WEEK 13 - Blogging Talk

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...