Sydney Forum on ‘Future of Mass Quality Journalism’
Posted onSeptember 12, 2009
Filed under Sydney Forum on 'Future of Mass Quality Journalism' | Leave a Comment
In a conference held at the ABC Ultimo centre, Geraldine Doogue addresses the concern that the decline of the newspaper industry could spell the end of quality journalism. She points out: “More than any other medium, newspapers have been our eyes on the state, our check on private abuses, our civil alarm systems.”
While some speakers at the conference concur that the loss of the newspaper will be a grave one for journalism, others say good riddance to the tree-murdering advert-paper disguised as the ‘newspaper’ which, could only deliver news no more than once a day. One of those ‘others’ is Alan Kohler, multimedia proprietor of websites: Eureka Report http://www.eurekareport.com.au/ and Business Spectator http://www.businessspectator.com.au/ .
For Alan, the future of journalism is only all the more brighter with a “colossal expansion in the available journalism to be delivered.” He along with the ‘others’, see the newspaper as the dinausuar, and blogs as the future.
I must say, I agree with the environmental and advertising issues he raised with regard to the newspaper, but I’m at odds with seeing how from a journalist’s perspective- the future is looking bright and not penniless.
I think in terms of the new medium that is “our eyes on the state, our check on private abuses, our civil alarm systems”, online tools such as Twitter now perform that role- how successfully it’s still too early to say. But I have my eyes on the state- KRudd is my Twittering buddy, and probably his greatest private abuse (now made public) is that he refers to his wife as “T”- is that short for T-Rex or Mr T?
Mobile Journalism in real-time coverage
Posted onSeptember 7, 2009
Filed under Mobile Journalism real-time coverage | Leave a Comment
In Stephen Quinn’s reading about the mobile journalist he points out some interesting statistics, for instance, did you know two out of three people in the world now own a mobile phone, with half of those containing a camera? Quinn says that’s more than 2 billion potential reporters. Crikey! And you thought there was competition in your chosen profession, try competing against 2 billion.
(ABOVE VIDEO) Citizen journalist reporting about lack of internet coverage in her rural area.
I probably appear to you as a “now media” pessimist but really I’m not. I’m probably a little ‘annoyed’- a euphemism for a word I can’t use in an academic assessment- that job prospects after I finish my degree seem more illusive than ever.
Seriously, I wish I had the ‘Back to the Future’ car 
I could drive back ten years some and equip myself with the knowledge I need right now- see I’m not greedy and reaching for the stars because if I was I would have said I’d invented Twitter, Facebook or MySpace and so forth…
As technology improves, becoming faster, cheaper and more reliable, it is exciting to think about the ways in which we will consume and take part in our news. I do wonder however how far removed we might become from the pursuit of truth, objectivity, accuracy, accountability and just overall good old-fashioned-quality journalism. See video below for how the inaccuracy of a citizen’s rumour posted on CNN dramatically affected Apple stocks.
Strait Times Online Multimedia & Print- www.stomp.com.sg
Posted onSeptember 3, 2009
Filed under Strait Times Online Multimedia & Print | Leave a Comment
www.stomp.com.sg
With Singapore network availability between 99.9 and 100 per cent reliability, it’s no wonder they have such a high Internet penetration rate and why Stomp is so successful in bringing their audience multimedia news. Stomp’s deputy editor for digital media, Felix Soh says breaking news online is not new, hence dislikes the term ‘new media’, he prefers to use the term ‘now media.’
According to Soh, it’s about interactivity and bringing together a once fragmented audience- of newspaper, television and radio- all into one big happy community.
Personally, I think his intentions are nice however unrealistic they may be. But unfortunately I don’t sit in front of my laptop with the whole family drinking hot cocoa, if anything, someone using the internet too much is usually alienated from the community- that is real people and not virtual ones.
(I’m sorry if this seems too harsh) Stomp website looks more like SPAM than any respectable news organisation website, with lots of bright colours and hard-news stories portrayed Jerry Springer/Judge Judy-style or like one of those reality TV police shows. Style and colours aside, I do think the story content- where it is largely about everyday people and occurrences, is reminiscent of earlier forms of news making- which makes it a nice change from the contemporary proliferation of celebrity news.
For Group presentation
Posted onAugust 31, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
New Tools for Reporting by Louise Borg
Posted onAugust 24, 2009
Filed under New Tools for reporting | Leave a Comment
It seems there are squillions of tools provided on the net for attracting viewers to your website and blogs, but determining which will work and how to most effectively use those tools is the real challenge.
I have briefly scanned every suggested website in Stephen Quinn’s (2009) ‘New Tools for Reporting’ and registered with most but have had little success with understanding or even knowing where to begin.
View more documents from Corinne Weisgerber.
(ABOVE VIDEO) Shows the effectiveness of tools such as Twitter to deliver breaking news- mostly by citizen journalists.
You can check out my blog on Technorati: www.pvrblog.com .
I like the idea that multimedia platforms over the internet have allowed for many creative ways to report. It’s an expansive resource where one can become an entrepreneur in their reporting- as Quinn refers to Matt Haughey’s and his salary-earning website
My question is: how savvy with technology must one be so to master the ability of attracting a considerable amount of viewers to their website? That is enough to have advertisers interested and to start to earn a living from it.Twitter www.twitter.com seems to be the most prominent tool for marketing your ideas at the moment but it appears unless you’re famous or twittering like crazy 24/7, you won’t really get a huge following .
My case in point:
Ashton Kutcher 
http://twitter.com/aplusk – celebrity-slash- constant twitter with over 3100 tweets and counting.
•
In review of: Quinn, S. (2008). Chapter 7: “OhmyNews in South Korea” in Asia’s
Posted onAugust 17, 2009
Filed under OhmyNews Review | Leave a Comment
Like for all great and wise idealists it begins with a vision…
Martin Luther King had a dream…
Ghandi declared a ‘Salt March’…
Kevin Costner heard a voice “if you build it he will come”…
- sorry that last one seemed to irresistible not to add.
And Oh Yeon-ho, founder and CEO of OhmyNews:
![jean_365749_1[633919][1]](http://jaylou.edublogs.org/files/2009/08/jean_365749_16339191.jpg "jean_365749_1[633919][1]")
…thought “every citizen is a reporter” and with that, some years later he launched OhmyNews http://english.ohmynews.com/index.asp
- a citizen journalists’ website with over 60,000 citizen reporters submitting on average 200 stories a day.
The OhmyNews philosophy of empowering audiences by their not only being the content of the news but also news contributors- is something media organisations around the world are now embracing.
The ubiquitous citizen journalist is making their mark with a reported 70 OhmyNews citizen reporters between 2002 and 2007 getting book publishing deals. I’m wondering why would anyone spend four years grueling away to get a journalism degree- Oh! That’s right, that’s me lol (well at least laughing out loud (lol) is better than crying.)
Review of: ‘Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business’ by Chris Anderson
Posted onAugust 5, 2009
Filed under Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business | Leave a Comment
ff_free ‘Free! Why $0.00 is the future of business’ by Chris Anderson
As Milton Friedman said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”, somebody will always pickup the bill and their reason for doing so is not because they’re Mother Teresa 
.
Consumer demand for free web data, free use of web pages is on the premise you’ll be subjected to marketing in some form and at some point your privacy will be invaded for marketing or other purposes- welcome to the illusion of the ‘free world.’
“FREE!” Is a cleverly powerful word in the marketing sense where as Chris Anderson explains when consumers are getting something for free the cost is usually at the expense of creating extra waste , and hence we form the new era of finding ‘entirely new ways to embrace waste.’
Furthermore, the free world is moving us further and further away from a real world of freedom- could you live one week free of your mobile phone?
Don’t worry; I’m not a doomsday theorist. I just think it’s important to be aware of the trappings of getting something for nothing while you still can enjoy consuming it- don’t let it consume you.
Review of: ‘User-Generated content and the changing news cycle’ by Stephen Quinn & Deirdre Quinn-Allen
Posted onAugust 1, 2009
Filed under User-Generate content and the changing news cycle | Leave a Comment
In a fragmented media-consuming society robbed of time but blessed with an abundance of technology- the Internet offers the perfect medium for a daily short-dose of news. With no wrestling to turn pages while you’re a sardine on the peak-hour train and no having to be home by 6pm- news over the Internet is available and updated 24/7.
Furthermore, technology has allowed for audience to participate in the making of news. This participation is known as user-generated content and it has changed the way we consume and engage with news.
From the outset, user-generated content sparked cause for concern- especially for newspapers and magazines who were charging for something one gets on the Internet free. And why not, after all wasn’t that the intentions of Tim Berners-Lee when he invented the world wide web- what if he decided to license his product as did Bill Gates? The following video is of Tim Berners-Lee speaking about net neutrality- the future of the net:
Other user-generated content includes citizen journalism, where John Ryley executive director of Sky News describes the benefits of citizen reporting: “News crews usually get there just after the event, but these pictures show us the event as it happens [refering to the mobile phone images taken by amateurs who were witnesses to the London bombings- these made the bulk of pictorial coverage of the event] .”
![london-underground-bombing-trapped-1[1]](http://jaylou.edublogs.org/files/2009/08/london-underground-bombing-trapped-11.jpg "london-underground-bombing-trapped-1[1]")
But what about citizen journalism’s ugly side? Bogan Claire my case in point:
Will citizen reporting be leverage for wannabes to get their 15 minutes of fame? The topic as both Quinns’ conclude ‘…contains more questions than answers.’
The Journalist’s job in media convergence by Louise Borg
Posted onJuly 24, 2009
Filed under The Journalist job in media convergence | Leave a Comment
20030120_HIRSCHFELD The New York Times ‘Albert Hirschfeld dies at 99′
Nowhere before (before that is convergence hit the scene) can it be said more so that a journalist truly is a “jack of all trades, master of none.” However, many advocates of convergence might add to the idiom “…though off times better than master of one.” I am enthusiastic about convergent news and a writing career that’s challenging and fulfils my thirst for new knowledge but I have some concerns about convergence, namely: that it spells less jobs within the media industry and with more candidates hoping to fill them they require a plethora of skills with preferably youth on your side (i.e. no one born prior to gen. Y.)
Don’t get me wrong, ’cause by all means I’m all for being the old dog learning new tricks. After all I am the mature-aged uni student and modern day mid-thirties trying-to-juggle-it-all-but-still-learning-how-though mother. Furthermore, I’m at odds with working 60 or more hours a week and almost never seeing my child. According to The Chicago Tribune’s Mitch Locin (Locin 2003 in Quinn’s [2005] Convergent Journalism), a journo prior to convergence spent some time “kicking things around” going off for smokos. Hence convergence isn’t a case of overworking the journalist but merely freeing their lungs and replacing their 10 minute coffee breaks with several more tasks and deadlines. I don’t smoke or drink coffee so I’m more than happy to skip the 10-minute breaks and work my tush off so that I can master the art of balancing: a career I am passionate about with enjoying time with a son I love more than anything.
The answer for me and anyone else who loves life, their family and the value of journalism is: convergence is great! And training in multimedia is brilliant! But quality journalism must prevail- along with maintaining jobs requiring specialist expertise. It is exciting and handy for the journalist to be able to produce an entire story including video footage etc. to cater for multimedia. But the end result must include specialist contributions from each media platform to ensure quality is met.
Review of: Chapter 2′Why and how Convergence is Emerging’ in Convergent Journalism by Stephen Quinn
Posted onJuly 22, 2009
Filed under Why and how Convergence is Emerging | Leave a Comment
