Personal Media Use and Production Diary

Television

Television programming comprises my primary media interaction and leisure and news programs represent 35 percent of the total time I allocate to various forms of media. On average, I watch 75 minutes of television per day which is comparable with the viewing patterns of my peers, with 29 percent of them watching between one and two hours of TV on most days.

Like many students, I have to balance full-time study with part-time work, extracurricular activities, a social life, etc., but each day, I need some time to unwind. For me, this happens when I am able to sit in front of the TV and watch the latest episode of My Kitchen Rules, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries or The Vampire Diaries. Clearly, I have varied (and some might suggest bad) taste in fictional television shows. Nonetheless, they give me the chance to relax after a hard day’s study or work.

My preference for television news is shared by my peers, with 71.1 percent stating that they consider television as their primary source of news. I think that by watching television news, viewers are offered an easy to comprehend, attractive, informed and engaging way to appreciate current events. There are two programs I focus on: The 7.30 Report and Q&A both on ABC1. The 7.30 Report provides the best analysis of local, national and international events from a truly Australian perspective and Q&A is an excellent example of combining current affairs, social media and an audience largely derived from the general public.  It’s energetic, opinionated and best of all, it’s live! To me, all of these elements make for a great journalistic experience. 

Facebook and the Internet

On average, I spend 97 minutes per day using the Internet and a large proportion of this time is involved with Facebook. But I am not alone, with 97.3 percent of students admitting they have one or more Facebook account(s) and 91.9 percent of these students stating that they spend the majority of their online time interacting with this medium. This is incredibly high considering that almost a third of students spend two to three hours on the Internet each day.

I do believe my use of Facebook would be classed as moderate to low, averaging around 30 minutes per day over the ten day period. I only access Facebook from my smart phone and find myself using this social networking site mainly when I am bored. Having said this, Facebook is definitely my primary form of online media production. I use it for uploading photos, organising events and contacting my friends. For these reasons, I use Facebook purely for social communication and interaction, as I believe the majority of users do. 

Blog and Twitter

Before starting JOUR111 I had neither blogged nor tweeted and I must admit I had never considered either. This places me in the majority alongside my peers, with 70.8 percent stating they did not have a Twitter account and 63 percent did not blog before starting JOUR1111. However, since creating these accounts my online media production has significantly increased and I suspect this is the case for most students. I now understand terms such as ‘hashtage’, ‘retweeting’ and ‘stream’ and I have gained a much better insight and appreciation for Twitter as a communicative tool.  

Radio

I only listen to the radio when I am in the car and switch my time fairly evenly between AM and FM stations. On the days that I actually do listen, I average around 55 minutes which happens to be a return trip to university for me. This again places me in the 53.9 percent of students listening to the radio for less than one hour daily.

For AM stations, 612ABC Brisbane and ABC Radio National are my preference as they regularly broadcast up-to-date news reports, and have excellently moderated talk-back programs that often feature controversial issues.   I am a classical musician and so I listen exclusively to ABC Classic FM with a particular attraction to the Classic Breakfast program hosted by Emma Ayres. Being an ABC network and freed from commercial constraints, this station provides a wonderful selection of music with hourly updates on current national and international headlines.