Assignment 5

Part 1- Interview anyone who likes to pick up errors in the newspapers or other material they read, or interview anyone about how often they find mistakes in books, magazines, newspapers, or even on radio and television.

I interviewed 3 people to compare which mistakes they find and to see which medium they find the mistakes in most often.

Part 2- Write a 500 word article in the third person about the person you interviewed and the mistakes they find.

Three Waikerie locals commented on the mistakes they find in newspapers, books, magazines, on radio and television and how often they find them.

Sharon Lennell reads the Advertiser, the Sunday Mail, the Riverland Weekly, and the River News. She commented that in every newspaper there is at least one mistake and said they usually spell names wrong most often, especially with best players in the footy score sheets. She also said that in some recipes that are published in magazines or newspapers, they leave out various ingredients. In comparison Gladys Noll said that she doesn't find too many mistakes in newspapers, however she said the choice of words could be different. Mrs. Noll also said that grammar and spelling of names were also problems that she picked up. Pat Allen said she finds quite a few mistakes, particularly in The River News which she reads regularly. The mistakes Pat Allen finds are to do with punctuation, name spelling, and the date or year being "muddled up".

Mrs. Lennell said she finds plenty of mistakes in magazines. She enjoys reading the That's Life publication and said in the Secret Story section they word it differently and use American instead of Australian spelling for some words. Pat Allen said she doesn't buy magazines much but said in Lifeline, the television program times aren't always what they are supposed to be. For example, a channel's programs are listed for a certain program to be shown at a certain time on a certain day, and then on that day the channel broadcasts a different program in that timeslot. However, Pat Allen said she finds more mistakes in books, and sometimes finds two of the same pages printed in books.

With regard to radio and television, Sharon Lennell said she finds mistakes on both mediums all the time. She mentioned in particular the football radio commentators who call out the wrong names and predict goals before the players have even kicked for a goal. She said on television there is a lot of false advertising and said certain stations advertise TV shows on the wrong days. Mrs Noll said she listens to Bronwyn Wade on the Riverland Agricultural Horticultural radio program and also the ABC radio. Mrs Noll said that while the ABC radio does have some mistakes she said they weren't too bad. She also added that she enjoys watching the SBS World News on television.

All interviewees agreed that it's very frustrating for them when they find mistakes. Sharon Lennell remarked, "You expect people to get it right and then they don't." Pat Allen said that when she finds mistakes on television she doesn't know who to ring or blame... "Whether it's the station or the people who write the programs." When Gladys Noll finds mistakes she wonders if the writers or journalists have researched a topic properly and debates how accurate the story is. She added, "It frustrates me if different stories are told about the same topic."

Sharon Lennell and Gladys Noll thought it is worse to find mistakes in newspapers rather than on television or radio. Gladys Noll commented, " I think it is worse because they have to proofread it before it is printed. Television is different. With newspapers they can reread it. Whereas if you say something and two hours later are asked what you said, it is harder to remember." However, Pat Allen said because she doesn't read newspapers that often she finds it more annoying when she finds mistakes on television channels.

Part 3- Once you are happy with the article, print it out and see how many errors you can find. Highlight the text to show how you have fixed the errors.

I have done part 3 but I think it needs more improving so once I have edited it some more and have time I shall add it!

Assignment 4

Part 1

Interview 3 people about their attitudes towards print media, internet, radio, television news and current affairs programs.

Part 2

Write an article that shows how trustworthy they believe each medium, and the reporters who write for them to be.

I interviewed fellow TAFE student Belinda-Jane Clark, Waikerie Librarian Michael Cox and Uni student Emily Hudson about their attitudes towards various media and the reporters/journalists who work for each type.

When I asked how trustworthy my interviewees find newspaper articles and the journalists who write them to be, Belinda-Jane Clark responded as follows...

"I expect 'news' articles to be trustworthy- they are meant to be telling us truthfully what is going on. However I understand that some owners of this media would prevent certain articles even being printed, if it were going against their views, or would impact them financially. When it comes to other articles in the newspaper, like human interest or celebrity gossip, I take it with caution as you don't know why they have produced that story in the first place-for example, is there an underlying reason why they are always picking on Lady GaGa? I can't say I don't trust journalists per se, but you can always spot someone who is trying to lead you in a certain direction."

Michael Cox stated the fact that journalists have to sell newspapers therefore they always try to sensationalise a story to make it more readable.

However he did add, "Freelance journalists who are not connected to a particular paper are probably more trustworthy. Overall I tend to be wary what I read in articles and tend to question some of their findings."

Journalists sometimes delete information or twist the meanings of their articles. Emily Hudson suggested that journalists don't necessarily change or omit facts for their own purpose but rather for the employer they work for.

She said, "I believe it is illegal to report nonfactual information, but there is a difference between writing lies and altering the truth to make it sound more exciting and dramatic. For example, the Delhi Games was reported to be an epic disaster, and this was backed up by 'horrible pictures of collapsing bridges, leaking rooms and decrepit rooms for athletes'. What they omitted, in many cases, was the rest of it all; the beautiful gardens, spectacular arenas and a country that was so excited to be welcoming visitors and competitors to their country."

The interviewees were all in agreement that they wouldn't trust information from the internet solely for educational purposes due to misinformation. Belinda-Jane Clark believes cross-referencing with books as well as the internet is the best option. Emily Hudson said she would trust the internet less than other educational sources especially if it is from an "unreliable, un-referenced site". Michael Cox would rather use a reputable database such as Britannica because he said the information is more likely to be checked before approval. However Mr. Cox added, "...information does change, for example, scientific theories like evolution."

Emily Hudson said she has to check that the information she finds over the net is correct because she is studying for her University degree. Michael Cox and Belinda-Jane Clark both admitted that they don't always verify the information they find over the internet, but they both still try to look for inconsistencies and try to make sure the sites are reputable.

Overall Michael Cox and Emily Hudson believe the internet is a powerful tool if utilized properly. Belinda-Jane Clark and Mr. Cox think that everything from the net should be taken with a grain of salt, because there is no one to check all the sites. Two of the interviewees also said it can be used by "cunning religious/political crackpots" to brainwash people into believing their ideas to form a group of supporters. However, Belinda-Jane and Emily Hudson agreed that the genuine websites are full of great and quality information.

Belinda-Jane Clark sums up the opinion of most of the interviewees when she describes how reliable she thinks radio presenters are:

"On news shows and talkback-very reliable, they need to have the facts before they present them. But on things like morning shows, they can speak without backup, making allegations etc. that may not be fully backed up by facts."

Emily Hudson said most of the radio shows are made up of the presenter's/writer's opinion which makes what they say unreliable and Michael Cox said the radio presenters/writers tend to "exaggerate, elaborate, and milk issues for all they are worth" to keep people listening.

All the interviewees believed TV news reporters/readers were more trustworthy compared to journalists who work for current affairs programs. Current affairs programs were deemed less credible, less newsworthy and are described by one interviewee as, "overdramatised, horribly inaccurate" and that they, "make a soap opera out of reality".

Two interviewees thought that newspapers were the most trustworthy out of the selected mediums because "... their work is forever evidence of right or wrong doing" and "...there should be more research and more reliable sources." The other interviewee said that it was too hard to decide as a lot of mediums are owned by the same people/companies but believed that the internet was the least reliable because, "it is such a massive source of information and it makes it harder to filter the good from the bad."

Despite the fact that they find it "dodgy", Emily Hudson and Belinda-Jane Clark use the internet most often and also use it for educational purposes. Michael Cox uses newspapers most often and for educational purposes would also use: newspapers, magazines, and research journals that specialise in particular topics. He added, "I wouldn't use the internet too often."

LOLcats

Some LOL cat pics for you! They always make me smile :D Enjoy

Poptarts

So I went to Waikerie's new lolly shop called Steve's Sweets the other week to get myself some sour lollies. I found them... eventually. I love eating Warheads, they are sour to begin with, maybe for about 30 seconds and then they are really sweet. If you haven't heard of them they are fairly small and have fruity flavours like apple, lemon, blue raspberry etc.

Well anyway so after I found the Warheards, I saw a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar that I just HAD to have! I'm a little bit of a chocoholic. I love just about everything apart from dark chocolate, despite the fact that I did eat a dark Lindt chocolate last night but that's about the only exception!

Then... what did my eyes spot?! An amazing thing called a Poptart! Please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure they originated from America right? I have never tried poptarts before so I found it very intriguing.

It said on the packet instructions to microwave it for 3 secs on high. My microwave doesnt have a high, medium, or low setting so I guessed and went for 30 secs. I think 20 secs is better and that's what I did for my second one. It doesn't make the inside as hot. (I burnt my tongue on the first one :S)

Yes that is white and milk chocolatey type goodness oozing out of the poptart! XD

(3rd pic)

I think I shall be needing to buy more of these in the future!

Assignment 3

Defamation

Defamation: a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of someone's words or actions.
Defamation- aspersion: an abusive attack on a person's character or good name.
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=defamation

Part 1
The blogosphere is full of defamatory and offensive statements. See if you can find something that you feel goes somewhere near defamation, or would be sufficiently inflammatory to annoy a company or individual or class of people into a lawsuit.

Identify the text which you believe is defamatory, inflammatory or offensive enough to give rise to a lawsuit. Explain your reasons for choosing it.


Potential Defamation Case
http://www.cyberbullying.info/examples/msg.php?eg=frawley

Greg Frawley left Hurlstone Agriculture High School after unidentified students set up a website to accuse him and another teacher of being child molesters who should be killed.

The highlighted orange words above show reason enough to encourage the two falsely accused teachers to be annoyed enough to give rise to a lawsuit. I chose this passage because it is an interesting example of cyber-bullying. More often than not, cyber-bullying is directed towards teenagers or younger children that are in the same school classes as the cyber bullies. In this case the abuse is directed at two high school teachers. It would take a very strong willed or several strong willed students to want to do something like this, and were taking a big risk by creating the website. Had the students been found out by the two teachers mentioned on the website, they may have been charged. Below is a more in depth article about the case.

The full story is featured here on the Sydney Morning Herald website:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/11/14/1100384429648.html?from=storylhs

This is a shorter version of the story...

Teachers subject to internet hate campaigns seek support
By Linda Doherty, Education Editor
Nov 15, 2004

A teacher vilified on a student-run website at a Sydney selective school has set up a support group for victims of web abuse by "flamers" who use the internet to publish malicious allegations.

Greg Frawley left Hurlstone Agricultural High School in the city's south-west after unidentified students set up a website "throwstones", to accuse him and another male teacher of being child molesters who should be killed.

The Hurlstone website, discovered in late July, recommended that the two teachers be "executed", accused some (other teachers) of paedophilia and one (teacher) of stealing. But in a letter to the director-general of the Department of Education, Mr. Frawley said the school did not initially lodge a critical incident report to the department to notify it that teachers could be at risk.

"Can you imagine how you would feel if a story posted on the internet stated that you were a child molester and that this message was rapidly communicated to students you taught?" Mr. Frawley wrote.

"You become an alien in your own world, stained with the worst social stigma of all... You start thinking that being dead is an option."

An education department spokesman said schools had sophisticated technology to monitor inappropriate internet use. But those behind the Hurlstone website have not been caught, and police say no charges will be laid.


Part 2

With your example for Part 1 in mind, imagine yourself as the offender, and then as the offended. Answer the following three questions from both points of view.

1. Why do people write these things?
2.What is their motivation?
3. Why would the offended people want to take action?

The Offender's Point of View

1.Why do people write these things?
They may not like the person or people for a particular reason. This case is about 2 teachers so maybe the offenders caused a lot of trouble with the teachers or didn't like their teaching methods. They may also be selfish kids who have not been disciplined enough to know the difference between what is right and wrong. They also may not feel compassion towards their victims and may even enjoy taunting them.

2.What is their motivation?
Boredom, expressing their opinions because they feel mistreated, or as I said they may enjoy causing trouble. They may also have no idea how to treat people due to their backgrounds or maybe that is the way their parents treated them when they were younger so they think this behaviour is normal.

3. Why would the offended people want to take action?
In the offenders point of view the offended people may want to take action to take revenge on them or to catch them in the act. They are probably only thinking about themselves and thinking along the lines of, "They want to get me into trouble". But they wouldn't get into trouble in the first place had they not caused any. The offenders may not realise how hurtful the statements they made are to the offended person's physical and psychological wellbeing.

The Offended Person's Point of View

1. Why do people write these things?
To damage the offended person's reputation and cause them pain. In this case I think this is what the offender's main aim was, as they had 4 websites made to defame teachers, not just one (website). If they had wanted to just complain about their teaching methods they could have either complained to the teacher themselves or talked to the principal, or if it was really bad the Minister of Education.

2.What is their motivation?
Again I think it was to cause trouble and from the articles I found it sounds like that's what the offended teachers thought too.

3.Why would the offended people want to take action?

In August 2004, one of the teachers, (Mr. Frawley) was talking to lawyers.

He wanted the Education Department to..." pursue defamation proceedings against the unknown students- and criminal prosecution for the death threats- to set a precedent to stop other technologically savvy students from copycat actions." He also contacted Yahoo Australia and begged them to shut down the student website involved in this case saying, "For every minute it (the website) continued operating the impact of defamation is growing out of control."

This teacher wanted to stop other people from committing defamation so that more people do not suffer from damaging accusations like this. His confidence was shattered from the comments on the website and it is unfortunate that the culprits were not found. They should have been taught a lesson so that they wouldn't be encouraged to start another website like this again. They might have by now.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/25/1093246584317.html

The lengths robbers will go to!

Found this on the ninemsn site... thought it was pretty funny this morning!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8107129/us-burglar-goes-overboard-with-disguise

US Burglar goes overboard with disguise

A US man has been caught trying to break into a museum dressed in a moss-like body suit often used by hunters and military snipers.

Disguised in a Ghillie suit, Greg Liascos was discovered when a police dog sniffed him out in nearby woods, The Daily Mail reported.

"His yelp gave him away," the policeman said, after initially thinking the dog was biting at the ground.

Security and surveillance was set up at the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals in Oregon after the caretaker noticed unusual dirt and debris gathering over a number of days.

The caretaker followed the trail to a lift shaft behind the wall of the museum toilets, where he found a large hole in the plywood wall.

He told police about the unusual find and one day later museum security guards reported a break-in which led to the man-hunt.

Police dogs tracked Liascos, 36, to a wooded enclave where he was found looking very much like part of the forest floor.

Liascos was arrested on charges on burglary and criminal mischief.

A picture of Greg Liascos, inside his disguise, and out.

Animal Cruelty Article

Animal lovers suggest harsher penalties for animal cruelty offenders


Several local pet owners/animal lovers agreed recently that harsher penalties for animal cruelty offenders would be a good idea to seriously consider. Ramco resident Margaret Russell suggested that the offenders should do some community work.

(Ramco is about 15 mins from Waikerie. If you want to know where Waikerie is, please Google it :D)

"I'd put them to work in animal shelters, make them clean them out, make them look at pets and animals and I tell you what, they'd stop and think about what they've done. What punishment do they get? Growled at or a smack on the fingers or just spoken to? They're not punished. By not punishing them are they learning anything? Why not let them do something, let them think about what they've done."

One pet owner said she wasn't aware of the current animal cruelty punishments. However she had heard of fines and jail terms being possible punishments but suggested that most get waived or reduced to an extent.

She added, "I believe that animals should be treated to the same protection from cruelty as humans, and people that perform acts of cruelty on animals should receive the same punishment for it, as if they had abused a person."


An article posted on the ABC's website on Saturday August 14, 2010 stated that Tasmania's RSPCA organisation has renewed calls for magistrates to impose harsher penalties for animal cruelty, reporting a 37 percent increase in complaints over the past year.

The Acting CEO Michael Linke says most of the complaints involved the treatment of domestic animals.

"One of the worst was a cat with broken hips being left in a person's backyard for five days," he said.

Mr. Linke is calling for tougher penalties.


"More jail terms, higher levels of financial penalties."


Mr. Linke says about ten percent of the complaints related to deliberate animal abuse.


Recent acts of animal cruelty


When the pet owners were asked whether they had seen or heard about any recent acts of animal cruelty, 4 out of the 6 interviewees had heard of several cases each.



Margaret Russell said she saw the case with "Snowy" the cat on the RSPCA Rescue Show on TV. (On July 3, 2010 Snowy had his legs tied up, and his ears were mutilated. He was then set alight and left to die.) This is the link to the NSW RSPCA website featuring Snowy's story: http://www.rspcansw.org.au/snowy.





This is Snowy before July 3.
















This is Snowy after July 3 at RSPCA shelter.









However Mrs. Russell had a story closer to home to tell.


"I know people at Sunlands, they moved out of their house and someone asked, "What about your cats?" And they said, "They're alright." She asked, "Well have you been fed today?" They replied, "Yeah why what's that got to do with it?" She said, "Well these cats are hungry." They said, "They'll be 'right." Well you don't just leave your animals, that's cruel. You should be responsible for what you've got. It's sad when you see cats starving hungry, that's why they catch the birds, small frogs and other animals."


"It really irks me; it really makes me so mad to see anybody being so cruel to a helpless, defenceless animal. It's shocking."


Another pet owner had heard of a "Cat in the garbage bin saga", where a woman threw a cat into a bin and it was left there for hours. She had also heard of many animal cruelty cases occurring in foreign countries, such as dancing bears and was also aware of hoarders; "... people taking large amounts of animals into their homes in appalling conditions with little food, water and protection."

Lyn Crowhurst had heard of the following animal cruelty acts: starvation of horses, maiming of cats, neglect of dogs and again the bears in India/Overseas were mentioned. (In Pakistan people are still bear baiting, despite it being illegal in most areas of the country. There are also dancing bears in India still. There are ongoing efforts to eradicate both of these practises permanently.)


Jeanie Walker, animal activist and last remaining Democrat candidate in Australia had this to say in February this year," It has been extensively researched and proven that cruelty to animals is a precursor to violence and cruelty against humans. If perpetrators of animal cruelty keep escaping punishment then we are promoting a more violent society and this is totally unacceptable to the Democrats and the Australian public."

When asked if the general public should be made more aware about animal cruelty, some interviewees commented that the public is already aware of it through TV and the media. However, 2 interviewees both thought that the consequences of animal cruelty should be made more conspicuous in an attempt to dissuade people from committing such horrible acts.


In Australia penalties for animal cruelty offences vary in each jurisdiction. Each state and territory has their own jail terms and fines as follows:


State Maximum jail term Maximum fine


ACT, 12 months (2 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $10,000 ($20,000 for

aggravated cruelty)


NSW, 6 months (5 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $5,500($22,000 for


aggravated cruelty)


NT, 12 months, $13,000 (regardless of

deliberate or negligent)


QLD, 2 yrs, $100,000 (regardless of

deliberate or negligent)


SA, 2 yrs (4 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $20,000 ($50,000 for

aggravated cruelty)



TAS, 12 months (18 months for aggravated cruelty), $12,000 ($24,000 for

aggravated cruelty)



VIC, 12 months (2 yrs for aggravated cruelty), $12,000 ($24,000 for

aggravated cruelty)



WA, 5 yrs, $50,000 (regardless of

deliberate or negligent)



These penalties came from the following article on the Australian RSPCA website which was last updated on Jan 14, 2010: http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-are-the-penalties-for-animal-cruelty-offences_271.html


Animal cruelty needs to be seen as a more prominent issue. More often than not animal cruelty articles are made the sub story in the news and are ignored or considered unworthy of our time. I hope this article has made some sort of an impact into some people's minds about how horrible it can be and has informed more people that there are serious consequences for anyone who commits cruel acts towards animals.



References


http://www.rspcansw.org.au/snowy

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/14/2982885.htm

http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/animal-cruelty-and-the-case-for-harsher-punishment/

http://sj.farmonline.com.au/news/state/agribusiness-and-general/general/last-democrat-targets-rspca-in-animal-rights-fight/1738717.aspx

http://www.dogslife.com.au/dogs_life_articles?cid=12561&pid=6698179

http://www.wspa.typepad.com/compassionateplanet/

http://www.grantanimalwishes.com/some-of-my-projects.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear-baiting

http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-are-the-penalties-for-animal-cruelty-offences_271.html