JOUR1111 Endnote

I thought I should log on to this blog and mention that now semester has ended it's unlikely that I will use this particular blog again and I have had exactly 1000 views since I began this assignment. 


Although I appreciated the lesson that JOUR1111 was trying to teach about the importance and power of blogging etc etc, this particular blog was only ever going to be an assignment for me. Because of that, I'm not overly enthusiastic about continuing to use it. 


However, for anyone who has actually read any of my posts for reasons other than to assess it/get ideas for their own assessments then you might be interested in my other online ventures. I love having discussions and sharing experiences, particularly about music, with like-minded people.


So you can follow me in a variety of ways:


My twitter account is... https://twitter.com/#!/ByClare

Tumblr.... http://byclare.tumblr.com


And if you're guessing the pattern here.. My Instagram name is... ByClare http://www.iphoneogram.com/u/8078120


I also have last.fm... http://www.last.fm/user/claaaaare


And look out for my future blogs I suppose...

Harvest Lineup

YAY! Is pretty much the only word I can think of. Once again Harvest Festival organisers have come up with the perfect mix of old/new/quirky/popular/up-and-coming/generally exciting bands. Come the 28th of June I will definitely be getting myseld a ticke to Harvest this year. Sigur Ros and Grizzly Bear alone are on my must-see lists...

Two Weeks

Grizzly Bear

Lecture Twelve

I consider myself fairly internet literate. Like millions of other people I have a Facebook account, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Last.fm, Fasterlouder and now thanks to JOUR1111 a blog. My interest and attentiveness to each ebbs and flows all the time, any given week I could be constantly updating one account but completely ignoring another. I'm not entirely sure if I will keep  this blog going after JOUR1111 is over, but I am tempted to start one about music or something. 

The reason I introduced this lecture by reeling off the various ways in which I shove my opinions, posts and photos in people's faces is because our last lecture for JOUR1111 was all about blogging and developing your brand name.

Steve Molk, creator of molkstvtalk.com spoke to us about his venture into the world of blogging and gave us his opinion and advice about the world of practical journalism. 

I found his talks about developing your brand name particularly resonated with me. From early on in my social networking experiences I realised the value of continuity among everything I put my name to. All of my accounts are under the name 'ByClare' and I frequently cross-promote my own writing pieces. 

Steve focused on the importance of social media in today's society. Every single day I am amazed by the way in which social media is used by a whole variety of people. While I sit in my comfortable couch tapping away on my Mac Book, communities in Kenya have begun using Twitter to convey messages regarding safety, crime alerts, weather announcements and important notices. A modern day crime stoppers group! Kony2012 took the world via a viral storm, and rioters in Libya and Egypt were able to instantly update the world on the situation from the ground. Social media, while subject to fashionable trends (see Facebook public offering... awkward), it is also being used as a really important tool.

I found Steve's story about his own TV review website really interesting. I strongly believe that if you want to be a journalist then you have to work to create a name for yourself. This isn't the Devil Wears Prada, normal people don't get magical internships that lead to a desk at the New York Times or Rolling Stone. You have to work for it and that is what I am trying to do. 

Although I have had my ups and downs with JOUR1111 this year, I feel like I am finally getting into the degree that will hopefully land me at a desk at the New York Times, or Rolling Stone (I'm not fussy).

Semester One Mixtape

A few tunes from the year thus far to help a procrastinating student to get through exams.

Animal Collective

Honeycomb

Arctic Monkeys

RU Mine?

Passion Pit

Take A Walk

Sigur Ros

Dauoalogn

Regina Spektor

Firewood

2:54

Scarlet

Temper Trap

Trembling Hands

Mystery Jets

Someone Purer 

Jack White

Sixteen Saltines

Miles Kane

First Of My Kind

The Maccabees

Pelican

Life With An LNP Majority

I highly recommend a read of this very interesting article in the Brisbane Times. It attempts to illustrate how Campbell Newman is spinning his policy in the media to minimise backlash for cutting some 20,000 jobs in the public sector. Regardless of whether you agree or not, it's still a very interesting analysis of how relationships between the media, government and the audience play out in real life.


http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/how-to-sack-20000-queenslanders-or-more-20120613-209a1.html

Lecture Eleven

In this journalism lecture we were introduced to 'Investigative Journalism.' Although I am of the opinion that all journalism is supposed to have some degree of investigation, sadly I concede that this isn't necessarily the case all the time. There's always going to be gossip and tabloid media, however early reports actually suggest that the decline in the media industry's funds impacts on the quality of journalism. Obviously investigative journalism isn't quite extinct yet, the way in which journalists have followed up on and reported the issues that Wikileaks has released over the past few yes is perhaps testament to this.


So what is Investigative Journalism?


- Critical and thorough journalism
Investigative Journalists put a lot of time and effort into their stories. Vast amounts of research have to be done to fully investigate stories, particularly if they are controversial. 


- Custodians of conscience
In investigating important social issues, journalists uphold society's moral code, presenting the truth or unknown aspects of stories which enable to public to act upon injustices. A good example of this would be the 4 Corners report in 2011 revealing the cruel treatment of Australian cattle that are exported live to Indonesia. After the report aired, the public pressured the Government to stop the mistreatment and within days the Prime Minister had suspended all live exports to the offending abattoirs. 


- To provide a voice for those without one and to hold the powerful to account
Again my cattle example works well here. Cows don't exactly have a voice in Australia but through the investigation of a few ABC journalists, their suffering was presented to the public who demanded that the offenders be stopped. In a non-animal example, investigative stories that bring the plight of impoverished people and the injustices they face to the public raise awareness of many issues that were previously not known. This is not to say that the public don't actually care about the issues, but unless there are people providing them with information (journalists) it is unlikely they will ever find out about it.


- Fourth Estate (Watchdog)

The final role of investigative journalism is as the 'fourth estate. 'Journalists represent the interests of those without power to balance the power of government. In addition to this they ensure free flows of information necessary for the functioning of democracy by interrogating the judiciary, executive and legislature

“Watchdog.” Journalists make accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life. 

Page One: Inside The New York Times

The last tutorial for the semester had a rather small turnout (I think an assignment was due that day). That didn't matter however, we watched a documentary by Andrew Rossi about The New York Times. 

I found that the documentary actually to the heart of what we look at during the end of every JOUR1111 lecture, 'how will *insert media topic here* survive?.' In the case of this documentary, how will newspapers survive if 'free' online news continues to dominate the industry.  Page One shows how the New York Times has responded to this impending crisis by building partnerships with online-based organisations. While this was all well and good, there was no escaping the few hundred people they laid off due to budget cuts.

The film briefly touched on a couple of the most recent NYT scandals including Jayson Blair's plagiarism and Judith Miller's bias and uncritical reporting on the US Government's pursuit to uncover 'supposed' Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Overall it was actually pretty interesting to see how such a huge corporation is dealing with financial difficulties and trying to reinvigorate a flailing industry. I would definitely recommend the documentary to anyone remotely interested in the media. 

Lecture Ten

“Propaganda is used as a tool to help shape images in the minds of human beings in support of an enterprise, idea or group. Propaganda can be used to substitute one social pattern for another.” Lipmann

This lecture focused on Agenda Setting in the media. Research on the agenda-setting process suggests that the relative salience of an issue on the media agenda determines how the public agenda is formed, which in turn influences which issue policy makers consider. The theory revealed that the mass media have large influence on audiences by their choice of what stories to consider newsworthy and how much prominence and space to give them. This closely links to the previous lecture about News Values however it looks more at the impact this 'agenda setting' actually has upon wider society. Often the elite media set an agenda for other media which is then transferred to the public, the issue then reaches other objects such as political figures.


The media sets the agenda in many ways:


Agenda Cutting - Newsrooms determine what is 'newsworthy' and generally speaking the public care less about issues not covered by the media.
Agenda Surfing - The media will cover events and issues that the public are already interested in. Social networking makes this even easier for journalists to pick up on topics that are grabbing the attention a lot of people. In running stories about an issue that's already trending, there is at least some guarantee of public attention.
News Diffusion - The deliberate distribution of news, regarding the platform, local and person it is distributed by.

Portrayal - The way in which the media portrays an issue can have a huge impact on how the public perceive it. Ideally a variety of angles helps the public to form their own opinions, however cross media ownership makes this 'variety' less likely.

Dependence - As people become more reliant on the media as a source of information, the more likely it is that will be susceptible to the agenda of the media outlet.

Agenda setting was particularly relevant in my annotated bibliography assignment. It's posted on this blog if you are interested. I was basically looking at how certain media outlets set the agenda for Climate Change debates despite the fact that a lot of what they say is completely incorrect. I think cross-media ownership in Australia is a big issue. It's less likely that an audience will receive variety when there are only a handful of powerful agenda setters in high positions. It's quite a scary thought really.

Lecture Nine

"News journalism has a broadly agreed set of values, often referred to as 'newsworthiness'..." A. Boyd


This lecture was all about the value of the news. Millions of things happen every day, yet only certain events end up on television, online, in newspapers and on the radio. Obviously at some point people in newsrooms have to ultimately make editing decisions and determine what the most important things to report are. 'News Values' are essentially degree of prominence a media outlet gives to a story, and the attention that is paid by an audience.


News values are not the same across different news services, countries or cultures. To use an example I just thought of; the current conflict in Afghanistan. Afghani media would be reporting on entirely different aspects and angles compared to another country directly involved such as the US or Australia. Even countries not directly involved in the conflict would report on events differently depending on their culture, geographic location and the public significance of events. While this example is obviously a lot more complex, even in this simple explanation, it becomes clear that news values are very subjective. This is not necessarily even a matter of conscious 'bias,' merely that some events are deemed publicly more important than others for completely legitimate reasons. 


In more general terms, there are obviously certain types of events that attract more attention. "If it bleeds, it leads," is a saying that came up in the lecture. Tragedy generally trumps most news stories. Accidents, wars, natural disasters, robberies, murder, fires and other crimes are highly valued because society deems that it is important for these events to be known. Additionally, the audience perpetuates this perceived importance by being interested in, and seeking out these types of news stories. 


Local issues are also highly valued within the media. Audiences are always interested in events that are happening around them, not only nationally, but at a macro-community level. While a report on vandals at a local library might be a serious and important issue to the specific community, the same report probably isn't going to interest a community on the other side of the country. News outlets cater for this by having local news programs in addition to national coverage.

More on Media Ethics

The ACMA is the government body responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, the internet, radiocommunications and telecommunications. Responsibilities include:

• Promoting self-regulation and competition in the communications industry, while protecting consumers and other users
• Fostering an environment in which electronic media respect community standards and respond to audience and user needs
• Managing access to the radiofrequency spectrum
• Representing Australia 's communications interests internationally.

I find that ACMA have a very strange role within the media. While they have a fair amount of power (and rightly so) to regulate and reprimand any media wrongdoing, they are also ultimately a government organisation. People don't really like the idea of their government controlling something like the media (just have to look at the censorship debates) so ACMA always has to be careful about when and how much power they exercise.

There's heaps more information on the website: http://www.acma.gov.au

Lecture Eight

I wasn't overly impressed with this week's lecture on ethics in all honesty. For the first 25 minutes of the lecture we were given a score sheet to mark how ethical/unethical a selection of adverts where. While I understood that this was to demonstrate that people perceive ethics differently, I think the same outcome might have been achieved in a more relevant way such as scoring various news stories that pushed the boundaries of being unethical. 

After this exercise we got an overview of theories of ethics (Deontology, Consequentialism & Virtue). In the practice of professional journalism, the media operate under a series of codes that outline appropriate conduct (Deontology). The main ones in Australia are MEAA, PRIA, AFA and AANA. These codes widely cover:

• Honesty 
• Fairness
• Independence
• Respect for the rights of others

While I understand that class needed a grounding in vague ethical principles and ideas, I was far more interested to hear about how the media breaches it's own codes and the consequences. Unfortunately this interest was not sated in the lecture which promptly ended after a brief rundown of the purposes of these codes. 

So I decided to go looking for some examples myself. The fact of the matter is, journalists and media outlets break the rules all the time. And not in the way that movie stars in Hollywood  'uncover the truth' (I can't think of that terrible film Russel Crowe and Rachel McAdams are in) often in the real world, it is because they want to 'create the truth.' So here are some of the truly appalling things Australian media has done (a mere tip of the iceberg). 

A Current Affairs - "Foreign Doctors"

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_311677

In 2007 ACA did a report on doctors trained outside of Australia saying that they are 'dodgy' and not sufficiently skilled. The program was found to be in breach of ACMA's code of conduct and they were reprimanded heavily. 

'ACMA found that the licensee failed to present material relating to the complainant accurately by omitting material regarding the complainant’s Australian qualifications. This was a finding of a significant error of fact which the licensee also failed to make reasonable efforts to correct at the earliest opportunity.'

Kyle Sandilands - 2Day FM

http://mumbrella.com.au/sandilands-breached-radio-code-rules-watchdog-81425

After a spout of controversial comments on live radio, ACMA reprimanded 2Day FM's Kyle Sandilands for sexist comments he made in regards to News Ltd journalist, Alison Stephenson after she gave a negative review of his television show.

“Some fat slag on news.com.au has already branded it a disaster. You can tell by reading the article that she just hates us and has always hated us. What a fat bitter thing you are. You’re deputy editor of an online thing. You’ve got a nothing job anyway. You’re a piece of shit.

“This low thing, Alison Stephenson, deputy editor of news.com.au online. You’re supposed to be impartial, you little troll. You’re a bullshit artist, girl. You should be fired from your job. Your hair’s very 90s. And your blouse. You haven’t got that much titty to be having that low cut a blouse. Watch your mouth or I’ll hunt you down.”

'ACMA said that Sandilands had shown a “flagrant disregard” for the guidelines on the portrayal of women on commercial radio.

2Day FM had argued that the station was not in breach of the rules on decency because they included standards based on the expectations of the listeners. It argued that Kyle Sandilands listeners would not be offended by the comments.'

Australian Media: Climate Change Bias - Annotated Bibliography

 Newspaper Biased Against Climate Change 

Australasian Science, 2011

Author, Ian Lowe, a Professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University discusses the anti-climate bias inherently present in News Ltd’s reporting, particular in Australia’s national newspaper.  Lowe presents examples of selective journalism and the propagation of unsubstantiated scientific claims used by The Australian to construct a seemingly plausible case against the existence of climate change.  He goes even further to point out that not only are the columnists in The Australian heavily opinionated in the manner they present climate issues, but that these opinions are allowed to dictate which stories are ‘newsworthy’ enough to print.  Lowe reveals that a recent analysis of the newspaper has revealed that there is a ratio of about four anti-climate action articles printed for every one pro-climate action.  This, he points out, is in no way a balanced presentation of this issue, given that around 97% of the world’s climate scientists believe that rapid climate change, caused by human activity, is a huge threat to humanity. According to Lowe, The Australian’s obvious bias toward climate deniers is a clear breach of the AJA Code of Ethics, requiring journalists to report fairly on controversial issues.

Lowe, Ian. (2011). Newspaper Biased Against Climate Change. Australasian Science. Retrieved http://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-november-2011/newspaper-biased-against-climate-change.html (05/2012)

Climate Claims Fail Test

The Australian, 2009

Professor Michael Asten wrote a feature article for The Australian during the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Council Summit on the ‘inconclusive’ nature of supposed climate science.  In an attempt to discredit climate scientists, Asten asserted that because the chairperson of the Copenhagen Climate Council, Tim Flannery, had stated that scientist couldn’t possibly have perfect knowledge on the issue, therefore the science was not proven.  Although Asten is a reputable source in the field of geosciences, he had never published anything to do with climate science prior to this article.  After complaints were made as to the accuracy of his assertions, it was later revealed that Asten had close links with the mining and coal industries in Australia, however The Australian never responded to this criticism.  Asten used findings in the prominent science journal Nature, to substantiate his claims that there was no certain link between CO2 and global warming.  Even when the actual authors of this journal article complained at the misrepresentation of their research, The Australian did not retract any of the statements.  The newspaper used its powerful position within society to allow an unqualified and false account of this important issue to be presented to the Australian public in a way that implied Asten was a reputable scientific source, when in reality, he was an opinionated vested interest.

Asten, M. (2009). Climate Claims Fail Test. The Australian. Retrieved http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/climate-claims-fail-science-test/story-e6frg6zo-1225808398627 (05/2012)

Balancing A Hot Debate

Media Watch, 2011

ABC’s Media Watch presented a short television segment discussing the climate denial bias present in Fairfax Media radio station’s talkback programs throughout Australia.  Presenter, Jonathon Holmes offered copious examples of prominent radio presenters using completely false scientific figures and presenting heavily opinionated views as fact.  For example, 2GB Sydney’s breakfast show presenter, Alan Jones, was quoted stating that, “Human beings produce .001% of the carbon dioxide in the air…” [i] In reality, it is widely accepted that humans produce around 30% of CO2 in the atmosphere, a finding that completely discredits Jones’ statement, although is never retracted or amended by the Fairfax station.  Journalists such as those at Media Watch, who question the credibility of the claims surrounding controversial issues, are crucial in providing a fair and balanced argument to society.  The Media Watch report revealed that in most major talkback shows in the capital cities around Australia, there was a much higher proportion of climate sceptics than not.  Given that Fairfax own most of these radio stations, it would appear that there is a strong anti-climate bias across most of the Australian media outlets.

Holmes, J. (2011). Balancing A Hot Debate. ABC Media Watch. Transcript retrieved http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3169309.htm (05/2012)

Green Left Climate Change Bias Easy as ABC

The Australian, 2012

A recent opinion article in The Australian openly attacks the integrity of the ABC and tries to recover some of the credibility supposedly denied them by the public station’s, ‘greenie-left-wing-bias’ reporters.  James Delingpole is a climate sceptic and author of the book, Killing The Earth To Save It, who claims that the ABC treats climate sceptics with as much disdain as ‘Nazis’ or ‘kiddie-fiddlers’.  Delingpole is outraged at being told by various presenters he meets at ABC stations that he is only being interviewed in the interest of presenting both sides of the argument.  While this may be a shock to Delingpole, it seems unreasonable that he expects that the vastly outnumbered opinions of climate sceptics should receive equal weighting with climate scientists, despite the fact sceptics make up less than 3% of the opinion spectrum.  He then goes even further to applaud the beliefs and attitudes of Sydney radio host, Alan Jones, adding that at least if Australians did not like his opinion, they weren’t paying for it through taxes.  Although it is true that the ABC is publicly funded, by the very fact that Delingpole receives airtime suggests that despite personal bias, journalists at the ABC do present both sides of the argument. While in contrast, The Australian sees fit to give Delingpole’s own bias and opinionated rant national coverage without any consideration of the potential misrepresentation of the ABC.

Delingpole, J. (2012). Green Left Climate Bias Easy as ABC. The Australian. Retrieved http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/green-left-climate-change-bias-easy-as-abc/story-e6frgd0x-1226363902728?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAustralianOpinion+(The+Australian+%7C+Opinion) (05/2012)

---

[i] 2GB Sydney, The Alan Jones Breakfast Show, 15th March, 2011

No Splendour For Clare

I'M RATHER UPSET TODAY. 

LIKE SEVERAL THOUSAND OTHER AUSTRALIANS, I LOGGED ON TO MY MOSHTIX ACCOUNT AT 8:55AM, EAGER TO SECURE MYSELF A SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS TICKET. 

SADLY, I AM NOT ONE OF THE 17,500 WHO WILL BE TRAVELING TO BYRON BAY IN JULY AND DANCE TO THE LIKES OF JACK WHITE, THE SHINS, BLOC PARTY, SMASHING PUMPKINS OR AT THE DRIVE IN. THE ENTIRE FESTIVAL INCLUDING DAY-TICKETS AND CAMPING SPACES SOLD OUT IN 43 MINUTES. HOWEVER I DO FIND THE CAPITAL LETTERS ARE MAKING ME FEEL BETTER.

An Original Sharpie Design On The Back Of My Lecture Notes

IF ANYONE HAS SEEN THE SPLENDOUR FACEBOOK PAGE TODAY, THEY WILL HAVE SEEN THAT I AM NOT ALONE IN MY WOES. MANY PEOPLE WERE NOT ABLE TO SECURE THE TICKET THEY DESIRED. WHILE SOME BICKER OVER SCALPING (SOMETHING THAT SPLENDOUR ORGANISERS HAVE GENERALLY MADE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE WITH SECURITY MEASURES) THE REST OF US HAVE RESIGNED OURSELVES TO THE INEVITABLE. ALTHOUGH THE FESTIVAL DID NOT SELL OUT LAST YEAR, THE WEEKEND'S CAPACITY THEN WAS ACTUALLY AROUND 30,000 - MAKING THIS YEAR A CONSIDERABLE DECREASE. PERHAPS ORGANISERS WILL HAVE TO RECONSIDER THEIR DEAL WITH THE BYRON BAY COUNCIL. IN THE MEAN TIME, I'LL JUST CONTINUE TO FEEL SORRY FOR MYSELF AND LISTEN TO THE SHINS. 

NO SPLENDOUR FOR CLARE :(

Caring Is Creepy

The Shins

Bill - Factual Story Assignment

William (Bill) Atkinson was a most beloved Great Uncle, always kind, generous and a great sense of humour.  Although he lived in New South Wales during the latter part of his life, he never failed to make an annual pilgrimage to his hometown in Tasmania to visit family and attend a reunion service for the battalion he served in during World War II.  Bill was not always forthcoming with stories about the war, though he occasionally gave snippets about his time in service, particularly if there was a good anecdote to be had.  After one particular reunion he said that there had been a member of the group whom he had heard loudly exclaiming that, “Bill Atkinson, he gave me a shirt once, but I’ll be damned if I know where the bugger got it.”  As it turns out, there is quite a story behind how Bill came to give a fellow comrade a shirt whilst they both floated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Bill was brought up in during the height of the Great Depression and placed in foster care when he was six years old; his early life was a trial in and of itself.  He recalls getting the cane every day at school for not being able to produce a workbook or handkerchief each morning, items he was never able to afford.  By age 11 he had left school and was labouring fulltime for a mere five shillings a week. While the rest of his formative years were spent pursuing any employment he could find, the real hardships in Bill’s life had barely begun.

On the 22^nd of October 1940, he enlisted in the 2/40 Infantry Battalion of the Second AIF to, “help the other blokes out.”  A mere 20 years old, Bill trained first in Brighton, Tasmania before being shipped to regional Victoria for further training.  The battalion was originally formed to fight German forces in Europe, however by early 1941 it was decided to use the men to garrison a forward airbase in Timor should Japan enter the war.  Subsequently Bill was sent to Darwin to acclimatise to the tropics before he was deployed to Timor. The battalion included 795 Tasmanians in its complement of 919 men when it left Australian shores in December 1941.

In Timor, the Australians were told that the Japanese troops could only land in one place, so they spent the next few weeks clearing land, building firing positions and preparing for the invasion.  All of this effort was ultimately in vain, as the Japanese landed in a completely different location, far sooner and in much larger numbers than had been anticipated.  Despite the valiant efforts of the allied men, the Japanese forces outnumbered them more than 22 to one.  Whilst subject to frequent Japanese air raids, the 2/40^th Battalion attempted a retreat to the hillside where more supplies waited for them.  One night, while the men slept, the Japanese surrounded the camp and gave the battalion the option to surrender.  After days of exhausting defensive combat, and with no food or ammunition remaining, the battalion was forced to surrender on the 20^th February 1942.  In spite of this, Bill remembers the Japanese air force actually bombed the defenceless soldiers after they had been captured, killing several men. 

Bill worked loading boats from a Timor prison camp for six months before he was moved to Java for about a year, where he did a variety of labouring work, from planting trees to making string.  As a prisoner of war he had little or no access to medical supplies and survived on insect-invested rice rations.  By June 1944, the work in Java had ended and Bill was to be shipped to mainland Japan. The remainder of his battalion joined British, U.S and Dutch POWs onboard the Japanese prisoner ship, Tamahoko Maru. On the 20^th of June, Bill recalls a conversation with his two friends in which they tried to persuade him into joining them below deck to get a decent night’s sleep. Instead he decides to sleep on deck, a decision that ultimately saves his life.

At 11:50pm, some 40 miles South West of Nagasaki, the Tamahoko Maru was hit with a torpedo by a U.S. submarine. Once breached, the ship sunk in under two minutes. Of the 772 prisoners onboard, only 212 survived the attack by the allied forces unaware that it had been a prisoner ship.  As the attack had taken place at night, the soldiers were not wearing clothes at the time.  Bill found himself clinging to the wreckage in the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of the night.  Fortunately, a case filled with clothes floated by and he was able to dress himself and he even threw a shirt to a nearby comrade.  The surviving men remained in the water for some 12 hours before the Japanese forces rescued them.  After the rescue, Bill was taken to Nagasaki to work in a factory before being moved to coal mine at Omine, working in exhausting conditions, battling with fleas, malnutrition and other diseases.  During air raids the prisoners were shoved into a crude bomb shelter in the side of a hill.  If a prisoner looked up at the planes they’d be beaten, and if Japan was ever invaded, the prison guards intended to gas the air raid shelter to kill all of the prisoners.  Bill remained at Omine until the end of the war in 1945.

Some 50 years later, at a reunion for returned soldiers of the 2/40^th Battalion, Bill approached the man he’d been stranded in the Pacific with, and politely asked if he could please have his shirt back.  Great Uncle Bill will always be remembered for both his service to his country and his truly inspiring spirit.  Although modern technology is able to accurately preserve the events in warzones today, an entire generation’s first hand experiences of war are at risk of becoming lost with time.  Thus the responsibility of preserving these memories falls to the friends and families of the thousands of Australians who have volunteered to serve their country.  This is the story of Bill Atkinson and how he survived as a POW for three years and returned home to even start a family, although he has not eaten a single grain of rice since 1945.

 Lest We Forget

Splendour In The Grass Line-Up

JACK WHITE | BLOC PARTY (ONLY AUSTRALIAN SHOW) | SMASHING PUMPKINS | AT THE DRIVE-IN (ONLY AUSTRALIA SHOW) | THE SHINS | HILLTOP HOODS | THE KOOKS (ONLY AUSTRALIAN SHOW) | MIIKE SNOW | GOSSIP | DIRTY THREE (ONLY AUSTRALIAN SHOW) | LANA DEL REY | 360 | AZEALIA BANKS | TAME IMPALA | EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY (ONLY AUSTRALIAN SHOW) | BAND OF SKULLS | LADYHAWKE | THE AFGHAN WHIGS | MISSY HIGGINS | WOLFMOTHER | METRIC | KIMBRA | MUDHONEY | 50 YEARS OF DYLAN | SPIDERBAIT | DJANGO DJANGO | GYPSY & THE CAT | SAN CISCO | LAST DINOSAURS | ELECTRIC GUEST | MUSCLES | ANGUS STONE | DZ DEATHRAYS | HOWLER | LANIE LANE | FUN. | BIG SCARY | MICHAEL KIWANUKA | SEEKAE | FRIENDS | YACHT CLUB DJ'S | BERTIE BLACKMAN | JINJA SAFARI | BLUE KING BROWN | YOUTH LAGOON | POND | THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS | YUKSEK | TIJUANA CARTEL | BALL PARK MUSIC | THE RUBENS | BEN HOWARD | BLEEDING KNEES CLUB | ZULU WINTER | THE MEDICS | SHIHAD | HYPNOTIC BRASS ENSEMBLE | HUSKY | KATE MILLER-HEIDKE | FATHER JOHN MISTY | EMMA LOUISE | CHET FAKER | HERE WE GO MAGIC | PARACHUTE YOUTH | MOSMAN ALDER | THE CAST OF CHEERS | WOLF & CUB | GOSSLING |

Bloc Party

Banquet - Live At Glastonbury 

After all the speculation, leaked plans and waiting, the lineup for Splendour In The Grass has finally been announced. Although some of the acts were no surprise, others revelations were quite unexpected. Jack White, Bloc Party, The Shins and Azealia Banks all let slip in some form of other that they would be visiting Australia 'soon,' however other headliners were kept well and truly secret.

Jack White 

Love Interruption

No lineup ever satisfies everyone, last year in particular was criticised and even suffered in sales. However with the recently reunited At The Drive In at the helm, I believe Splendour organisers should be proud of what they've produced this year.

At The Drive In

2012 Coachella

Personally I am already excited to see Jack White, Smashing Pumpkins, Miike Snow, Bloc Party, ATTDI and The Shins to name a few, as I imagine is much of Australia (it's been a while since any of them have graced our shores). It's also pleasing to see the promotion of some of Queensland's newest bands to the lineup like Bleeding Knees Club, Ball Park Music, Emma Louise, DZ Deathrays and more. I have actually seen over 20 of the acts on the bill, which is probably an indication I should stop going to so many gigs, but also makes me even more excited to see some of the acts again. The Kooks at Falls Festival on New Years Eve were absolutely brilliant, thanks to them Naive is the first song I heard in 2012 - they are really so much fun.

Emma Louise

Jungle

This festival spends the more money on acts than any other in Australia and as such continually brings a combination of huge international acts and new talent (see Django Django, Zulu Winter etc). Although this then means that punters must pay a fairly steep price to see their beloved rockstars but I can't imagine it is easy to convince acts to visit a small town in Australia in the middle of Winter without some sort of cash incentive!

Get excited Brisbane (and everyone else)!

Django Django

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The Kooks

Junk Of The Heart

Lecture Seven

Public Media is owned by the common people. These outlets do not have to answer to sponsors or meet ratings quotas, and are completely free to report on any issue provided they abide by AJA ethics. This freedom allows for stations to cover the interests of niche markets from international politics and science to religious programming and historical investigations. 


In the lecture, Bruce talked about how it is sometimes criticised for being dull and out-of-touch however I don't think that analysis by the public is entirely fair. Not all news is actually exciting or, dare I say, entertaining. If the ABC or SBS did not report on certain political stories, scientific developments, commerce and other 'dreary' subjects, then who would? Though the general public may not necessarily be interested in every niche in society, the information still needs to be available to those who seek it. Public Media also plays a very important role in rural areas. Both in ensuring that they receive coverage of important events, but also reporting on local issues in these remote areas. 


Although the majority of American TV sitcoms, dramas and our own reality shows are aired by commercial stations, ABC and SBS are also a valuable source of dramas. Sometimes the programs they run become so popular that the rights are purchased by commercial stations such as ABC's Kath & Kim or Top Gear on SBS (via the BBC). More importantly, they always broadcast the more eclectic television ventures (i.e anything Noel Fielding makes) which quite frankly, are far more exciting than Australia's Next Top Model.

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy ABC2

I think it is admirable that there are enough journalists at the ABC who have had the vision, and are brave enough to set up a 24hour news station with no additional funding. Today news is available almost instantly online, and although ABC 24 is not without production issues, they are always ready and able to cross live to any major news event without the restriction of program schedules or print delays. 

ABC News 24 Launch

Compared to the general public, I have rather alternate tastes. I'm very interested in politics which is an area that ABC caters for far better than any other station. I also listen to a lot of Triple J Radio, the role that they play in the Australian music scene is great. No other station has the support base for new, unsigned artists especially with the recent launch of the Unearthed digital radio station. 

Triple J Unearthed

Part of the reason I love ABC is because they broadcast so many of the BBC dramas that I have spent many happy hours on the couch watching. None more so than Dr Who! 

Dr Who Marathon ABC2

This year the ABC is celebrating 80 years of broadcasting, they have put together 80 audio-visual bytes from their archives of moments that changed Australia. 

80 Years of ABC

Bleeding Knees Club @ Alhambra

Completely insane. Well that's what it felt like Easter Sunday when everyone's favourite Gold Coast duo, Bleeding Knees Club took to the stage at Alhambra Lounge. Supported by  Brisbane's Gung Ho and Dune Rats, the night was anything as sombre as the holiday is perhaps intended. 


Bleeding Knees' Alex Wall and Jordan Malane have known each other for years but 18 short months ago, they both decided to teach each other guitar (neither of them could play) and throw some songs together. They often admit that the entire venture was originally a bit of a joke, even their name is reference to "giving head on gravel." Theirs is a success story unlike many home-grown bands circulating the Australian music scene at the moment. Before many people in Australia even knew of their existence, British publications were raving about the latest lo-fi garage group our little old colony had produced. NME even included Bleeding Knees in their Top 50 Bands to watch in 2012.

  

Despite their limited experience, the pair have very distinct ideas about what they wanted to sound like as a band. They recorded their latest EP with Dev Hynes (Lightspeed Champion, Blood Orange) in only five days. Nothing To Do was released earlier last month before the boys began their tour around Australia.

Although Gung Ho is actually the name of an old US sitcom, the Brisbane group are definitely reviving the title in a whole new way. The group bounced up onto the stage, quite excitedly although I didn't take much notice at the time. Once they started playing however, I was completely surprised at the sound they were producing, much more sophisticated than their youth had lead me to expect. Side By Side was an absolute highlight of the entire evening, drawing quite a large crowd away from the bar in a dancing frenzy. You can listen to the song on the band's Unearthed page: http://www.triplejunearthed.com/GungHo

Dune Rats were equally as fun although perhaps a bit more intoxicated. This didn't seem to bother the crowd although for all their hype I couldn't help but be mildly disappointed. Perhaps it was because the songs that they have recorded and gained such a following for were a little difficult to distinguish with all the raucous. Their performance definitely improved with time though and I certainly don't think that they should be dismissed as just another garage band just yet.  

Bleeding Knees Club worked their way through what seemed to be their entire catalogue, and everyone absolutely loved it. Every so often Alex would pause and ask Jordan which song they should do next before they'd launch into another energetic frenzy of scratchy guitar and tomfoolery. Jumping from the Bass Drum, into the crowd or across the stage, no one was standing still for more than a moment. Nothing To Do and Teenage Girls were standouts, and the crowd did not need to be asked twice when Wall told everyone to storm the stage. By the last chorus, chords were flying, people were flying for that matter, security guards were panicky and everyone was laughing. They may not have a whole lot of experience under their belts, but they sure know how to have fun.