Factual Storytelling: Abuse

Bibliography

Photo 1: Stop Child Abuse. Ronnie Lascano, June 22, 2008
Photo 2: Child Abuse. Axiomamnesia.com. December 17, 2011
Photo 3: Children Argentina. Latin American Herald Tribune. January 4, 2010
Photo 4-16: Argentina 2011. Taken/ Property of myself, Jess Thompson.
Music: Skyscraper Instrumental. Demi Lovato. 2011

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How Does Hitler Say Hello?

The story behind a photo is one that is not often told. Movies have the ability to express the visual of pictures as well as telling the story through the script and sound. There are some movies that take you by surprise. When it makes you cry or burst out in laughter, you know the ticket price was well worth it.

Some scenes stick with you for longer than the movie. The therapy session scene from ‘Patch Adam’ is one that has continued to stay with me since I first saw the movie. No matter how many times I watch it, it makes me burst into laughter every time. So I thought it only fitting to share it with you.

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Lecture 7: Public Media

‘The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens’ (Nigel Milan).  After looking at commercial media last week, it was public media’s turn. Public media’s ‘mission’ is to serve or engage a public audience. Instead of making its income through commercial means, it is supported by its viewers, the public, the taxpayers.

Public media players include the ABC and SBS as well as their branches such as triple j and their various TV stations statistics suggest. When you think about the shows you watch on TV it is more common to find an interest with commercial media stations. However, I, like many of Australian kids, was brought up watching ABC kids. From shows like ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Round the Twist’, the ABC has managed to stick with me through my self-indulgence of kids TV shows, or being interested to see what Jenny is wearing on tonight’s weather report. As for the SBS, I never really watched that as a kid. Perhaps that is because as Dr Redman said, SBS might stand for sex between soccer. Of course when I made this joke to Dad, a noted SBS watcher, he clearly pointed out that the SBS wouldn’t be caught dead referring to soccer as anything other than football. He did not offer an alternative to sex though. As I have gotten older the SBS has become a station I look for, from and old obsession with ‘Big Love’ to watching the occasional ‘Rockwiz’ with Dad. Surprisingly public media does play a large role in the public's, well mine at least, viewing.

Back on topic, as a media of the public, it is important that public media please the public; it needs to have ‘public value’. According to the BBC this means:
·         Embedding a ‘public service ethos’
·         Value for licence fee money
·         ‘Weighing public value against market impact’
·         Public consultation.

Like commercial media, public media has specific functions such as nation building, national heritage, national identity and national conversations. These functions reinforce public media’s mission to provide balanced programming to the public who supports it. 

The issue arising for public media is that it cannot compete with commercial media. Thus public media is criticised for slowly becoming more commercialised. With the introduction of ABC shops and the world game shop by SBS, it is essential that a line be drawn that ensures that public media is still follows the ‘public value’ and provides the viewers with what they are paying for.

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Lecture 6: Commercial Media

Completely ready to write about this week’s lecture I pull out my note book only to find I wrote 3 whole pages of notes. Not the biggest motivation. But unlike I usual upbeat exciting lecture post (hint of sarcasm), I decided this one is going to be a bit more factual.

Putting it simply, commercial media is profit-driven media productions. It, unlike public media, receives no funding by the government. It survives on its own business successes while primarily come from advertisers. Commercial media has become a lot more common today which major players including, Ten, Win, News Limited and the list goes on. These major players produce things from newspapers to films and everything in between.

When looking at commercial media is it essential to look at its main forms and functions.

The issue that arises is can commercial media really deliver on both commercial (profit) and social (‘public trust’) functions? Or is it just about the money?

Due to the social responsibilities of the media in a democratic society there are rules that are put in place to keep it under control.

P Formal State Requirement

P Legal Prescription

P State Oversight

P Statutory – Australia Communications and Media Authority

P Voluntary – Australia Press Council

There are a few other important factors that need to be noted. So much so that if I keep writing this is going to turn into a short novel. So I am going to leave it with some notes that seemed pretty important.

The Ethical Wall: guarantee of commercial-social functions

New controls on commercial media:  1. Government Agency – Regulating Content

                                                                    2. State Press Subsidies

                                                                    3. Licenced Journalism

Style of Commercial Media:  ‘Corrupt; lack of quality; profit over-rides social responsibility’ John McManus

So in the end what has this, commercial media, all led to. Due to the style of commercial media it has resulted in dumbing-down, tabloidization, the ‘desire to please’ and ‘mickey mouse’ news

So things aren’t looking to positive for commercial media. Especially with the decline of advertising revenue for broadcast media being down it means that:

Loss of revenue = loss of investment = loss of money for quality production = more bought-in content (less original) =more repeats of US sitcoms, more reality TV.

Not the nicest looking equation that is for sure.

I wonder if public media can do any better.

I am sure this was an overload of information but I promise I will be back to normal broadcasting next week.

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Make Your Vote Count!

The 24^th of March 2012. This was the date that I got to vote for the very first time. I guess it is kind of a milestone, a true welcome to the adult world. I had learned from my older brother that it is best to go late in the afternoon, that way you don’t have to wait around for ever.  As I walked up to the voting both room I was suddenly being hassled by spokesman for support for their party. Luckily I had been given warning about this to follow the ‘rule’; either talk to all or say no to all. Obviously I went with the latter.

After getting my name ticked off and receiving my ballot sheet I read down through the names.

Chris Davis LNP

Peter Jeremijenko GRN

Stirling Hinchliffe ALP

Karin Hunter KAP

To be completely honest the names didn’t mean that much to me. I only recognised one. So I decided it was best to vote off of parties.

The LNP – Liberal National Party – For my area, these are the new guys. So why would I vote for them, I guess as the new guys they are always the ones who plan on making the change, the question is, is it for the better or the worse? When it comes to my local area there ideas haven’t been talked about that much. So you need to look at the big guys. So what do I think of Mr Newman and Mr Abbott?

The Greens – I guess there are two perspectives of the greens, either they know what they are talking about and it is time to start making a difference of how we live our lives or I see them as ‘tree hugging hippies’. Obviously the greens are making a point, if we don’t save the environment we live in, we won’t be living. The question is, are there more important things to consider first?

The ALP – Australian Labour Party –I can’t remember a time when the ALP wasn’t in power in my local area.  So persuasion for these guys, it is worked so long, why fix what is broken. But then of course there comes the argument of is it not broken because we aren’t trying something different. The ALP has always been our safety net, is it worth throwing that away and trying something new, or is it best to stay safe?

And finally KAP - Katter's Australian Party – These guys are the ones I know very little about. I have of course heard about Katter, but what they represented, I wasn’t quite sure. I am definitely not your ‘hard-core’ feminist type but I must admit it was nice to see a female name of the ballot sheet. Girl Power?!

With these thoughts in mind, what came next? I guess there are a few things that go into your vote, what you like, what you don’t like, who is best going to represent me and finally, my parents. Even though we are told you should vote for who you want hearing you parents bag out a certain party for your entire life makes you dislike them. You vote with your parents because that is what you know, it is safe.

So with that, I took my pencil marked, marked down 1, 2, 3 and 4, placed my sheet in the box and left to go home and wait and see if my vote actually made a difference.

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Famous Photos

When you think of famous photos a millions run through our mind. From the ones that stopped the world such as ‘Tank Man’ or the ‘Vietcong Execution’ to the brighter side like ‘Abbey Road’ or ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ a photo can evoke every emotion. So I thought I would throw in a couple of my favourites.

Caption: Abbey Road. Taken By Iain Macmillan, 1969

 

Caption: Tank Man. Taken By Jeff Widener, 1989

 

Caption: General Nguyen Ngoc Loan Executing a Viet Cong Prisoner in Saigon. Taken By Eddie Adams, 1968

 

 

Caption: Lunch atop a Skyscraper. Taken by Charles Ebbets, 1932.

Caption: Phan Thị Kim Phúc. Taken By Nick Ut, 1972.

Caption: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston. Taken by Neil Leifer, 1965

 

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Sometimes It Is Just a Good Photo

Sometimes a photo doesn’t need a story. Sometimes a photo just works. It can mean something different to every person who looks at it; it might not mean the same thing but it can evoke an emotion in each person. It might be something that is just nice to look at or it might have significance for that person.

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Photos Taken By: Jessica Thompson 2011

Lecture 5: Can You Hear Me?

While I was excited to get to go home an hour early on Monday, I have to admit I was not looking forward to this lecture. I am the person who always has my head phones in my ears, I love music but having to listen to people talking, I was not very excited.

Although after listening to it I was intrigued. I had never really thought about that there was a big difference between radio and TV. I had never really thought about radio as an option for my possible journalism career, mainly because I hate the sound of my voice recorded.

The lecture was centred on an interview with Richard Fidler from ABC Local Radio. If on the off chance I am listening to the radio I am normally flicking between FM stations, however the name rang a bell from sitting in car when dad was listening to the radio (He is an ABC and 4KQ kind of man).

As previously said the main interest that stuck with me was how different radio and television can be. When you watch TV, you are primarily watching TV, but radio is a more personal form of media. It allows you to listen while multitasking; it might be playing in the background as you are washing the dishes or driving to work. It allows you to feel included, as if radio is part of your everyday activity and perhaps the voices are just coming out of you head.

Like all other forms of media there are a few key factors that make a good radio show. Firstly, just like every other media form, pre-production and research is vital. Secondly, you are speaking to an audience so it is important that your pace of speech is an appropriate speed. You don’t want to be talking so fast that no one understands what you are saying. And finally, you need to insure that you are including the listened, keep them interested and actually listening.

The big question for radio is where does it go next? While digital radio has been introduced, it hasn’t really taken off at the same level as digital TV. The are many challenges that continues to face radio. As technology grows and people would rather listen to their iPods to avoid the ads on the radio, it is important that radio keeps up. The question is; how?

While it was nice to have a something a little different I am glad that we are going back to normal lectures next week.

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Capturing the Moment

A lot of the times a photo that captures the moment means a lot more to the person whose moment that was. It takes you back to a time, it retells a memory. It is said ‘If it makes you laugh, if it makes you cry, if it rips out your heart, that’s a good picture." A memory has the ability to do these and having a photo of that memory is priceless.

Below are some photos that for me retell a memory.

Caption: White water rafting in the Andes:  Yes, I am the one screaming in the front.

Caption: El Superclasico: The most amazing time of my life.

While the photo shows only a small part in the story, it definitely recaptures the hectic memory of it. If you want a smile on your face, feel free to check out the story of it: http://opinionthroughmyeyes.wordpress.com/2011/05/19/hola-6-el-superclasico/

Caption: Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia: Sometimes posed photos work.

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Photo Taken by: Jessica Thompson 2011

The Photo That Started It All

I always loved looking through old photos of family and friends but photography had never really interested me. I was lucky enough to go on a school trip to Vietnam and Laos. On our final day in a small town of Luang Prabang a few of us broke off from the rest of the group to find a temple. As we were walking up the hundreds of stairs we saw a monk ahead of us. So with our compact digital cameras we snapped away.

Something about this photo has always resonated with me. The orange of the monk standing out against the dull surroundings seemed just perfect. I fell in love with this photo and thus a passion for photography grew. I loved how travel photography had the ability to capture a moment in time, to capture a memory that was only in my head. It made me think what photos trigger the same response in everyone’s head.

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Photo Taken By: Jessica Thompson 2009