Journalism: don't take it too seriously

Firstly, let’s get one thing straight: journalism is a great and noble profession (in my biased opinion). That being said, there are times when some journalists simply take themselves way too seriously. Yes, we are often reporting on issues and events which require a high level of knowledge, skill and sensitivity but there are times when that can all become a little too much. Though I would never wish any kind of misfortune on my journalistic friends (or myself for that matter) I have no problem with having a laugh at those journalists who just didn’t get it right. Whether it’s a misquote, a mishap, or a moment of pure stupidity, sometimes it’s good to step back and have a laugh at the idiot journalist who just didn’t get it right. That being said here is a few videos that showcase bad/funny journalism at its best.

Language warning

The Joys of Dropbox

Just a quick post today to blatantly promote Dropbox.com. I discovered this site earlier in the year; it lets you upload word documents, images, videos and just about anything else you can think of to the World Wide Web. The site has pretty much replaced my USB as I never have to worry about all the things that can go wrong when using one i.e. losing it, forgetting it, or everything magically being wiped from it with no explanation (it’s happened before). Dropbox lets you organise your files into different folders, much like a USB, but it also goes one step further and allows you to share folders with other Dropbox users. This is particularly handy when trying to coordinate group assignments for uni or any documents that need to be available 24/7 to everyone at work. And finally, since I always have to comment on the aesthetic and “feel” of a site, Dropbox is just the way I like it. Clean lines, lots of white space, and a neutral colour palette.

Is The News Too Depressing?

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who was complaining about the amount of “depressing news” that is reported every day. In her words; “it’s enough to make you want to top yourself”. A little dramatic perhaps but it got me thinking. It’s true traditional media does report a lot on issues that generally fall into the negative, depressing and unsettling category; however, online journalism has found a way to balance the news scale much better than its more traditional counterparts. The half-hour TV or radio news bulletin doesn’t have time to run anything other than the major stories of the day. They give a quick break-down of national and global events, plus address any local issues, finance, weather and sport and it’s all over. Online journalism has room to breathe; it has an infinite amount of resources, space and time and can give the reader a wide range of stories because of this. The deadline for online journalism may be “now” but the opportunity for updates and expansion are there 24/7 meaning a more consistent form of coverage is available. Along with this, a much wider range of coverage is possible and this is where my friend has got it wrong. Many of the most popular news sites, such as news.com, ninemsn, and yahoo!7, offer an abundance of entertainment and “soft” news. All you have to do is follow on the link and you can enjoy hours of entertaining, funny, and often downright weird stories the news has to offer. While the “real” news may take up the majority of space in most publications, programmes, and websites it’s nice to know that with online news a happy story is only a click away.

Reporting victims names: ninemsn at its worst

Yesterday morning the body of a teenage girl was found in her Paddington house in Brisbane; around the same time her mother jumped to her death from the Story Bridge, leaving her 12 year-old son sitting in the car only metres away. It is not known how the young girl died but early reports indicate she was stabbed.

This is a terrible crime and tragedy and the family involved must be distraught. Mounting interest from the media cannot be helping their situation but surely, given the fact that an underage girl has been killed and a young boy has watched is mother purposely fall to her death, the media would show some respect and honour the families right to privacy.

Some news organisations, like the ABC, have shown a high level of respect, reporting on the incident while excluding the names of those involved. Others, like ninemsn, seem to have forgotten their journalistic ethics and morals and have splashed the victims names all over their news site. While there is legally nothing wrong with reporting the names, it is highly unlikely that the family involved is comfortable with this.

Journalists are often privy to sensitive information, whether it be the name of a victim, the details of a crime, or off the record comments and it is their duty to respect this information and display empathy and kindness to those it relates to.  

Publishing the names of the young girl and her mother was not only a gross invasion of privacy; it was a deplorable act of insensitivity and thoughtlessness. Who in their right mind would think that publishing those names would not put more pressure and stress on that family? Publishing those names makes it so much easier for other news organisations to contact them and hound them with questions; it identifies them to everyone who opens up the ninemsn home page, even relatives or friends who may not have been notified yet; it turns something so incredibly hurtful and private into a public forum for the whole nation to comment on.

In my last post, I praised ninemsn for publishing a photo of a man who had just been stabbed because it was an incredible display of photo journalism in action; now I can’t help thinking this was simply another case of ninemsn revealing all the gory details of a crime in a bid to suck in more readers.    

 Here is a link to the ABC story, sans victims names.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-08/police-continue-probe-into-brisbane-murder-suicide/2876022