tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76068112011-08-22T11:22:14.310+07:00Australian perspectives on journalism educationHongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.comBlogger401100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-56360716847325818162010-01-09T11:59:00.009+07:002010-01-21T07:36:20.487+07:00

Global media is at a tipping point. The western news establishment is reeling as profits collapse and revenue moves to the internet. Only today, Canwest, Canada's largest newspaper publisher, with twelve daily newspapers, sought bankruptcy protection for its entire newspaper division. Canwest is not the first big newspaper chain to go bust. It won't be the last. The old international news order,

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-89938382744294131522009-12-19T06:50:00.014+07:002009-12-19T08:12:28.741+07:00

When I moved from being a journalist to become a journalism educator twenty years ago, I found that universities did not regard journalism as research. Instead, they recognised academics who wrote about journalism, even if their knowledge of the industry was scanty, misguided, or in some cases, just hostile.I realised that I had to put my experience as a reporter for a prestigious broadcaster

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-35481386274701663492009-11-27T05:53:00.006+07:002009-11-27T06:10:55.115+07:00

Academic publishing is an unnecessary burden on taxpayers in the age of the web, according to Oliver Hartwich, a research fellow at the right wing Centre for Independent Studies.Writing in the Australian, Hartwich argued that many text journals were written and produced at Australian taxpayer expense, delivered to publishers, who then sold them to a very limited audience indeed. He might of added

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-20427068470585594552009-11-26T02:44:00.009+07:002009-12-16T07:11:26.584+07:00

Journalism educators need to think beyond the classroom to serve students facing internet driven cultural change. The first wave of change, online interactivity, is already breaking on once dominant newspaper groups. The second wave, Asia centred communications, has begun to challenge western dominance of international news and culture. This year I took a group of QUT journalism students to

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-77483526623226249722009-09-16T07:15:00.010+07:002009-09-16T10:21:22.356+07:00

The press reporting of convicted paedophile, Dennis Ferguson, seems to be going from partisan to hysterical.Ferguson, who served 14 years for abusing children, has been repeatedly forced to change residences since his release. Mobs of angry neighbours have attracted wide media coverage which has in turn generated more angry pickets.Today's report in the Couriermail.com.au goes one step

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-45679203149517806102009-06-11T15:40:00.005+07:002009-06-11T20:21:24.159+07:00

White, Roger (2009). Better Media; Your simple guide to better writing and reporting. Lane Cove: Dolphin Press. This book like the commercial radio news that shaped it, is sharp, short and perhaps a little circumscribed.The author, Roger White, is a radio pro, with a quarter of a century behind the microphone. He's currently the State Political Editor for 2UE in Sydney. It's a labour of love.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-80193985490394530422009-06-01T10:29:00.016+07:002009-06-10T17:38:54.151+07:00

Learning at Australian universities can be pretty boring. Most of the extra curricular activities I enjoyed have been shorn away as contemporary students struggle to make a living and pay their way. "Full Time" students now complain about going to lectures which can conflict with their jobs.When I was a visiting Professor at Hong Kong University, they reckoned that only about a third of what

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-18523368277202893042009-05-30T07:19:00.020+07:002009-06-09T05:16:47.022+07:00

Writing about foreign correspondents has got me into a fair bit of trouble at times. A couple of years ago, I was foolish enough to suggest that in the age of the internet, many of them were just blow ins, decked out in safari suits, delivering rehashed locals' stories, as they were videoed in front of exotic locations. Obviously, I was wrong. Safari suits are rarely worn these days. In fact the

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-25805064986818353822009-05-24T14:33:00.022+07:002009-06-09T05:18:47.776+07:00

State of Play, the movie, depicts journalism as journalists might like to see it. A fearless press (and here we mean a newspaper) exposed corporate corruption, defied the police and conducted investigations which resulted in a politician being charged with murder. What's there not to like about that?I saw State of Play at a preview staged by the Journalists' union, the Media Alliance. The theatre

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-87092699204402215092009-05-11T14:06:00.006+07:002009-06-10T08:10:29.980+07:00

Two of QUT's best and brightest, Phoebe Sedgman and Joanna Cooney have won ten week, paid postings at Bloomberg's Sydney office.They are both completing Bachelor of Journalism/Bachelor of Business degrees, which Bloombergs reckon suit them for their international business news.They flew to Sydney to complete the test at the office overlooking Circular Quay in Sydney. The newsroom which is stacked

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-40059073165657277842009-04-21T07:24:00.018+07:002009-04-22T19:11:13.883+07:00

The Fiji military has put a censor in every local newsroom, according to Sean Dorney.Dorney who was expelled from Fiji last week, was speaking to QUT journalism students and staff.Brandishing a copy of the military order, Dorney said that Fiji media were being forced "to buckle under". The military had the power to close any Fiji news organisation which did not do what they were told. He cited

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-79575935539213382962009-04-17T09:21:00.005+07:002009-04-18T07:46:35.479+07:00

Nothing beats a well written, original news story. But these days a good story also needs to be multi-layered with images, audio, television and hypertext.QUT journalism staff met with industry experts to review the stream of online journalism subjects being rolled out for undergraduate students.Australian Broadcasting Corporation Acting Online News Editor, Stuart Watt said, "the challenge is to

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-48740741067000350402009-04-15T09:18:00.027+07:002009-04-17T04:55:00.120+07:00

Soldiers and police have no place in any newsroom.We oppose the Fiji dictatorship's attempts to control our Fiji colleagues by threats, intimidation and censorship. We call on our governments to seek to protect all Fiji journalists striving to perform their duties in these difficult circumstances.As journalists and educators we affirm Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:"

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-57380262248259825262009-04-09T13:04:00.023+07:002009-04-09T18:32:08.450+07:00

I started the week by putting my iPhone through the washing machine. I ended it by giving a lecture on "Journalists and new technology" to several hundred IT students. I said journalists had always been early adopters of new communications technologies, but they were tough and testing customers.I told them about Ed Murrow who pioneered live , international radio broadcasts by taing his microphone

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-3491740884921352622009-04-01T18:52:00.017+07:002009-04-05T18:20:24.720+07:00

The online academic journal I edit, eJournalist has been rated as a "b" grade journal by the Australian Research Council. Does that mean that it is second rate? Not at all. eJournalist has always aimed to be a "b" grade journal. We started the eJournal eight years ago when we were working at a regional university which had a limited library and worked out of more than a dozen different campuses.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-77587973882412119972009-03-25T10:13:00.025+07:002009-03-27T13:43:23.254+07:00

We’ve become a little too much in awe of the technology and not protective enough of fundamental journalistic values, according to Kerry OBrien. OBrien, Australia's leading political interviewer, presents the 730 Report on Australian Broadcasting Corporation TelevisionHe was speaking to Queensland University of Technology students, after being presented with an honorary Doctorate.Trying to bring

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-58146064099764479872009-03-18T04:22:00.025+07:002010-03-08T08:31:57.203+07:00

It all began with a simple news release. I had surveyed about two hundred of my journalism students and found that while 95% said they enjoyed keeping up with the news, more than sixty percent said they read a newspaper once a week or less."If the journalists of the future don't want to read newspapers, who will?" I asked in the media release.Australia's Radio National Breakfast show followed it

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-72384704016996463772009-03-09T17:44:00.010+07:002009-03-11T14:06:48.868+07:00

Newspapers will wither and perhaps die, unless they become online media platforms, according to the next generation of journalists.More than 200 first year journalism students this year took part in an online survey of their news reading habits conducted by QUT Journalism Professor, Alan Knight. More than 90% of the respondents were aged under twenty one.Many of these want-to-be journalists

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-5435803930433287502007-01-04T08:29:00.000+07:002008-12-09T17:47:56.386+07:00

I confess to mostly enjoying being back in Brisbane which has much changed since I fled the Bjelke Petersen regime in 1976. There is good food, cinema, even a Museum of Modern Art with artifacts which intriguingly look like piles of empty cans. I wonder whether after the environmental apocalypse, archaeologists will dig up the Brisbane dump and assume that it was one of our key cultural centres.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1161302795059661322006-10-20T07:00:00.001+07:002009-04-15T09:48:04.243+07:00

Imagine that your nation's press was controlled by a foreign corporation, led by a ruthless businessman who traded political support for government handouts to his businesses. Then consider how you would feel if the electronic media alternative was being simultaneously muzzled!That's the prospect Australia faced this week, as a direct result of media restructuring approved by by the radical

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1158400762934328892006-09-16T16:57:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:26:52.936+07:00

"What's wrong with the sky?" the child of one of my Hong Kong friends asked on a recent visit to the US. She replied that outside China, the sky is usually blue.Hong Kong on a good day is still beautiful.But most days here are not good days any more.Ok I admit it, Hong Kong pollution has beaten me. As much as I love the place, I can't ignore the toxic smog. Today is white grey, with the Kowloon

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1156213295929778432006-08-22T09:19:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.954+07:00

Monty Python once boasted of a "Happy Holiday Home for Pets Pie Company".Hong Kong had a "Don't Forget Pets Crematorium Centre". Or it did until this week, when it was closed after repeated complaints from angry residents who claimed it belched foul smelling smoke into their flats. According to the South China Morning Post, six government departments had tried, and previously failed to close the

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1155916249581081072006-08-18T22:49:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:32:44.228+07:00

After recently having spilled a rather fine Australian Shiraz into my laptop, I have come to realise why journalists don't drink as much as they once did. In my youth, journalists used to file their copy from booze proof analogue telephones or pound their stories out on almost indestructible manual typewriters. A fraternal interest in booze was a hallowed foundation for creating and maintaining

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1155632738411200602006-08-15T16:02:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:34:23.625+07:00

I confess that over the years I have got drunk in some strange and somewhat seedy places. When I was in Cambodia, journos like myself used to hang out at the Gecko bar in USSR Boulevard. It was easy enough to find, if only because of the two metre tall concrete Gecko standing outside the bar. It had red unblinking eyes, which were not unlike my own, after a serious session there. In those days,

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1154432166702356402006-08-01T18:31:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.774+07:00

It's free to go to Hong Kong Zoo. It's run by the Hong Kong government. The cages of Lemurs, Toucans, Chinese crocodiles and Burmese Pythons are housed in immaculate architect designed cages surrounded by meticulously gardened jungle. The resident Jaguar has a mid levels pad which includes its own gym, spa bath and sun deck. It's true that his accommodation is not as big as he might have had

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1151876289171738172006-07-03T04:26:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.717+07:00

Sitting on the hilltop where Hannibal planned to humble Rome.Watching the President's security men holding handsMeeting Taxi driver, Mohammed Ali (not the boxer he says) who found my camera when I left it on his back seat and who drove like a demon to find me.Catching the breeze under the trees on Bourgiba BoulevardeHaving an excellent four course meal at Restaurant Carcassone for A$4.50.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1151762682737497342006-07-01T21:01:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.659+07:00

The Venetian approach to tourism was set by a couple of ninth century, local business men who stole the rotting corpse of St Mark so that it might be brought back home for a basilica which attracts tourists to Venice to this day. At least in those days, Venice had real industries; even if it was trade with the Orient, which generated fantastic profits after Venice left its Christian business

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1151336133540948902006-06-26T22:31:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.577+07:00

One is told to forget any preconceptions of war museums when it comes to the Imperial War Museum North at Manchester. "You'll never have seen anything like this before!", wrote the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.They were right!In fact, what there was to see was very strange indeed. Most people who went there seemed to agree. An interactive display at the museum recorded that most visitors felt it

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1147677986393480592006-05-15T14:14:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.515+07:00

You know you have been an expat in Hong Kong for too long when ;• The smog clears and you look out your mid levels window and you see a place across the harbour, which your maid calls Kowloon• Your children are speaking English with a Filipino accent• You have to burn your photo albums when your Chinese ex-girlfriend is appointed as your CEO• Your Chinese mistress dumps you for a CCP princeling,

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1147220171746109112006-05-10T07:08:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.452+07:00

Hong Kong used to be a place where you would go to shop. My Dad got a very fine Japanese Transistor radio from here back in the sixties when cruise ships disgorged thousands of heat affected westerners looking for a bargain.A host of seedy little shops flourished, stacked with the latest cameras, radios,electric shavers and later CD players, pagers and mobile phones. There were no fixed prices.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1146484887657568772006-05-01T19:00:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.394+07:00

May Day has always been a great day for contradictions.Consider the case of the Capitalist loving Communist unions who are not nearly as popular as they were in the heroic days of the Cultural Revolution when they could fill Hong Kong streets with chanting Red Guards. Many of those revolutionaries have since moved into Italian suits, flashing Swiss watches as they speculate on the stock market.

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1145589814819129522006-04-21T10:22:00.002+07:002009-04-15T11:50:03.645+07:00

The Chinese woman on my television appeared to be screaming abuse at the warm and fuzzy face of Stalinism, China's Premier Hu. Hu Jintao plodded on regardless, delivering his official speech in the brilliant spring sunshine on the White House lawn. Next to him stood President George Bush, looking like he had suddenly realised he was mistakenly wearing Laura Bush's underwear again. The CNN

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1145259211434997822006-04-17T14:30:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.275+07:00

A Hong Kong student asked me, "Why does the Australian government want to shut down student associations?" "Even Beijing isn't doing that!"Maybe the answer to the question is that while Beijing seems to be becoming more pragmatic and less ideological, Australia is heading in the other direction.In Hong Kong, students are able to learn about democracy and build networks by joining any of dozens of

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1144481518297469572006-04-08T14:29:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.208+07:00

Hong Kong's hillsides were ablaze this week as ceremonial Ching Ming fires predictably got out of hand. More than one hundred such wild fires were reported and extinguished by the vexed authorities. Ching Ming, or clear and bright day, allows Chinese families to visit the graves of Grandma and Grandpa and burn paper gifts which subsequently appear the nether world. To meet this ghostly demand,

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1144292432583138282006-04-06T09:55:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:27.145+07:00

The smog is so bad in Hong Kong that hundreds of runners in the recent marathon collapsed and had to be revived. One man died. The Government announced that the marathon organisers had acted properly. The smog..well er.. that is supposed to be mostly generated by mainland China, so its someone else's problem.When I first came to Hong Kong over a decade ago, the ocean waters were already polluted

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1144138879443587692006-04-04T15:20:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:35:06.470+07:00

Each morning at Guangdong's Shantou university, I awake to the sound of birdsong. Normally this would be a good thing. But I have been living in agrophobic Hong Kong where birdsong means the cry of foul avian flu carriers. After the SARS deaths caused a negative blip in the Hang Seng stock index, the vigilant Hong Kong authorities have been very concerned about the impact unspecified communicable

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1143726553663828042006-03-30T20:48:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:36:11.986+07:00

We stepped out for a few beers at the Globe, a little expat pub in Hong Kong's Soho district. The place was packed with suits playing darts..a game which I have always considered a blood sport when practised in crowded, smokey and drunken conditions. Then it was down to Gunga Dinh's for a few curries. The pommy architect, we were with, kept calling the Indian head waiter "Gunga". I don't think

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1128507776094241452005-10-05T17:21:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:26.889+07:00

We set out from the port of Aberdeen in the heat of late afternoon, heading south east to the Po Toi islands on the sea border with China. Aberdeen used to be a fishing village. Used to be. But that was before Hong Kong became the world's gateway to communist run capitalism. Where village women once deftly piloted fishing junks around the harbour, there were now lines of white motor launches,

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-109154046358403562004-08-03T20:38:00.000+07:002006-10-20T08:47:26.685+07:00

I tried to go swimming today. The university has two lovely, limpid, tropical blue pools which are usually empty this time of year. The locals complain that it is too hot for swimming. This apparently quixotic attitude should have prepared me for what was to come. I collected the appropriate paper work, saying that I am a visiting Honorary Research Fellow, and headed up the hill in the

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7606811.post-1089626630979701202004-07-12T17:02:00.001+07:002009-03-18T07:35:39.098+07:00

Book ReviewThe Man Who Died Twice The life and adventures of Morrison of PekingBy Peter Thompson and Robert MacklinAllen and Unwin, 380 pp, $32.95Morrison of Peking became a model for Australian correspondents abroad. He was brave, handsome, resourceful and ultimately a celebrity. But there was more to Morrison than media hype. Like many other heroes of Victorian era journalism, he was also a

Hongmediahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090248610016421023noreply@blogger.com0