School of Culture and Communication - Research Publications
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ItemTo ‘shift into the eye sockets of the people in the story’: Teaching magazine feature writing through literary journalism(Australasian Association of Writing Programs, 2014)In a postgraduate writing subject in a media and communications program, we seek to teach a type of writing that – we argue – can compete successfully for readers’ attention in today’s 360-degree media environment. In order to meet this challenge, we focus on literary/narrative feature writing, most commonly found in Australia and elsewhere in magazines, and in the magazine supplements of mainstream newspapers. In teaching this type of writing, we examine both its microstructure and macrostructure. At the macrostructural level, we commence with the historical context of literary journalism and feature story writing, focussing especially on the major influence of the New Journalism and practitioners such as Tom Wolfe; alongside this we review the argument that the ‘storytelling’ structure is a form to which humans respond innately, a knowledge of which can aid effective media writing in general, and magazine feature stories in particular, and to this end we demonstrate the type of textual analyses that form part of our pedagogical approach. At the microstructural level, we examine the employment of narrative perspective in order to engage readers in specific ways; this aligns to some extent with Wolfe’s ‘device’ of ‘point of view’, which he considered crucial in order to ‘grab the reader a few seconds longer’ (Wolfe 1973: 18). Another related aspect which, Wolfe argued, is essential in attracting and involving readers is filtering descriptions through the ‘eye sockets’ (Wolfe 1973: 18) of people in his features. Following Wolfe, we argue that this type of literary feature yields a wealth of engaging information unparalleled in other media writing.
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ItemMornings with Radio 774: can John Howard’s medium of choice enhance public sphere activity?( 2007)This paper addresses the necessity for program-specific analysis in radio research by focussing on Jon Faine’s Morning Program on ABC Radio 774 (Melbourne). After establishing the present Prime Minister’s preference for radio appearances over all other types of media, I examine the extent to which Faine’s particular iteration of talkback has the capacity to enhance public sphere activity, given the view that this medium is being strategically utilised by politicians to gain virtually uncontested access to listeners. My examination occurs principally through a morning’s observation of Faine’s program, supported by information from recordings of a constructed week of the program from the previous two months. My findings suggest that while a certain amount of ‘top-down’ flow of information is unavoidable, some contestation of ideas often occurs, mitigating politicians’ exploitation of at least this particular program. Faine’s program does, moreover, seem to give the impression of an acceptance of listeners calls on topics that affect their daily lives, even though only a small number of ‘ordinary’ callers are featured each day. My observations suggest this program does offer processes that enhance public sphere activity, although with some qualifications.
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ItemRelatively benign corruption? Critical discourse analysis for media students( 2007)Don Watson, in his book Death Sentence, claims that the way in which the media disseminate information and the way politicians manipulate this process have resulted in a kind of corruption. Assuming this is the case, I suggest in this paper that it is therefore useful to equip students in media courses with the skills of critical discourse analysis. A useful starting point for teaching these skills to undergraduates, I have found, is a newspaper article by Alexander Downer, excerpted from one of his speeches about the 'war on terror'. Such a mediated political linguistic act as this will of course inherently involve power or resistance to power, and will contribute to the formation of a specific discourse community via strategies of coercion, resistance, opposition or protest, and dissimulation/de-legitimisation. This necessarily results in relations of struggle that are played out at the lexicogrammatical level, on which I invite students to focus. Such media texts, which represent and foreground starkly opposing ideologies, can be useful vehicles for teaching the concept of discourse communities, as well as the reading strategies of critical discourse analysis.
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ItemWordlings in a Web 2.0 World( 2009)
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ItemAn Integral Part of Democratic Debate? Talk Radio and the Public Sphere(Melbourne University Publishing, 2009)
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ItemFrom Dog Leads to Dying: "Moderate" Talkback as a Rhetorical Space for Democratic Processes(RMIT Publishing, 2005)
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ItemWoman of the End Times( 2004)
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ItemMornings with radio 774: Can John Howard's medium of choice enhance public sphere activity?(UNIV QUEENSLAND PRESS, 2007-02)