Marion Bolognesi: Not Just a Pretty Face

In my opinion, Marion Bolognesi combines two things I find integral to the function of a globally-recognised artist: a phonetically appealing last name that manages to bring a certain steamy Italian meal to mind, and a gifted talent for watercolour. Secretive and subtle, her personal life and her experiences before the world became privy to her artistic genius fly undetected, well under the radar. Her art works, however, do not.
Marion's medium of choice is watercolour, as is my own. Through her career she has fostered a pre-occupation with eyes and faces, and paints them with a vision, direction and simplicity reflective of Renaissance artists well before her time..........:

Please visit her website at: http://www.marion-b.com/ and prepare to be amazed. These will haunt you forever, in a good way. Like a yellow bat or a cuddly vampire. Or something. 

Lecture 11- Agenda Setting

Lecture 11 offered an interesting insight into the complexities of Agenda Setting, which can best be defined as the ‘social construction of reality’ and begs the question.

‘What is a journalist’s role in shaping public opinion?’

The 4 facets of agenda setting most relevant to us as students are these:

1.    Public Agenda

2.    Policy Agenda

3.    Corporate Agenda

4.    Media Agenda

These are all interrelated.

The two most basic assumptions of Media Agenda Setting are these:

1.    The Mass Media does not merely reflect and report reality- they filter and shape it.

2.    Media Concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive these issues as more important than other issues.

The earliest definitions of agenda setting stem from Harold Laswell in 1920- it’s been around for ages. 

Lecture 9 - News Values

Lecture 9 specified the ins and outs of News Values, a topic I found new and exciting. It can best be defined as ‘the degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story’ (Stewart Hall 1973 ex Lamble).

The 4 main news values are:

1.    Impact

2.    Audience Identification

3.    Pragmatics

4.    Source Influence

The blanket statement encompassing the ethos behind news hunting is this: if it bleeds, it leads.

Locally, Channel 10 and Channel 9 prefer to operate under this: if it’s local, it leads.

Lecture 8 - Ethics

Lecture 8 provided a foray into the facet of investigative journalism I was most interested in- ethics. The ideals associated with the code of ethics applied to the practice of journalism was completely new to me and I had absolutely no idea what format they would assume.

Rhetorically, these questions integral to the process required of a journalist when publishing a story speak volumes:

How do we know what is:

1.    Good or bad?

2.    Ethical or unethical?

3.    Right from Wrong?

4.    And the difference between what is bad, and what is wrong?

The answers behind this 4-pronged conundrum is evidenced by applying one of three ethical theories to the story, these being:

1.    Virtue Ethics

2.    Consequentalism

3.    Deontology. 

The field:

Sometimes, requirements of a journalistic career can land one in a confronting and compromising situation. For example, journalist Peter Charlton did what was required of him in his career even though most of it did not necessarily align with his personal values. Sometimes, as a journalist, you will be in a situation that is so fast-paced you will not have time to weigh up the ethics of the situation. This is why it is important, as students, to understand ethics now.

Lecture 7 - Public Media

Lecture 7 was the next instalment of the comparison of public media and commercial media. It is basically everything commercial media isn’t- its best interest is in its content, rather than its ratings. It is publically accessible not-for-profit broadcasting.

Within Australia, the most prominent outlets of public media are SBS, ABC, and Triple J, and on an international scale 4, and Arte are the most flagrant.

According to the BBC, Public Media should have PUBLIC VALUE.

It needs to:

1.    Embed a ‘public service ethos’

2.    Value for license fee money

3.    Weigh public value against public impact

Ideally, Public Media should also annoy the government. Not in an overly left-wing biased manner, but enough information on both parties to be able to come to a conclusive decision. Therefore, the fact that the Australian government dislikes the ABC is ideal- this breadth of opinion, although it may ignite controversy, is ideal.