Crim 2027 Blog 1: State Election
With the NSW state election this Saturday there is a substantial amount of media surrounding the event. From various print media to radio to television news broadcasts, new articles are printed daily. I usually read articles online on the Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, Ninemsn and occasionally the ABC website where there are various methods of presenting similar stories about proposed crime policy from the different political parties.
The real purpose of news articles found on these sites is to be ‘newsworthy’: attract viewers and gain further popularity according to Jewkes (2004). The following three of Jewkes’ principles of newsworthiness are frequently found in these articles:
1. Proximity
2. Simplification
3. Predictability
Firstly, the articles are sectioned usually under the National or State section of the news website which means they are geographically relevant to their audience. Secondly, the stories are most often simplified in order to prevent confusion by the community, eliminating most if not all political jargon. Lastly, due to the predictability of the story news crews are able to deploy staff to the area well in advance to ensure adequate coverage of the story.
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and ABC news seem to present more formal and less-opinionated stories as factual information is presented to the public, which is the real purpose of the news after all, right? Ninemsn and The Daily Telegraph seem to be more biased and almost ‘gossipy’ in a sense with their reports - the “Opinion” section on the Tele’s website is a perfect example! One story on the Daily Telegraph’s website by an anonymous journalist is entitled “Kristina’s already in post-poll mode”. The writer makes comments such as “ordinarily, Australian political parties wait until after they've lost an election before they begin a period of self-destruction” and “Keneally might not be sufficiently diplomatic for the task” which I think demonstrate a negative attitude toward Keneally and I also think impacts the peoples opinion too. In contrast a story by Heath Aston (2011) on SMH.com consists of factual information about both parties. For example, he quotes coalition leader Barry O’Connell’s plans to “recruit 400 new police officers, put 100 extra highway patrol officers on the state's roads and buy a counter-terrorism helicopter”. I think this information is a lot more effective as we are told the facts minus any snide, opinionated comments from the reporters.
Despite this though, as a regular consumer of all of the above sources of news, I am influenced by the biased articles regardless of the fact I know I shouldn’t be. With all the negativity surrounding Kristina Keneally and the Labor government in the press, I can’t help but to feel I too shouldn’t vote for Labor. Just goes to show how influential the media really can be...
References
Aston, H. (2011) ‘O’Farrell aims to arrest crime’, 20 March, Sydney Morning Herald Online
<http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/ofarrell-aims-to-arrest-crime- 20110319-1c1cy.html>
Jewkes,Y. (2004) Media and Crime 1st ed. London: Sage Publications.
‘Kristina’s already in post-poll mode’, 19 March 2011, Sydney Morning Herald Online
<http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/kristinas-already-in-post-poll-mode/story-e6frezz0-1226024235950>
