Week 9 - In response to News of the World shut down

Week 9

In one of the biggest news story and surprise move by a news organisation, News of the World recently shut down its operations on 6 July in the midst of phone hacking scandals surrounding the newspaper. News of the World was Britain's biggest selling newspaper and is owned by James Murdoch, a member of the Murdoch dynasty. News of the world had been in existence for 168 years and this move came as a surprise to many. It is widely reported that the investigators working for the newspaper hacked into the mobile phones of victims of 7/7 and murder victims. In addition, they are alleged to have bribed several police officers. Even British politicians have long called for the newspaper and the personnel responsible to be dealt with.


Of course, the Murdoch family vehemently denies most of these allegations and the shut down is seen as a move to put a stop to the scandals. However, I believe the trust has already been lost. Several critics said that innocent employees of News of the World will be without job, whereas the top executives indirectly responsible for these allegations are let off the hook or simply move to its sister newspaper, The Sun.


Behaviours such as phone hacking and bribery are unethical and should never be condoned. As stated in my previous blog post, no matter the circumstances, it is unjustifiable for a journalist to commit a crime to expose another crime. In my opinion, the result of such scandal arise due to commercialisation and media ownership. For monetary purposes and in order to gain readership in the midst of high competition, journalists are sourcing out 'juicy' news that would entice readers. This is why private information are highly sought after to beat fellow competition from other newspapers. When we trace back to the origin of newspaper and the media as a fourth estate, we see how this principle has shifted and is seldom followed by huge media corporations. This is a comment posted in The Telegraph which I found it interesting to reflect on:


"The News of the Whirled was a failing commodity long before the scandal.  Every thing the Rupert Murdoch touches is corrupted.  He gobbles up media in an attempt to influence and distort the people's perception of society, offering up an unrealistic and alternate universe.  Murdoch is a dangerous man who appeals to the weak minded and the perverse.  He must be censured."
(The Telegraph, 2011)




Reference
The Telegraph, 2011, News of the World shut down in bid to end phone hacking scandal, Viewed 19 July 2011,http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8624421/News-of-the-World-shut-down-in-bid-to-end-phone-hacking-scandal.html 

Week 8

Week 8- Moral Minefields: Legal and Ethical Dilemma

Week 8’s presentation was by Josephine and Yale. They covered the topic on moral and ethic issues surrounding journalism. Yale kick-started the presentation by mentioning how CAR (computer-assisted reporting) has affected the laws governing journalism. CAR is in essence the use of computers to gather and analyse information for writing a news report, for example through the use of email interviews and sharing database in the internet. As such, the legal line have blurred as the world of internet is a tough sphere to control and monitor.

Yale stated that it is necessary for journalists nowadays to familiarise themselves and develop a broad understanding of the legal aspects of their job. For example, journalist should be cautious in avoiding asking defamatory questions or comments even in email interviews as this act is sufficient for one to be charged.  I agree with Yale that it is highly crucial for journalists to keep themselves up-to-date. At the end of the day journalists are humans and not superheroes; we need to learn how to protect and defend ourselves.

Josephine carried on explaining the ethical dilemma journalist face. In her own words, ‘there is no distinct line to differentiate (ethic principles), it is dependent on one’s upbringing and moral values; Legal doesn’t mean that it is moral’. Josephine then gave a couple of examples of journalists who stood by their moral ethics but subsequently paid the price, some even with their lives.

According to Josephine, it is unfair that journalists who ‘break the law’ to obtain secret information and then expose these information ‘for a greater good’ gets punished. However, in my opinion, to consciously commit a crime to expose another crime, regardless of the severity of it, is in itself unjustifiable. We can argue that these journalists have noble motivations and ‘greater purposes’ behind their unlawful act, but at the end of the day, the law must remain consistent throughout all circumstances. Otherwise, its effectiveness will be reduced tremendously over time when exceptions are made.

-Andy Wang

Week 7

Privacy Vs Public Interest

Week 7’s presentation is on Public Interest. To start off with this topic, the definition of public interest given was that the public has the rights to know what they want to know. But is this statement justifiable in all scenarios? The two examples given in the lecture are excellent case studies. 

The first example was on the American insurance companies Assurant and WellPoint. They were exposed as having policies targeting any clients diagnosed with breast cancer or HIV. This clearly protects clients who are suffering from illness and potential clients deserve to be warned from signing up with these insurance companies. The second example was on how celebrities get unwanted attention and news reports from crimes to nonsensical reports such as ‘wardrobe malfunction’. While celebrities should know better than to behave themselves in public, such reports do not add value to the readers’ lives but simply for entertainment purposes.

In my opinion,  public interest is an overrated phrase which should not be loosely associated with journalism. In the pursuit of ‘public interest’, many journalists have blurred the line between what’s news and what’s entertainment. For example, in the recent sex scandal involving IMF Strauss-kahn, many international newspapers have latched on and turn this news for entertainment purposes just to increase readership. Yes, it’s important to for the public to know as a matter-of-fact that this man might not be the most credible leader to head such a powerful position. But to carry this news and probe further, such as ‘how pathetic he is in jail’, ‘is he a sex addict’ etc is simply unnecessary.

-Andy Wang

Week 6

Week 6: We’re All a Twitter! 

Journalism and its negotiation of online, the blogosphere and social media

This week's presentation by Terence and Yvonne comprehensively described the relationship between journalists and new media. One of the main focus of Terence's speech is on connectivity; the engagement between organisations/journalists and its audiences through new media platforms. Yvonne further elaborated on the individual characteristics of online world, blogosphere and social media. These mediums provide a platform for journalists to connect with wider audiences. However, therein lies the challenge for journalists to be adequately equipped to learn how to use these platforms to their advantage.

Coming back to the issue of speed, new media technology has certainly enabled information to transmit and spread at a phenomenal rate. As described by Yvonne, this is a double-edged sword. Speed helps audiences to attain information and footages as and when events are unfolding, such as the recent FIFA scandal and press conference. However, speed has also made information released unretractable. As such, this will help ensure users of social media to post comments responsibly as we now understand whatever goes online is visible to a worldwide audience.


The class discussion generated a debate on how traditional(print) media and alternative media forms will balance out in the future. Terence suggested that traditional media has survived many challenges such as TV and radio, and will continue to survive in the future to complement alternative media. However, Yvonne predicted our generation to be the last ones to embrace both media forms, while future generations will only embrace alternative media such as online and citizen journalism. In my opinion, traditional media represents credibility and citizens will eventually still turn to newspapers or established media corporations for accurate dosage of information.


- Andy Wang

Week 5

Globalisation Vs Localisation

Today's seminar topic was primarily focused on the effects of globalisation, its benefits and risks. The presenters defined globalisation as the 'linking of humanity in all parts of the world'. Martens and Rennen (2003), further defined globalisation as a complex phenomenon where it is the interactive co-evolution of millions of technology, cultural, economic and social trends. This is made possible through the dominance of Transnational Corporations (TNCs) internationally, such as Disney and Time Warner.

I agree with the presenters that the rise of globalisation makes national security less dominant and domestic laws are unable to act as watchdog. For instance, the example of footballer Ryan Giggs' attempts for a court injunction to prevent reports on his extramarital affairs failed terribly when the news was blown up internationally. Instead of reducing the damage done, news of his injunction on his affairs spread like wildfire on twitter and newspaper reports in countries outside Britain.

However, the issue on globalisation is a complex one and cannot simply be classified as 'good or bad'. Globalisation has certainly helped us know more about the world. It enables us greater access and up-to-date information to international news. There is also greater freedom of expression in the international news arena. In my opinion, both globalised and localised news are as important in any newspaper. Especially in a small country like Singapore where its local news are not necessarily covered in international newspapers, my primary source for local news comes from the Home section in Straits Times. As mentioned in the class discussion, one key factor of good news is timeliness, and I would definitely be interested to read news that are close to home.


Reference List

Martens, P & Rennen, W 2003, The Globalisation Timeline, Journal of Integrated Assessment, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 137-144.

- Andy Wang

Week 4

Journalism as a Public conversation in the 21st century. What is the role of the citizen? 

In today's tutorial, Daniel and I presented on this week's topic and it turned out to be a fruitful discussion on the importance of citizen journalism and the role citizens play in shaping Journalism over the past years. The three main aims of journalism are as follows:

- To serve the publics' rights to know
- To represent the public
- To be independent from any form of control (Meadows, 2011)

From the class discussion and Q&A, we can observe that most people think that citizen journalism is an inevitable aspect of news reporting in today's context. Especially in Singapore where is media is primarily state-controlled, we are desperate for unbiased news coverage and for our voices to be heard. Citizen journalism has witnessed benefits beyond what mainstream journalism can provide. For example, up to date information and hundreds of footages/pictures are provided from the lenses of citizens' cameras and hand-phones (Think Orchard flooding and Asian Tsunami). 

However, as much as citizen journalism is on a phenomenal rise, traditional media should never die off. There are people who still prefer reading hardcopy version of the newspapers, and readers who want credibility provided by established news organisations. Journalism as a profession helps to edit the written pieces provided by citizens and reporters are well-trained to spot any discrepancy or hoax stories cooked up. In my opinion, the direction journalism should uptake is to infuse both traditional and citizen journalism. For example, media organisations could open up to reporting stories provided by citizens which are edited and screened by their reporters. This would meet the main aim of citizen journalism, enabling 'our voices to be heard'.

Reference List

         Meadows, Michael 2001, 'A return to practice: reclaiming journalism as public conversation' S.Tapsell and C. Varley (eds), Journalism Theory in Practice, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

-Andy Wang

Week 3

Who will pay for journalism? Is it just about money?


The first presentation in tutorial was about dollars and cents on journalism, with the group using Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) as an example. SPH's annual report and profitability were analysed. Beyond that, the fundamental question posted in everyone's mind is, 'Is journalism sustainable?'


It is certainly evident that the profitability of journalism is on the decline. From the presentation, we can observe that SPH is venturing into the property market. With declining readership of its print copy, I agree that this is a wise move to ensure sustainability and to prepare for stormy days ahead. However, critics have argued that private funding and running media corporations similar to a business model is detrimental to a country pledging allegiance democratic values. McChesney (1998) argues that the concentration of media powers and commercialisation 'are a disaster' to democracy. McChesney suggested for reforms such as public broadcasting and noncommercial media. But, truth be told, publicly funded media organisations are struggling to find a foothold in the market in the current age.


Coming back to the issue of sustainability, we must first understand that journalism stems from the need for the public to be informed and for journalists to satisfy this need. People never get tired of latest news. It is true that with the rise of citizen journalism, mainstream media runs the risk of being ousted. However, in my opinion, journalism will never die off. It's mainstream that needs to reinvent itself. To keep it running, mainstream media could venture more into different variety of delivery, such as online methods or even interactive styles.


Reference List


McChesney, RW 1998, Making Media Democratic, Viewed 23 May 2011,
http://bostonreview.net/BR23.3/mcchesney.html


- AndyWang