I have been indisposed this past week. On Monday morning, I wandered into a building just off Queen Street, and ended up wandering out again with four less teeth and packs of gauze in my mouth. By which I mean I had my wisdom teeth removed.
Admittedly, it wasn't the most pleasant experience, and the week since hasn't been the best in my life either. My face has swelled up to ridiculous proportions, so I'm constantly wearing ice packs strapped to my cheecks to keep the swelling down. I'm taking more tablets at once then I've ever had in my life and I can't eat most solid foods, so I'm stuck eating soup, noodles and ice cream all day. Oh, how horrible!
Anyway, just thought I'd share that, seeing as I don't have anything interesting to talk about today. So yeah, you can laugh at my pain instead. Bye bye now!
Thursday 28 June 2012
Thursday 14 June 2012
JOUR1111 Lecture 12: The Final Countdown!
So, here we are at the end of a semester that simultaneously feels like it's dragged on forever, and taken no time at all. Let us finish this particular story!
The last lecture was interesting, but it didn't really seem to have toooo much to do with the course itself, so I will admit to not paying as much attention as I probably should have. No offense intended to guest speaker Steve Molk.
It was definitely inspiring to hear from someone who had started out as just a casual blogger, but was now making his way into the big leagues. It gives me hope for my silly little blog! That said, my blog has almost 500 views now, which is kind of pathetic in a way, but also pretty good considering that I don't put as much effort as I'd like to into this thing, and that the views are spread out across ELEVEN COUNTRIES OH MY GOD WHAT?! I'm very curious to find out how all my international viewers found me! However it was, it's really cool that so many people seem interested!
This first semester of University has been awesome. I really liked this course, and especially the blogging side of things. I think it's a pretty clever way to make a course more immersive, and makes assessment almost fun!
I feel that JOUR1111 has given me a great beginner's insight into journalism as a whole, as well the various forms of media that exist, be it television, radio, online, or printed. I'm also a lot more knowledgeable about the differences between public and commercial media, and what those differences actually mean. Finally, there's agendas to be uncovered, investigations to be conducted, and ethics to observed.
I'm really glad I decided to do Journalism. There's so much knowledge that I've picked up over the past five or so months through this course, and it's definitely helped me to understand the world we live in a little better. If only I paid attention all the time! But hey. Nobody is perfect, and I took in as much as I could regardless.
So, to wrap up the official, assessed part of this blog, JOUR1111 has been a great course, and I'm really looking forward to my next semester of Journalism. A big thank you to Bruce, my tutor Marie and the other tutors for all the effort they put in to teaching us over the semester. It's been great.
And with that, I bid thee farewell!
P.S. I'll definitely keep going with the blog. Only now I can say naughty words. Yay!
The last lecture was interesting, but it didn't really seem to have toooo much to do with the course itself, so I will admit to not paying as much attention as I probably should have. No offense intended to guest speaker Steve Molk.
It was definitely inspiring to hear from someone who had started out as just a casual blogger, but was now making his way into the big leagues. It gives me hope for my silly little blog! That said, my blog has almost 500 views now, which is kind of pathetic in a way, but also pretty good considering that I don't put as much effort as I'd like to into this thing, and that the views are spread out across ELEVEN COUNTRIES OH MY GOD WHAT?! I'm very curious to find out how all my international viewers found me! However it was, it's really cool that so many people seem interested!
This first semester of University has been awesome. I really liked this course, and especially the blogging side of things. I think it's a pretty clever way to make a course more immersive, and makes assessment almost fun!
I feel that JOUR1111 has given me a great beginner's insight into journalism as a whole, as well the various forms of media that exist, be it television, radio, online, or printed. I'm also a lot more knowledgeable about the differences between public and commercial media, and what those differences actually mean. Finally, there's agendas to be uncovered, investigations to be conducted, and ethics to observed.
 |
| Or not. |
So, to wrap up the official, assessed part of this blog, JOUR1111 has been a great course, and I'm really looking forward to my next semester of Journalism. A big thank you to Bruce, my tutor Marie and the other tutors for all the effort they put in to teaching us over the semester. It's been great.
And with that, I bid thee farewell!
P.S. I'll definitely keep going with the blog. Only now I can say naughty words. Yay!
JOUR1111 Lecture 11: Extended Experimental Investigation
I may have forgotten about my blog, hence why I haven't posted for a while. Silly me! Fortunately, it's not being assessed again until tomorrow, so I have time to smash out the last few posts required. Without further ado, let us discuss the penultimate lecture: Investigative Journalism.
In a simple summary, investigative journalism is about investigating things. While this might seem like a no-brainer, it's a lot more complicated than that. As Bruce said, the central idea of investigative journalism is to uncover the truth. There are a lot of things out there that people don't want us to know about. Investigative journalists attempt to bring that information too light.
I liked the idea of the "Five I's" of investigative journalism. All of them are very important for conducting an investigative piece. One needs to be informed about the subject, intelligent in the questions asked and research undertaken, intuitive about following leads, inside/intimate with sources, and invested in the story to ensure the end result is as comprehensive and effective as possible.
Investigative journalism is meant to be critical. I remember Bruce saying something about journalists questioning the established order, not merely taking ques from it. He also said that investigative journalists should be 'custodians of conscience', basically meaning that they should expose the nefarious doings of the Man, rather than let it all be swept under the rug.
I'm not really one for the whole "expose the truth at all costs" mentality. I personally believe that we should have some form of censorship, but I also recognise that it would be incredibly difficult for it to work in the way I imagine it. So I guess knowing everything is better than knowing nothing.
Personal beliefs aside, critical investigative journalism is the best kind of journalism. Give me the Fitzgerald Enquiry over A Current Affair chasing some dude down the street any day of the week.
I liked the part of the lecture about whistle blowers. Especially the warning that they're likely to go crazy. I understand that sometimes someone will be be revealing things that are confidential and what-not, but I imagine that the reaction is somewhat unwarranted at times as well.
It's a shame that investigative journalism is as threatened as it is. Between online journalism sapping the money out of the profession and devious PR types trying every which way to duck and run, it's no doubt very difficult to do investigative journalism these days. But at least things like Four Corners on ABC and Hack on Triple J are keeping the spirit alive.
I'll finish up this one now, but I'll just leave a paraphrased version of one of the quotes Bruce put up during the lecture as a nice conclusion.
"It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas surrounding the message and the myths behind it."
In a simple summary, investigative journalism is about investigating things. While this might seem like a no-brainer, it's a lot more complicated than that. As Bruce said, the central idea of investigative journalism is to uncover the truth. There are a lot of things out there that people don't want us to know about. Investigative journalists attempt to bring that information too light.
I liked the idea of the "Five I's" of investigative journalism. All of them are very important for conducting an investigative piece. One needs to be informed about the subject, intelligent in the questions asked and research undertaken, intuitive about following leads, inside/intimate with sources, and invested in the story to ensure the end result is as comprehensive and effective as possible.
Investigative journalism is meant to be critical. I remember Bruce saying something about journalists questioning the established order, not merely taking ques from it. He also said that investigative journalists should be 'custodians of conscience', basically meaning that they should expose the nefarious doings of the Man, rather than let it all be swept under the rug.
 |
| According to a trusted source (Google Images), this is the Man. He certainly looks dastardly. Just imagine the pile of our money that he's sitting on. |
I'm not really one for the whole "expose the truth at all costs" mentality. I personally believe that we should have some form of censorship, but I also recognise that it would be incredibly difficult for it to work in the way I imagine it. So I guess knowing everything is better than knowing nothing.
Personal beliefs aside, critical investigative journalism is the best kind of journalism. Give me the Fitzgerald Enquiry over A Current Affair chasing some dude down the street any day of the week.
I liked the part of the lecture about whistle blowers. Especially the warning that they're likely to go crazy. I understand that sometimes someone will be be revealing things that are confidential and what-not, but I imagine that the reaction is somewhat unwarranted at times as well.
 |
| "You're saying that I told you all of McDonalds' food has exactly 0.002 kilojoules more than what they advertise?! NOOOO, they'll kill meeeeeeee!!!!! |
I'll finish up this one now, but I'll just leave a paraphrased version of one of the quotes Bruce put up during the lecture as a nice conclusion.
"It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas surrounding the message and the myths behind it."
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