Fourth Estate takes a holiday from Australia

Impartiality of the news media is imperative to the functioning of a democratic society. And while it is true that we are fortunate enough to live in a country such as Australia that allows freedom of speech, this should not mean that news is distorted or framed in such a way that particular agendas are favoured.
The blatant bias shown by News Corp during the current election campaign is an example of a news media organisation taking an editorial decision to support one side of politics over another, instead of providing an objective and balanced coverage for their audience. The consequence of this decision, given that News Corp Australia titles account for 59% of the sales of all daily newspapers, is that articles covering the election have the intention of persuading the reader rather than informing them and allowing them to come to their own decision based on facts. When the lines between opinion, comment and reporting become blurred, the nation suffers as a result, and this format of news production goes against the essence of the fourth estate’s mandate.
Jones (2011, p.64) tells us that ‘the sense of social responsibility that has long existed at traditional news organisations is in retreat,’ and that in the United States, traditional news companies often have profit as their main objective. It would be hoped that Australia never sees anything as scandalous as the phone hacking affairs in the UK, yet as globalisation has allowed media moguls to expand their empires across borders, one needs to ponder the possibility that such an event could easily occur here.
Newspapers should also serve as a forum through which Habermas’ idea of the public sphere, whereby people from all social demographics can come together to discuss events in a free manner, should prosper. It is clear, however, that News Corp editors, at least for now, have rid themselves of this duty in order to better serve the interests of their boss.
Reference List
Jones, A 2011, ‘Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy,’ in Graber, D, Media Power in Politics, 6th edn, CQ Press, Washington, pp. 57 – 66

The Daily Telegraph's front page on August 5 gained worldwide attention

IP theft: Are we all up to no good?

Imitation, as the saying goes, is the sincerest form of flattery. In artistic circles, however, direct imitation may just as readily be seen as theft of intellectual property. One could easily formulate an argument that this is not true in all cases, and might even suggest that the imitated piece of work itself is actually ‘borrowed’ from elsewhere.
The notion that there are no longer any original ideas, and that this has been the case for a very long time, was raised via an online video our class watched throughout the week. In linking globalisation to this idea that we are all borrowing from at least one source when creating a piece of work ourselves, my mind journeyed to one of my top ten favourite films, The Departed. This film, which won Martin Scorsese his first Academy Award for Best Director, is of course a remake of a Hong Kong film called Infernal Affairs.
Filmmaking quite often lends itself to this concept of borrowing or sourcing ideas, and films invariably contain instances of intertextuality, described by Brown (2012, p.33) as being ‘the inherently interrelated or interconnected nature of all texts and conventions.’ This is certainly true of a film such as Pulp Fiction, and director Quentin Tarantino has previously stated his admiration of the work French director Jean-Pierre Melville did with his characters’ costumes. This adds weight to the argument that the cinematic art form can transcend international barriers and influence mainstream culture.
In terms of music, mashups are now a common element of a DJs arsenal, and the concept of artists sampling other artists’ work is certainly not new. Examples of this range from Destiny’s Child’s sampling of Fleetwood Mac’s Edge of Seventeen in their song Bootylicious, to the controversial use of The Rolling Stones’ The Last Time by The Verve in Bittersweet Symphony, which resulted in the latter having to relinquish their rights to the credits to the former.
Globalisation has allowed the work of international acts to prosper as they gain inspiration from sources that they previously might not have been able to, however it is no surprise that issues of copyright have arisen as a consequence of this. After all, who ever said imitation got you anywhere?
Reference List
Brown, A 2012, Narrative, Communication Tools and Making Meaning: ‘Tell Me a Story!’, in T Chalkley, Communication, New Media and Everyday Life, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, pp. 32 – 40

Is imitation in a globalised world a positive thing?

The bagpipes in my life

The class discussion this week about linking globalisation to an art movement that has influenced our lives had me thinking strongly about my Scottish heritage, and that instrument that people either love or hate, the bagpipes.
When my grandfather left Inverness with his family to come to Australia as a ten-year old boy, thus contributing to the vast diaspora of the Scottish people, physically he brought with him little more than a suitcase with a handful of clothes in it. Spiritually, however, and emotionally, he brought so much more. He was terribly proud of his background, and he instilled this into my father, to whom he taught the bagpipes from when he was a young boy. My grandfather was considered one of the best bagpipe players in the state, performing at various events and winning several awards. But he did not play for this; he played as it brought him joy, and because it allowed him to travel back to his homeland through the splendour of his music.
Thompson (cited in Rantanen, 2005) writes that globalisation refers to ‘the growing interconnectedness of different parts of the world, a process which gives rise to complex forms of interaction and interdependency.’ There is no doubt that music of many varying forms has helped connect different parts of the world, and the bagpipes are no exception. Similarly, just as music has the capacity to break through language barriers, musical instruments can increasingly help our interaction with different cultures.
My father encouraged me to take up the bagpipes just as his father had done with him, and while this brought me closer to my roots, an argument could be made that this connection was always there and simply needed a push to come to the surface. But if you think of bands like AC/DC and Dropkick Murphys, and the influence they have had in helping popularise the bagpipes, it is easy to see Thompson’s point. These bands travel all over the world plying their trade, and in doing so help people from countries throughout Asia and South America, for example, to relate closely with their music. This in turn has encouraged people from a range of different social backgrounds to travel to Scotland, increasing the global flow, and many international bands now perform annually at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
All of this gives strength to Rantanen’s (2005) argument that globalisation is ‘a process in which worldwide economic, political, cultural and social relations have become increasingly mediated across time and space.’ Learning to play the bagpipes has certainly influenced my life in a positive manner, but then again, even for those who don’t play, you could almost argue the same point.
Reference List
Rantanen, T 2005, ‘Theorizing media and globalization’, Media and globalization 2005, Sage Publications, London, pp. 1-18.

The Dropkick Murphys continue to influence worldwide audiences with their music