Christina's Media Log

Over a two-week period I undertook a study to investigate my personal media use from varying levels, as well as a wider study of media use from people in my age group. From this I will evaluate the impact that some media outlets may have on today’s journalism and communications in our society. The information gathered highlights my use of new media sources and the lack of traditional media sources such as newspapers and the radio. This is not only seen in my personal media use but is also part of a wider pattern of media use and production.

 

From the pie graph above it indicates that my main media use was television, followed by the Internet. However the nature of my television viewing is purely for entertainment value and therefore is not a major source of news or current affairs. On the other hand I use the Internet for a various purposes, which are more closely relevant to journalism and current affairs. This indicates a changing medium to that of ‘old media’ outlets, such as the radio or newspaper to a new and easily accessible technology based format.

This bar graph above shows the specific types of Internet media I used and the extent I used it, with Facebook being the most prominent visited site. Facebook is a social networking site, which I visit daily as it allows me to easily and instantly connect with friends and updates me regularly with both social, and news events. This directly correlates to a survey taken of UQ Journalism students indicating Facebook as the most visited Internet site. Facebook is used all over the world and has over 400 million users. With Facebook able to reach such a large group of people it makes it a popular choice of communication and information source. As a result journalism and communication has had to adapt and use Facebook as media source for communication. Currently 1.5million pieces of content, such as web links, news stories or photos are uploaded daily onto Facebook further highlighting the transition from traditional media forms to ones such as Facebook that center around the social networking scene.

One of the most significant changes in media use and production is the way in which we view the news. The pie graph above represents my news sources which predominately are online newspapers. Throughout the two weeks of logging my media use I did not once use a newspaper as a source for current affairs. This is not only reflected through my media diary but also new trends of media use and production in society. Out of the 25 major newspapers in the world 24 have shown a record decline in circulation. Moreover the survey of university students shows that 90.6% of students also received their news from online newspapers. With the abundant resources online that supply the latest news, easy access and more visual media the fundamental communication aspect of journalism has developed into an online-based media outlet. Although I did use the radio occasionally to listen to news updates and newspapers are still widely use the data collected illustrates a fast moving change from these types of media outlets to ones mostly found online.

The information collected through logging my personal media use is a clear indication that my relationship to Journalism and Communication is essentially based on online media outlets. This relationship is further represented in new trends in media production and use, signifying a change from traditional media outlets to online-based media. Additionally with Internet enabled phones we can now check, update and post content on the web anytime, anywhere we want thus making the Internet one of the most important media outlets for journalism.

Kebab Ban?

This type of ban smacks of a racist opinion and is unbecoming of an enlightened society. Forbidding the sale of kebabs in Italy will soon lead to the forbidding the sale of bagels in stores, the sale of pizza, the sale of "foreign foods," anywhere in the world. Who's to say what food is "foreign?" Why does this mayor get to choose the foodstuffs that are or aren't allowed? This smacks of dictatorial powers run amok.


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15303072,00.html

Katie Piper: My beautiful face

I just watch the documentary from 2009 about Katie Piper. She was the girl who had sulphuric acid thrown on her face. The documentary was primarily about the aftermath and how she is dealing with life, I just think it is such a crazy story. She started dating a man, Daniel Lynch, who she had met through Facebook. After two weeks of dating they booked hotel room after having a dinner out. There Lynch raped her for eight hours, stabbed her several times in the arm and threatened to cut her with a razor. Piper got treated for her injuries at a hospital but did not explain to the doctors how she sustained them.

Two days later, Piper went to an internet cafe that Lynch had convinced her to go to so she could read the messsage he has sent her via Facebook. Stefan Sylvester, a friend of Lynch and who was instructed by Lynch, approached Piper and then threw a sulphuric acid on her face. She immediately ran into a local cafe where they called an ambulance.

The injuries Piper sustained were horrific. Initially the medics couldn't even touch her because of the risk presented by the acid, that had not yet been identified. She had to wait an hour before anything could be done to help salvage her face. The acid blinded her in her left eye and caused severe burns. The skin on Piper's face was completely removed and replaced with a skin substitute. After the surgery Piper was put into an induced coma for 12 days where her weight dropped to 38 kg. She now wears a face mask for 23 hours a day.

A year after the attack Piper got justice for the crimes committed against her. Daniel Lynch is now serving two life sentences with a minimum of 16 years while Stefan Sylvester is serving one life sentence with a minimum of 12 years. Her documentary is inspirational and thought this quote from Piper pretty much sums it up.

"I'm not going to be a victim. I'm the woman who got through this. Im full of life and looking forward to the future"

Injured man robbed in London riots.

As the riots in London continue to escalate, we are learning of more and more horrible incidents. One, which I found on nine msn, I thought was particularly awful. You may have already seen it but it is a man who is clearly injured from the riots being robbed by the people who initially were helping him.


http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=6C37F2BA-DBBA-480D-A981-BC65C3827E89&mediaid

Lecture 2: Tell Factual Stories With Text

This week we had guest lecture Rod Chester from the courier mail come speak to us. He was a very animated speaker which made the lecture really interesting. My favourite part of the lecture was when he went through the all the different examples of how to begin a feature article that encourages the reader to continue on. A key point in his lecture was the inverted pyramid, which is the basic structure for news writing.

In this lecture he talked extensively about how to start a good feature article.

- The question intro - Starting it off with a question that intrigues the reader that you then proceed to answer

- Reverse psychology, rhythm/rhyme/reason, Sneaky Bastard (at first...) makes the reader what learn what changed, Set the scene, simple statements, the dumb question (asking a stupid question, who would of thought?, an observation, mystery, storytime, irony, what's next....?, the everyday.

- This was good going through all the different ways you can start a feature article to entice the reader to continue and how pivotal it is to whole story because without a good introduction that makes the reader actually want to read the article would be a failure.

The Basics.

Hello,

My name is Christina Kouvaras and I am first year study Bachelor of Arts, maybe majoring in Art History. I am thinking of switching to journalism and arts next year or if I can possibly arts/law, only because I am not sure what i can do with the degree I am doing. So far I am really enjoying this subject and am looking forward to this semester. I am an awkward person and feel awkward writing this blurb about myself, but here it is.