Saturday, March 24, 2012

GlobalMedia: International Journalism: Being a Journalist in a Foreign Place (U5-P3)

Imagine being a journalist in a far off land.

Wouldn't be easy, would it?

First, you may, depending on where you are and what you are covering, be physically harmed or killed.  See Anderson Cooper clip below, for just one example.  And, if you are curious, check out some recent news about about foreign journalists being hurt or killed in the past month.




It is also not easy being a foreign journalist because you may misread/misunderstand what you are covering in that foreign land.  It is a challenge.




P. Eric Louw, in his chapter "Journalist Reporting from Foreign Places" in Global Journalism: Topical Issues and Media Systems (4th Edition), writes about the challenges of being a foreign journalist.






Thesis of chapter:
  • “Journalist coverage of foreign places increasingly influences the governance of those places.” (e.g., CNN effect.)
  • “The emergence of international governance based on foreign news-driven mediated realities has inherent dangers."

“Double Misreadings”?
  • “Relying on the news media to understand distant places inherently produces a double misreading because…”
    • Journalist can misread the news event and
    • We (the audience) can misread what the journalist is saying.
  • “journalists generally are not equipped to read distant contexts, and neither are their audiences.


Journalist misread for several reasons.
  1. “First, journalists arriving in a new context are foreigners [who don’t know the history, the religions, etc.]
  2. “Misreadings also occur because journalists carry their cultural biases with them when reporting in a foreign context.”
    1. e.g. American values/ways of doing things being seen as normal. Seeing foreign ways as “incomprehensible” or “despicable”.
  3. “…the journalistic practice of deploying simplistic labels.” 
    1. Taking a complex, sometimes chaotic situation/place and putting into 20 words or less and putting it in a way that U.S. audience will relate to.  “ethnic cleansing” label “white supremacy” label used in coverage of S.A.
  4. “…journalists routinely use binary oppositions when describing foreign contexts”   Related to #3  
    1. Common characters in a news story: “good guys” vs. “bad guys” Other characters?  Common plot?  Again, oversimplification.
  5. “…when sent to report on foreign contexts, journalists tend to (subconsciously) select contacts with whom they feel comfortable working…”
  6. “…foreign issues are read in terms of ‘home’ understandings and agendas.” 
    1. e.g., S.A. anti-apartheid struggle = U.S. civil rights struggle.  Similar to # 3

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GlobalMedia: International Journalism: The CNN Effect & the Social Media Effect (U5-P2)


In his book, Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, Thomas McPhail defines the CNN effect as "the process by which the coverage of a foreign event by CNN causes that event to be a primary concern for its audience, which in turn forces the federal government to act."  One could add to the U.S. government, then as part of its foreign policy, may influence foreign governments/peoples through direct action (e.g., war) or through sanctions.  See video clip.



Does CNN still have this influence on foreign policy?  Any other news networks, U.S. or otherwise, have this influence?  Any other form of media now has this influence?  Think: Arab Spring (see first 2 minutes).  Think: Kony2012 (see short clip).  What role does social media play in shaping foreign policy?  How's that process work?

The "social media effect" is defined here as the process by which the coverage of an event on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. causes that event to be a primary concern for its audiences around the world, which in turn forces foreign governments to act, thus further influencing the event.

See clip below for more the idea of social media effect.


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GlobalMedia: International Journalism: 4 Theories of the Press (U5-P1)

In the late 1950s Siebert, Peterson and Schramm (Wilbur) identified four types of press systems that existed in countries up until the 1950s.

They published their findings in their book titled Four Theories of the Press: The Authoritarian, Libertarian, Social Responsibility and Soviet Communist Concepts of What the Press Should Be and Do (Illini Books)

In the book they highlight the relationship between the form of government that a nation has and the press that operates within it.
The four theories:

  1. Authoritarian
    1. Purpose: To serve and promote the government/rulers
    2. Ownership of Press: private or public
    3. Notes/Examples: England/Western European countries 19th century and before; Afghanistan under the Taliban
  2. Soviet-Communist
    1. Purpose: To serve and promote the government or the Communist party
    2. Ownership of Press: public
    3. Notes/Examples: Soviet Union and other communist countries
  3. Libertarian
    1. Purpose: To inform (i.e., present the facts) and monitor the government
    2. Ownership of Press: Mostly private
    3. Notes/Examples: England
  4. Social Responsibility
    1. Purpose: To monitor the government.  While another purpose is to inform (i.e., present the facts to) the citizens, this press system goes beyond just presenting the facts to promoting understanding and discussion/debate related to those facts.  
    2. Ownership of Press: Private
    3. Notes/Examples: U.S., Canada

What would it be like being a journalism student or a journalist working in these different press systems?

Do you think that these four theories still adequately describe the types of press systems that operate in the countries of today?  Does, for example, the introduction on social media, require modifications to the four theories?

The work of Siebert, Peterson and Schramm has received criticism and updating.  If you are interested, see for example the following books.

Last Rights: Revisting Four Theories of the Press (History of Communication)

Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies (History of Communication)


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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

DigPhotog: Photojournalism and Captions

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

If that is true for news photographs, then the caption (the verbal description) for the photograph, is like the lead to a thousand word story.

In a news article, the first few sentences of the story is the lead.  The lead tells the reader the who-what-when-where, why and how of the story. Packed into the lead is quick overview of the whole news story.*


So, as Kobre' points out in his book, Photojournalism: The Professionals' Approach, a caption should tell the reader/viewer the who, what, when, where, why and how of the photograph.  The caption serves the same purpose as a lead in a written news story. [If you interest is specifically in photojournalism, I'd strongly recommend Kobre's book.]

The 5 W's and the H of a news story (or in this case, a news photograph):
  • Who - who is the news event about, who is in the photo?
  • What - what happened in the news event, what is happening in the photo?
  • When - when did the news event happen, when was the photo taken?
  • Where - where did the news event happen, where was the photo taken?
  • Why (1) - why did the news event happen, what happened that lead to the photograph, what happened before?
  • Why (2) - what is the significance of the news event, why is it important to us, what is going to happen after this event?
  • How - how did the event happen?

So, a lead in a news story should answer the who, what, when, where and how of the new event and sometimes it'll address the why and how.

Now, if a caption of a news photograph is like the lead of a news story, then what does a caption include.

The Associated Press recommends a caption should contain two concise sentences. The first sentence of the caption should include the who, what, when and where.  The second sentence should provide the background information on the how and the why, especially the significance of the news event.

Tip: Start the first sentence with the most important thing to your audience.  If who is important, then start with who.  For example, if a celebrity is the who, then you'll probably want to start your sentence with that person's name. If the where is important, then start your first sentence with where.  For example, if a disease is breaking out is a certain area, then the location or where, is probably more important.

Check out AP's Top Photos of the Week page for current examples of news photographs and their captions. Hover the mouse over the photos to see the captions.  The the AP photographers and photo editors practice what the AP style guidelines recommend?


* We're especially talking about hard news stories here.

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DigPhotog: Controlling Light (F-Stops, Shutter Speed, ISO, etc.) [VID]

As a photographer, your task is to control light. You are a master of light.

When you turn that dial from "auto" to "manual", you are taking control of the light coming into your camera.  Two key ways of controlling the amount of light coming into your camera are by setting the f-stop and the shutter speed.

For a partial introduction to f-stops and shutter speed, check out the following video excerpt from Brian Ratty's video series (Digital Photography - The Camera (Tutorial DVD)). The videos are now a little dated, but still cover the basics well.



F-stops and shutter speeds are not the only ways you can control light.  You can adjust the ISO settings or use flash, for example.  You can adjust f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO, flash, etc. to get just the right amount of light into your camera -- that perfect exposure.




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Thursday, March 15, 2012

New photo on my Flickr: "Spring Time"



Title: "Spring Time"
Photographer: William Hart, Ph.D.
Description: "Flowers a bloomin. Bees a buzzin. @NSU"
Taken: March 14, 2012 at 08:01AM
(C) William Hart






Tuesday, March 13, 2012

DigPhotog: An Intro to Photojournalism [VID]

The following videos provide a good overview of photojournalism from rules and tips to what it is like to be a photojournalist.

In the first video pay close attention to (1) the definition of photojournalism, (2) the three key rules of journalism/photojournalism, (3) the rules of the field and (4) the tips for being a good photojournalist.

1. "Photojournalism Tutorial"


2. "A Day in the Life of a Photojournalist"


3. "Insight into Photojournalism - David Dare Parker"


4. A Student Slideshow on Photojournalism (very informative - A+)



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Monday, March 12, 2012

MyMusic: "Someone Like You (Live)" - Adele [VID]

Link to video



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Saturday, March 3, 2012

Fav YouTube Clip: Critical Thinking Part 1: A valuable argument [VID]

I just added "Critical Thinking Part 1: A valuable argument" as a favorite on my YouTube channel.

Originally uploaded to YouTube by techNyouvids.

See Video: Critical Thinking Part 1: A valuable argument
Description: "Part 1 of the TechNyou critical thinking resource. The resource covers basic logic and faulty arguments, developing student's critical thinking skills. Suitable for year 8-10, focused on science issues, the module can be adapted to suit classroom plans. The resource is found here: https://education.technyou.edu.au/critical-thinking Transcript can be found here: http://technyou.edu.au/fun-stuff/videos/video-transcripts/ Continued in Part 2: Broken Logic: http://youtu.be/VRZk62QNOsM Animated and directed by James Hutson, Bridge8. Written by Mike Mcrae and James Hutson"

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Fav #DailyShow Clip of the Week: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson [VID]

One of my favorite science educators, Neil deGrasse Tyson, was on the Daily Show recently.

The Daily Show with Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Neil deGrasse Tyson
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogThe Daily Show on Facebook


One of my favorite Tyson vids about science literacy.




More links to Tyson on the web.



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Friday, March 2, 2012