gonna be home soon

Boy its been a while! Since my last entry I have travelled to five countries and have not spent more then six days in one locations. Exciting but tiring. The journey has been amazing. I miss being home though.

The era of self loathing

A review of the Australian newsprint media as published in Newsline Samoa Newspaper

By Cherelle Jackson*

Never before in the history of Australian media have there been so much criticism and examination of the fourth estate until now.
The makers of the news have officially arrived at an era of self loathing, which may as well be a sign of a healthy media.
Australian Journalists, at least the senior ones have come to realize the media industries misdemeanors and misguided attempts at journalistic superiority at the expense of quality and integrity in the news media.
TV Shows, websites, books and columns have been solely established to examine the media and makers of the news themselves.
Media Watch, an Australian Broadcasting Corporations (ABC) programme that presents a critical analysis of specific media has become one of the most watched shows in Australia which therefore shows, that even the consumers of the media are concerned about what they are receiving.
At a time when news is shaping peoples perception and influencing the direction of Australian politics, it is daunting to see that news as we know it has taken the backseat to the opinions of Journalists, Editors and media owners.

Generation Journalism ‘I’
More and more it is the writer not the story that defines the importance of the news.
The “I think” line has taken precedence over the “According to” and the bolded byline has certainly overshadowed the value of a headline.
The Age, the highest selling broadsheet newspaper in Melbourne and one of the more influential publications have easily featured opinion pieces on the front page to complement a news item.
“Gone are the times when we were just news reporters, now we are journalists who actually have something to say, we don’t have the right to do this, we are supposed to report, not to have an opinion,” said a former Herald Sun Editor.
Unsurprisingly it is the veterans of Australian Journalism who are leading the campaign against the self obsessed media and not necessarily the disgruntled media consumers themselves.
In his much talked about book ‘The media we deserve’ senior Journalist and former Executive Producer of Media Watch, Mr. David Salter offers an all too true expression: “But occasionally it strikes me that the media trying to examine its own failings is as pointless as a dog chasing its tail.”
But there is value in self criticism; the Australian media remains admirably liberal and comprehensive in content despite’ its shortcomings.

Sensationalism, a common affliction
In addition to the Journalism generation ‘I’ the Australian newsprint media has also been afflicted with the mainstream ailment of sensational reporting.
The ‘shame, shock, sham’ stream headliners are an all too familiar occurrence in daily newsprint media, but not all.
The fact that the Herald Sun in Melbourne is one if not the highest selling newsprint media in all of Australia does reflect that media consumers do have a preference for the sensational, thus the domino effect on the otherwise conservative media.
But there is hope yet, the only national newspaper, The Australian has proven solid in its representation of national issues and The Australian Financial Review, committed to the unfailing coverage of business, finance and economics issues without the embarrassing journalistic frills.
The two newspapers are widely read by corporate Australians, whose preference and a straight forward and specialized approach to news has given journalism integrity hope of survival.
It is understandable however to see the involuntary if not exquisitely planned stray of broadsheet and tabloid media to sensationalism, succumbing once again to the drive for readership over quality.
This mass turn towards cheap and easy to read product has undoubtedly made news accessible to the less-demanding media consumer.
Gideon Haigh, Journalist, author and one of Australias most vocal critics of current journalism said: “I open the modern newspaper with a sense of dismay. I find a media culture which places a high premium on excitement, controversy and sentimentality, in which information takes second place to the opinions it arouses.”
Still, such are the ways of mainstream media, and as long as the Australian media consumer prefers the sensational over quality in their newsprint consumption, then that is what they will be given, and as long as the industry wants to survive it will serve the hand that feeds it.

Media bickering
Haigh however argues that the relation between journalism generation ‘I’ and decline in readership quality says otherwise: “As we have risen in our own estimation, so have we diminished in the public’s, thinking of ourselves as chiefly answerable to one another rather than to our readers and viewers, like a military junta whose generals rejoice in pinning medals on one another’s chests.”
But self obsession and sensationalism are not the only challenges facing the Australian media.
With the bulk of newsprint owned by two, Murdoch and Fairfax, the industry has become like an old married couple going through a very messy divorce.
It’s a love to hate relationship dominated by the usual martyrs of the fourth estate, the spine climbing journalist, the egotistical editor and the ignorant reader.
That being said, Australian media are definitely not above belittling each other, perhaps this is a universal trait in the media industry.
Uncertainty however tends to bring out the worse in people, and at a turning point in the universal concept of Journalism, it has taken its toll on Australias thriving media.

Convergent Journalism
The threat is the gradual acceptance of convergent journalism, which is the integration of multimedia skills into daily news gathering.
Convergent journalism is the oil in developmental approach to makers of the news.
This modern reconstruction of journalism will inevitably transform the face of news media globally.
Convergent journalism is threatening the mere existent of traditional pen and paper approach replaced by digital recorder, camera, video camera and the ever present laptop.
If impressions of the past two months are accurate then newsprint journalists are a dying breed, convergent journalists however have a better chance of survival than any other in the industry.
Fairfax, the other half of the Australian media industry is investing big dollars to turn their newsprint empires into online text, video and audio streaming for the sake of the internet news addict.
News Limited although their heart is in the right place in trying to achieve a remarkable web presence, have failed miserably in some of their attempts.
Traditional pen and paper journalists who resist this unavoidable move towards virtual news will face difficulties to remain in the media industry.
Online news companies such as www.crikey.com which recently sold for millions is justification that indeed the future lies in the world wide web.
Another proof is the Eureka Report at www.eurekareport.com serves specialized audience with business, economic and financial news on a weekley subscription only online service.
It is one of the fastest growing service of its type in Australia.

The integrity challenge
But thankfully for the traditional journalist, the internet has not entirely taken over yet.
Newsprint is still preferred by a bulk of readers and advertisers would rather sell to the paper edition then online edition, and as any switched on editor will tell you, that’s where the true bread of journalism lies, so the newsprint editions will remains for a very long time to come.
Overall the Australian newsprint media is a robust representation of the fourth estate in the region.
Like other industries the media faces the same challenge, it is not country specific.
Media ownership is pivotal to freedom of expression, journalism integrity is a constant battle, and editorial influences plague the common newsroom.
These problems persist in the face of developmental journalism and the emerging preference of the convergant journalist.
Hope is in the hands of current Editors, Journalists and Media Owners whose interests and values are reflected on the pages read by millions daily.
The media like its consumers are fickle in its attention, each day presents a new issue, headline and campaign, but the overarching goal is the successful relay of information, and if that is media freedom, if that is indeed journalism integrity and if that is the determinant of quality media, then the Australian media certainly encompasses all those integral characteristics.

*The writer was a recipient of an AusAID Australian Leadership Award in journalism for her role as Editor of Newsline. She participated in a six week working fellowship on Reporting Economic Affairs in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra coordinated by the Asia Pacific Journalism Center. She was attached to the Australian Financial Review.
During the fellowship she met the Editor of The Age, the Editor at Large of Canberra Times, the Opinion Editor of the Australian Financial Review and the Business Editor of The Australian.
Opinions expressed in this piece are solely of the author based observation, dialogue and research and does not reflect the views of the fellowship sponsor or coordinators. Photographs were taken by the author.