Poke! Closed for today (28th October 2011)

Apologies for anyone who is reading my posts, but I've decided not to post anything today because I couldn't find anything particularly interesting, though there are some royal equality and guards protecting school children on Gold Goast going on, but I haven't got any opinions towards them.


Maybe it's a good excuse to take a break?

D.

Poke! "Explain your heterophobia"; Commonwealth on gays (27 October 2011)

Quite a few news article today about homosexuality and the like, so I decided to have a look at them.

MP challenges gays to explain their "heterophobia" [Brisbane Times]

See how much fury will he cause in a single sentence. Independent MP Rob Messenger has a speech on gay people, saying they are causing him distress, and gay people should stay away from interfering his values and beliefs. Looks like we have a Christian maniac around in the parliament seats. He said:

"One of those beliefs is that that marriage is a divine gift exclusively to a man and a woman. I will feel discriminated against if gay people – a minority group – try to interfere with my traditional cultural values and impose their own. If gay people continue to attack my cultural values, knowing that it will cause myself and many others distress, then I will begin to think that they are in fear of me and people who share my tolerant western Christian democratic values. They would then have to explain their heterophobia"

One thing to mention about gays is they won't change your own beliefs and values just because the law pass the legality of same-sex marriage. Your beliefs are yours, no one can change your view in this society. What he is doing now is just as same as what he said: interfering other people's values. How outrageous.

Urges to call for Commonwealth to decriminalise gay sex [AM | ABC]

It is very hard to imagine some of the countries in the world still see homosexuality as a crime. In the very least gay people would be sent to jail, but some would be beaten to death or be pleaded death penalty. Ajit Prakash Shah, a former Indian High Court judge has come to the Commonwealth summit to call for decriminalisation of homosexually. He is the very judge to overturn a colonial law banning gay sex.

AJIT PRAKASH SHAH: We came to the conclusion, there was another judge sitting with me, and we found that this law is per se unconstitutional. It violates several provisions of the constitution, like it violates the right to privacy. It also violates the dignity of a person. Then the, this was also issue of equality. And we held that the provision is, violates the equality principle because it really targets one group as offenders under the section 377 which has been introduced by the British I think about 150 years back. And there was also issue of the discrimination.

The issue surrounding homosexuality and prevention of HIV and AIDS have become one of the agendas of the summit. The positive outcome in the whole CHOGM would be beneficial for the lawmakers in Commonwealth countries to decide on what laws can be changed in order to be constitutional and preserving human rights.

D.

Poke! Heartfelt escape; Westfield parking fiasco (26th October 2011)

Turkey Earthquake: baby saved from quake rubble along with family members [Brisbane Times]

Ah, what's better than heartwarming news during despairing times? After the shattering earthquake in Turkey, rescuers has located and plucked a two-week old baby girl along with her mother and grandmother. A great joy of hope for the rescue team!

"It is priceless to find someone alive and all my exhaustion is over," said Oytun Gulpinar, the leader of a team of rescuers who had arrived in Ercis after a 32-hour road journey from the western city of Izmir. "I got to hold a 16-day-old baby, which is utterly priceless," he added.

But as the death toll rises every day, things will become desperate as time is running out for the golden timeframe for people surviving under the rubbles. I wish them luck.

Westfield Chermside parking causes local streets congestion [Brisbane Times]

Another reason for not buying a car! Since Westfield has lift up the price sign in their shopping mall Chermside, many people fled to the surrounding streets and dump their cars over there, in order to avoid  unreasonable fees in the mall's car park. Not only that, unions are starting petitions to fight against the change.

Residents and business owners in Kittyhawk Drive, which borders the Westfield centre, yesterday told Brisbane Times there is not a parking space to be found in the street since paid parking was introduced at the shopping centre. Hazel Aye, who has lived in the street for years, said she had wondered why it was so busy this week before she realised it was because people were avoiding paying for parking at the centre.

Although I have posted this a while ago before the fee change started on this Monday, I still can't fathom the reason why Westfield decided to charge their customers parking fees while free parking is fairly common across western countries. Won't that discourage people from shopping in the mall, and altogether brings down the revenues and profits the shops made?

D.

Focus: Assignment - Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Bivins, T. (2009). Meta-issues Across The Media. Mixed Media : Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism (2nd Edition) (pp. 113-128). Florence, KY, USA: Routledge.

The author of this book, Tom Bivins, has outlined several aspects about ethics of journalism. In these pages, he explains mostly about the importance of truth to the intended audience, whether it is a news piece or a press release by the PR's. He uses several examples to demonstrate the subjectivity of the "truth", as in a legal concept, where journalists reporting defamation claims by celebrities in court cases are considered ethically reasonable, whereas a slight misreporting of a certain event is completely unacceptable. Then, he goes forward to a journalistic view discussing about accuracy, context and balance - some generally spoken elements that contributes to a journalistic truth. The author talked about truth in the fields of advertising and public relations as well, by which truth is as crucial to both of them as it is to journalism. In a given example, a soft drink advertisement uses a subtle ambience to imply happiness when drinking the product, which has basically no stated facts about the product, doesn't necessarily mean they are not telling the truth as they have given a choice for the audience to testify the claim by purchasing the product. Advertising companies understand "image" means everything, so it would have more impact by interpreting them into a form of visual language than simply stating the specifics of the product. For public relations, truthful claims given by PR are equally important, their actual quote speech can be made up, but they still need to stick to the facts, as in PR, credibility is the ultimate goal. The excellent portrayal of examples by the author has given a very straightforward idea of what truth means to journalism, as well as advertising and PR.

Barrett, J. (2007). Ethics on the Web: Is Truthful Journalism Facing a Crisis? Retrieved from http://www.dailytech.com/Ethics+on+the+Web++Is+Truthful+Journalism+Facing+a+Crisis/article9466.htm

The author of this article talks about how some tech review websites are doing harm to the product review journalism, where websites would post their hands-on impressions and critics for tech products like iPhone and gadgets alike. However, the chance for giving too much promotion for the products has pulled down the overall landscape of quality journalism. The never-ending entanglement between tech companies/advertisers and journalists in this branch has caused some technology writers just to win advertising since they would only write reviews for the advertising companies who are holding banners on their sites. The main objective for this kind of journalism is to report and inform readers on how good or bad a certain product is, and provide recommendations. But apparently the money impact from the advertisers has done a great harm by making technology journalists to favour only their products with good coverage, but not the others. Their bias are leaning towards the advertisers and not about informing the truthful message to the intended audience. That contradicts with the "balance" element of journalistic truth as mentioned above, in this case, it is no longer fair that a tech website would report only one group of products which are already advertising on their website, making it as if the readers aren't having enough of the flashy ads. As the annotated book above has said, "Balance is related directly both to accuracy and to context" (Bivins, 2009, p.118). Making such a bigoted stance on a general tech review website has completely distort the reader's trust and their own credibility to the reader.

The Starcom Translator. (2009). Retrieved from http://mumbrella.com.au/the-starcom-translator-4168

This is an example of a PR press release from Starcom MediaVest Group, whose job is a mediator between a brand and the target audience. The writer of this particular article has demonstrated how much blurred and vague terms have thrown into a press release, making it looks seemingly well-written and formal. The article disassembles, or "translates" the actual meaning which a press release want to convey in a short, concise paragraph, and discard any misleading words in a light-hearted and humorous way. However, people normally wouldn't spend time to read on a press release so they might not be able to recognise the flaws and the doublespeak used by PR specialists. PR uses ambiguous terminology and indefinite utterance to deceive the public, giving us an impression of professionalism and comfort towards them. Press release tend to stretch words far beyond their practical and meaningful application (McMillen, 2009) and behind it, there are probably a few people working on it for hours. PR, in my opinion is not about "truth" truth, but a "over-polished" truth, making it look fancy and dandy. Comparing to journalism where truth is told in a straightforward manner, it is a big difference.

Perry, N. (2011). ACCC fines Optus $5 million for misleading broadband services advertising. Retrieved from http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/accc-fines-optus-5-million-for-misleading-broadband-services-advertising/story-e6freqmx-1226090135400

In this news article, the consequences on misleading consumers in Australia has clearly shown by the example from Optus, the telecommunication company who "deserves" a $5 million penalty for advertising dodgy and misleading consumers about the download allowance where they've boasted in their data package. Optus has used a concept to deceive consumers that a certain usage allowance are available in the plan, but has divided during 2 sets of period: the peak and off-peak time during the day, which I have never seen this concept being applied in other places, like Hong Kong for example. That means the allowance only applies if the consumer was careful to ensure that all of his or her off-peak allowance was exhausted before the peak allowance was fully utilised. By not sticking to the facts, Optus has to take the consequence, and in this telcom industry, this is just a tip of iceberg. Consumers may not be smart enough to determine which "plan" and offer will be best suited for them, and by looking at advertisements, their judgement might be distracted by the convincibility of the advertisement and settled it for comfort's sake. Thankfully with The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the dedicated government regulators in Australia, people can get information from them as they are responsible for supervising the market's condition over monopoly and competitions. To conclude, this is a well-written piece on reporting this story in a decent journalistic quality, while the case study of a false marketing and advertising campaign by Optus has proven the public trust and the necessity to be honest, and telling the truth are equally important.

Reference list

Bivins, T. (2009). Meta-issues Across The Media. Mixed Media : Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism (2nd Edition) (pp. 113-128). Florence, KY, USA: Routledge.

Barrett, J. (2007). Ethics on the Web: Is Truthful Journalism Facing a Crisis? Retrieved from http://www.dailytech.com/Ethics+on+the+Web++Is+Truthful+Journalism+Facing+a+Crisis/article9466.htm

The Starcom Translator. (2009). Retrieved from http://mumbrella.com.au/the-starcom-translator-4168

McMillen, A. (2009, March 30). Public Relations: Unnecessary Distortion. Retrieved from: http://andrewmcmillen.com/2009/03/30/public-relations-unnecessary-distortion/

Perry, N. (2011). ACCC fines Optus $5 million for misleading broadband services advertising. Retrieved from http://www.couriermail.com.au/business/accc-fines-optus-5-million-for-misleading-broadband-services-advertising/story-e6freqmx-1226090135400

D.

Poke! Today Tonight's sensationalism?; Soft drinks and violence (25th October 2011)

Today Tonight reporting false facts about refugee camps [ABC | MediaWatch]

Smug face much?

ABC's MediaWatch has debunked one of the recent Today Tonight episodes shown on Channel 7, where in the show, according to their investigation, they discovered the asylum seekers are having a good life in refugee camp better than those living outside. They claimed they are living in luxury with $400 a week. However, MediaWatch has get into the details and found out actually it's $400 a fortnight. Alongside this, there are multiple claims from Today Tonight and however the information is either misleading or sensationalist in sense. As the recent asylum seeker issue surrounding the parliament and being a controversial topic after the rejection of the Malaysian solution, Today Tonight has taken this golden chance to create biased report about asylum seekers.

Personally I am not in the know on who's right or wrong, but apparently with the evidence given by MediaWatch, Channel 7 has yet again create another sensational nonsense just to get their audience rates higher. Including this one, I'm not a fan of shows like Channel Ten's 7PM Project and Nine's Current Affair as well (poor George Negus' show got axed), where their means of reporting an event is just extraordinary, it's like receiving chain emails in the theme of CAFFs from your parents' friends' friends' friends, but in a form of TV programme. In such a popular programme like Today Tonight, misleading a crowd of people is deemed to be unethical in my opinion.

Study: Soft drinks link to violence [ABC]

Good grief. I'm not sure what to say in this situation. I rarely drink soft drinks, and I don't have any soft drinks in my fridge because I just like milk, tea and water. They serve me well and I don't really think I'd need to drink anything bubbly just to hydrate my body while water can just do as well as Pepsi and Coke.

The study, which analysed the soft drink consumption of 1,878 Boston public school students, showed teens who drank more than five cans of non-diet soft drink a week were 9 to 15 per cent more likely to act aggressively than those who consumed less. The authors surveyed the teens, who came from largely African American and Hispanic backgrounds, asking them how much fizzy soft drink they consumed as well as whether they carried a weapon or showed violence towards those around them.

But in the end of the article, there's something that can let me loose a little. It's more like a "told you" moment for me.

Professor Mike Daube, director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, said at this stage the only definite conclusion to be drawn from the study was the link between poor diet and economic disadvantage. "A lot of young people do drink soft drinks, and young people that are disadvantaged and more likely to be involved in violence, probably also have a poorer diet," he said.

Well, I believe being violent has nothing to do with soft drinks. Drinking soft drinks or not is just a matter of choice, it has nothing to do with aggression and violent behaviour. Unless... they've put in chemicals or something?

D.

Poke! Turkey in shock; Queen's visit to Brisbane (24th October 2011)

Turkey struck by 7.2 magnitude, over 200 dead [ABC]

Every day there are about 50 earthquakes happening around the world, but this one took place in the populous Turkey where now there are over 200 reported deaths and over 1,000 people were injured. It is the worst earthquake to hit Turkey in decades.

Up to 50 buildings have collapsed in the city and the Turkish military is reportedly on the way to help with the rescue operation. More accounts of dead bodies and destruction emerged from smaller settlements across the remote area near the Iranian border, most of them left without electricity or phone access.Turkey's interior minister Idris Naim Sahin, who is overseeing emergency operations in Ercis, says 117 people are confirmed dead in the town and 100 in Van city.He says a total of 1,090 people are known to have been injured by the quake. Officials say hundreds of people remain unaccounted for.

This is a quite stunning news to be heard waking up in the morning. Some say the only preventable natural disaster is meteoroids. Anything happens on earth cannot be avoided as we live in it.

Queen's in Brisbane, I'm on lecture [Courier Mail]

Not to be anti-monarchic or anything, but I never get the joy over the Queen's arrival to Australia, not to mention the arrival in Brisbane. But indeed it would be a great opportunity for people to crowd up along the riverside and have a glimpse of the Queen. But also I might regret the fact for going to the last lecture class instead of joining the exciting crowd, as this might be her majesty's last visit and probably we'll never see her landing in Australia again.

D.

Poke! Gadhafi's death; RAAF's last addition to the fleet (21st October 2011)

Gadhafi's death signifies the end of tyranny in Libya [ABC]

With the sudden explosion of tweets, Facebook posts, and rumours during the late hours last night, unconfirmed news of Gadhafi's death has became viral and at first, I'm not sure whether I should believe it since there are too many sources has reported the news and that might also mean they haven't confirmed in a journalistic manner. But after awhile after reading the news just an hour later, it is confirmed. Muhammar Gadhafi has been killed during the crossfire while freedom fighters captured his hometown of Sirte.

Libyan TV showed mobile phone footage which showed Gaddafi wounded and bloodied, but still alive. Later it screened pictures showing rebel fighters posing with his bloodied corpse. Other rebels were seen brandishing what they said was Gaddafi's gold-plated pistol.

Leaders from around the world also hail Gadhafi's death as the end of tyranny. The capture of the once ruler of Libya has ended the regime that spanned across 40 years of brutal dictatorship. Now that he's gone, it is interesting to see how the country will progress, whether being handed over to another military group like before, or developed into a democratic country.

RAAF receive final Super Hornets, rare flybys took place in Brisbane [Australian Aviation]

It is a very rare case where the sky of Brisbane was cleared for a formation flight for the latest addition of 4 Boeing F/A-19F Super Hornets into the 24-aircraft fleet, so today I went to Kangaroo Point and have a good look of it.

The four aircraft completed the final leg of their trans-Pacific delivery flight, which originated at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California on October 13. The aircraft were supported by a USAF KC-10 tanker for the journey, and stopped en route at Hickam AFB in Hawaii, Andersen AFB on Guam, and RAAF Base Townsville. For the final leg from Townsville to Amberley, Super Hornet A41-222 was piloted by Chief of Air Force AIRMSHL Geoff Brown, while A41-224 was piloted all the way from the US by the outgoing Officer Commanding 82 Wing, GPCAPT Steve Roberton, who was previously head of the Air Combat Transition office (ACTO) which managed the Super Hornet project from inception.

We don't get to see fighter jets flying by Brisbane and the surrounding area so I'm very glad to be one part of the crowd. Although their flyby to the inner city was only a few second's worth of time, the experience of waiting and anticipating is totally worth the case.

D.

Poke! Eviction turned destruction in UK; exotic animals ran wild, got killed (20th October 2011)

Irish travellers eviction turned into violence in UK [The Australian]

An eviction of traditional nomadic society turned into a riot as hundreds of Irish travellers resist eviction from the British police in Dale Farm, Essex, UK. There has been several evictions in the past but apparently this is one of the most serious ones British police has done so far.

"I've been through a lot of evictions, but I've never seen anything like this ... they have come in and started a riot that we never wanted," said resident Kathleen McCarthy, who accused police of roughing up traveller at the site, injuring three women. [...] (The) council has estimated that the total cost to taxpayers of evicting the traveller from the site - including clean-up and post-eviction security - could rise to $28 million.

News topic like this makes me curious about this kind of nomadic people: their lifestyle is similar to Gypsies and they don't have a fixed residence. In UK, there are around 15,000 to 30,000 Irish travellers in Britain, which is fascinating. This is one kind of a minority group in society where people used to ignore and I can see why. In their minds, they cause trouble and hogging government resources. They don't have education from the system and basically, they're like wild people. I wonder what their cultures mean to us. 

US Exotic animal slaughter: Lax laws to blame [ABC]

In the state of Ohio, US, an owner of bears, lions, tigers, wolves and monkeys has committed suicide after releasing all the animals from the enclosures, and police has to follow the shoot-to-kill orders to keep the public safe from the potentially lethal animals. However, those are not ordinary animals we'd usually see in the wild. They are tremendously exotic and rare, and simply put, this stirred up a debate whether the authorities have done the right thing. Almost 50 animals were killed in this incident and still, a monkey was thought to be on the loose as well.

However in hindsight, the lax laws regarding animal protection have provided a safe haven for people to trade exotic animals in this state. There are no apparent regulations to control what animals are allowed to be purchased without permits. This news has caused a journalistic investigation.

"There's an exotic animal auction that's notorious here in Ohio, where literally thousands of animals come in - kangaroos, grizzly bears, hyenas, wolves, a wild menagerie of different animals,""And people can just go and they put maybe a horse trailer on the back of their car and they purchase them and they buy them."

Indeed, even though a powerful country like the US, local state governments are still doing their crappy job over issues like this. It looks as if no one is taking notes of their lawmaking and regulations at all.

D.

Poke! Space tourism starts now!; 1,000 palestine for one Israeli (19th October 2011)

Whoops, sorry. Missed the last one, but here are the stories for today's Poke!

Space tourism starts as Virgin opens the world's first spaceport [Courier Mail]

Isn't it nice to see this huge leap within our lifetime? Virgin boss Richard Branson has finally announced the opening of the world's first spaceport, dedicated to send people and payloads into space.

It was six years ago that Virgin Galactic and state officials reached an agreement to build the $209m taxpayer-financed spaceport.Officials said the completion of the terminal and hangar facility marks another major milestone that brings the dream of rocketing tourists into space closer to reality. Still, the question many are asking is when the first ships will launch from Spaceport America.

Indeed, a milestone. It used to take a fortune to take a plane across the ocean but now it can be affordable as ever, and hopefully this will happen to space flights as well.

Releasing 1,000 prisoners in exchange for one person, Shalit, Palestinians freed in prisoner swap [ABC]

I doubt this will be a good piece for me to write here, but I'll try my best to understand the whole situation. The foremost thing we know about this news is the Egyptian government has negotiated with the militant group Hamas, by releasing 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been imprisoned for 5 years.

But what makes so much of a deal is because they are in exchange of 1,000 Palestine people who've been imprisoned due to their acts against Israel in the past, for just one person. And yet, the Israeli are very joyous of his release. In their culture, they see themselves as a big family, everyone helps each other no matter they are strangers or not. The Shalit family has done a tremendously huge effort to make Israeli aware of their family's son was captured by the militant group, and therefore gaining a lot of support from the people.

Now that over 1,000 prisoners are released, it is disputable if it is politically adequate to let them run free because, you know, they are prisoners. But since Israeli view themselves as a family, no wonder most of them are very supportive even though they could retrieve only one soldier out of many more high profile Israeli imprisonment in other political dispute.

However there are still concerns about Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel's decision, because there are military traditions among other countries and they are not always prepared for the negotiations to the terrorist to swap deals with terrorists. But in the mean time, we will see as the story progress.

D.

Donny Recommends: Lecture screening - "Page One: Inside the New York Times"

Who would have known while we are aspiring to become a journalist, we can also indulge ourselves into being a little bit of a film critic? For this week's lecture, the whole lecture room has moved to the Schonell Theatre, where we are very honoured to participate in a premiere screening of "Page One: Inside the New York Times", a fascinating documentary about several issues in journalism.

While we are watching it, I couldn't help but think of how many issues exactly that the film has covered. I believe there are almost 10 of them, covering in a variety of topics like media reporting, plagiarism, the current media landscape, blog-like journalism, being a foreign correspondent in the war-torn Middle East, bad outcome of evil news business, and many things that surrounds the history of the New York Times.

In the film, we get to understand how they write news, personally I found it not surprising, but breathtaking that they have to write almost 5000 words for a featured topic; how they have meetings on what to put on the front page, and looked at how pessimistic other people working on alternative media see the traditional, and declining newspaper industry.

We also followed David Carr, who was a cocaine addict but turned journalist in the New York Times, his interviews are sublime and outstanding, and most of the time, funny because of his cheeky personality. His prominent role in the film helps me understand his role as a journalist is very important on informing and uncovering truths behind the shades, in this case, the scandals surrounding the ex-CEO of Tribune Company, Randy Michaels (NYT feature by David Carr), about his misconducts towards colleagues and sexism across the newspapers under the company.

This film is a must-watch, and since I'm not a professional movie critic I'm very good at writing details and opinions about this film, but I wholeheartedly recommend this movie for everyone, especially people who are interested about the news industry, because you'll never know anything about it until you've seen it.

D.

Focus: Lecture - Investigative Journalism

Another deep look at a very interesting topic of journalism - investigative journalism. Investigative journalism has a very crucial role to the news industry, because it acts as a medium to discover truth, to discover things people wouldn't normally know or see. We get to see the facts and opinions inside a certain topic or story, and we can identity lapses between media. One thing to point out though is that investigative journalism is distinctive from police investigation.

Bruce introduced us 5 "IN"s of investigative journalism:

• Intelligent: something that is well thought out, and how it fits into sinister things
• Informed: journalist is briefed on the facts, otherwise it will be missing out the story
• Intuitive: having a fresh mind
• Inside (intimate): something like a real story behind average media coverage, and sometimes getting into people's lives
• Invest: being an investigative journalist, you have to invest yourself into there, the whole scope, but still need to draw the line between good and bad moral values

Investigative journalism is a deep subject, and there are quite a few deeper meanings behind this name.

• Critical/Thorough: Journalists have to be an active participant of the investigation, the key idea of this is to have active intervention to a topic, and put in substantial effort to it
• Custodians of conscience: The investigation has to meet up to the society's moral view and give exposure to something bad, and let the public to observe and examine the issue
• To provide a voice for people without them: Public interest is the main objective and we need to give power for the powerless, and voice for the voiceless
• Watchdog/4th branch of the government: Looking at the doings of a government and ensure free flows of information that is needed for a democracy, the role of a function of democracy is important to interrogate judiciary, executive and legislature

An investigative journalist has to be like a "shoe leather", and standing back to see the big picture of the whole issue, and most importantly, take nothing for granted. Be always sceptical and do not believe in everything you see.

John Pilger, an Australian investigative journalist has a very nice sum-up for it: "It's not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it."

Interestingly, investigative journalism not only exist in the past as well, but they have done tremendously great deed to the society. It's like a trailblazers that leads us to the modern method of investigative journalism.

Several men throughout the history, like Edward Smith Hall, W.T. Stead, Bob Woodward, and surprisingly, Julian Assange has given breakthroughs towards the society. It is not like they have completely change the course of history, but major adjustments to the society like law change for the Age of Consent are made because of investigative journalism. And they helped uncovered some never-before seen and known facts and truth about the world, like what Wikileaks does to uncover the inner workings of governments.

Nowadays, we tend to do investigative journalism in a much more subtle, localised way. ABC's Australian Story is a prime example of this, the programme leads the audience to the daily lives of a normal person, and give us insights about something we might have overlooked.

However, we aren't always exactly sure about what we investigate. But there's an old journalism saying, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." That means we have to check all the facts, assume absolutely nothing, and of course, don't trust whistleblowers as they might be misleading and sometimes, crazy even.

So, with all these knowledge we just learnt, how about something practical that we can apply to our jobs? There are several methods that are mentioned in the lecture, on different types of investigation interaction. Some of them are holding at a high moral standards, but some are just the opposite:

• Interview
• Observation
• Analysing documents
• Briefings
• Leaks
• Trespass
• Theft

However, with the advent of technology recently, we seemed to take Wikipedia and Google for granted. Easy, convenient access to information we need. However, this is of course not the case prior to their existence. Again, this goes back to the "not taking anything for granted".

So, what are the threats investigative journalism is facing?

One of them is being Online News. Because there are less money involved in the online news business, that means news companies may not be able to employ a lot of journalists, making less news and having less time, resulting in a lesser investigative journalism.

The other thing we fear is the "Public Relationship" field. PR is all about bonding the public with the clients and in this case, government or corporations. They provide selective facts just to give the public a persuasive image of themselves, putting all truths behind the bars. This is exactly the opposite we journalists would like to see. If PR continues to grow, we would result in a shrinkage of quality journalism. No exposure, dodging questions, massaging "talent", and cleaning up stories leave us no way to intervene and investigate. They are literally our "cause of death" in quality journalism.

But will the future of social media and paywall save us from all these nasty things? Probably, as I've said this several times before in the lecture blog entries, the audience is the most important part because if they prefer crap news and crap investigations, we can't help but falling into the culprit of horrible journalism. But if our audience wanted to be a well-informed, critical, and open-minded bunch of scholars, they can change the whole story.

D.

Poke! Cannibalism; Queen's coming to Australia (17th October 2011)

Yachtman feared eaten by cannibals in South Pacific [Courier Mail]

Hmm, a rather freaky story about a German traveller who probably had been eaten by some tribesmen in South Pacific Nuku Hiva Island.

He set off on 2008 with his girlfriend and traversed the globe looking for paradise - but it took a horrible twist when he reached Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia.The remote tropical island was the last place Mr Ramin was seen before remains, believed to be his, were uncovered. Experts believe he was "hacked to pieces and burned" and eaten by suspected cannibals. Testing will conclude whether the ashes belong to Mr Ramin, Radio New Zealand International reported.

Adventures aside, it's probably a bad idea to hop off an unknown Island because you'll never know what to expect: toxic plants or wild carnivores that's going to eat you. But this time, the cannibal has probably got this man eaten alive. Tourists, be warned!

Queen Elizabeth II to arrive in Australia, Monday in Brisbane [The Australian]

Royal fans and Anglo-Celtic Australians rejoice! Her Majesty The Queen will be visiting Australia, followed by a Brisbane tour on next Monday. Prepare yourself with long-range cameras and join the crowd! But sadly, this low-key visit might be her last. While sharing the joy of her arrival, I, as a foreign student, I looked behind the whole fuss and had a read about her influence to the Australian society.

When the Queen first stepped ashore here in 1954 she was an innocent 26, a radiant, newly crowned titular head of an empire on which the sun seemed destined never to set. Fifteen visits, 57 years and at least one "annus horribilis" later, she has changed - and so has Australia. [...] The Queen herself has cut the ribbons at many of the milestones on Australia's path to real adulthood - from the opening of Canberra's new parliament house, the High Court, the National Gallery and the Sydney Opera House to Brisbane's World Expo and even the stockman's hall of fame.

Looking back, seems like the Queen has brought in so many good things that help Australia grow as a country, as well as an independent entity. Although her impact has considerably lowered as the time gone by because of the majority of Australians, whose generation has not heavily influenced by the Monarchy don't really care about it as much as the older generations, I believe this also signifies a new era where people in Australia are living in a much different society than before.

D.

Poke! Plane crash, Aussie pilot survives; Police prefer not to bear arms, even after Oslo attack (14th October 2011)

Bad weather caused plane crash in PNG; Australian pilot survives [Courier Mail]

A tragic accident took place last evening in PNG where an Dash 8 aircraft crashed in PNG, there are totally 28 confirmed death. One of the pilot who happened to be Australian, has survived the crash as well as 3 other crew members on the plane. A lot of things has to follow up after this.

It is believed that most of the passengers were parents on their way to attend a ceremony involving students at the Divine Word University in Madang. Airlines PNG this morning confirmed one of its Dash 8 aircraft crashed and grounded its fleet of 12 aircraft until further notice. In a statement on its website, the airline said there were 28 passengers and four crew members on the plane and there appeared to be some survivors, while a number of people remained unaccounted for.

The airline who owns the plane, Airlines PNG has a notorious flight safety history, and this time one of the causes of the crash is believed to be the poor weather during flight. People say big aeroplanes are much safer than small planes and I believe in this case, it's true.

Norwegian police don't want to carry guns [Norway International Network]

Strangely, even after the Oslo attack back in July in Norway, police are stil reluctant to carry firearms with them when on duty, because they want to keep everything low and easier to deal with, apparently.

We want to have a police force that can handle the most demanding assignments with the least amount of force,” Arne Johannessen, head of the police officers’ union Politiets Fellesforbund, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) this week.

For a Scandinavian country like Norway where serious crime doesn't take place as often in the society, I bet people living there are quite confident with the police force. But since the terrorist attack, I am still in shock that why wouldn't they raise up their alertness and try to arm themselves when they need it. But for them, perhaps, it doesn't really matter because I think their places are much safer when compared to the sky-high crime rates in the US and other countries.

D.

Poke! Government threats to intervene Quantas union strike; Bali earthquake, great timing? (13th October 2011)

Federal government threatens intervention to industrial dispute at Qantas [Brisbane Times]

It has been a disastrous month. The trade unions has started their strike on both domestic and international airlines, causing major groundings of cancelled flights. This not only affects the transport system alone, but the whole airline industry. Now the federal government is not satisfied on what the union is doing to the local economy and industry, and Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson threatened they would take action if both the company and the union could not settle it sooner.

"If they did not, the government could require the parties to resolve their issues under the umbrella of the Fair Work Act. [...] The Australian tourism industry depended on a vital and strong aviation sector. The act already provided that, in exceptional circumstances, industrial action that had wider implications than for just one business can be suspended or terminated if it threatened significant damage to the economy or to the welfare or safety of the population. The sooner the parties get in a room and sort it out the better," he told reporters.

Same in Hong Kong, there were several disputes among airlines and union members in the company where they were not satisfied with the working shift and lowered salaries, and it has stirred up quite a big mess back then. Clean up your acts and start action, and stop being a disturbance for the local industry.

6.8-magnitude earthquake in Bali [Courier Mail]

Was mother nature angry about the Australian boy who got caught with drug trafficking in Bali? Today, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake has struck Bali. There are at least 50 people injured, and many buildings are damaged. And yet some Footy stars react in a lighthearted way, kind of childish I assume.

St Kilda's Jason Gram didn't seem the worse for wear, tweeting: "Just had my 1st earthquake hahaha awesome".

About the Australian boy, the building he is detained has been evacuated, and he is reportedly not injured. Wow, what a week in Bali for him. Hope he's learnt a lesson as mother nature is trying to hurt him as well.



D.

Poke! Oil spill mayhem; twin difference (12th October 2011)

Oil spill near New Zealand shore line raises fear [Courier Mail]

Dear lord, first there was the BP oil spill at the Pacific Ocean, now this container ship has cracked open an opening, spilling oil all over the sea. This won't end well, I reckon.

The cracks, after Rena was pounded by heavy swells, have elevated fears that it could break up and send more than 1300 tonnes of oil into the sea. Oil already leaked from the ship continues to wash up on the Bay of Plenty coastline, and critics have asked why so little oil was salvaged in the days immediately after the boat first struck the Astrolabe reef last week.

Now that the New Zealand government has to deal with this while cleaning up Christchurch, this can't go any worse. Other than that, the container ship is shipping some of the most hazardous substance on the deck, if this situation worsens, the cleanup effort will probably be massive. Damn oils.

Study founds identical twins aren't actually identical [ABC]

Wait, what? Of course, identical twins looks the same because they share the same genetic codes, but in a psychological perspective, they develop different personalities, as environment hold the key on individual development, study says.

The research has implications for everyone, because it shows that environmental factors along with genetics play a role in determining who we are. Led by Professor Susan Clark, researchers spent eight years studying teenage twins to find out why identical twins can be so different. What they found is that while identical twins have the same genes, the biochemical reactions that turn those genes on and off are controlled by the environment.

So that explains even twins look the same, they behave differently and at my first hand experience it's quite true. Take my friend's twin cousin for example: they are completely different beings, and that's also something you can tell them apart. One is clever and playful, and the other is rowdy and shoot Nerf bullets onto my eyes. Ouch, isn't that amazing? 

D.

Focus: Lecture - News Values

It's a pity that I've missed the lecture due to some personal clish-clashes, but here it is!

What is "News Values"? What are the underlying factor that makes news, valuable? In this theory-oriented lecture, you'll be able to find it out.

In journalism studies, there are 4 categories to define News Values:

1. Impact
2. Audience Identification
3. Pragmatics
4. Source Influence

In short, News Values is "the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience". So if a story is without any value, people will not care about it, and media outlets like newspaper will not use up a page to report it. Simple!

News are like a surprise present for readers every day because it gives us an impact on what happened during the day, and with their information we get to know everything around us.

But people are sometimes selfish, they wouldn't care about anything unless it is related to them. To make a news piece valuable, it has to locate its audience, to get them interested about what's happening in the world.

To make a story valuable, the ethics and practice on how to report it also makes it valuable or not. A journalist has to write in complete facticity, also not to mention about their ways of investigating the story, which could determine the outcome of it.

Public relations has a hateful relationship with journalism because of its influence to the neutrality of journalism. PR is done with controlling the facts and truth behind a client whereas journalism is practiced with true and factual reporting. For a journalist, it is very hard to get over the PR people to get the truth behind all the spinning stunts.

News Values are held differently across the globe, in which values are different between news services and cultures. However, there is a simple definitive value that we all use commonly:

Most newsworthy information will be put in the front

Important details are followed immediately

...finally, general information are put at the end

To put in perspective, it's like an up-side-down triangle, where the most eye-catching topics will be put forward, and leave in information by the end of a story, allowing audience to do their own follow up.

There are a few examples in the lecture which perfectly depicts how this works:

"If it bleeds, it leads!"

Simply meaning if something relates to death, injuries and crime, the story will instantly become "newsworthy"

"If it's local, it leads!"

For Brisbane, if a story is about local affairs like Footie, flooding, ongoing case of Daniel Morcombe and duck race fund-raising for cancer research, they all go straight onto the front page.

But how does an organisation/institution shape their own distinctive News Value? To be honest, this "sense of news value" is the first quality of editors because they determine how the news are reported and published, as told by Harold Evans, who worked as the editor of the Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981. And they have the job to filter anything unwanted and give out anything that is newsworthy.

Newsworthiness is an interesting topic that's mentioned in the lecture. It's included more than 12 kinds of News Values and each of those are associated with what kind of stories in nature they are. They include, but not limited to: negativity, closeness to home, recency, currency, continuity, uniqueness, and so on. Some news pieces can be in more than one news value, that means they are not mutually exclusive. The additivity, the complementarity, and the exclusion of a story also benefit itself into something newsworthy, and these are hypothesised by Galtung & Ruge. (hmm, researches are always done in a "partner" arrangement)

However, this is not universal, as other scholars have also hypothesised in another method in which news values are differently categorised. For example, Goldings & Elliot's News Values. But in general, they can be summarised as follows:

1. The power elite
2. Celebrity
3. Entertainment
4. Surprise
5. Bad news
6. Good news
7. Magnitude
8. Relevance
9. Follow-up
10. Newspaper agenda

So, what are the threats of News Values? In short, three main points:

• the bad, lazy and incompetent journalism;
• PR influence and the ensuing tabloidisation;
• and hyper-commercialisation.

These are the threats that makes news values not valuable anymore, in which people nowadays don't want to watch TV news, read newspapers and listen to radio because they think these journalist bastards are just reporting crap every day: they don't dig into the fundamental problems in the society, they don't inform us about concerns, they no longer provide an appropriate outlet to educate people on a certain issue.

But we can all change this by selectively choose our own trustworthy news outlets and be a sensible and well-informed reader. Even if the world has only one true, honest news company, we will follow them whether they may go.

D.

Poke! Hendra case; Iranian actress controversy (11th October 2011)

New Hendra case, 12th in the year [ABC]

Another case of horse infected by Hendra virus was discovered from a Beachmore property north of Brisbane. After the discovery on Monday, the horse was immediately put down on the next day. And apparently this is the 12th case in the year, and we humans are getting afraid of the unknown disease.

"As part of our protocol now, we do test the dogs - it has to be though that the dog's had some some close contact with the horses."If the dog was a house dog and had no contact with horses, there's no reason to test the dog."

At this stage, I'm not really sure we should be afraid of this minor incident, but god forbid there would be a massive outbreak in the future, who knows?

Iranian actress sentenced and whipped [ABC]

The ever regressing culture and government of Iran has caused an actress who featured in an Australian film to be lashed and put behind bars. Apparently it is because of role where she portrays a young actress whose stage work was banned by the authorities. Ironically, the Iranian government is doing the same for the very film and now, the actress has to endure the needless "consequence".

The actress and another Iranian filmmaker were both arrested in July when black market copies of the film reportedly began circulating illegally. Vafamehr has now been sentenced to a year in prison and 90 lashes of the cane. An Iranian opposition website says her lawyer has already lodged an appeal. Adelaide Film Festival director Katrina Sedgwick says she is shocked and distressed at what she believes is a harsh sentence.

The repression of freedom has caused the outrage of many people who heard the news, including me. I mean, how absurd it is that the country is still holding this sort of values? I literally was shocked as I heard this piece of news on the television, and simply it's not acceptable they have to imprison an actress who haven't done any harm to others.

D.

Poke! South Bank "safer" now; Female soldier alleges sex assault (10th Oct 2011)

South Bank behaviour improves [Brisbane Times]

Looks like the company behind the South Bank Parklands and the vicinity has come out a report saying after the floods on January, troublemakers has dropped by two-thirds. But I don't really think it's related to the floods anyway, seeing there are still many people walk along the riverside and the parks. But at night, it's a totally different story.

The improved behaviour could be largely attributed to the long period of time that South Bank's popular pool areas were closed after the January floods, the corporation's report says.

I live near South Bank, and as I observed around the area for over a year, I noticed it's true that during nighttime and especially Fridays, there are more crazy people loitering around, especially at the train and busway station, where people sort of yell very loudly and they are somehow ruder as well. But overall, I think it's still a little bit better than the Valley, right?

Department of Defence now investigating alleged sex assault to female soldier [Courier Mail]

Earlier, I heard the news about they are going to reopen registrations for female soldiers to deploy in Afghanistan, and now here comes the allegations where a female soldiers were being sexually assaulted during her duties in Afghanistan. At this moment, we just know they have confirmed investigations are underway, however, no further details are provided.

The probe comes after a Skype sex scandal earlier this year when a female cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy was allegedly filmed having sex with a male cadet while the footage was beamed live to other cadets.

Inner beast? I'm not disagreeing about not allowing females to work in military duties in the Middle East, but apparently the blokes back there are having such bad times, making things a bit out of order, I presume.

D.

Poke! 14-year-old drug trafficking; NO HORSEY NO!!! (7th October 2011)

14 year-old Boy got caught with drug arrest, in Bali, Indonesia [ABC]

Oh my god, this might stir up another roll of international conflict. so apparently this boy in Indonesia picked up a bag of cannabis, and he might face court and ended up in jail for 2-6 years. This incident has caught attention by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd as well as the embassies of both countries, and a quick intervention from the Australian government has to be done before it's too late.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told a press conference this afternoon that "a child in detention is of great concern for all Australians". But barrister Simon Lee says the Government is being hypocritical as there are nine Indonesian children accused of people smuggling being held in custody in Darwin. [...] If convicted, the boy could be jailed in Bali's Kerobokan Prison, along with a host of other Australians, including the Bali Nine, the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby and Sydney man Michael Sacatides.

Honestly kids, don't ever do drugs in your country, let alone doing that in a country that might still have execution laws around.

15 horse dies at a property in Gold Coast, authorities have no idea what's going on yet [Courier Mail]

With the mysterious Hendra virus going on in Queensland, this perhaps has risen up fears that human might be also be infected with this kind of disease. Today, more than 10 horses were found dead at a property at Kooralbyn, in the hinterland at Gold Coast. They were to be one part of the multimillion-dollar horserace facility and now that they are all dead, the heartbroken owner is devastated.

"It's very sad - my partner and I have breed them and cherish them. They have a few ticks on them but I don't think, and the vets agree, that it's enough to do the damage that's been done." Mr Hongo said as he was just moved from Toowoomba 10 days ago.

There were several local people that went into the scene and tried to comfort the animals despite the fear of Hendra virus, as told by horse owner and resident, Mr Doug Wilson. I mean comparing to the mass-death of cattle back in the US, which people claimed was done by aliens and UFOs, this is much more scarier because you felt the immediate helplessness when watching all those precious horses die.



D.

Poke! May Steve Jobs rest in peace; young boy hit by train donated his organs (6th October 2011)

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday, as I was having a terrible immune system. Apologies!

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, died at age 56 [new.com.au]

I just couldn't believe this news is coming this soon. After stepping back from the CEO position of Apple, Inc., he's not been in a good shape at all. Such an innovative talent just gone like a poof. He is not just he co-founder of Apple. He brings Pixar to life as well. Bringing the best 3D animation studio into the world, and my beautiful memories on watching Pixar films, which I think the press has a bit missed out on this point. Anyhow, the wold has lost another great innovator and inspirer. May Steve Jobs rest in peace. Here is the excerpt of his life from Wikipedia:

Steven Paul Google Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American computer entrepreneur and inventor. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer.

In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its CEO from 1997 until 2011.

In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney company in 2006. Consequently Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7 percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.

On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation from his role as Apple's CEO. In his letter of resignation, Jobs strongly recommended that the Apple executive succession plan be followed and Tim Cook be named as his successor. Per his request, Jobs was appointed chairman of Apple's board of directors. On October 5, 2011, Apple announced that Jobs had died. He was 56 years old. His aim had been to develop products that are both functional and elegant earned him a devoted following.

Ethan's organs has donated to families who needs them [ABC]

Sad news are pouring like rain as it's also raining today. Ethan, the boy who was hit by the train on Monday in Melbourne has passed away. Her mother today has told the press today that his son's organs are donated to needing recipients.

"As a result of Ethan's injuries he became eligible to donate his organs, and this will hopefully prevent another family or families from suffering," she said. Many of the emergency volunteers who attended the scene knew the families involved, and Michelle thanked them for their efforts.

Good for the parents. People usually want to keep their loved ones in one piece when burying them, but they would allow doctors to take away their son's organs and give it to the others, which I think it's just beautiful, kind and generous. Also, not to mention that it's amazing that even a person has passed on, they can still contribute to the world helping others. Science, doctors and inventors: the world would be much worse without the change you have brought in.

D.

Focus: Telling Factual Stories

Graham Pamping - The Blind Busker

People rushed and walked through Queen Street Mall, seemingly having their own destination to go to, and people are having such fun on meeting friends at this special place. Shops are all open and crowded with shoppers, for the people who can afford, and window shoppers, who can only look and desire.

There are a lot of things happening in the Queen Street Mall. There are so much to look for. Sometimes we would see people singing on the street while playing guitars, people playing magic tricks, people playing soccer ball tricks, and the crowds would stop by and have a look at them, give them applause, and some might even give them money in return. Even though, people tend to walk past from something so piddling, yet so significant. The presence of buskers has given the Mall much more vibrance, much more character, and become much more symbolic. But imagine, you could only hear them, but not to see them, while being one part of this.

The admiring fact about busking is that people who do this do not care about fame, they do not care about how people see them. They just want to have a go, experience the thrills and drops on performing on the street.

Graham Pamping, he is the one who plays saxophone on the street, and he doesn't care about fame, he doesn't care about how people see them. And most of all, he can only hear the sounds of everything happening in Queen Street Mall, and he could not see it - He is blind.

I have the honour to have a chat with him earlier. He shared a little bit about his past and beliefs that he strongly believes in.

Every day, he brings his saxophone and his chair with him, placing them in between the jewellery shop and the bubble tea stall. Then, he sits down, opens his saxophone case and starts to play his tunes.

I have been standing at the corridor next to the jewellery shop as I observe his performance, one song to the other: every time as he finishes a song, he puts his hand into the saxophone case, seek if anyone has thrown in any money. After a while of patting and tapping, he goes back to his saxophone, and plays another song.

As he stopped for a short break, I stepped forward and asked if he would like to have a chat. He accepted so I sat down with him, and have a little talk about him and his story of being a busker.

He has a great history of playing music: he played saxophone for 56 years and he was self-taught, without anyone's help and he used to play in clubs with bands, like those trios we see in movies.

He has a good life. He worked for people on building houses, farms, barns and shops, and he even built his own home all by himself. He had a son, and a wife, living happily in Sunshine Coast.

But things changed as he's lost his only, 18-year-old son, and separated with his wife. Sunshine Coast is the place where he was born, but he suffered depression for a long time after all these trembling memories. Not long after, he lost his eyesight, and he couldn't work anymore. 

He has lost everything in his life - his only son and his wife. Now that he had lost his eyesight, it would be unimaginable for anyone not to think of suicide. But he thought, "I don't want to waste my life just to pity myself, and I want to make the most of my life." So he spent a long time thinking what he could do, what he could try to make way to get out of this... and he moved to Brisbane and started busking.

"I've never busked before," he said. "I didn't know what it's like so I thought I should give it go and see how it would guide me to." Busking seemed to be the only way out he could think of. No one would employ him because of his disability, age, and most of all, the ability to compete with other younger people in the workforce.

He told me that the thing about busking here on Queen Street Mall is that, you have to have a warrant for busking, and without that, you will be fined for $500 for being dishonest. "As for that warrant, it let me to perform here 24/7 and I can even play here at the eighth day of the week." He joked.

The courage of performing in front of no audience is no longer a valid thing to discuss. He told me, "People tend to think buskers are daredevils but I could say I'm not. I played saxophone for 56 years and I don't see why I can't perform in front of the public. I've been playing here in Queen Street Mall for 24 years now and I don't really have anything bad happened on me. No one's going to bash me away for a wrong note and people can just walk away, whether they like it or not."

"People don't realise the full potential of themselves because they haven't even tried," he told me. "Everything is all about doing it yourself. I've built my own home, I've built other people's home, I've dealt with depression on my own without counsellors. Everyone can listen to you but they couldn't help you. The only person that can help yourself if your own."

Being a younger generation, I realised people don't used to work on their own house project anymore, they don't know how to fix their cars and home appliances. I asked him what are his views of youngsters nowadays are reluctant to try anything, as if being protected by a form of "bubble". He answered, "Kids these days should try everything you want to try but too afraid of stepping out the first step. The main thing about that is because they fear, they fear because they don't know if they're going to fail or succeed."

His opinion about fear has led to another topic - religion. He asked me, "What if I asked you to go over to the roof over the building across the street, and I tell you to jump, what will you tell me?" Of course, I replied "no" to him because I don't want to die. "But what really makes you don't want to jump off?" I said because I'm afraid I'm going to be hurt or something, if death is not the concern. It is reasonable that people do not want to get hurt. No matter if it is physically or emotionally. So he finally revealed his answer. "Fear," he said. "Because you are afraid if you are going to hurt yourself. I can say if you jump off and you'll be perfectly fine and walk away afterwards. But no. You are just afraid of the unknown, the uncertainty. The fear that makes you to turn away from yourself."

"Because people are afraid, they started to believe there is an unknown that causes all the disasters on the earth. They fear God, they fear the one with power, and they indoctrinate children with those concept that makes them afraid to take responsibility, risk and determination."

He is an atheist, and like most atheists, he was one whose family brings him to Sunday School and pray for the lord Jesus Christ. "I was once very religious until the day I lost my eyesight." He told me in a cautious tone. "I mean, why did God take away my sight? I didn't do anything to hurt him, I prayed every now and then and I don't understand why he had taken me eyesight. I have done good deeds in order to save myself from hell and yet the God was somehow pissed and simply took away my eyesight. That's unfair. And that doesn't make sense."

"I asked myself, 'Does it really make sense that God has blessed you and saved you?'," He continued. "I don't think so. I think it just utter bull**** and I don't even care about it anymore after I lost my eyesight. I believe religion is just something that's manifested by humans' instinct of fear, the fear of unknown is just toxic. Religious people always debate about how Science is flawed and such, and you know what? Religion is the same, but with more bull****. They create meaningless hatred and fear that is not supposed to be happened."

He believes changing from being a faithful shepherd of God, into a logical and sensible thinker is a good way to change his attitude upon life. "Now I help blind kids how to read Braille, how to use a computer because I use computer to communicate as well. Not because I want to go to heaven, but because I just want to help them to lead their own better lives."

But still, he came across with Mormons every now and then, and they always shove him some flyers to read. "I'd say, bugger off. I don't believe in God. But if they just put down a note without me knowing, I'll find my mate and read it for me, and if I know it's about all those religious crap, I'll just throw it away. Simple."

But he has an opinion about others who helped blind people as well. "Sighted people will never able to teach blind people as good as blind people does, because they simply can't put themselves into our shoes and walk for a mile."

He was helped by many people as he works his way onto the bus back home, and curiously it's mostly Asian. He said the cane is just like his eyes, as well as his hands. People tend to grab him on his arm and leaving a blank space between his "eyes" to the world through the cane. It's like covering eyes with two hands. "That doesn't help anything at all, to be honest," He shook his head. "I sometimes thought, 'why don't you just leave me the f*** alone and let me get onto the bus myself?' But I can't, because this is not nice and people are just being nice to me. So I could only say, 'thanks a lot for helping.' But honestly I don't think I need anyone to help me. I am fine with myself."

After a good hour of talk, I have to leave him because if this goes on and on, he simply couldn't make money out of this, could he?

Just to wrap up, it was just a delightful moment to have conversation to a complete stranger and yet I can know about their past and story in such detail. It was also an exciting thing for me to do alone because this is the first (informal?) interview I did with others in my life. But I think I had to work a way to ask questions in a more indirect but effective ways because I always have this fear on offending somebody, that's no good for an interview where you want the interviewee to give you their details.

D.