Communication Commons^™

Same Copy, Different Outlet: Wire Services, Journalism And The Erosion From Within, Jane Johnston, Susan Forde

Jane Johnston

This paper examines the role of Australia’s single news agency, Australian Associated Press (AAP) in the news media landscape and positions this within the broader international context. It uses a UK study which suggests news agency dominance of international news on the internet and investigates these claims in the Australian context. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of AAP copy in the ‘Breaking News’ sections of two major news websites to create a preliminary understanding of the impact of AAP on news content. The findings suggest an overwhelming reliance on wire copy – particularly AAP – in this section of two …

Seeking Better Diversity Reporting, Ginny Whitehouse

Ginny Whitehouse

IF EXPERIENCED JOURNALISTS have a collective fault, it is that we are always in a hurry. How often do friends and family hear: “If it weren’t for deadline, I’d never get anything done”?

That may be OK for some things, but not for covering issues involving diverse populations. When dealing with groups outside the majority norm, journalists need to take the “your patience will be rewarded” approach.

Newsgathering And Privacy: Expanding Ethics Codes To Reflect Change In The Digital Media Age, Ginny Whitehouse

Ginny Whitehouse

Media ethics codes concerning privacy must be updated considering the ease with which information now can be gathered from social networks and disseminated widely. Existing codes allow for deception and privacy invasion in cases of over-riding public need when no alternate means are available but do not adequately define what constitutes need or alternate means, or weigh in the harm such acts

do to the public trust and the profession. Building on the eth ics theories of Sissela Bok and Helen Nissenbaum, balancing tests can be developed under a mixed-rule deontology that confines online misrepresentation and

exposing the private information …