What a cool way to finish the semester in JOUR1111.
Today we had a guest lecturer who goes by the name of Steve Molk. Steve is the
operator of an online television blog known as MolksTVTalk and although I had never
heard of this blog before his presentation today certainly sparked my interest.
Considering I have never been one for reading or
engaging with blogs (despite creating this one), I was really interested in
this one in particular. Everyone, well pretty much everyone, watches TV and
having participated in a number of journalism subjects this semester which have
focused on television representations and programming, Steve’s blog tied in
nicely. I particularly enjoyed his review of Shaun Micallef’s new program on
the ABC ‘Mad As Hell’ which I think is a pretty funny program and it was good
to read that Steve does too!!
For a man who had quite a lot to say
during our lecture, I found the simplicity of MolksTVTalk testimonial very
clever. Here’s what Steve has to say of his blog:
Television.
Like it or not, it’s at the core of popular culture. It sets the tone of public
opinion and as a result it offers all of us the opportunity to become armchair
directors, producers, casting agents & critics.The glowing
box in the corner of the room became very quickly the flat shiny panel hanging
on the wall and/or that iDevice in our pockets/satchels. How we consume
our television is changing. That we talk about television is not.I like
talking about TV. A lot. I hope you do to, & hang around to
read, listen, & get involved in the conversation.
Since this lecture, I have found myself reading Steve’s blog regularly
to catch up on shows that I may have missed as well as to find out what other
people think of current programs on TV. Who ever thought that I would be
reading blogs enthusiastically just three months after starting my own?!
But here’s what I learnt from this lecture:
- If I ever want to be a professional blogger, it’s going to take me
at least five years to gain some credibility
- MummaMia, started little over five years ago by Mia Freedman has
over 520,000 unique visitors per month!! Become the 520,001 and take a look
- We live in a world where traditional journalism is quickly fading
into a sea of hopelessness, so if you want a career as a media
professional, you had better start brushing up on your blogging, social
media and twittering skills
So here's my humble opinion on
blogging:
In the last five years, print
advertisement revenue across Australia has been increasingly in decline. Since
2010, Web advertising revenue has consistently surpassed print advertisement
revenue, bringing in $32 billion last year in comparison to the $22 billion in
print advertisement revenue. What these statistics show us is that the days of
print media are coming to an end.
Let’s face it: journalism is shifting towards
digital media, where readers have access to an infinite amount of sources to
attain a wide range of information including news updates, discussions, images,
videos, etc. Printed media simply cannot compete with what the Web has to
offer. As a result, journalists, media professionals and newspaper readers are
migrating to the World Wide Web. This shift does not mark the end of
journalism; it merely redefines it. Where journalism was once prevalent in the
form of news media, it may well thrive through this medium we know as
blogging...
Whether this is a good or bad thing, I'm still
undecided...
