Week 3

What makes the news?

 

Storify

After registering a Storify account, one of things I notice about media, is that an item of celebrity gossip will always steal the lime light away from the real issues that are happening in the world. This weeks news has been heavily loaded with sports; FIFA World Cup, NBA star James LeBron, and our home grown star Ian Thorpe. Everytime I logged on to the internet it seemed one of these items kept popping up! It took the focus off Rolf Harris's sentence review, and the jury verdict for the Baden-Clay trial among other relevant real news.

Review an Issue

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/swimming/ian-thorpe-tells-all-in-interview-with-michael-parkinson-20140713-3bv1v.html

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/24446946/olympic-champion-ian-thorpe-reveals-he-is-gay/I decided to focus my 'review an issue' on the Ian Thorpe hype. So much attention for something I felt was not very news worthy. It is my personal belief that being gay should not affect or decide what we think of a person, and I was amazed at the coverage it recieved given the times of (apparent) equality we live in (and we keep striving for total equality!). I felt that this should not have been so gobbsmacking for the public, or worthy of an hour interview on TV, or endless social media posts. Personally I would have prefered an interview of our Aussie journalist in prision in Egypt, a real issue to be concerend about. Yet celebreties sell the news, so sadly this was the highlight of the week.

However, there was an upside to all the media coverage this story recieved. A clear news value was prevalant in each form of media. It was prominent because it was celebrity. It was also of interest to the audience as a targeted audience could relate to the story, and it also had the element of controversy. People were either going to be happy about it or form an opposing opinion. That would make additional gossip news! All three forms of media (broadcast, online and print) went with a soft human approach, with the angle and prehaps impact to make it easier and more comfortable for people to admit who they are with out feeling fear of judgement. The added value to this story was the impact it could have on the younger generation and the influece it will have

Also this week in my area...these are the things that make the news (things I find are not really news, but in a small town they have to pack the days news out with something!)

QUIZ 3

I found all areas of this quiz tricky! I think maybe if I was fresh out of high school I would know these grammer mistakes a little better but I have to go with what I think it is and I end up with half right! Or half wrong, depending if you are a glass half full or empty kind of person! The reading for it is a lot to take in and often I end up more confused! Plodding along through it all even thought each week I am being made more aware of how this subject is not going to be one of my best!