintings and for photojournalists is all started when pictures were put in newspapers in 1860’s. Over the years photojournalism has developed dramatically along with cameras. With the help of the internet, photojournalists can now take a quick snap and upload their picture while still on the field. Some other developments is the manipulation of photographs especially with celebrities, making them look completely fake but also using the headline “perfect figure, perfect body” making society fixed on so called perfection but in reality its fake because of digital manipulation. This is also used to emphasize or dramatize natural disasters or other disasters to receive more buyers therefore more profit. Other digital manipulation can be the change of a person due their race or gender to make the photograph look more appealing to a certain customer.

Sometimes words aren’t enough and a picture can do it justice if it follows the golden meaning. A picture has no meaning at all, if it can’t tell a story.

Get your facts right!

Well known morning show, Mornings, aired on channel WIN. They showed a section on overseas holidays where people are getting more than a normal holiday, they are also getting cheaper plastic surgery. I personally felt that their facts and information were untrue and not researched. They were degrading professional surgeons without supplying any credible sources. They were only receiving information from cases that have had a bad experience.

They had slides showing what the advantages and disadvantages there was for overseas plastic surgery in countries such as Thailand and other south East Asian countries. Some disadvantages were that you don’t know the doctors qualifications, you don’t know who is operating on you and they mainly focus on the bad results, blaming the doctors because the patient didn’t take care. I believe these accusations are false. From personal experience, there is a hospital website which shows all the doctors qualifications, and they have also trained in either the US or the UK. The doctors are accessible by email and speak very good English. The international hospitals are very clean and are technology up to date (for a 3^rd world country). Of course with every procedure there are risks but if taken care of properly by the patient, the risks are minimal.

They said that there was no advantages to plastic surgery over in foreign countries which is completely wrong, there are many advantages to plastic surgery, it doesn’t matter which country it is performed in. The morning show presenter warned travellers to go for a holiday and get plastic surgery in Australia. The main reason Australian and other people in the world get plastic surgery in Asian countries is because of the extreme price difference. It is usually more than half price to have surgery in Thailand and other Asian countries.

In my opinion, I believe that if Australian plastic surgeons are complaining about clients travelling to Asia for work done to them, they should lower their high, demanding price!

The presenter, reporting this section on the Morning show was ignorant and arrogant. He clearly focused on the negative aspects, relying on stories from people who have had a bad experience while not naming or supplying credible information or checking if these people actually had surgery in Thailand. They could have even had a bad reaction or post- surgery complications which is not the doctors’ fault. It is simply the patients’ laziness or didn’t follow the doctors’ instructions.

The presenter should have done more research instead of listening and arguing one side with no back up evidence of the other side.

Rant over!

There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel: Trauma within Journalists

There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Horrific events affect the world daily, some we don’t hear about but others we do. Thanks to the hardworking, courageous Journalists who go out on field and find the information to release to the public. Some of these stories affect the readers emotionally but what toll does it take on the Journalists who are directly exposed to the event?

War reporters are the most obvious affected, they face many challenges such as a decrease in public interest in international crises also while in a war zone, a war reporter is always on edge but lack preparation because things in war come unexpectedly. Military censorship is another challenge that a war reporter has to face, while under protection of the army, in a foreign country and most likely right in the middle of a war zone, it is important to keep the military positions and other things confidential.

 

There are safety laws and requirements a war reporter must be aware of. A journalists safety is not always guaranteed.

1.       Commitment

2.       Free will

3.       Experience

4.       Preparation

5.       Equipment

6.       Insurance

7.       Psychological counselling

8.       Legal protection

 

War reporters are not the only journalists who are affected by trauma, any reporter, reporting natural disasters, terrorists attacks, epidemics, crimes or car/bus/train/plane crashes can be deeply traumatised and require some help.

There is special help dedicated to journalists from all over the world. Dart Centre is an organisation with a website that provides articles, interviews, journalist-to-journalist advice, tips and other resources to cope with trauma.

http://dartcenter.org/

The Multicultural man behind the beard.

The multicultural man behind the beard

American born, Nick Palmisano caught the travel bug at a young age, having lived in California, Auckland and various parts of Australia. At 21 years of age, Nick has been the host of Airlie beach’s 88voxfm radio station and also worked in Melbourne. Nick has a passion for the stage, writing fiction novels and radio broadcasting because he loves the sound of his own voice.

Behind Nick’s witty and charming personality he has strong opinions and views on the world where he likes to express them on his blog.

nickpalmisano.blogspot.com.au

In addition to Nick’s personality, his quick thinking mind which he used to his potential during high school. Nick said, “I would have an oral presentation due but I’d never be prepared, I would just wing it.” Although Nick also stated that he promised to be better prepared for his university work.

After graduating university, Nick hopes to relocate back to Melbourne and in the near future work as a foreign correspondent.

Three Little Pigs

The Inverted Pyramid
Three Little Pigs

A wild, hungry wolf, hunted down three innocent little pigs on Saturday afternoon at 6pm.
In the small town of Whistershire, local pigs had been chased out of each of their homes until the wold reached the last out of the three houses. The third pig's house was built out of brick. This made is difficult for the wolf to blow down the house.The terrifying momet became worse when the wolf's hunger increased and he climbed the chimney to get inside the home. The three scared little pigs, cleverly lit a fire inside the fireplace and the wolf was severly burnt and died.

The pigs were very happy to be alive and slowly began to rebuild their homes out of brick, just incase another blood thirsty wolf comes.

International Women's Day

Females from all over the world have been coming together and celebrating International Women’s Day for 102 years.

2013’s International Women’s Day ceremony for Townsville was held at Jupiters Casino early in the morning. Many invited women from different work companies and high schools gathered for breakfast to celebrate being female and also raising awareness for 2013’s chosen theme, ending violence against women.

As a “to be” journalist , I was thrilled to have the opportunity to be invited to this event because of the famous, award winning, foreign correspondent, ABC journalist Sally Sara was giving a speech. Other female presenters were; the first female Townsville mayor, Jenny Hill and year 12 Pimlico student Rebecca Stennett. Also there were three videos shown of Quinton Bryce, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott sharing their wishes towards the female population.  The presentation did not go for long but being in the atmosphere of many sophisticated, successful women, made me feel proud to be female.