Et tu, George? Campaign journalism and the politics of compromise

There is a category of film about journalism in which journalism is not the star, but the supporting player, and journalists not the protagonists but the Greek chorus, commenting on and also changing the realities they report. In such films the news media are a structuring presence driving the plot, shaping the narrative, constructing what we might think of as a pseudo-reality. Like Daniel Boorstin’s notion of the pseudo-event (introduced in his still-relevant book The Image, 1962), this pseudo-reality is so-named because it would not exist were it not for the demands of the news media’s hunger for stories, and knowledge of the damage they can do with those stories, on the calculations and actions of the key actors. Pseudo-realities form as responses to what political actors think journalists and their organisations need and want, or as efforts to shape journalistic accounts in ways favourable to themselves. Films about politics often feature pseudorealities of this kind, in which the events and actions driving the plot have only a tenuous relationship with important things going on in the everyday world beyond the political arena. Everything we see is about image, perception, appearance.

Fashion meets journalism : mapping and evaluating Australian fashion media

This study demonstrates how to study fashion journalism from the point of view, that it is its own field of journalism, akin to other journalism beats such as politics, sports and health. There is scope here for comment on the co-evolution of fashion and journalism, leading to ‘fashion journalism’ developing as a distinct field of study in its own right. This research contributes more generally to the field of media and cultural studies, by developing the threepart producer/text/reader model, which is the standard ‘media studies’ analytical framework. The study of fashion media from a cultural studies perspective acknowledges that cultural studies has pioneered the formal study of both journalism and fashion, for instance in studies of women’s magazines; but it has not brought the two areas together sufficiently. What little work has been done, however, has allowed theorists to explore how magazines promote feminism and form culture, which acts as a step in concreting fashion’s importance theoretically. This thesis has contributed to cultural studies by showing the relationship between the corporate industry, of both fashion and media (producer), and the active audience (reader) can be rethought and brought up to date for the more interactive era of the 21st century.

Spectrum sensing, detection and optimisation in cognitive radio for non-stationary primary user signals

Cognitive radio is an emerging technology proposing the concept of dynamic spec- trum access as a solution to the looming problem of spectrum scarcity caused by the growth in wireless communication systems. Under the proposed concept, non- licensed, secondary users (SU) can access spectrum owned by licensed, primary users (PU) so long as interference to PU are kept minimal. Spectrum sensing is a crucial task in cognitive radio whereby the SU senses the spectrum to detect the presence or absence of any PU signal. Conventional spectrum sensing assumes the PU signal as ‘stationary’ and remains in the same activity state during the sensing cycle, while an emerging trend models PU as ‘non-stationary’ and undergoes state changes. Existing studies have focused on non-stationary PU during the transmission period, however very little research considered the impact on spectrum sensing when the PU is non-stationary during the sensing period. The concept of PU duty cycle is developed as a tool to analyse the performance of spectrum sensing detectors when detecting non-stationary PU signals. New detectors are also proposed to optimise detection with respect to duty cycle ex- hibited by the PU. This research consists of two major investigations. The first stage investigates the impact of duty cycle on the performance of existing detec- tors and the extent of the problem in existing studies. The second stage develops new detection models and frameworks to ensure the integrity of spectrum sensing when detecting non-stationary PU signals. The first investigation demonstrates that conventional signal model formulated for stationary PU does not accurately reflect the behaviour of a non-stationary PU. Therefore the performance calculated and assumed to be achievable by the conventional detector does not reflect actual performance achieved. Through analysing the statistical properties of duty cycle, performance degradation is proved to be a problem that cannot be easily neglected in existing sensing studies when PU is modelled as non-stationary. The second investigation presents detectors that are aware of the duty cycle ex- hibited by a non-stationary PU. A two stage detection model is proposed to improve the detection performance and robustness to changes in duty cycle. This detector is most suitable for applications that require long sensing periods. A second detector, the duty cycle based energy detector is formulated by integrat- ing the distribution of duty cycle into the test statistic of the energy detector and suitable for short sensing periods. The decision threshold is optimised with respect to the traffic model of the PU, hence the proposed detector can calculate average detection performance that reflect realistic results. A detection framework for the application of spectrum sensing optimisation is proposed to provide clear guidance on the constraints on sensing and detection model. Following this framework will ensure the signal model accurately reflects practical behaviour while the detection model implemented is also suitable for the desired detection assumption. Based on this framework, a spectrum sensing optimisation algorithm is further developed to maximise the sensing efficiency for non-stationary PU. New optimisation constraints are derived to account for any PU state changes within the sensing cycle while implementing the proposed duty cycle based detector.

A chance for diversity? Australian online journalism

Australia’s mainstream media landscape has long been recognised as highly limited – media ownership in the country has traditionally been concentrated in the hands of a very few, and (except for Sydney and Melbourne) it is common for major Australian cities to be served by only one local newspaper, usually produced by Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd. This can be seen also to affect the quality and diversity of Australian journalism; additionally, the global decline of newspaper publishers’ revenues and overall adverse economic conditions exert further pressure on journalistic operations in the country. At the same time, and possibly in response to the increasing stresses on industrial journalism in the country and the implications they have for the quality of journalistic products, a vibrant and dynamic ecosystem of Australian industrial and citizen journalism publications has emerged online. Existing media organisations have built strong news brands online, while citizen journalists and political bloggers have given voice to issues, concerns, and opinions hitherto underrepresented in Australian mainstream journalism; of particular interest, however, is the increasing level of engagement and interaction between the two. While such interaction has been characterised by deep animosity at times (especially also in the context of the Australian federal election in November 2007), Australia has also seen the emergence and establishment of a number of new, intermediary online publications which act as spaces for public debate and analysis – from the public intellectualism of Online Opinion through the muckraking of Crikey to the progressive politics of New Matilda. The rise of social media as spaces for the discussion of news and politics further changes the media environment, potentially leading both to renewed conflict between professional and citizen journalists and to a greater level of engagement between journalists and audiences. Overall, then, such online developments offer a chance for a greater diversity of opinion and representation in Australian journalism, but also remain under a cloud from uncertain long-term business models and funding arrangements. This chapter outlines current trends in Australian online journalism, and speculates about their effect on the Australian news media landscape.

New discursive configurations of journalism : Narratives in Rio de Janeiro's favelas [Novas configurações discursivas no jornalismo: narrativas digitais nas favelas do Rio de Janeiro]

Oprincipal objetivo desse artigo é apresentar os resultados parciais de uma pesquisa em andamento sobre o processo de produção de conteúdo do portal Viva Favela, um dos projetos sociais realizados pela organização nãogovernamental Viva Rio. Partindo de uma abordagem conceitual que discute os modos pelos quais a mídia alternativa e o jornalismo público/jornalismo cívico criam as condições de possibilidade para que uma determinada prática jornalística dê ‘voz’ e ‘empodere’ (empower) moradores de periferias e favelas brasileiras, estamos realizando um estudo das rotinas produtivas do Viva Favela e seus ‘correspondentes comunitários’. O conceito sobre voice, de Jo Tacchi, oferece-nos um embasamento teórico adequado para refletirmos sobre o que vem sendo denominado, nos Estados Unidos, de digital storytelling – as narrativas digitais produzidas com as tecnologias de informação e comunicação para “contar estórias” 1, que são criativamente apropriadas, no Brasil, por moradores das favelas e periferias das regiões metropolitanas.

Happenings and sensational journalism [O acontecimento e o sensacional no jornalismo]

EM artigo anteriormente publicado (AGUIAR, 2008a), concluímos que as críticas elaboradas por certos autores (SOUSA, 2000; KURTZ, 1993; MARSHALL, 2003; MARCONDES FILHO, 1988), ao classificarem um determinado modo de jornalismo como sensacionalista, parecem querer opor uma imaginária constituição democrática do espaço público e da cultura legítima a uma suposta disfunção narcotizante do entretenimento, que promoveria o conformismo social e reforçaria as normas sociais. O jornalismo sensacionalista, nesse entendimento, veicularia apenas a ampla trivialidade e o excesso de diversão estaria “matando” os ideais iluministas da sociedade moderna, tal como aposta Postman (1986). Entretanto, pode-se ver nestas críticas aquilo que Edgar Morin define, ao estudar cultura de lazer, como a má impressão causada pelo divertimento e pela evasão aos “moralistas dessa confederação helvética do espírito que são as letras e a universidade” (MORIN, 2002).

Non-rhetorical journalism? A case study of Absudo [Jornalismo (não) retórico? Um estudo de caso sobre o Abusado]

Resumo: A proposta do artigo é discutir a possibilidade de um jornalismo não-retórico, pelo viés do acontecer poético, no romance-reportagem Abusado: o dono do morro Dona Marta, do jornalista Caco Barcellos. Retoma, nesse empreendimento, a reflexão do filósofo Michel Foucault sobre a construção discursiva da figura do delinquente. Com isso, a construção biográfica do traficante Márcio Amaro de Oliveira aparece como imagem-questão, anunciadora de novas perguntas e inquietações sobre a realidade da favela da Santa Marta, ao invés de uma simples construção discursiva sobre o real.

Talking it through : the case for the use of conversation analytic approaches in the analysis of news journalism

This study makes out the case for the use of the Conversational Analytic method as a research approach that might both extricate and chronicle the features of the journalism interview. It seeks to encourage such research to help inform understanding of this form and to provide further lessons as to the nature of journalism practice. Such studies might follow many paths but this paper focuses more particularly on the outcomes for the debate as to the continued relevance of "objectivity" in informing journalism professional practice. To make out the case for the veracity of CA as a means through which the conduct of journalism practice might be explored the paper examines: the theories of the interaction order that gave rise to the CA method; outlines the key features of the journalism interview as explicated through the CA approach; outlines the implications of such research for the establishment of the standing of "objectivity". It concludes as to the wider relevance of such studies of journalism practice for a fracturing journalism field, which suffers from a lack of benchmarks to measure the public benefit of the range of forms that now proliferate on the internet.

The digital transformation of 21st century news journalism

This paper deals with the transformations that have occurred in news journalism worldwide in the early 21st century. I argue that they havebeen the most significant changes to the profession for 100 years, and the challenges facing the news media industry in responding to them are substantial, as are those facing journalism education. This argument is developed in relation to the crisis of the newspaper business model, and why social media, blogging and citizen journalism have not filled the gap left by the withdrawal of resources from traditional journalism. It also draws upon Wikileaks as a case study in debates about computational and data-driven journalism, and whether large-scale "leaks" of electronic documents may be the future of investigative journalism.

The new normativity : the innovation imperative

At a quite fundamental level, the very way in which Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) may envisage its future usually captured in the semantic shift from PSB to Public Service Media (PSM) is at stake when considering the recent history of public value discourse and the public value test. The core Reithian PSB idea assumed that public value would be created through the application of core principles of universality of availability and appeal, provision for minorities, education of the public, distance from vested interests, quality programming standards, program maker independence, and fostering of national culture and the public sphere. On the other hand, the philosophical import of the public value test is that potentially any excursion into the provision of new media services needs to be justified ex ante. In this era of New Public Management, greater transparency and accountability, and the proposition that resources for public value deliverables be contestable and not sequestered in public sector institutions, what might be the new Archimedean point around which a contemporised normativity for PSM be built? This paper will argue for the innovation imperative as an organising principle for contemporary PSM. This may appear counterintuitive, as it is precisely PSB’s predilection for innovating in new media services (in online, mobile, and social media) that has produced the constraining apparatus of the ex ante/public value/Drei-Stufen-Test in Europe, based on principles of competitive neutrality and transparency in the application of public funds for defined and limited public benefit. However, I argue that a commitment to innovation can define as complementary to, rather than as competitive ‘crowding out’, the new products and services that PSM can, and should, be delivering into a post-scarcity, superabundant all-media marketplace. The evidence presented in this paper for this argument is derived mostly from analysis of PSM in the Australian media ecology. While no PSB outside Europe is subject to a formal public value test, the crowding out arguments are certainly run in Australia, particularly by powerful commercial interests for whom free news is a threat to monetising quality news journalism. Take right wing opinion leader, herself a former ABC Board member, Judith Sloan: ‘… the recent expansive nature of the ABC – all those television stations, radio stations and online offerings – is actually squeezing activity that would otherwise be undertaken by the private sector. From partly correcting market failure, the ABC is now causing it. We are now dealing with a case of unfair competition and wasted taxpayer funds’ (The Drum, 1 August http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2818220.html). But I argue that the crowding out argument is difficult to sustain in Australia because of the PSB’s non-dominant position and the fact that much of innovation generated by the two PSBs, the ABC and the SBS, has not been imitated by or competed for by the commercials. The paper will bring cases forward, such as SBS’ Go Back to Where you Came From (2011) as an example of product innovation, and a case study of process and organisational innovation which also has resulted in specific product and service innovation – the ABC’s Innovation Unit. In summary, at least some of the old Reithian dicta, along with spectrum scarcity and market failure arguments, have faded or are fading. Contemporary PSM need to justify their role in the system, and to society, in terms of innovation.

Energy-efficient localization : GPS duty cycling with radio ranging

GPS is a commonly used and convenient technology for determining absolute position in outdoor environments, but its high power consumption leads to rapid battery depletion in mobile devices. An obvious solution is to duty cycle the GPS module, which prolongs the device lifetime at the cost of increased position uncertainty while the GPS is off. This article addresses the trade-off between energy consumption and localization performance in a mobile sensor network application. The focus is on augmenting GPS location with more energy-efficient location sensors to bound position estimate uncertainty while GPS is off. Empirical GPS and radio contact data from a large-scale animal tracking deployment is used to model node mobility, radio performance, and GPS. Because GPS takes a considerable, and variable, time after powering up before it delivers a good position measurement, we model the GPS behaviour through empirical measurements of two GPS modules. These models are then used to explore duty cycling strategies for maintaining position uncertainty within specified bounds. We then explore the benefits of using short-range radio contact logging alongside GPS as an energy-inexpensive means of lowering uncertainty while the GPS is off, and we propose strategies that use RSSI ranging and GPS back-offs to further reduce energy consumption. Results show that our combined strategies can cut node energy consumption by one third while still meeting application-specific positioning criteria.