Annotated Bibliography; Four Queensland Girls

Source One: Brisbane Times “Judge Orders Children to Italy”

Calligeros, M & Peterson F. (2012, May 16). Judge Orders Children to Italy. Brisbane Times. Retrieved from http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/judge-orders-children-to-italy-20120515-1youm.html

The authors, Marissa Calligeros and Freya Peterson are both esteemed authors in their respective fields.  Calligeros, resident courts and property reporter for Brisbane Times alongside Peterson, who has previously worked for some of the biggest publications in the world, bring a professional and credible perspective to the story.  The authors, both based in Brisbane, will have a local perspective on the story, which adds to the believability and locality factor.  This article visited many different areas to the story, beginning with a background to the story, giving the reader an insight to what had happened previously and the latest information in the issue.  The article then recounted how the girls were found and a statement from the judge working on the case.  The mother, father and grandmother were also spoken to, ensuring that many different sides to the story were covered.  The only people who had not been contacted for a statement were the girls, who are protected under law.  The article then moves on to cover legal and ethical implications of the Courier Mail reporters who published the names and photographs of the girls.  This part of the article reinforces the credibility of the article, seeming as though they are against this style of reporting.

Source Two: Northern Rivers Echo “Girls Facing Deportation Vanish”

Bathersby, D. (2012, May 14). Girls Facing Deportation Vanish. Northern Rivers Echo. Retrieved from http://www.echonews.com.au/story/2012/05/14/desperate-plea-over-eviction-of-four-sisters/

The author, Damien Bathersby, is a regional weekend reporter for the APN regional news network.  He is located in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.  His location is an important factor in this article.  The four girls were living on the Sunshine Coast, so it will be important for him to report correctly and tactfully whilst remaining unbiased as he is close to the source of the story.  Ethically, it is important that he is careful with what he reports as he is in close contact to the friends and family involved in the case.  However, being that he is close by to the news source, the story could be influenced causing bias.  This story has many statements from those close to the girls, particularly the grandmother.  Although factual, this could be seen as showing bias, this could be rectified by including more statements from the courts or the father.  In comparison to the article published on Brisbane Times, it appeals more to a community, rather than a state-wide audience, Brisbane Times was more about publishing the facts rather than the sensitive sympathetic side.

Source Three: Ninemsn “Missing Queensland Girls Found”

Pearson N. (2012, May 22). Missing Queensland Girls Found. Ninemsn. Retrieved from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8471296/missing-queensland-girls-found

Ninemsn is the online source for Channel Nine’s news coverage.  Ninemsn is very lifestyle oriented; they have an abundance of stories regarding celebrities and sports stars.  The only news story about the four girls (who have been making headlines in other news sources around the country) was this one, reporting that the girls had been found.  This does not indicate that Ninemsn is a good source for groundbreaking news stories.  The reporter, Nick Pearson graduated from Charles Sturt University as the Editor in Chief of the student newspaper.  This story was stating the facts, nothing ethically questionable or groundbreaking.  However, that is not a problem as there is little information regarding the girls, the court or anything mentioned in court.  In comparison to earlier articles, this has content similar to Brisbane Times with more of a factual base.  However, it was neither as in depth nor as up to date nor did it have a locality factor.  In comparison to the article in the Northern Echo, it appealed more to a national level of news.  It did not go into family relationships nor was it a sympathy story.

Source Four: Media and Journalism Ethics “Media Ethics”

Phadke, S. P. (2008). Media Ethics. In S. P. Phadke (Ed.), Media and Journalism Ethics (pp. 10-53). Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/%28S%28fpoejczegzdmucrnu53jp0qo%29%29/Reader.aspx?p=588538&o=86&u=z8wyIEciIrz%2ftSVtqjXpAPStDKK60T%2fd&t=1337920269&h=93CEEB779F39B59D24F1ED4336CA7CB5418B3DCA&s=6025425&ut=213&pg=10&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

This book is all about the Ethics of Media and Journalism.  The Author, S. P Phadke, has written a number of academic books regarding media and journalism.  The chapter of the book, Media Ethics, ties in with the news articles as there are many ethical responsibilities when dealing with both court proceedings and children under the age of eighteen.  As mentioned in the first article from Brisbane Times, the Courier Mail recently contravened these laws.  In the chapter, he mentions the different areas of journalism ethics; news manipulation, truth, public interest, privacy, fantasy, taste and conflict with the law.  Although the book provides information for general ethical media, it is based on America, so the laws may be different here in Australia.  Also, there was very little to no academic referencing within the chapter.  This helps to reinforce that the information is true and factual.  The book was published in 2008, which is recent although there could be slight amendments to the laws in the time since then.  Overall, this book was a good read, however, for more informational or academic reading, it would not be appropriate.

Guide Dogs Australia

I am pretty sure that by now, everyone in the country has heard of Rachael Leahcar.  The amazing eighteen year-old who blew away judges on Australia’s latest reality mega-show, The Voice.  The lead up was phenomenal, she was lead up the stairs and guided to the stage.  When she was in place, the words ‘You have landed’ greeted her, and she began with her rendition of La Vie En Rose.  Each of the judges turned around, wanting her on their team; Rachael didn’t know this however and questioned if anyone had turned.  Rachael is legally blind – she has only 10 per cent of her vision.  That is what makes her courage so admirable.

'La Vie En Rose'
Image from The Voice Online

This has opened a lot of doors for, not only Rachael, but many people with a vision impairment throughout Australia.  When people realise the courage that was put behind that performance, it encourages them to also believe in themselves.  

The Australian spirit encourages people to work hard, to earn what they have and to never give up.  This mentality rings true with many people who have a vision impairment, they have to work hard, they have a tough life: enter Guide Dogs Australia.

Guide Dogs Australia assist people who are blind or have a vision impairment to ‘gain freedom and independence’, they help to ‘equip, empower and educate’ those who are vision impaired.  They provide services which reduce the disadvantage of people with vision impairments through the Guide Dog Program.

'Guide Dog Puppy'
Image from the ABC

Guide Dogs are incredibly special dogs, usually Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers or a cross-breed of both; they are bred for their gentleness, intelligence, energy, loving nature and highly trainable qualities.  The dogs are carefully selected for all of these character traits and bred accordingly.  This is perhaps why Guide Dogs have such a long loved and trusted past.

Mission Statement and Values of
Guide Dogs Australia and Guide Dogs Queensland

 A Guide Dog begins training from just a few weeks old.  They first meet their trainer, a bond is built between the two and a long working relationship is formed.  They are first taught the basic commands at initial training programs at their centre, only progressing when these have been learnt.  The majority of the training program takes place in the ‘real world’; places like residential neighbourhoods, rural and city settings, shopping centres and bus and rail stations.  After a twenty week training course, the dog is put to the test one last time before graduation.  The dog has gained experience for almost any situation and the ability to lead their future-owner with confidence.  Once they have graduated they get placed in the loving home of a family.

'Man's Best Friend'
Image From the Guide Dogs Australia

There is an immense amount of work that goes into the Guide Dog program in Australia.  As a non-government funded organisation, they rely solely on business and public donations for their entire operation.  This is achieved by constant involvement in the community, through family open days, programs to help people to become more aware of the role of Guide dogs Australia as well as training programs.  Guide Dogs Australia is reliant on volunteers to continue the operation of the organisation; people to clean out the kennels and watch over the dogs overnight to dog trainers and breeders, everyone has a place.

'Graduation Day'
Image from Guide Dogs Australia

Guide Dogs are talented dogs.  They love to work and are extremely loyal.  They love to receive praise for doing the right thing and they carry out their role as a Guide Dog perfectly.  They truly are ‘man’s best friend’.

All information was gathered from

• http://www.guidedogsqld.com.au/
• http://www.guidedogsaustralia.com/
• http://www.sixfeetonejourney.com/home.aspx
• http://www.thevoice.com.au/profile/rachael-leahcar/

Public Media

Public Media, well it's not commercial media is it... The difference between commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting is the difference between consumers and citizens - according to Nigel Milan, the former CEO of SBS.

So! What actually is public media..

Public media is there to serve or engage the public... That sounds very much like commercial media to me...

It is not earning profits (Ah there's the difference) well yes, it can earn a profit, but all the money that is earned from anything that they produce must be reinvested back into producing more programs et cetera

In Australia there are basically two different sources of public media (for the sake of my typing fingers, in future we are going to refer to it at P.M) the ABC and SBS.

Naturally the ABC has been around the longest - since 1929 in fact - when it was thought that Australia needed an identity and the ABC was designed to inspire us to be the nation that they thought that we should be - a 'Nation Building Project'. 

Now-a-days, the ABC has many different outlets for their programs.

• The good ole' ABC
• ABC2
• ABC3
• ABC News 24
• ABC Local Radio
• ABC Radio National
• ABC Classic FM
• Triple J
• ABC Radio Australia
• ABC Country

Their 'opposition' is SBS.

They broadcast things such as news from each and every country at 5am, local made, somewhat cheap productions, comedies, sport (soccer) and lifestyle/history pieces.  Basically SBS is by multicultural, which is great in Australia, because there are people from so many different countries.

SBS is the brain child of Paul Keating's 'Creative Nation' project in 1980.  SBS is a hybrid, it's is 80% owned by the government, thus being the public part, and 20% owned by others.  Which is why they do have some adverts.

• SBS consists of:
• SBS
• SBS1
• SBS2
• SBS Radio

The functions of public media are quite simple, and are shown below in my funky picture...

Nation Building	ABC
National Heritage	ANZAC Day, history
National Identity	Indigenous/Multicultural
National Conversations	Sport

There are also lots of international public media outlets.

• BBC
• NPR
• NHK
• CBC
• TVNZ
• Channel 4

In recent years, public media has become more commercial with BBC Worldwide, SBS's World Game Shop, ABC shops, and National Datacast.

Public media’s communication style varies.  There is the press who ‘do the news’, Entertainment who have things like cooking shows and how to have a pet, utilities broadcast weather and stocks and similar, social have more cooking, chat shows et cetera and then there is propaganda, like FOX and CCTV.

Public media faces many challenges, they must broadcast things that are:

• Quality
• Relevant
• That engages with democratic process
• Informative
• Independent

That was our lecture for the week!! And this is, I think, the last one that ill be blogging.  This has been a really fun experience, and I have come to enjoy blogging, it must be because I talk to myself a lot :)

Thats it folks!! BYEEE!!