Same Sex & Sanctity

Over the past decade the LGBT community has become further and further integrated into heterosexual society. Due to this, the topic of same sex marriage has been discussed far and wide, with heated social and political debates surrounding the topic. 

ABC’s debate-based television show Q&A took on the issue this week with several live guests, including the Archbishop of Brisbane and comedian Josh Thomas. During the show, a member of the audience raised the point that having his commitment to his partner recognised by the Australian government, as opposed to being recognised by the church, was what he wanted out of the legalisation of same sex marriage.

“It [homosexuality] can be a warp in the creation,” the Archbishop said. He went on to explain how he believes that allowing homosexual couples to marry in the eyes of the law would destroy the sanctity of marriage. 

The topic was then passed on to Thomas. “I don’t think I’m a warp in God’s plan,” Thomas said. “Marriage in our country is not a religious institution – we’re talking about changing the law… what about that is hurting you?” 

The conversation sparked discussions on social media platforms across the nation, with many people agreeing that religion should not come before a ‘basic human right’ such as marriage. Others have gone on to state that, “Most Christian Fundamentalists believe that Catholicism is a "warp" within Christianity.”

 The entire episode of Q&A can be viewed below. 

Off The Record

There are a few basic fundamentals of journalism which can be seen across all forms of media which create the cornerstones of great journalism.

For example, news stories presented by journalists have to always be written well, whether they are to be printed, presented online, via radio or on television. In print and online, news stories have to be easy to read and comprehend, which means that they have to be written using correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Similarly, radio and television scripts have to be written well and allow sound effects or videos to tell a large part of the story itself. News should also most regularly follow the inverted pyramid structure, which puts the most newsworthy information at the start of the article, and the least newsworthy at the bottom. Through doing this, the article is written in a logical manner, with a good display of literacy skills. 

New stories cannot just be written in a belletristic manner, however; they need to have substance, and in order to obtain substance journalists need to take into account the news values presented in their stories. The most efficient way to be sure of having good substance is to have reliable, reputable sources – avoiding anonymous tips is essential, and all good journalists must be wary of accepting information that has been leaked or press released. Contacting the actual source of the information face-to-face, or at least by telephone, in order to interview them regarding the story is far highly important when deciding the accuracy of information. 

When interviewing individuals, it is important that they understand when they are and are not being recorded. This is done by telling the interviewee that they are ‘on the record’. If at any point during the interview, the interviewee says that something is ‘off the record’, the journalist cannot use the information provided. It is also important to restate that the interviewee is back on the record after this. When quoting interviews, it is exceedingly important to use the correct punctuation, lest the reader be confused about which interviewee said which part of the quote. 

“To correctly punctuate a quote, you must use speech marks, a capital letter at the start of the sentence, and either a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark at the end of the quote, followed by closing speech marks.” 

With the inclusion of these journalism basics, even the least impressive writer can move a few steps closer towards writing hard-hitting, attention-grabbing, front-page-worthy news.

Sunbus: The Rude, The Loud and The Tardy

Townsville Sunbus has been under public scrutiny for many years, with Townsville residents making regular complaints regarding timeliness, road safety and customer service. 

A poll taken this week has revealed that for young Townsville locals, their main concerns are that Sunbus does not run on time, and that they are being treated with a lack of respect by certain drivers. 

While most citizens have said that they accept that bus drivers are under the gun having to get from one destination to another in very little time, however are unhappy to have to wait for long periods of time in order to catch a bus and then have to undergo verbal exchanges with rude bus drivers. 

Kirwan resident Taylah McClelland said, “The drivers are mostly rude and don't make me feel either safe or joyful when I catch it [Sunbus].  I avoid catching the bus whenever I can.” 

Chloe Haldane, an Oak Valley resident, said, “If a person is running up to a bus if it is still sitting there and its doors have just been shut, they won't let you on because you are late which is pretty unfair.” 

With Sunbus being a constant topic of unhappy conversation, it is time to ask why Townsville locals have put up with this service for so long, and what they can do to make a change in Townsville’s public transport.

Agenda Setting

New values and agenda setting are two very similar notions; agenda setting is how news becomes news. It is split into two levels, the first being when the media decides exactly what should be deemed important by the public through deciding what is published and what is not. The second level of agenda setting is the manipulation of news values in order to influence the way that the audience perceives the issues presented. These levels of agenda setting are present throughout the four different forms of agenda setting: public, policy, corporate and media.

Public agenda occurs when mass media dictates to their audience exactly what news should be deemed important and tells their audience exactly how to think and feel towards these news stories; this is done commonly throughout commercial media. Policy agenda is when people in power, such as governments and legislators, push for issues that are deemed important by them into the public eye via media use. Similarly, corporate agenda is the prioritising of information regarded as important by large businesses and corporations. Media agenda wraps all of these up, by taking all of these ‘important’ issues and presenting them in the media, bringing them to the public’s attention. Furthermore , some forms of elite media set the agenda for lesser media, which exemplifies media agenda setting. 

These four forms of agenda setting allow for the public to formulate pictures in their minds of the news, which go on to shift their judgement on an issue, rather than through critical evaluation of a topic. Through the public doing this, they are intensifying the power of the four forms of agenda setting, and ensuring that these agendas continue to be put in place in the future.

New Values

When a story is in the making, the journalist writing the piece has to question whether or not their story holds any news values – that is, does it contain certain elements which will entice the audience and allow for the piece to sell. These news values are applied to stories in the inverted pyramid order – the values that fall closest to the audience’s interest are placed at the start of stories, with the least important being placed last. Through doing this, the media captures a large audience, which is precisely what commercial media strives for in order to keep their advertisers buying space. 

Galtung & Ruge's News Values

Over time, news values have been narrowed and specified, going from Galtung & Ruge’s values in 1965 to Harcup & O’Neill’s values in 1999; these values have been employed by the media in order to appeal to audiences and entice them into reading the entire article presented. A few of these values include negativity (or ‘bad news’), recency, uniqueness, celebrity and controversy. Certain news outlets rely more on some news values than others in order to sell their news; for example, A Current Affair often falls back onto celebrity and controversy, while Hungry Beast applies recency and uniqueness to their articles. 

Different news medium also carry different weight on their news values; for your local newspaper, impact, recency and proximity are major values, however for an online fashion blog, relevance and visual attractiveness are the main news values. It is important to understand that these values have been given weight in order to entice the audience and keep them attracted to the article presented, rather than solely for the purpose of delivering the most important news. Dr. Tom Linden explains this in the video below.