JOUR1111
ASSIGNMENT
Annotated
Bibliography
Ewart, J. (2004).
Challenging journalists' thinking about their role and journalism.
Australian Journalism Review, 26(2),
99-113. Retrieved from
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/browseJournalTitle;res=APAFT;issn=0810-2686
The Journalism
Education Association of Australia – a professional body –
publishes the Australian Journalism Review. This article was
contributed by Dr Jacqui Ewart, a Senior Lecturer at Griffith
University, based on extensive research and her experience working in
the media industry. In this article, Ewart discusses journalists'
perceptions of themselves in relation to their function as
'information providers' versus their function as bastions of a
stable, functioning and non-corrupt democracy. Changing the way that
journalists think about their responsibilities, she argues, “[is
the] first step in ensuring a healthier, more effectively functioning
public sphere and ultimately making journalism better for
practitioners and consumers alike.” In the words of one of her
interviewees, she concludes that “public journalism meant
journalists moved beyond simply telling the public things to
interpreting information with them and helping to find solutions.”
Ewart's case studies are effective in demonstrating the universality
of this idea of a 'public mandate' affecting journalistic standards,
including both Australian and international media sources. However,
the text may have been better served by including a non-commercial
media outlet as a baseline from which to examine the effects of a
long-standing organisational commitment to public journalism.
Overall, the article does adequately and in some detail support
Ewart's claims about the perception and prosecution of public
journalism.
Helbig, K. &
MacDonald, A. (2011, October 28). MP demands gay couples respect
heterosexual views. The Courier-Mail,
p. 22.
The Courier-Mail is a
News Corporation paper which aims to make a profit. As the only major
player in the Brisbane metropolitan news market, it most closely
reflects the views of the middle-class majority (although often
utilising language and imagery to affect a working-class, egalitarian
bent). Politically it stands on the right side of the political
spectrum, with conservative values given primacy. The authors are
both relatively young journalists who have worked inside News
Corporation papers for their entire careers to date, and can be as
such expected to toe the editors' line. The referenced article
details the recent comments of Independent QLD MP Rob Messenger in
reaction to Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser's private member's bill to
legalise civil unions. Typical of the paper's coverage of politically
hot topics, the story manages to position conservative values as
paramount without overtly owning to them: as in this story, the
majority of the story is given to the right-wing diatribe of
Messenger; followed by multiple quotes from another right-wing
Parliamentarian on a related issue. The Labor government is given one
paraphrased sentence in reply and the final paragraph mentions
hastily the fact that the MP in question has recently been censured
for multiple breaches of parliamentary ethics. The article,
ostensibly part of the ongoing debate around legalising same-sex
marriage, gives no voice to the gay community or any gay individual
or any retaliatory statement
regarding Messenger's comments. It gives space only to the political
elite. This story is an excellent example of how “newsroom culture
and routines together play a more important part than individual
journalists” (Richards, 20002) in determining how a story will be
presented by media outlets who don't instil in their journalists a
culture of public journalism.
(2011, October 28). Qld
MP asks gays to explain 'heterophobia'. The Sydney Morning
Herald. Retrieved from
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/qld-mp-asks-gays-to-explain-heterophobia-20111027-1mlrv.html
The
Sydney Morning Herald, while it has generally earned a reputation as
being a more 'liberal' newspaper than its competitors, operates as a
venture of Fairfax Media and thus has the same profit motivations as
the Courier-Mail. SMH's 'intellectual' broadsheet is aimed at a
slightly different audience. However, as the ABC's The Hamster Wheel
and Media Watch frequently point out, Australian physical papers and
their online counterparts often have significantly different
constitutions. No authors are attributed in this article, with AAP
being stated as the source. The SMH's coverage of this story is an
improvement on, but ultimately in the same class as, the
Courier-Mail's. Once again, the majority of the text is taken up with
Messenger's views. Again, there is no direct reply to his claims at
all. And again the story finishes with a related spat – over
homophobic comments made by a Liberal MP and Labor condemnation of
the former – with the conservative side getting more than double
the quotation. It is safe to conclude that again the commercial media
has failed to publish objective and useful public journalism.
Higgins-Devine
K. (Writer). (2011 October 27). Drive [Radio
broadcast]. Brisbane, Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
From
this outlet, the radio program Drive on 612 ABC Brisbane, we finally
see Ewart's predicted benefits of journalists perceiving themselves
as fulfilling a public role. ABC is obviously the country's most
prolific public media outlet and the one which has a long and
consistent history of serving the public need. Kelly Higgins-Devine
has been the presenter of Drive for almost ten years and as such can
be classed as one of Ewart's 'facilitator[s] of democracy'. The
program gives a full and unabridged version of Messenger's speech at
Parliament. Higgins-Devine then gives the show to Paul Martin, the
executive director for a gay and lesbian community body called
Healthy Communities. Martin, the only voice of dissent in the three
articles, calls to account the contradictions and hypocrisies in
Messenger's speech. This demonstrates the key principles of public
journalism: balance and objectivity, the importance of giving voice
to minority parties and views, and more specifically giving voice to
the non-politically elite on issues of politics. In conclusion, we
can see that Dr. Ewart's scholarly article has valid points to make
about the significance of journalists' self-perceptions in providing
quality public journalism.
Reference
List
Bromley,
M. (2005). Adjusting the focus: levels of influence and ethical
decision-making in journalism. Australian Journalism
Review, 27(1),
57-76. Retrieved from
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/fullText;dn=200508632;res=APAFT
Ewart,
J. (2004). Challenging journalists' thinking about their role and
journalism. Australian Journalism Review,
26(2),
99-113. Retrieved from
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/browseJournalTitle;res=APAFT;issn=0810-2686
Helbig,
K. & MacDonald, A. (2011, October 28). MP demands gay couples
respect heterosexual views. The Courier-Mail,
p. 22.
Higgins-Devine
K. (Writer). (2011 October 27). Drive [Radio
broadcast]. Brisbane, Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Richards,
I. (2002). Filling in the gaps: politics and contemporary journalism
in the Australian press. Australian Journalism Review,
24(2), 9-20.
Retrieved from
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/fullText;dn=200302368;res=APAFT
(2011,
October 28). Qld MP asks gays to explain 'heterophobia'. The
Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved
from
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/qld-mp-asks-gays-to-explain-heterophobia-20111027-1mlrv.html
No comments:
Post a Comment