Responsibilities of Media Outlets: Generating Awareness.

My last post looked at the shocking truths the media was revealing by interviewing those most affected by coal seam gas mining epidemic – the citizens living in the mined areas. The 60 Minutes program on Channel 9 also portrayed shocking stories of companies building gas extractors on land belonging to everyday people, much like you & me. Furthermore, it highlighted the fact that Government mining officials themselves do not even know the full effect that this new type of mining will have on the environment, which is one of many reasons that makes this issue so prevalent.

Since this issue hits members of society the hardest, I thought that it may be a good idea to seek opinions of local residents living in the Illawarra community, testing their knowledge, awareness and levels of concern of the issue. This led me to asking two of my family members what they knew about the issue, how they were made aware, and their opinion on the matter. Each person interviewed was from a different demographic, the first being my grandmother, aged 87. Generally, she did not know all that much about the issue, having only heard about local efforts protesting against the issue. However, when I informed her of other undertakings being carried out by coal seam gas miners, she felt it was an atrocious and despicable act. The second interviewee was a member of generation Y, and also a university student. This person was baffled when I poised the question as to how they felt about coal seam gas mining, and I had to first explain the process before they were able to voice their opinion on the matter.

Overall, I strongly think that it is the media who is at fault for the lack of awareness that I discovered when conducting my interviews. Increasingly more and more extraction stations are being constructed, and more families are being driven from their homes and properties. I think the media has a responsibility to be placing the issue under the media spotlight for a sufficient time period to generate enough awareness because horrors of the coal seam gas industry are creeping closer towards our doorsteps.

Reflecting On Convergence

Throughout this vigorous session I have published several blog posts focusing on the topics and issues that concern convergent media practices in my subject BCM112. As per the assessments’ requirements, I have chosen what I feel to be my three strongest blog posts, which are listed below.

Transmedia Storytelling – A Collective Effort.

The first post I have chosen is one I pieced together in week 6. This post explains the practices of Transmedia storytelling, primarily focusing on on blockbuster franchises. It also explores how this practice allows audiences to experiences worlds that are not just a single story, but also multiple stories that collaborate into one big pervasive one. This post draws upon information from both the lecture and supplied readings in the tutorial guide, for the relevant week.

The conclusion lands at the notion that transmedia storytelling is forever changing the way we as viewers engage with entertainment, and in the era of collective intelligence, it (transmedia storytelling) is the ideal visual platform to build on this practice.

Collective Intelligence: Fuelling the Flames of Online Discrimination?

This week’s topic was of heightened interest to me, as online discrimination is a contemporary issue in our society, and is showing no signs of slowing down. This post exclusively looked at the detrimental effects online abuse can have on individuals and social groups.

My research led me to discover that hate speech is not a form of free speech, and while everyone is entitled to an opinion, trollers and flamers generally pay no attention to the matter being discussed in online areas such as forums and Twitter.  Furthermore, online campaigns such as #mencallmethings are doing all they can to raise awareness and combat the issue.

Citizen Journalism: Giving Power To The People.

This week’s topic was also of interest to me, as the rise of citizen journalism through technological advances is something I am quite fascinated by. Prior to my research I remained quite static on my opinion that there were few negatives surrounding this style of journalism. However, I was unaware of the true span of citizen journalism and how something as simple as ‘retweeting’ a post can be considered practice.  I found that while Civic Media may increase user participation, it challenges the journalistic code that the profession swears by, causing problems for journalists everywhere.

Collective Intelligence: Fuelling the Flames of Online Discrimination?

The Internet has helped a new kind of global public sphere to manifest in the ever-changing digital age. The Internet is a powerful tool, as it combines user participation with its unmatched networking capabilities However, online participatory culture can also have detrimental effects on individuals and social groups.

It is not an uncommon to hear of individuals being targeted and discriminated against in the online community due to their gender, sexual-orientation, race and of course, appearance. These practices are most common on online social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Given that the very backbone of social networking involves sharing personal information, voicing our free speech and personal opinion, it is no wonder that cyber-bulling has become a common practice in the cyber realm; given that there are no visible or immediate consequences for the keyboard warriors living amongst us.

The Internet is a place for collective intelligence to blossom and grow, however Youtube videos such as the ‘Search Racist. Jews.’ was created to elucidate the sheer crudeness of ideas that can be formed through this collaborative effort that we have all come to love and cherish.

Anonymity is a major factor in the amount of misogyny that women experience online. Dreher (2012) shed light on a campaign named #mencallmethings aimed at highlighting the number of people on twitter posting abusive misogynous emails and posts sent to female bloggers online.

While the dark side of online participatory culture may harbour many negatives, campaigns such as #mencallmethings are taking steps in the right direction by raising awareness of the issue in the fight against identity-based discrimination online. However, I firmly believe that for as long as anonymity exists on the Internet, online discrimination will always remain a problem due to the participatory nature of the beast.

References:

Dreher, T 2012, ‘#mencallmethings: Identity and Difference Online’, lecture, BCM112, Convergent Media Practices, University of Wollongong, delivered 07 May.

StopRacismUCT 2010, Search Racist. Jews., accessed 08/05/2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBjQX3sfSRo

Edited 11/05/2012

Citizen Journalism: Giving Power To The People.

Prior to the digital age, mainstream media and news outlets were almost exclusively regarded as the only form of acceptable and informative sources of information. The media was streamlined, both through print and television, and a very sanitized method of reporting was used, however there has been an apparent shift in the balance of news dissemination within traditional news media outlets.

Today, in the midst of the digital age, we are seeing more and more news reports (especially world news), being reported on with the aid of citizen journalism. I have previously blogged about the powers of citizen journalism, and its ability to give the voiceless. Raw, unedited footage has the power to allow viewers to engage with the content more, and to focus less on the bias little spin whichever news corporation is trying to spurt out with the story. This type of media is referred to as Civic Media, as it increases public participation enabling the exchange of meaningful information, and increases the agency of a citizen (Mitew, 2012).

This new style of journalism in the digital age is challenging the practices of old, and I think it is a very positive step towards a more transparent relay of contemporary information within society. Gatekeeping is the practice I refer to, and it has been defined as basically the manipulation of information in order to make it appropriate for the news media realm (Lewis et. al. 2010, pp. 164-165). I also feel that there is a correlation between gatekeeping and sanitized reporting, as they both share similar principles.

When thinking about citizen journalism, while it has become increasingly more prevalent with online media outlets and television, the world of print media remains just as rigid as it previously was. Overall, citizen journalism, aided with technology has created a gateway for those who were once considered to be the audience, to wield the powers of the media, relaying news to fellow citizens, at their own volition.

References

Lewis, C 2010, ‘Thinking about citizen journalism: the philosophical and practical challenges of user generated content for community newspapers’, Journalism Practice, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 163-179, accessed 01/05/2012.

Mitew, T 2012, Citizen Journalism, BCM112, Convergent Media Practices, University of Wollongong, delivered 02 May 2012.

Edited 10/05/2012