News of the Day!

Let's start off with a weather report....Rainy with little chance of sun...We finally get beautiful, hot, sunny days in Queensland and I get off the plane in Sydney only to discover its pouring rain, freezing cold, and it feels just like the  middle of winter. Apparently its the wettest weekend since April and the 'gloomiest in seven months'. Let's just hope the rain clears up so I can watch some football and take photos for my factual story telling assignment.

What's in the news today?

Deadly Identity Mix-Up

An elderly Sydney grandmother has died after the medical tag of a 58 year old cancer patient was mistaken by staff for hers. Regardless of who is at fault, the fact that this mistake occurred at all makes you loose faith in the hospital system. Our system in Queensland is no different with a family wanting answers over their seven-year old sons death in the Ipswich Hospital. Everyone makes mistakes, however when it's matter of life or death, the mistakes really are critical.

Finals Time...Pokies Time

Just as the NRL and AFL get ready to go head to head in a bid to win the hearts and minds of supporters this weekend in their respective Grand Finals they're expected to join up to help stop the Pokie Machine reforms. For the government, this could spell the end, with Independent Andrew Wilkie saying he'll no longer support the Labor government if they back down from their election promise. With most Aussies planning on sitting down with mates and watching the Grand Finals this weekend the mass-advertising by the NRL and the AFL will be seen all over Australia.

News of the Day!

1. Will he or won't he?

It's the story that has kept Queenslanders wondering...Will Darren Lockyer play on Friday night? Will he get his fairytale ending? The answer to the first question? No, after much debate and speculation Darren Lockyer will not play this weekend against Manly, after fears it's too soon to play after surgery on his cheekbone. The answer to the second? Only time will tell with  Lockyer announcing he will play in the Grand Final if Brisbane beat Manly on Friday night.

2. At Home with Julia - Funny or Distasteful?

Has the ABC gone too far? The ABC's newest mockumentary, has created controversy amongst those in Canberra, with Julia Gillard herself claiming she won't be watching this weeks episode. Others in Canberra however have gone one step further claiming funding to the ABC should be slashed.

3. Bushfires sweeping the State

After a long dry winter and increased foliage due to the floods last summer, bushfires are spreading across Queensland. Despite fire bans in many parts of Queensland fires in the past week firefighters have been busy protecting homes and land from destruction.

Lecture Six - Paid Content - my view

I recently did an essay on the effect of technology and a shift to paid content on journalism and the future of journalists. Have a read:

The Impact of Technology on Journalism

John Hartley (2005) argues that the creative industries are ‘significant components of advanced economies’ and that in Australia the areas of digital media are growing at ‘twice the rate of the overall economy’. Richard Florida (2002) also identifies the fact that creativity has ‘come to be valued’, listing new technologies as one of the reasons for this, as well as the positive economic effects of these new technologies on the creative industries. In the age of technology creative industries professionals have the ability to become more successful than before. Social and technological changes of the last decade have resulted in an increase in demand for services and intangible products. This essay will argue that this shift away from tangible products creates new opportunities for Creative Industries professionals, increasing their capacity to create a sustainable career. This essay will focus on the fact that the rise of Internet journalism and the use of social media have created new opportunities. It will illustrate that despite popular belief, people are continuing to access news, with the usage of Internet based websites increasing in recent years, even if it is a subscription based service. Finally this essay will investigate, that whilst mainstream media has been declining, online journalism and journalism connected to social media have the potential to be an industry greater than main stream media, one which already has a wider audience, creating sustainable careers.

Journalism is one of the most rapidly changing sectors of the creative industries, with more and more people changing the way which they access their daily news. (Gross, 2010) Research conducted by Roy Morgan International (2010) illustrates that newspapers companies have increased their readership to a wider audience through the use of online media. The New York

Times readership has increased by 78% because of online media.  Traditionally it has been argued that the shift towards news being available as an online service would result in the ‘death’ of mainstream media and journalism. The study however also found that in 2008 readers were willing to pay to access news content, with the readership of the Wall Street Journal increasing by 32% despite the fact that it operated using a ‘paid subscription’ model.

The paid subscription model is one, which News Corps Rupert Murdoch has expanded. Since 2008 the idea of digital newspaper subscriptions has become more commonplace with many companies creating paid iPad applications, which allows users to access the news for a monthly fee. Paid subscriptions have been largely successful, this is evident when taking into account that in 2010 the Wall Street Journal was the only of America’s top 25 weekly newspapers to grow in circulation, with this growth coming from the use of paid subscriptions. (Roy Morgan, 2010)

Although the iPad is a relatively new technology, in 2010, before the release of the Ipad 2, 20,000 people had subscribed to News Corp. companies’ iPad applications including 4,500 iPad subscriptions to The Australian. (Foo, 2010) Whilst the subscription costs a fraction of the price of a regular newspaper subscription it illustrates that the even with the shift away from news being a tangible product, that there is still the potential for newspapers to be a profitable business and create a sustainable career for journalists. (First Ipad Only newspaper debuts, 2011). The iPad itself has a growing market, however even the figures for newspaper usage on an iPad are promising to help establish a sustainable career in journalism. A 2010 Nielsen survey found that 53% of iPad users access the news regularly. (Long, 2010) Whilst news isn’t being accessed in the traditional manner, there is a growing market for the ability to access news from reputable organisations digitally even if payment is required.

The shift away from tangible products has also created new opportunities for journalism professionals, helping to establish sustainable careers. News can be now be accessed quicker than ever and from anywhere that an Internet connection is available. This means that journalists have the opportunity to share more news and break the news quicker. This is evident when comparing the way in which the news of September 11 was broken and the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death.  The Internet played a far greater role in reporting Bin Laden’s death with news articles quickly made available to the public.  (Sullivan, 2011)

Whilst it is commonly argued that social media and citizen journalism has hindered the opportunities for professional journalists, social media has in fact helped to increase the opportunities available to journalists.  The Society of New Communications Research found that over 70% of journalists use social networks as a ‘reporting tool’. (Porter, 2009) Twitter plays the large role the sourcing information, with 47% of journalists using twitter to establish new story leads.  ‘Social Media - Journalism’s FRIEND or FOE?’ (Grensing-Pophal, 2010) discusses that idea that journalists are able to make connections through social media that previously weren’t possible and in turn writing a wider range of stories.

Social networks are also helping journalists find an audience with 43% of social media users getting their news links posted by friends or other users on social networking sites, with Facebook being the most popular accounting for almost 8% of the CNN’s audience. (Hermida, 2011) This helps to illustrate that whilst people may use social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, they still seek news from reputable organisations.

The shift away from tangible services has also helped to create opportunities for specialised journalists. Research by the United States Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010) has found that journalists who have a specialised knowledge in areas such as science and technology will have greater career opportunities as there is now a wider, more global audience base. The Department of Labor also found that online newspapers and magazines provide the greatest job prospects for journalists in the coming years, illustrating that the Internet has helped to increase the capacity for journalists to have a sustainable career.

Although less profit is currently made from online journalism and other services and intangible products, the Internet currently looks to provide a sustainable career for journalists in the years to come.  Revenue made from Internet journalism is increasing, making the future careers of journalists look promising. Between 2003 and 2008 profits from online journalism grew by $1.5 billion dollars. (Farhi, 2008) Author of ‘The Vanishing Newspaper’ Phillip Meyer has even identified online journalism as a way for companies to grow and cut costs at the same time. Whilst the ‘payoff’ may take longer Meyer believes that using the internet to cut costs and grow will leave news companies better off (Farhi, 2008), predicting that newspapers will cease to exist in 2040.  (Murdoch, 2005)

The fate of journalism is debated amongst experts however, when asked to comment on the effect of the internet on journalism, founder of The Daily Beast, Tina Brown commented, ‘It is largely a good thing, but not without its growing pains. I see this very much as a transitional phase we are in…there is no doubt in my mind that when this volcanic realignment in media has finally shaken out… we will see a golden age of journalism and video.’ (Yarrow, 2009) With many industry experts positive about the future of internet journalism, it has the potential to help professional journalists continue to have a career even with the problems surrounding print based media.

The Internet is largely seen as the future of journalism, however Internet already plays a large role in journalism with over half of American’s accessing their news online. The New York Times had 13,372,000 online users compared to 1,120,420 weekday print readers in the same time period. (Karp, 2007) Whilst there is disagreement over a business model which will see journalism continue to profitable, there is clear evidence to support a sustainable career in journalism as news shifts from being a tangible product to, in most cases a service.

Medill School of Journalism Professor Rich Gordon believes money can be made from Internet journalism. Gordon (2005) attributes the money that can be made through Internet journalism to improvements in advertisement, including behavioral advertising. Gordon believes that in many specialist fields of journalism, sufficient revenue is already being made as companies within those industries are using advertising to target those interested.

CEO of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, also believes that the future of journalism is positive and that those who are ‘bold’ will succeed. (Murdoch 2005). Whilst Murdoch’s model for the future of journalism relies on the user paying and not advertising revenue he still believes that technology has resulted in the future of journalism being ‘more promising than ever’. Some experts also believe that the Internet may help to ‘revive’ the newspaper, with the Internet also seen as a way to help increase the falling circulation of print media. This was evident in the case of local newspaper in America, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which charges viewers for access to their site. The relatively small circulation increased by 2,000 in six months, with publisher Walter Hussman Jr. attributing this growth to the Internet site. (Farhi, 2008).

Journalism is changing along with the way in which we access our news, however the Internet looks to help create a sustainable career for journalists. With advances in technology and more and more people relying on the Internet as a source of news, journalists are presented with a wealth of new opportunities, including the opportunity to reach a bigger audience and publish better stories. Although the future of journalism is still relatively unknown, expert opinions seem to indicate that there will be a sustainable career in the age of the Internet for journalism professionals, with Internet journalism also providing the opportunity for organisations to expand their print circulation.

Reference List

Foo, Frann, 2010. “Rupert Murdoch reveal iPad newspaper app sales figures as Steve Jobs rejects ‘nation of bloggers’. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed May 8^th 2011.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/rupert-murdoch-reveals-ipad-newspaper-app-sales-figures-as-steve-jobs-rejects-nation-of-bloggers/story-e6frg996-1225874602477

First iPad only newspaper debuts. Adelaide Now. February 3^rd 2011. Accessed May 24^th 2011. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/first-ipad-only-newspaper-debuts/story-e6frea6u-1225999325098

Florida, Richard. The rise of the creative class: and how it’s transforming work, leisure, community and everyday life. New York: Basic Books.

Gordon, Rich. 2006. “Online opportunities make journalism’s future bright, despite gloomy feelings, “ ORJ: Online Journalism Review. October 2^nd. Accessed May 2011.

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/051027gordon/

Grensing-Pophal, Lin. 2010. “Social Media: Journalism’s Friend or Foe?”. EContent. Accessed May 3^rd 2011. Doi: 13812220

Gross, Doug. 2010. “Survey: More Americans Get news from Internet than newspapers or radio.” CNN, March 1. Accessed May 15^th, 2011. http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-01/tech/social.network.news_1_social-networking-sites-social-media-social-experience?_s=PM:TECH

Hartley, John. 2005. Creative Industries. Victoria: Blackwell

Hermeida, Alfred. 2011. “Facebook’s growing influence on the spread of news,” REPORTER.NET. May 9^th. Accessed May 2011. http://www.reportr.net/2011/05/09/social-media-influences-spread-news/

Karp, S. 2007. “Newspaper Online vs. Print Ad Revenue: The 10% Problem.” Publishing 2.0. July 17^th. Accessed May 2011.

http://publishing2.com/2007/07/17/newspaper-online-vs-print-ad-revenue-the-10-problem/

Long, Mark. 2010. “Early iPad users willing to pay for Digital Content”. Top Tech News, October 22. Accessed May 15^th 2011. http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=75729&full_skip=1

Murdoch, Rupert. 2009. “Journalism and Freedom.” The Wall Street Journal.  December 8. Accessed May 20^th 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574570191223415268.html

Roy Morgan International. 2008. USA, UK & NZ Newspapers transforming rather than disappearing with growth in “Online” Media. Accessed 20^th May 2011. http://www.roymorgan.com/resources/pdf/papers/20071204.pdf

Sullivan, Danny. 2011. “Google & The Death of Osama Bin Laden,”Search Engine Land. May 2^nd. Accessed May 2011. http://searchengineland.com/google-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden-75346

The Future of Journalism: Yesterday’s Papers. The Economist. April 21^st 2005. Accessed May 25^th 2011.

http://www.economist.com/node/3896039?story_id=3896039

United States Department of Labor. “Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition.” Last Modified September 29, 2010.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos088.htm

Lecture Six

The internet is changing and so is journalism. So what did I learn about the role of the internet in telling news stories? Perhaps the most obvious thing to come out of the lecture, is that the way we get news from the internet is changing. In order to make money, media companies have to be smart. How do they make money from something that people have gotten for free for so long now? The answer offer them access to content that they previously didn't have access to. Whether this will be successful in an Australian market however is yet to be seen.

Online news is also changing in the respect that it is about to become more personalised in the wake of web 3.0. If you only want to read news about sport then you will be targeted with sport. If you're location is Brisbane, then Brisbane news will be targeted at you. The way we view news and receive news is about to change. Hyperlocalisation, which will help deliver specific news will also help generate more money through targeted advertising. The future of journalism is unknown, however the future of journalism is also exciting.

Lecture Five

Ethics are important. They are the moral principles which help govern our behaviour. Without ethics, whether you be a doctor, a lawyer or a journalist,  the boundaries are not clear. When ethics and codes of conduct are not followed, trouble follows. Just look at the News of The World scandal, or 'Chopper-gate', both issues where ethics weren't thought about, outraging others in the media business as well as the audience.

What are the ethics for journalists and why do they matter?
It is the duty of a journalist to tell a truth. If journalists don't tell the truth, don't uncover the lies how can the wider public know the truth. Media is important for democracy, important to politics. If the media doesn't tell the truth, doesn't uncover the lies of politicians than the general population will remain ill-informed. The Australian Journalism Code of Ethics sets out the following ideals for journalists to uphold:

- Honesty
- Fairness
- Independence
-  Respect for the rights of others

If journalists don't follow these ideals, there are no boundaries, the credibility is weakened and the public loose trust in the journalists to tell a story. If a journalist doesn't follow the code of practice how can the audience be sure they're hearing the real story?

Lecture Four

Radio isn't the medium that I would like to get into however I still found the lecture on tell stories with sound interesting. I found it almost startling however that whilst other forms of media have a shrinking audience, radio is continuing to grow. When you think of radio, especially AM radio which mainly delivers news, you think of a small, declining audience. It is interesting to find that this audience is increasing as we become more time poor and look to catch up on our news while we are doing something else. Radio is the perfect companion to multitasking.

Radio also offers a way to get the viewers opinion, quickly and easily. While television can incorporate the tweets and the emails of the viewers, radio has the ability to better tell the story of the viewer, bringing the viewer into the lounge room, car or office of the other listeners, easily and effectively, especially through talkback radio programs.

What tips did I learn about being successful on radio and journalism in general?
- Don't give up - whether it be when your looking for a job in radio, or trying to get an answer out of someone your interviewing, don't give up...Just look at approaching things differently.
- Read the newspaper, immerse yourself in the news. Know more about the world around you, and in turn learn more about yourself.
- The human story and the human experience is important. The listeners want the human story.