2 NEWS STORIES

For my journalism tutorial.

The facts of the two stories I've asked you to write are below.

Remember, I just want quick, 100 to 150 word radio news stories. File them to the dropbox.

Good luck,

IDEA - DYSFUNCTION

A simple idea: the failure of our rhetoric to match our reality.

Journalists spend ages attempting to craft their stories to make them 'accurate'.

But what happens when you know that what you're meant to report on - be it the assurances contained in the government's 'Asia White Paper', or the solemn protestations of a politician pretending to assure us of 'x' or 'y' - is rubbish . . .

WRITING A STORY

I've written a few comments to help my students as they struggle with writing a news story . . .

FEAR & LOATHING IN THE BEEB

When you see old pictures of Jimmy Saville and hear his catch-cry - "Ow's about that then!" - armed with the knowledge that he preyed on young girls, it's difficult to restrain utter disgust at the way the BBC protected their pin-up pedophile for so long. 

But it can be difficult for a columnist to evoke feelings amongst readers. It's not enough to simply assert Saville/the BBC was/is disgusting - you need to create those emotions amongst the audience. 

I reckon this op-ed piece from Allison Pearson (London Daily Telegraph) is a great example of the style . .  . 

ET TU, SUPERMAN

The unkindest cut of all.

Just like Brutus turning his dagger on Julius Caesar, Superman has departed the Daily Planet. He won't be using his alias as a reporter any more, because, let's face it, there soon won't be a paper to report for.

This extract is straight from the amazing;

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/60460/superman-quits-the-daily-planet

BBC UNDERAGE SEX DRAMA COVER-UP

Over in the UK todays 'big scandal' is, understandably, the BBC coverup of the Jimmy Savile affair (the now-deceased preformer was, apparently, effectively able to utilise the Corporation as a procurement agency to provide him with underage girls for sex).

The BBC's current Director General appeared overnight at a parliamentary inquiry into the affair http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/jimmy-savile/9628228/Jimmy-Savile-George-Entwistle-heckled-by-BBC-reporters-after-brutal-grilling-from-MPs.html .

What astounds me is a comment half way through this report . . .

REPORTING THE COURTS

Those in my journalism tutorials will be aware the next couple of weeks are involved with reporting the courts. Your assignment will be worth about a third of the marks for the course.

The details of the work are on the Moodle page.

This is a bit extra . . .

QUESTION THE DOGMA

This excellent piece by another blogger;

http://noahpinionblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/myths-of-ancient-china.html

makes the simple point that it's vital to question every bit of received dogma.

NEWS AND FEATURES

Of course the big gaffe that everyone is focussing on is the current one . . . that supposedly 47 percent of US citizens don't pay taxes and only budge on the ones that do.

But there was an earlier gaffe, that US columnist Gail Collins nails here.

REPORTING TUT: HOW MANY JOURNO'S

Not many people managed to find out how the job market for journo's has changed over the past decade or predict how it may change in the years to come.

Journalism isn't called the 4th Estate (after the clergy, nobility and commoners) for nothing. Telling stories about society is, and always will be, important.

How many people do this, and how well they're paid, is a different matter . . .

REPORTING TUT: THE ONLINE MEDIA

This post considers the importance/relevance of the online media.

It seems to me one of the most vital elements of journalism is editing. The knowledge that someone else has done some of the sorting and correcting inspires confidence and results in a broad audience. But today the old model of journalism is under threat.

Who will do the editing in the future?

REPORTING TUT: SAME FACTS - VERY DIFFERENT STORIES

The same facts can often be used to justify two different 'takes' on an issue, depending on your point of view.

Here's an example of different interpretations of the same statistics. This time with regard to Climate Change. How would you interpret the statistics?  What qualifiers would you leave in?

REPORTING TUT: NIALL FERGUSON, NEWS OR COMMENT

Where exactly does the boundary lie between News (note the capital letter) and commentary?

Take Niall Ferguson. As an historian, he attempts to anchor his arguments in fact. News is, of course, fact. But our definition of fact can still be problematic.

An article he wrote has polarised opinion in the US and fired many liberals with fury at the way he has misrepresented facts, as I attempt to show for anyone in my Tutorials who's interested . . .

REPORTING TUTORIALS

Hi to those in my reporting tutorials at the University of Canberra.

Because I'm still new to Moodle I'm going to maintain this as a duplicate site - providing general information about the course, some working notes for the particular weekly tutorials, and finally some more general thoughts about journalism with, hopefully, some extra reading you may be interested in following up on.

Enjoy!

And, by the way, I can always be contacted on nicstuart@hotmail.com by anyone . . .