Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Quantum Faster

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  • Hilary Stace,

    Off topic but somewhere up thread there was a mention of World Autism Day on 2 April. So it was heartening to read this from POTUS (there is probably a Foucauldian interpretation but let's just take it as a simple statement of respect for diversity).

    Hello,

    Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy,
    advised me to send you the following attachments.

    Thank you for all that you do,

    Matt Tranchin
    The White House
    Office of Public Liaison
    (202) 456-4654

    It is with profound commitment to Americans with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), their families, and their communities that I join in celebrating World Autism Day. We celebrate the contributions of individuals with autism, their families and self advocates across the World.

    We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination. Policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and we must ensure that everyone has the chance to live independently as full citizens in their communities. For too long, the needs of people and families living with autism have gone unrecognized and underappreciated. That is why my Administration supports increased funding for autism research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, and services for ASD. We must also remember that children with autism become adults with autism who deserve our support, our respect and the opportunity to fulfill their potential.

    As we celebrate World Autism Day, let us recommit ourselves to this cause and to the responsibility we have to support those with ASD and their families.

    President Barack Obama

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Academic papers aren't normally written for a non-academic audience...

    Kyle, I agree, but I'm saying nobody is writing for the non-academic audiences. It's a waste when good thinking is walled off from most of the population, only to erupt confusingly like the paper that started this conversation.

    That's a bigger problem than one field of study, but even in a strictly academic context, PoMo has a deserved reputation for verbiage regardless of the value of its underlying concepts.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Sometimes "clarity" does not illuminate the messy beauty of the world, despite its tempting reassurance of truth.

    Ah yes, of course, it is all too difficult to talk about in terms we can understand. F.O. to that: if you can't make a point clearly, you don't have a point.

    Phelan's discourse is messy but it is not beautiful. People on this thread have made a much better job of interpreting his words than he could. Most of the points he makes are unsubstantiated. Perhaps that sort of mess is acceptable in Phelan's 'habitus.' It would not be acceptable in any real academic environment.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Continuing the autism threadjack,
    the DomPost explores pressure on under-resourced schools from a rise in autistic students.

    The plight was highlighted by a family that was asked to remove their child from an Auckland school last week because it did not have the resources or knowledge to cope, a principal said.

    The school told the parents if they wanted the child to return they would have to pay for a teacher aide. It was only after intervention from a school that specialises in dealing with autism that the child was allowed to return to school.

    ...

    "Nobody was accepting their child and they couldn't see a way forward."

    The Education Act guarantees all children the right to attend their local school.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Paul, understanding is more than "thinking" or "reasoning".

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Phelan's discourse is messy but it is not beautiful.

    I agree.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    postmodernist thinkers (itself a pretty limiting label, but it will do in the context of this discussion), that complaint is used in a blanket manner,

    Good point, Giovanni. As much as I am enjoying this conversation, I do have problems with the use of postmodernism or po-mo as a catch-all term for all that some people are having problems with. In respect of the cultural/ideological role of the news media, there is a whole different set of theory and thought which wouldn't ever think of labelling itself po-mo. I am thinking, for example, of Galtung & Ruge's analysis of the factors which determine 'news value'; which is a good starting point for examining conventional wisdom and self-confirming practice in journalism.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    postmodernist thinkers (itself a pretty limiting label, but it will do in the context of this discussion), that complaint is used in a blanket manner,

    Good point, Giovanni. As much as I am enjoying this conversation, I do have problems with the use of postmodernism or po-mo as a catch-all term for all that some people are having problems with. In respect of the cultural/ideological role of the news media, there is a whole different set of theory and thought which wouldn't ever think of labelling itself po-mo. I am thinking, for example, of Galtung & Ruge's analysis of the factors which determine 'news value'; which is a good starting point for examining conventional wisdom and self-confirming practice in journalism.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    life experience is far more useful when you're face to face with the mother of a dead child than an understanding of what some French philosopher has to say on deconstructionalism [sic].

    Right, but I'd like it if trainee journalists were exposed more to the question of why such stories are covered. Whose interests are served by putting a grieving mother on the front page? How is that story created, and why? A mother's grief might be pure, unmediated experience, but it's anything but once it's crafted into a 'story' and put into a newspaper. One would hope that journalism students are made aware of the fictionalizing and role-assignment (who's demonized or scape-goated here?) that go into creating these narratives. Is there a particular view of reality that's being drummed into the public consciousness by the constant repetition of apparently 'simple' human interest stories?

    Similarly, it would be nice if journalism education covered ideas like moral entrepreneurship or moral panic, and the press's often shameful history of furthering these kinds of social epidemics. What does it mean, for instance, when the Herald decides to devote a section of its website to crime, despite static or falling actual crime rates? How does this influence public opinion? What are its political consequences?

    Foucault's a stimulating theorist (though I wouldn't want to rely on him for particular historical details), but there's more involved in the Theory/practice debate than his merits, or Derrida's, or Bourdieu's, or whoever's. It's that journalism is both pervasive (one might even say hegemonic) and oddly unreflective as a profession. It's an incredibly powerful medium whose practitioners often seem comfortably inured to their role in manipulating the way people think and vote. Sure, exposure to critical theory in journalism school might help in some small way, but the problem is larger. It's that many journalists in this country don't seem to think very hard about anything, and then mistake this for 'clarity' or being in touch with the 'real world'. And that's dangerous, when they have so much influence over public opinion.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    It's that journalism is both pervasive (one might even say hegemonic) and oddly unreflective as a profession

    Well put. One could also say than many journalists are overly defensive when their practice/world view is challenged (the accusation that they 'can dish it out but can't take it'). There are, are course, notable exceptions to this but it does not deter some of their colleagues from demonising 'academics', for example, as if all people who teach in tertiary institutions share the same set of beliefs. This is not so--you will probably find more dissent, competition and outright bitchiness in the academic community than you will ever find in the journalist 'tribe'.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    To skip back to fibre, I notice that LTE offers 100Mbit cellular wireless.

    This is being rolled out in Canada next year. If it ever makes it to NZ at a sensible price, it'll offer most of the functionality of current fibre, with a portable device.

    I wonder if this will impact fibre takeup? Also, I do worry that the government will protect its investment in the "national fibre network" by blocking other technologies from being deployed.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'd like to see more informed analysis of the likely impact on private sector investment of replacing Labour's approach with the new National one.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Actually I'll settle for any analysis.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Oh look, Chris Keall weighs in somewhat optimistically at NBR. I'm taking his opinions with a decent helping of salt after some of his wild assertions about s92 lately.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    understanding is more than "thinking" or "reasoning".

    Is that another line from Kung Fu Panda?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    I am thinking, for example, of Galtung & Ruge's analysis of the factors which determine 'news value'; which is a good starting point for examining conventional wisdom and self-confirming practice in journalism.

    Crossed my mind to give a thumbs-up to that when you mentioned it earlier. Having done a rather mediocre stage one communications paper (not at Waikato) not so long ago, the concept of 'news values' was the most valuable thing I was exposed to. While it no doubt has much in common with the concerns of "PoMo", it's straightforward, lucid, and easily grasped and, provided one takes the trouble to apply it to the real world, empowering.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Caleb, I agree completely that the majority of journalists are unreflective. I've often felt that Janet Malcolm's 'The Journalist and the Murderer' should be required reading, especially for anyone about to join the death-knock staff of the Herald on Sunday. Malcolm wrote:

    "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse. Like the credulous widow who wakes up one day to find the charming young man and all her savings gone, so the consenting subject of a piece of nonfiction learns—when the article or book appears—his hard lesson. Journalists justify their treachery in various ways according to their temperaments. The more pompous talk about freedom of speech and "the public's right to know"; the least talented talk about Art; the seemliest murmur about earning a living."

    Of course, not all journalism involves this kind of treachery but a healthy amount of self-doubt or self-examination among journalists should be encouraged. But I've met many journalists with a terrifying lack of such doubt.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Caleb D'Anvers,

    That's a wonderful quote, Philip.

    I just came across this, in an old essay by W. J. Cameron:

    What is to be deplored is ... the general tendency to foreshorten history, to isolate geographically or culturally ... Present-mindedness, nationalism, parochialism, and anti-intellectualism abound in [New Zealand], and it useless to fulminate against such an inevitable trait of an intellectually underdeveloped country.

    It's a pity so little has changed since 1968.

    London SE16 • Since Mar 2008 • 482 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Fascinating article in New Scientist 28 March by Simon Baron-Cohen and his experience of media sensationalisation and misrepresentation of his autism and related research. He targets the Guardian subeditors who added inaccurate and emotive headlines and photographs to a report on his research on fetal testosterone levels (that was mentioned in a PA thread a while back). Scientists have to have their research pre-assessed by ethics committees to prevent harm to the public and he suggests similar media regulation.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The paper presented by AUT's Ruth Thomas at December's JEANZ conference, based on her PhD work, makes some points similar to Phelan's, but more persuasively.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And I I like this from the 2003 JEANZ paper by Frank Morgan of the University of Newcastle in Australia:

    The arts of media practice require us to master three kinds of knowledge.

    • We need a body of professional knowledge, including production skills. Above all else, we must be able express ourselves clearly and cogently in our chosen medium – be it words or sounds or pictures or the various combinations of them embodied in various media forms.

    • We need a body of contextual knowledge – the industrial, legal, political, social and cultural milieux in which we will work. And

    • We need to know something about something else – the subject matter that we will report or analyse, comment upon or dramatise.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I agree the Thomas presentation is simpler and I like the way she explains the core issue:

    I believe that students still require training in the skills of journalism but this must be coupled with a broad social knowledge and an understanding of how journalism contributes to the production and circulation of meaning in society.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Vague as hell (although I'm sure she is less so in her actual research). The Phelan piece was a lot more concrete and to the point.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    A millenium ago, when I was a card-carrying journalist for the "Greymouth Evening Star". Russell Nelson said - "OK you can write. What you have to do now, is write yourself out of the story. Remember:what, who, when, where & how. Dont speculate on why.
    Get the names right."

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    "Prue Hyman, a feminist economist and adjunct professor at Victoria University, hadn't read the book but was aware of the debate and was concerned at the idea of men or women having sex just to keep their partner happy."

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2315570/Just-do-it-sex-call-sparks-womens-fury

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

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