Week 9.

Chapter 9.
It depends on the situation as to whether I would use a direct quote that is accurate but embarrassing to the speaker or one that is inexact but benefits them.
If poor language within a direct quote establishes character or contributes to the tone and theme of the story I would include it. A current example of this is George Bush’s recent ‘OPEC meeting,’ blunder. In this situation I would definitely use this direct quote because it provides an accurate insight into how incompetent Bush is at addressing the public.
If however, a citizen has been caught off guard and has made a number of small grammatical errors, I would edit these, thus using a quote that is inexact but improves the image of the speaker.
According to News Limited’s Style: A guide for journalists , “It is acceptable to tidy up people’s minor grammatical faults” (2003, p. 137).
Thus, by doing this I would not be altering the basis of their quote, but simply tidying it up.

2. Yes it is justifiable for a journalist to intimidate a source with a threat of ‘public exposure’ to get important public information. This is stated by Mencher (1994) as he states that “ Some stories require pressing sources to the point of discomfort, or implying a threat should they fail to respond. Journalism often becomes the business of making people say what they would prefer to keep to themselves” (p.304).

3. Within the text book, Conley and Lamble (2006) suggest that personal chemistry based on physical appearance can affect an interview. They state that giving more credence or paying more attention to sources because they are perceived to be attractive is unprofessional.
This question however asks if it is a reasonable strategy to use personal chemistry to get information from sources when there is public interest at stake. I believe that it is a very good strategy, because according to the Conley and Lamble, studies indicate that people react differently to others depending on whether they find them attractive or not. (2006). This suggests that if your interviewee thinks you are attractive, they may be willing to give you more information than they would to someone who is unattractive. So, of course you are going to use your looks to entice the interviewee into giving you more information.


4. When a confidential source is concerned, there are a number of potential dangers that can come back to haunt a journalist who gets too close to the source. A journalist could end up in court facing charges of contempt if there is subsequent legal action from the story and they refuse to divulge the identity of the source. They can also face far more dire consequences from being too close to a source such as holding the source’s life, job, health and welfare in their hands. This is because in some cases, sources whose identities have been revealed by journalists have been murdered while others have lost jobs, families and their health. ( Conley and Lamble, 2006).
Therefore, there are a number of great responsibilities that a journalist must uphold when they get too close to a source and these may affect the lives of the source.

5. The most inarticulate, word-mangling public figure regularly in the news at present is George Bush. A current example of this is his recent blunder at the APEC summit when he called it the OPEC summit along with stating that John Howard had visited Austrian troops in Iraq. What he meant was Australian Troops. Coverage of this is available on the website: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/08/2027414.htm
I do not feel sorry for Bush at all and I would refuse to clean up his direct quotes because as President of the United States, it is his responsibility to know what he is talking about and as a result, accurately address the public. I believe that the public has a right to know about the ridiculous statements Bush uses in order to allow them to determine their own opinion towards him.


Chapter 14.
1. Seeing as I do not know what The Weekend Australian Magazine is, I analysed the cover story of last weekend’s edition of the Weekender. This story was written by my friend’s cousin, Ben Quinn and was about Tori Amos releasing her new album.
The introduction used within this article clearly fits into the summary style of intro. This is because it gives a brief overview of the main points that are covered within the article. It mentions not only her new album, but her struggle in fighting against the stereotyping of women’s gender associated roles within a male dominated society.
The intro sentence focuses solely on her journey for female justice within society as essentially, this forms the inspiration for her new album. The use of passionate, emotive language within this sentence such as “ a provocative advocate sympathetic to the so-called ‘place’ of women in a testosterone- fuelled society” (Quinn, 2007, p.12), captivates readers into reading the story.

The writing style of this article follows the focus structure. According to Conley and Lamble (2006), “The focus structure begins with an individual’s plight or circumstance, which is then carried forward through transition into the larger issue” (p. 341).
This article clearly follows this structure because it begins discussing her plight for women’s rights and then goes on to discuss her new album.
Obviously there is a justifier which promotes her new album and tour. The closer does refer back to the introduction, as it provides details of her upcoming performance in Newcastle to showcase her new album.


2. I do think that newspapers should give more prominence to feature articles as I believe promoting them is a way to increase newspaper sales.
Although persons aged 30 and up may be too busy to care about feature articles and are more concerned about reading the hard news facts out of a sense of duty, I know that myself and my peers read newspapers mainly for the feature articles.
Seeing as the younger generation are magazine worshipers rather than devout readers of newspapers, feature articles which consist of expressive language and flair tend to grasp the attention of this audience when it comes to newspapers.
Therefore, I believe that if newspapers gave more prominence to feature stories, they would appeal to a larger spectrum of readers and this would consequently increase sales.

3. Personally, I do believe that newspapers should be expected to limit cheap ‘imported’ features about Hollywood stars to make room for Australian writers and subjects.
Although staffing more Australian journalists will cost more money, I believe we should support our own nation rather than financing overseas and gaining trivial gossip in return.
Also, when you look at Australian magazines they are becoming covered with American stars and gossip. Do we really want our newspapers to turn out like this? We rely on newspapers to provide us with reliable information about what is occurring within our own nation and therefore, I think that it is important that we do not let market forces guide us and we try and keep our newspapers Australian orientated.

4. Yes I would like to be a full time feature article writer. I believe that I would enjoy working creatively with written language.
According to Conley and Lamble (2006) feature writing is enormously satisfying and involves researching, finding experts, interviewing and marshalling facts before the writing process starts. They also suggest it gives journalists space and freedom to work with language such as analogies, metaphors and sensory appeal compared to news reporting which is straight to the point.
For these reasons I believe I would enjoy writing feature articles more than news reports, as I have learnt throughout this course that sometimes I feel a little restricted by the constraints news articles demand.

5. Personally, after reading this chapter I believe that being a feature writer differs from a columnist in a number of ways.
This chapter explains that although feature writers build articles around news values, these values are expressed in a softer, broader and less obvious manner in comparison to news reports.
Conley and Lamble (2006) state that the best feature writer tells a story by showing, rather than telling, however news stories stress the importance of telling as they do not have the space to show. They also explain that feature writing relies more on how a story is written whereas news writing relies on why.
Conley and Lamble (2006) also suggest feature writers have more space and freedom to work with language such as analogies, metaphors and sensory appeal compared to news reporting which is straight to the point.
Keeble (1994) supports this, as he notes that feature articles “tend to contain more comment, analysis, colour, background and a greater diversity of sources than news stories and explore a large number of issues at a greater depth"(p.244).
Columnists however, usually write opinion pieces. Although they too are built around news values, they are much shorter than feature articles and therefore, tend to encompass only one major issue and be straight to the point. This means that unlike features, they tell rather than show.
Being a columnist is also quite different to being a feature writer because while feature writers have to be skilled in using colourful, descriptive language, columnists need to be persuasive and precise to get their intended message across skillfully.
Thus, there are major differences between the skills used by columnists and feature writers, the main one being that columnists tell and feature writers show.

Journalism issue for the week.
Within chapter nine, the information under the subheading ‘Appearances are not deceiving,’ stressed the importance of first impressions and therefore I found it very interesting.
Growing up we are all told to never judge a book by its cover and that it's what’s on the inside that counts. But deep down, we all knew that when it came to first impressions, attractive people were liked more than those who are less fortunate looking or those who didn’t have the right brands of clothes. Although unfair, it was and still is very true. Even though people who are not as fortunate usually turn out to be 100% more genuine and caring than those who are, in the world of journalism, success means you need to impress quickly.
Conley and Lamble (2006) state within this chapter that a journalist is expected to dress to suit the environment they are interviewing in, or likewise the person. An example they provide is a reporter who is proceeding to interview street kids wearing a suit and tie.
I believe that this would cause the street kids to be cautious or even resentful of the reporter, as he is dressed to resemble the life they desire. As a result, the reporter would not gain as accurate or in-depth information as he would like.
If however, he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt perhaps the children would see him as approachable and more of an equal, thus consequently causing them to provide him with valuable information.
Alternatively, you would not dress casually to attend a business convention, as this would result in you being considered as not only disrespectful, but incompetent.
I therefore learnt that appearance is important within journalism and seeing as I am interested in fashion, this issue appealed to me.



References:

Conley, D., & Lamble, S. (2006). Interviewing, a core skill. In Conley, D., & Lamble, S. (Eds.), The daily miracle: An introduction to journalism. (3rd ed). (pp. 182- 211). Victoria: Oxford.

Conley, D. & Lamble, S. (2006). Featuring writing. In Conley, D & Lamble, S. (Eds.), The daily miracle: An introduction to journalism. (3rd ed). (pp. 315-346). Victoria: Oxford.

Keeble, R. (1994). The newspapers handbook. London: Routledge.

Mencher, M. (1994). News reporting and writing. Dubuque: Brown & Benchmark.

News Limited (2003). Style: A guide for journalists. Sydney: Nationwide News Pty Ltd.

Quinn, B. (2007, September 8). I am women, Weekender, pp. 12-13.