Assessment 1: Personal Media Use and Production Diary

 

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ews and media are constantly evolving and there is an ever expanding range of media formats and means of accessing news. Actually receiving news makes up less than half of the total time I spend using different forms of media. The majority of my media use is for contacting friends and simply for pleasure. So, when it comes to receiving news, I realise that I want a ‘quick-fix’ and therefore convenience is the key factor as to the type of media as well as when and where I use it. For example, listening to the radio on the commute to university, watching the television over breakfast or while preparing dinner and receiving news whilst socialising on Twitter or Facebook. News and media can be tailored to suit any lifestyle. 

Statuses, tweets and news



While social networking was one of my main forms of media use over the ten day period, it is not reflective of where I most commonly receive my news. In particular, Facebook is a very social forum with a focus on connecting with ‘friends’ as opposed to journalism and communication. This is evident in the JOUR1111 cohort survey with nearly all of the students using Facebook, and only 61.2% having Facebook as a means of receiving news. In terms of the relationship between social networking media and the practices of journalism and communication, sites such as Facebook can serve as an indirect and inexpensive way of disseminating a story. For example, one person may read an interesting article on The Guardian website who shares the link on Facebook and so this link gets bounced around from friend to friend, and potentially to hundreds of thousands of people, without any input on behalf of the online newspaper. This is occasionally my source of news.

Of course, those in the journalism and communication industry also purposefully exploit the social networking phenomenon by creating their own pages and accounts. Despite this new and more technological media it has caused very little change in the practices involved in presenting the story. The information presented on the social networking media has the same role as a newspaper headline and image and that is to grab the attention of the reader and draw them into following the link and reading the rest of the article. So, social networks work hand in hand with online newspapers and I, like many others, use Facebook and Twitter as a pathway towards the online newspaper by following the link on an interesting Tweet or post.

News at a touch of a button

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey (July 2012)

According to the survey, the most common form of news is online newspapers. Unlike television and radio, it empowers the reader as they can view it anywhere and at any time that is convenient and they can choose what news they want to read as opposed to having it fed to them. In this sense it is similar to the paper newspaper however online possesses significantly more stories that are easily accessed and can be carried in your pocket on a smart phone instead of on a tedious foldout paper. In the practice of online journalism and communication there is even more of a focus on relevance and cutting out ‘waffle’. The headlines must be explicitly relevant to the story so that it can be easily found and the story itself must be straight to the point because people are unwilling to read a lengthy story online. So there is almost always an image following the notion that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’.   

If online newspapers are the most common source of news then why is it that it is my least used form of media? My media use to receive news seems to be ‘on-the-go’ and there is a focus on using media so that it doesn’t take further time out of my day. This defines my relationship with journalism and communications and is certainly reflective of a wider pattern present in society. Even though online newspapers are not my personal preference for receiving news, it also lends itself to ‘on-the-go’ media use. With the majority of people, including myself, owning a smart phone, online news is easily portable and can be accessed with a few clicks of a button.

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey

TV: The entertainer?

Television is my most used form of media primarily because I find it to be the most entertaining. In addition, it is my most common source of news which is related again to the notion of convenience. Personally, it is the easiest way in which I can receive news, as news programs are shown during the times of day when I am available and it is possible to have it in the background while performing other tasks. 70.3% of the cohort watches the news on television, only slightly less than those who read the news online. It is evident that the popularity of broadcast news stems from more than just ease and good timing. More than other formats, television has the capability to be entertaining, and possibly more influencing, through the combined stimulus of visual and audio. In addition, it can feel more personal and human as the public can see another person telling the story, which can lead to a trust, or at least a familiarity with the news reader.

This leads to another trend in the relationship between society and journalism in that people want their media use to be entertaining as well as informative. Hence, despite new media, television remains one of the most popular means of receiving news.

What have I missed?

The most significant absentees from my media use are magazines and the old paper newspaper. Once again, with the capability now to have the same information plus more on my compact smart phone, there is little need for me to purchase a newspaper or magazine. This raises the question that is the driving force of society’s media use and production; why buy something that I can get for free? This is certainly another key factor as to why more people lean towards online news than newspapers. And yet there is still 40% of the survey group who read the newspaper, whether from loyalty to old media or they prefer having something tangible in their hands over something floating around in the aether.

JOUR1111 Cohort Survey 

What’s on?

My media use is based largely on my interest in current events. With the Olympics recently on in London I have watched the sports as well as Fox Sport News every day to keep updated on the achievements of the Australian athletes. This also explains why I have watched so much television over the 10 day period. Current events can very much dictate the type of media preferred. For example, it is far better to watch television to find out the winner of the 100 metre sprint where you can see clips of the race than to simply read the result in a print newspaper. In general, if people have an interest in a story or event whether it is local or international, they are more likely to watch, read or listen to the news to gain more information. Therefore, it is essential in the practice of journalism and communication that stories are of interest to society, regardless of the form or type of media.

Relationship status... it’s complicated

There are a number of reasons as to my media use behaviour that is reflected in the wider society. These revolve around the age of the semantic web, the rise of smart phones and tablets as well as an ever increasing pace of life. People, including myself, are very much reliant on journalism and communication to know what is happening in the world however they want to get the news on their own terms by dictating when, where and what news they receive. An expectation that defines my relationship with journalism and communication is that it is tailored to my life. My personal media interaction allows me to get a fix of ‘entertaining’ news such as Sunrise and The Project, radio news ‘on-the-go’ and social networking that leads me to online news for specific stories that interest me. Convenience and relevance is the basis of society’s media use and relationship with journalism and communication.