On the cusp between global and local: Young journalists at the Straits Times

This article portrays the induction process of young journalists into the newsroom at the Singaporean English daily, The Straits Times. The enquiry, part of on ongoing world-wide study, is premised on the fact that professional journalistic education is greatly influenced by the newsroom socialisation process. The Straits Times is bound to its parent company’s editorial policy, which has as its “main concern the survival and continuing success of the Republic of Singapore”. This editorial policy impacts on what and how the young journalists learn. Front-end controls make the young reporters work in close cooperation with their assigned supervisor. This way the young reporters are inducted into the style of the paper, and its ethical requirements. These, unlike at other researched papers, are learned on the job. However, within these perimeters, the young journalists feel no less ownership of their stories than do young journalists at other papers

‘Our newsroom in the cloud’: Slack, virtual newsrooms and journalistic practice

Virtual newsrooms have enormous potential: enabling journalists around the world to pool their knowledge, skills and perspectives within joint projects, such as the Panama Papers. These virtual newsrooms are supported by Online Collaborative Software (OCS), the most popular of which is Slack. But although many of the world’s top news organisations now use Slack, there is no empirical research examining its impact on workplace processes or culture. This article presents the results of a year-long ethnographic study of a global digital news outlet, whose remote journalists collaborate, almost exclusively, via Slack. We found that the platform deepened relationships and enabled new creative practices across geographic regions. However, it also contributed to the erasure of the line between private and professional spheres for workers, and introduced new opportunities for management to shape newsroom culture. We argue that the concept of ‘space’ as developed by Harvey can helpfully frame the analysis of these new, important digital platforms

The 'new majority' and the academization of journalism

The academization of journalism is reliant on the development of the field founded in scholarship demonstrated through the publication of research in peer-reviewed specialist journals. Given the profile of journalism faculty, this means inducting practitioners into a culture of critical research. In Australia at least, this cohort of neophytes is predominantly comprised of middle-aged women who were surveyed about their personal attitudes to research. They were mostly open to the idea of becoming researchers but were inclined to proceed cautiously without necessarily severing their ties with practice. There was evidence to suggest that a generally positive orientation to research was not capitalized on and that they remained uncertain about the role of research. On the other hand, they appeared not to have adopted the orthodoxy of implacable opposition to scholarly inquiry. The change in gender composition in the academy may provide, contrary to historical, but more in line with contemporary, evidence, a renewed impetus to the project of academizing the field

Learning the all important angle: Young reporters at South China Morning Post

This paper reports on the findings of an ongoing study of cadet reporters at the media in Germany, Australia and Hong Kong. It concludes that regardless of the politico-cultural and linguistic contexts, qualities such as accuracy, thoroughness of research and clarity of writing remain the basics of any journalistic education. Regardless of their undergraduate field of study, as its study of cadet reporters in South China Morning Post, Hong Kong shows, the media organization has the greatest influence in shaping their journalistic values and news product

Localism and networking: a radio news case study

The Broadcasting Services Act 1992 ushered in a new hands-off approach by government which, in the case of radio, permitted commercial broadcasters to double their investments in individual markets through the two-station policy while removing any onerous commitments to local content. Since then, there has been concern about the flow-on effect this may have had, with Peter Collingwood's 1997 study of commercial radio confirming that levels of local content were reducing as levels of networked content were increasing. He bemoaned the fact that a by-product of the self-regulatory regime was a reduction in the amount of publicly available information against which performance could be gauged. Since 1992, only one detailed study of local radio news has been done, Graeme Turner's 1996 examination of radio and television news in the Brisbane market. Now a parallel study has been conducted in Perth, giving an insight into localism and networking six years later

Desired attributes for young journalists

This article approaches the question of ‘which core attributes should young journalists offer’ from the industry point of view. The answers by senior staff of leading newspapers are used to deduct a list of qualities cadets or young journalists are expected to offer. This study uses interviews at El Pais and Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Singapore’s Straits Times and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. Spain’s El Pais and Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung are counted among the ten best papers in the world, but their histories are vastly different, as is their approach to the selection of cadets and beginning journalists. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung only takes graduates, but not those with a journalism degree, whereas El Pais has its own post-graduate journalism school from among whose graduates it selects the best to join its staff. The Straits Times and South China Morning Post have neither a preference for nor a rejection of journalism graduates. While the answers regarding the qualities of beginning journalists show a surprising unanimity, they also point to the fact that some attributes, possibly, can be encouraged but not taught

From journalism school to newsroom: What rite of passage?

Professional education does not stop at the college gate. The student then enters the organizational framework of a media institution, which provides its own lasting formative experience. By example of recently graduated journalists at an Australian metropolitan newspaper, the West Australian, this article traces the young journalists\u27 induction process into the paper\u27s newsroom workings and explores the adjustments they made after becoming part of an organisational unit. The qualitative interviews show that the newsroom is experienced as a very different eninronment from whatever simplified version may have encountered at journalism school. The newly afforded responsibility of writing for thousands of readers, working with unwilling sources and adjusting to strict deadlines were cited as the main learning experiences. These statements were backed up by senior staff. None of the young journalists said they had to undo what they had learned previously, nor did they feel their individuality subsumed by organizational constraints

Water Rights: Global Media Ethics and Sharing Resources

This chapter investigates the media’s journalistic response to water rights and the sharing and handling of resources in two countries diametrically positioned with regard to water resources, Australia and Bangladesh. One is the driest continent on earth and the other in frequent danger of inundations and rising sea levels. The case studies chosen are the reporting of the Murray-Darling basin issue in Australia and the Ganga-Brahmaputra river system in Bangladesh. The findings highlight the inadequacy of traditional media ethics and the capture of journalists in their own procedural, organizational, and geographical confines. In depicting Australia and Bangladesh, the chapter highlights commonalities but eschews simplistic answers that may suit some regions of the world but not others and outlines ways for journalistic writing to strengthen its engagement in matters of environmental justice

Correlation between time management practices and academic performance of sophomore and junior radiologic technology students A.Y. 2010-2011

The study used the correlational method using a survey technique. Respondents were 116 sophomore and 78 junior radiologic technology students enrolled during the first semester A.Y. 2010-2011 selected using simple random sampling. Data was collected using Time Management Behavior Scale and analyzed using mean, standard deviation, t-test and Pearson’s r. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) Majority of the respondents were male, sophomore level, regular students enrolled in more than 18 units, and not involved in extra-curricular organizations; (2) The time management practices of the respondents were moderately positive; (3) The academic performance of the respondents were satisfactory; (4) The time management practices of the respondents, specifically the “Mechanics of time management,” were associated with the gender of the respondents; (5) Respondents who were female and regular students enrolled in more 18 units had higher academic performance; (6) Students who practiced time management tend to have higher grades