What LIES Beneath

Love him or hate him, Julian Assuage had good intentions with WikiLeaks; as an investigative journalist, his aim was to reveal all truth to the public to avoid corruption.

Though he may not have gone about it the right way, hundreds upon hundreds of journalists around the world have the same hunger: a hunger for the truth.

When I was younger, my mum used to tell me stories in books and TV shows were like icebergs. While they look pretty  on top of the water, underneath there’s another 2/3 of ice just waiting to sink you unless you know it’s there. The same theory can be applied for investigative journalism. Though things may seem alright on the surface, you never know what lurks beneath, and this is what journalist try to uncover to save the public from a sinking ship.

Therefore journalists become the ‘Fourth Estate’; a way to check the government true and incorruptible in the face of their voters. The journalist therefore becomes an active and critical participant and uses active intervention in his or her story; they make a substantial effort to approach consulted sources, regardless of the time spent. They become a custodian of conscience, a voice a caution to all parties involved.

So when you first hear that ‘breaking’ story on the news- wait for the follow ups, you’ll never know how big the iceberg is under the surface until you hit it.

The expression 'tip of the iceberg' never seemed truer...

“It’s real! Trust Me, I’m A Journalist.”

We’ve all seen the reality shows- the outrageous scandals and even tacky personalities which make you question how ‘real’ this reality is. Have we ever stopped to think though how ‘real’ all TV shows are, particularly the news? How much is truth and how much is just ‘constructed reality’?

The media plays a great role in ‘constructing’ or ‘mediating’ the social world around us; the create a social construction of reality called agenda setting. Agenda setting is seen as when an individual’s conception of reality is socially constructed through shared language and though the reality exists, the way we come to think about it is socially mediated.

A journalist, therefore, must then select topics that that address Public Agenda; what do the general viewers perceive as important and relevant? Then, they must also tackle Policy Agenda and issues ‘decision makers’ would believe salient. After that follows Corporate Agenda, which is issues that big business would see as important and Media Agenda, which outlines and feeds off topics already being discussed in the media.

One must be careful though, as agenda setting can also use the media as a mass forum for propaganda. This is due to the fact the mass media does not simply reflect and report reality, they also filter and shape it to their own ends and means. This can leads us (as the public) to believe some issues are more important than others, which is not always the case.

So I’ll leave all you today with a little test: When you next see a picture in the media, be it an advert or even just that tiny little intro photo on the news, what is the first association you make and why?

You could surprise yourself.

Now this could be an interesting place to live...

No News Is Good News, After All

 Stuart Hall once said “news values are one of the opaque structures of meaning in modern society… journalists speak of the news as if events select themselves… yet of the millions of events which occur daily in the world, only a tiny proportion ever become visible as ‘potential news stories’: and of this proportion, only a small fraction are actually produced as the day’s news…”. The value we place on ‘news worthy stories’ can sometimes seem ridiculous as we uncover what readers see as ‘news’, and nine times out of ten, it’s the bad news that sells more. Once, a ‘good news’ paper was set up, but failed after only 2 months as their selling rate was so low. This was also seen in the documentary “If It Bleeds, It Leads!” whose name dictates their on ‘news worthy stories’.

Seems ‘no news is good news’ is truer than once thought.

News values must work within the realms of impact, audience identification, pragmatics and source influence. Impact reels the reader in; it’s that punch line that makes the readers say “Gee Whiz!” (Authur MacEwen, US editor) which works by indentifying that audience that it would impact through culture, location and social values.

One must then turn to the pragmatics of the situation; the news must be ‘everyday worthy’, current affairs and be practical to the audience. It then turn to it’s source influence in PR, who seem to be eternally in a love-to-hate relationship. While journalists constantly criticizes their ability to control and ‘spin’ situations, they are essentially their other half as without PR, media wouldn’t function.

So, what do you expect to see when YOU turn on the news?

Sit Down, You're Rocking The Boat!

Ethics and taste in journalism can be somewhat likened to the balancing of weight in a boat; it need’s to be just right otherwise the whole thing will tip. Therefore, a journalist must balance the scale of what sells in relation to what is in good taste to avoid rocking the boat.

To avoid becoming a titanic remake, Journalists therefore must analyze their reporting based on a ‘grid of ethics’. This papaw’s ad, while employing a sexual innuendo, is still in good taste, and there sit like so on the ‘grid’.

This Coopers ad however, takes their sexual innuendo too far and see’s their boat start to sink to the lower part of the grid marked in ‘bad taste’.

However, while this ad is considered in bad taste, it still does not drift into un ethical waters. Material considered unethical can fall into three categories: Deontology, consequentialism and virtue.

The first, Deontology, follows rules, principals and duties. All ethic codes are deontological and there MUST be followed (otherwise you may have to find yourself deciding whether it’s Jack or Rose who gets to survive on the door…).

Consequentialism’s practice however, relies on simply receiving an outcome that benefits ‘the greater good’, never mind how this was achieved. It works for the ninety-nine percenters, sometimes at the disadvantage of smaller parties, which is usually not the case with journalism virtues.

Virtues rely on journalism ‘goodness’ . These virtues in journalists include courage, justice, temperance and prudence. These virtues create fair and ethical journalists (wouldn’t that be nice?).

Just remember, while money’s pretty, it’s not much use at the bottom of the ocean…