I came across an article which has a series going on about quality journalism. This project is from the Crikey editors and they wanted to know how some of the most respected journalist think about "Journalism" and its meanings, and its value to them.
This week Leigh Sales from the ABC's 7:30 news report is featured. I read it word by word, and found that surprisingly, some of her reading habits, like reading Twitter feeds and watching breakfast shows on TV, are quite similar of us ordinary "news consumers".
She admits that there are news pieces which are not particularly outstanding, and good pieces tend to come out from all over the place, rather than coming from a consistent outlet. She said she follows individual reporters instead of specific organisations.
Then as I finish reading the article, there comes the comment thread. So as usual I read through some of them. What I discovered is that some people despised her view and her being one of the featured journalist in the series since some of her political views has made them angry about it. But to be honest, since I don't really understand politics and whatnot, seems like the people are still hating too much about a person. She's come here and contribute about her views on journalism, and didn't speak about her views towards politics and parties, at least as far as this article goes, so I think the commenters all have to settle down and objectively discuss about her ideas and thoughts, not by her political views, since this article is not about politics, but journalism, right?
Source
D.
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Poke! What I've read today! (6th August 2011)
Teen mauled to death in the Norwegian Arctic [Courier Mail]
A sad story as I read the front page. This 17-year old kid went on an expedition trip with others to the Svalbard archipelago, a nature trip to look around the wild Norway. They were attack by the polar bear while they were staying in the tent. But Jon Aars of the Norwegian Polar Institute said, "It is very difficult to say what may have happened, but it is very seldom that a polar bear has time to cause so much damage before it is shot." Except the boy, there were also 4 people injured by the polar bear. It's unfortunate for an trip that ended up people dying.
First ever gay retirement village open soon [The Courier]
A bit of an off-beat news here. It's good news for the LGBTQ community to finally have the choice to pick whether they can live after they are coming of age. For Australians, it is a welcoming development for the country because we are getting more open and free towards controversial topics like this. I could still see places like the US where a lot of Christians still believe gay people are sinful and reject to support them in any way, which is pathetic for a so-called "modern society" like them.
Dutch church not so churchy anymore [BBC News]
I am not an expert on religion, but I clearly know that people who are believing in God are decreasing. Since more people think that things said in the bible are contradicting each other, and many traditionalist christians from around the world are making wild statements that doesn't make sense, it's a no-brainer that Dutch churches are rethinking the value of the Bible, where new thinkings believe it's more like a metaphorical depiction of the way of life rather than a literal story of a legendary person and the non-existous God. I think it's a very interesting viewpoint from priests that also think that way.
D.
A sad story as I read the front page. This 17-year old kid went on an expedition trip with others to the Svalbard archipelago, a nature trip to look around the wild Norway. They were attack by the polar bear while they were staying in the tent. But Jon Aars of the Norwegian Polar Institute said, "It is very difficult to say what may have happened, but it is very seldom that a polar bear has time to cause so much damage before it is shot." Except the boy, there were also 4 people injured by the polar bear. It's unfortunate for an trip that ended up people dying.
First ever gay retirement village open soon [The Courier]
A bit of an off-beat news here. It's good news for the LGBTQ community to finally have the choice to pick whether they can live after they are coming of age. For Australians, it is a welcoming development for the country because we are getting more open and free towards controversial topics like this. I could still see places like the US where a lot of Christians still believe gay people are sinful and reject to support them in any way, which is pathetic for a so-called "modern society" like them.
Dutch church not so churchy anymore [BBC News]
I am not an expert on religion, but I clearly know that people who are believing in God are decreasing. Since more people think that things said in the bible are contradicting each other, and many traditionalist christians from around the world are making wild statements that doesn't make sense, it's a no-brainer that Dutch churches are rethinking the value of the Bible, where new thinkings believe it's more like a metaphorical depiction of the way of life rather than a literal story of a legendary person and the non-existous God. I think it's a very interesting viewpoint from priests that also think that way.
D.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Focus: Lecture - First lecture!! (Week 1)
Oh, I should have mentioned about the first week's lecture before the 2nd one! But well, the first lecture was started before the blog so here it goes!
The first lecture by Bruce was fun as. Mainly because for a rookie like me who hadn't even started to understand the basics of journalism, I found all the ideas and thoughts are fresh and provoking. My expectations before I took the course was so great and now it's even getting greater!
Here's a very brief quote from Henry R. Luce, who was an influential publisher, said, "I became a journalist to come as possible to the heart of the world." And I thought, hey, that is so true. The spirit of journalism is to get into the very fabric of social life, and telling people about it in every accurate fact possible. Understanding every aspect of the world, on how people connect and create a new story.
But with the recent years, so much noise is around journalism making it become a side-job or if you will, a dirty job. Tabloids, sensationalism, and gossip stories are, in my opinions, polluting the whole ecosphere of journalism, and I understand without them, people might not be interested on reading something that is originally boring and tedious. But for me, journalism is a very high standard profession and people shouldn't take the job lightly. I believe after this lecture, and of course after this course, I might learn a few things and reflect this in my mind.
Overall, I think it is a very fascinating class for me and I'm so lucky to be in one part of it!
D.
The first lecture by Bruce was fun as. Mainly because for a rookie like me who hadn't even started to understand the basics of journalism, I found all the ideas and thoughts are fresh and provoking. My expectations before I took the course was so great and now it's even getting greater!
Here's a very brief quote from Henry R. Luce, who was an influential publisher, said, "I became a journalist to come as possible to the heart of the world." And I thought, hey, that is so true. The spirit of journalism is to get into the very fabric of social life, and telling people about it in every accurate fact possible. Understanding every aspect of the world, on how people connect and create a new story.
But with the recent years, so much noise is around journalism making it become a side-job or if you will, a dirty job. Tabloids, sensationalism, and gossip stories are, in my opinions, polluting the whole ecosphere of journalism, and I understand without them, people might not be interested on reading something that is originally boring and tedious. But for me, journalism is a very high standard profession and people shouldn't take the job lightly. I believe after this lecture, and of course after this course, I might learn a few things and reflect this in my mind.
Overall, I think it is a very fascinating class for me and I'm so lucky to be in one part of it!
D.
Focus: Poor woman may be prosecuted for scaring away bats
This woman has the guts to scare away protected animals just to make them go away and stop them from pissing around her property. But sadly the police is on the bats' side and decided to punish this poor woman.
Lately, bats are closely discussed with the deadly Hendra virus which caused a dozen of horses dead or be put down. Scientists believe their urine, blood and birth discharges carries Hendra virus and thus, people are afraid of them. Besides, the bats are in flocks and according to Robyn Burgess, the woman who used air horn to shoo away the bats, she said the bats noise wakes them up as early as 4AM, and this colony of bats tend to discharge their urines around their property forcing them to renovate part of their house.
Other residents around the neighbourhood said they've been tormented by the bats for years and were fed up by that.
I think the problem itself wasn't the bats, since we couldn't really just catch them or hurt them without breaking the law. I think it's about the law, because we could do nothing to stop them from flying around over our heads, and I think the government should do something in order to control the population of the bats, so that we can prevent further spreading of the virus.
Again, we don't know about how many bats are carrying Hendra virus, and how many are not. So we still need more studies to support in what way we could settle the situation quickly without mass hysteria.
Source [Brisbane Times]
D.
Lately, bats are closely discussed with the deadly Hendra virus which caused a dozen of horses dead or be put down. Scientists believe their urine, blood and birth discharges carries Hendra virus and thus, people are afraid of them. Besides, the bats are in flocks and according to Robyn Burgess, the woman who used air horn to shoo away the bats, she said the bats noise wakes them up as early as 4AM, and this colony of bats tend to discharge their urines around their property forcing them to renovate part of their house.
Other residents around the neighbourhood said they've been tormented by the bats for years and were fed up by that.
I think the problem itself wasn't the bats, since we couldn't really just catch them or hurt them without breaking the law. I think it's about the law, because we could do nothing to stop them from flying around over our heads, and I think the government should do something in order to control the population of the bats, so that we can prevent further spreading of the virus.
Again, we don't know about how many bats are carrying Hendra virus, and how many are not. So we still need more studies to support in what way we could settle the situation quickly without mass hysteria.
Source [Brisbane Times]
D.
Focus: Drivers, mostly parents, run their cars over their children
Today I came across this article about how common drivers run over children in places like driveways of their own homes, and surprisingly the driver-at-fault is usually their kid's father or mother.
 |
| Former Wallaby Brendan Cannon (inset) accidentally backed over his son Samuel in the driveway of his family home. (Image Credit: Brisbane Times) |
According to the article, there are about 160 kids being ran over by cars in Queensland, which is quite a number. And besides that, as the vehicle getting larger in size, the fatality for the children also increases.
Some children as young as 2, since they are not tall enough, as parents backing off their vehicles at home they couldn't see anything behind, and there the vehicle went and ran over the child. It's very sad to see people's own children being bumped over. Brendan was very fortunate to see his son being recovered so well. "I really feel for the people who don't get that opportunity to have that second chance with a child." He said.
There are a lot of precautions can be made to avoid a tragedy to happen in families. In the article, the Dad was driving an 4WD, which is quite big and tall. But nevertheless it's not the vehicle's problem, but the constant alertness of a driver. Devices that can detect surrounding objects like infrared sensor can help drivers notice when something is on their way when backing up their vehicles. And also get out of the vehicle and walk all the way around to see if there's anything on the way before backing up. But most importantly, I think they have to make sure where their children exactly are, for example whether they're sitting in the car or wandering around the garage, before really start the engine. In that way, you'll be able to prevent such avoidable accidents.
So always be safe when you drive, and "Supervise, Separate and See" your children.
Source [Brisbane Times]
Source [Brisbane Times]
D.
Poke! What I've read today! (5th August 2011)
Thanks to US, Australian Stock Market is expected to drop a big time [Courier Mail]
I'm going to say it's not only their fault, but also people from Wall Street. The US used to be the very centre of the global economy and now because of the so-called debt-ceiling crisis, I think all of us who relied on the US are soon to be doomed. But lucky news for us International students, $AUD price has dropped a bit! Yay!
Syrian government and military killing over 250 people already this week [Brisbane Times]
Sad and unbelievable. Since the anti-government movement initiated, the Syrian government has killed so many people, cut away phone lines and electricity. Even the people who wanted to go to cemetery to bury their loved ones were feared that they will also be ending up buried along with them because of the heartless shooting. I mean, come on now, stop this already.
I'm going to say it's not only their fault, but also people from Wall Street. The US used to be the very centre of the global economy and now because of the so-called debt-ceiling crisis, I think all of us who relied on the US are soon to be doomed. But lucky news for us International students, $AUD price has dropped a bit! Yay!
Syrian government and military killing over 250 people already this week [Brisbane Times]
Sad and unbelievable. Since the anti-government movement initiated, the Syrian government has killed so many people, cut away phone lines and electricity. Even the people who wanted to go to cemetery to bury their loved ones were feared that they will also be ending up buried along with them because of the heartless shooting. I mean, come on now, stop this already.
Wife killed husband [Brisbane Times]
The anger and impulsive thoughts couldn't help but burst when Pauline Palmer decided to stab his cheating husband on the belly. Not only once, but 15 times. Now could ending a person's life help releasing your anger? I don't think so. It would only make you feeling the inescapable guilt for the rest of your life! So remember, don't cheat.
The anger and impulsive thoughts couldn't help but burst when Pauline Palmer decided to stab his cheating husband on the belly. Not only once, but 15 times. Now could ending a person's life help releasing your anger? I don't think so. It would only make you feeling the inescapable guilt for the rest of your life! So remember, don't cheat.
D.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Donny Recommends: The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
"Donny Recommends" features little gems, loots and treasures from me to share with you. It's intimate and don't tell others I shared with you ONLY!
As you may know, I am an avid music collector. And as I've got a blog that I have the freedom to write whatever I want, I can write things about music! Since I've got a super large collection of music, I'd love to share some of my gems to others since my friends tend to listen to more mainstream kind-of music like pop, rock and whatnot. So whenever they want to listen to something alternative and artists that are not so well-known, they would turn up to me and ask for recommendations.
So without further ado, I would like to introduce this album called Ma Fleur, by The Cinematic Orchestra.
According to Wikipedia, The Cinematic Orchestra is a music project/band since late 1990s created by Jason Swinscoe. And here is a little description of them:
It's not a very popular band I know, but this album from them is quite different than you would normally expect from a band. It's a very chillout-styled music, which is slow in tempo and deep. For me I'd love to listen to it while I'm reading, since it's relaxing and slow-paced style helps me to concentrate on my reading. No matter it's textbook or ordinary novels from store. It's just a nice touch to add into your ever-expanding music universe. Go check it out!
Official Website
Ninja Tune Website of Ma Fleur
D.
As you may know, I am an avid music collector. And as I've got a blog that I have the freedom to write whatever I want, I can write things about music! Since I've got a super large collection of music, I'd love to share some of my gems to others since my friends tend to listen to more mainstream kind-of music like pop, rock and whatnot. So whenever they want to listen to something alternative and artists that are not so well-known, they would turn up to me and ask for recommendations.
So without further ado, I would like to introduce this album called Ma Fleur, by The Cinematic Orchestra.
According to Wikipedia, The Cinematic Orchestra is a music project/band since late 1990s created by Jason Swinscoe. And here is a little description of them:
The Cinematic Orchestra is a British jazz and electronic outfit, created in the late 1990s by Jason Swinscoe. The band is signed to Ninja Tune independent record label. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes PC former DJ Food member (Patrick Carpenter) on turntables, Luke Flowers (drums), Tom Chant (Saxophone), Nick Ramm (piano), Stuart McCallum (guitar) and Phil France (double bass). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet), T. Daniel Howard (drums), Federico Ughi (drums) and Alex James (piano). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum.
It's not a very popular band I know, but this album from them is quite different than you would normally expect from a band. It's a very chillout-styled music, which is slow in tempo and deep. For me I'd love to listen to it while I'm reading, since it's relaxing and slow-paced style helps me to concentrate on my reading. No matter it's textbook or ordinary novels from store. It's just a nice touch to add into your ever-expanding music universe. Go check it out!
Official Website
Ninja Tune Website of Ma Fleur
D.
Focus: Lecture - with Rodney Chester (Week 2)
"Focus" is a section where I will dive in and take a look about something interesting for me, and will share about my interesting point-of-view as well. Have a good read!
Indeed, every student has to learn something after a lecture, and this time on my Monday lecture we were very delighted that Rodney Chester from Courier Mail, shared his views and thoughts about "telling factual stories with text"
So he's mentioned about things recently that technology is slowly replacing the traditional publishing format, such as newspaper. The advancement of technology and social media like Twitter, Facebook are shifting the news headline from newspapers to the Interwebs. Which I do very agree, since for myself I haven't been reading any newspapers since high school where there were concession-priced subscriptions available for students. And I remembered the last time I bought a newspaper in Australia was during the January floods where my favourite newspaper Courier Mail was all sold out, and leaving me no choice but to buy that bulky "The Australian". No offence though!
Well, besides that, he talked about many things about how to write a news article, and one of the most interesting part for me is that he told us about writing features. Students pointed out the "Inverted pyramid" is also one of the most interesting point about the lecture, but I beg to differ and I thought "features writing" is something more interesting for me.
For example, if you are a features writer, you might not be touching headline news often. Instead, you'll be walking around the street, observe people and see what they're doing and walk forward and ask for a story.
Everyone on the street has their own story to tell, and I found that quite fascinating. In these days, people on the street move so quickly to a point they have started to ignore other's presence. It's kind of sad but it's also true in this modern society where everyone is minding their own business a bit too much.
And Rod has mentioned about you have to be a very good observer and storyteller. Also, how to attract audience into reading your stories bit by bit, how to make them intrigued by the stories. Oh, and a "voice" of yourself has to be established and also, one thing that Bruce has pointed out, once you've established your "voice", people will recognise you, and they will start to "follow" you like how they do it on Twitter, but in a manner of reading your editorials, your written stories about ordinary people on the street.
Well, I've got more things to share, but I'll cut it short and I found this lecture really helped me on understanding the fundamentals about text-based writing. This is not fantasy-novel writing like Twilight saga and crap like those, journalism is all about facts, unbiased viewpoint toward a story.
Oh, I've got so much more to learn!! But fret not, Rod shared his best tips to us:
Write on paper instead, and like us modern peeps, write on blogs!
D.
Indeed, every student has to learn something after a lecture, and this time on my Monday lecture we were very delighted that Rodney Chester from Courier Mail, shared his views and thoughts about "telling factual stories with text"
So he's mentioned about things recently that technology is slowly replacing the traditional publishing format, such as newspaper. The advancement of technology and social media like Twitter, Facebook are shifting the news headline from newspapers to the Interwebs. Which I do very agree, since for myself I haven't been reading any newspapers since high school where there were concession-priced subscriptions available for students. And I remembered the last time I bought a newspaper in Australia was during the January floods where my favourite newspaper Courier Mail was all sold out, and leaving me no choice but to buy that bulky "The Australian". No offence though!
Well, besides that, he talked about many things about how to write a news article, and one of the most interesting part for me is that he told us about writing features. Students pointed out the "Inverted pyramid" is also one of the most interesting point about the lecture, but I beg to differ and I thought "features writing" is something more interesting for me.
For example, if you are a features writer, you might not be touching headline news often. Instead, you'll be walking around the street, observe people and see what they're doing and walk forward and ask for a story.
Everyone on the street has their own story to tell, and I found that quite fascinating. In these days, people on the street move so quickly to a point they have started to ignore other's presence. It's kind of sad but it's also true in this modern society where everyone is minding their own business a bit too much.
And Rod has mentioned about you have to be a very good observer and storyteller. Also, how to attract audience into reading your stories bit by bit, how to make them intrigued by the stories. Oh, and a "voice" of yourself has to be established and also, one thing that Bruce has pointed out, once you've established your "voice", people will recognise you, and they will start to "follow" you like how they do it on Twitter, but in a manner of reading your editorials, your written stories about ordinary people on the street.
Well, I've got more things to share, but I'll cut it short and I found this lecture really helped me on understanding the fundamentals about text-based writing. This is not fantasy-novel writing like Twilight saga and crap like those, journalism is all about facts, unbiased viewpoint toward a story.
Oh, I've got so much more to learn!! But fret not, Rod shared his best tips to us:
- READ A LOT;
- WRITE A LOT, and;
- IF YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT DON'T POST TO TWITTER.
Write on paper instead, and like us modern peeps, write on blogs!
D.
Poke! What I've read today! (4th August 2011)
"Poke", a daily nudge to your brain to refresh you on news and posts, looking at what I read as I have my breaky/brunch/whatever in front of my desk while watching funny YouTube videos.
Teenage girl is freed from bomb, and police found that it's an elaborate hoax [Courier Mail]
That means there is actually no "bomb" inside the bomb. Last night was intense and everyone who're following the latest news couldn't imagine what if the bomb really went off. Lucky for the girl, and looks like the criminal is in big trouble. But what is his motives? Let's find out as the police investigates.
[Video] Somalians moving to Kenya as famine and drought getting worse [Brisbane Times]
The most serious famine for over 20 years has forced Somalians to move to Kenya so that they will get aid and support from International organisations. Some of the weaker ones died during their walk through the vast plains because of food shortages and thirst. Horrible stuff.
Bligh's 18-year old son featuring in a government ad, and she had to pay for it to get rid of him fearing of nepotism [Courier Mail]
Not in the "top" news but I thought I'd like to share it. The funny thing is though, the parents didn't know he was an extra in that particular advertisement. And she had to pay for almost two grand to get the editors to cut out the part where his son is featured in the footage. Irony...
D.
Teenage girl is freed from bomb, and police found that it's an elaborate hoax [Courier Mail]
That means there is actually no "bomb" inside the bomb. Last night was intense and everyone who're following the latest news couldn't imagine what if the bomb really went off. Lucky for the girl, and looks like the criminal is in big trouble. But what is his motives? Let's find out as the police investigates.
[Video] Somalians moving to Kenya as famine and drought getting worse [Brisbane Times]
The most serious famine for over 20 years has forced Somalians to move to Kenya so that they will get aid and support from International organisations. Some of the weaker ones died during their walk through the vast plains because of food shortages and thirst. Horrible stuff.
Bligh's 18-year old son featuring in a government ad, and she had to pay for it to get rid of him fearing of nepotism [Courier Mail]
Not in the "top" news but I thought I'd like to share it. The funny thing is though, the parents didn't know he was an extra in that particular advertisement. And she had to pay for almost two grand to get the editors to cut out the part where his son is featured in the footage. Irony...
D.
Wednesday, 3 August 2011
Welcome to my awesome blog!
Hello all! I'd love to introduce myself but first of all, this blog will be used for my Journalism course, where everything about my JOUR1111 course, news around the world, my thoughts and my opinion will be posted here. Lovely!
I like music so much into a point where I have a large collection of Jazz, Trip Hop, Chillout, Classical and a lot of music that aren't really popular. But my point is, I do enjoy them and I hope others will feel the same when I share my collection to them.
I love plays and theatre acts for some reason, but I never get a chance to watch it in person. My concern is I couldn't really afford to pay for a good seat to see them, since sitting on those back seats don't really do much justice for the performances, right? But one day, hopefully I can get to see one.
Oh, let's talk about something informational instead of than my boring past!
Before I take this course, I was a diploma student at Southbank TAFE, studying Interactive Digital Media, and it's fun and interesting as you can do photography, make video edits and websites. It's like a whole package of suite where you can practice using different software and tools to create digital media. And that really helps me to understand how media is created, but in forms other than text.
In this semester, or this course to be precise, I'm going to learn a lot about how to write things, factual topics and so much more! And in fact, compared to other courses I've enrolled in, I love this course the most because I'm so interested into learn everything about journalism! Hopefully in the future, I will be able to get a job in a newspaper company, or something related to it. But to be honest, I'm not very familiar to the latest trend in the industry so if someone knows something please let me know!
In the mean time, I'll try my best to take a dive into current affairs, and perhaps discuss about it in my viewpoint and opinion.
Let's get this started, shall we?
D.
I like music so much into a point where I have a large collection of Jazz, Trip Hop, Chillout, Classical and a lot of music that aren't really popular. But my point is, I do enjoy them and I hope others will feel the same when I share my collection to them.
I love plays and theatre acts for some reason, but I never get a chance to watch it in person. My concern is I couldn't really afford to pay for a good seat to see them, since sitting on those back seats don't really do much justice for the performances, right? But one day, hopefully I can get to see one.
Oh, let's talk about something informational instead of than my boring past!
Before I take this course, I was a diploma student at Southbank TAFE, studying Interactive Digital Media, and it's fun and interesting as you can do photography, make video edits and websites. It's like a whole package of suite where you can practice using different software and tools to create digital media. And that really helps me to understand how media is created, but in forms other than text.
In this semester, or this course to be precise, I'm going to learn a lot about how to write things, factual topics and so much more! And in fact, compared to other courses I've enrolled in, I love this course the most because I'm so interested into learn everything about journalism! Hopefully in the future, I will be able to get a job in a newspaper company, or something related to it. But to be honest, I'm not very familiar to the latest trend in the industry so if someone knows something please let me know!
In the mean time, I'll try my best to take a dive into current affairs, and perhaps discuss about it in my viewpoint and opinion.
Let's get this started, shall we?
D.
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