Factual Story

It was dark. It was 3am, it was dark but Misrak Tekle was glad she couldn’t see what she smelt. The air was thick with the smell of rotting corpses. It filled her lungs as she and her family, among a sea of eleven thousand ethnic Eritrean’s, were marched across the Ethiopian-Eritrean border by Ethiopian soldiers.

Misrak was born in Ethiopia in 1975, one year after the coup which ended Haile Selassie’s 44 year reign as Emperor. Despite widespread drought, several coups and uprisings and a struggling economy Misrak has fond memories of her early childhood.

“My mother and father worked very hard. Yohannes (her younger brother) and I had a happy childhood. I have lots of happy memories of growing up with Yohannes and my family. We had lots of relatives that we would always see”.

Her mother was a great cook and Misrak loved the aromas. “I loved cooking since I was little. We are native Eritreans so mother would cook Eritrean and Ethiopian foods like tsebhi (which is similar to a curry or a stew) and injera (yeast-risen bread). They were very nice”.

Eritrea’s fight for independence was recognised by the United Nations in 1993 following a referendum of Eritrean’s. However following independence there were disputes regarding the border, in particular the border town of Badme. 

Following a series of armed incidents in which a number of Eritrean officials were killed near Badme, armed Eritrean soldiers entered the disputed region on May 6^th 1998 and proceeded to engage in a fire fight with local police and militia. On the 13^th of May Ethiopia mobilised a force for an assault on Eritrea. 

Eritrean artillery engaging in cross-border firing.

The Ethiopian government made the decision to deport Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin. Misrak’s family were one of these. Not only were they to be deported but their belongings and property were to be confiscated.

“We were kept in detention in a big school with about 11,000 people. It was very scary. We didn’t know what was going to happen. Then one day they said we were going to be marched back to Eritrea.”

“We walked for five days. We didn’t get to stop very often. We just kept marching. We were surrounded by soldiers with guns.”

Ethnic Eritreans being marched across the border back to Eritrea.

It was on the fifth night, at 3am, when they officially crossed the border. There had been fierce fighting between the two armies and the border was strewn with hundreds of dead bodies left to rot.

“We could smell it. It was awful. I am glad it so dark. There was no moon and no stars so I couldn’t see anything. The soldiers just told us to keep walking in a straight line while they were on our left and our right.”

 Misrak’s family settled in Eritrea, but Misrak didn’t want to stay there. She wanted to get as far away as she could. Following the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean War in June of 2000 she travelled to Uganda. She had a dream to open a restaurant and share the dishes that her mum had made for her as a child.

“The recipes I used were just from recipes I got from Mum. She would cook Ethiopian and Eritrean dishes. I always loved cooking and helping Mum cook from when I was small."

She worked hard, like her parents had shown her, but it was still a struggle. Uganda has one of the highest rates of poverty in the world with as many as 37% of the population living on less than $2 a day.

Misrak decided she wanted to move to Australia and arrived in 2009 as a refugee. “It was a very long flight. But it was exciting. It was such a different place to where I had grown up. I was very happy to try and start a new life here.”

Misrak started to work at Bunnings at Oxley and thrived because of her strong work ethic even though English was her fourth language. In 2010 while studying for a Certificate Two in Business Misrak was told about NEIS, a government funded initiative for people starting their own business.

“It was very exciting when I found out because it was a chance to create my own business. It was the reason I came to Australia, to cook and share the food of my homeland.”

Misrak now runs an Abyssinian Cuisine night every Monday at Cafe Checocho in West End where she cooks using the same recipes her mother did.

Misrak’s brother Yohannes manages the restaurant that Misrak opened in Uganda but he wants to join Misrak in Brisbane.

“I really like Brisbane and I am very happy to continue to try to grow my business in Brisbane. I love cooking and I have a 20 year plan for my business and I will try to apply for Yohannes to come here too.” 

Week 7- Public Media

The closest we had to a family tradition when I was growing up was watching the ABC news at 7 o’clock. Mum or Dad would always make sure dinner wasn’t ready until 7:25 at the earliest; they didn’t pay that much attention to the weather.

 I still remember as a five year old hearing the news that Paul Keating had defeated Bob Hawke in a leadership spill. I didn’t have a clue what that meant. I just knew I was upset. With the help of my mum I sent a letter to Mr Hawke offering my best wishes. A few weeks later I got a letter in the post from one Mr. R. Hawke.

Public Media is the lifeblood of a nation’s news. It helps to shape the national identity. It preserves the national heritage. It encourages and facilitates national debate and conversations. Watch a politician on a commercial outlet and nothing is said. It’s just empty rhetoric. Watch 7:30 or Lateline and there is an actual debate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLrcOIq-ipA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ZJ30XhQeY&feature=relmfu

The ABC and SBS are the lifeblood of Public Media in Australia. They produce documentaries, news, current affairs shows, dramas etc. ABC has radio outlets and a 24/7 news channel. The goals of Public Media are to prevent unbiased, balanced programming. There should be no vested interest. Programmes should be available to the whole population and cater for all tastes, interests, minority and disadvantaged groups.

But is there bias? 41% of Australians get their news from the ABC, and while over 85% of Australians don’t believe there is any bias, Peter Costello and some other conservative MP’s and commentators disagree.  I have been watching the ABC for twenty years and while as a child I wouldn’t have realised any bias, I believe I am now informed enough to make an opinion and I don’t think there is. I daresay Costello’s view that there is a bias is actually proof of the viability of the ABC. A strict guideline of Public Media is not to be a tool of propaganda for the government. Considering Costello served in the Government for over ten years, perhaps he should have realised that a long time ago.

In 1994 Paul Keating introduced the Creative Nation: Commonwealth Cultural Policy which was a significant boost for SBS, particularly the creation of SBS Independent as a production. A quick browse of the SBS guide for Friday the 20th reveals five straight hours of news in the following order: Spanish, Greek, French, Hindi, Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Korean, Japanese and Hong Kong. Then later on in the afternoon there is half an hour of Al-Jazeera News and an hour of PBS. Over six hours of news from around the world, that's very impressive.

Wordsmiths

I was reading a blog the other day and was concerned by a statement regarding the literacy of rappers. Rap and Hip-Hop are important musical genres. As a sheltered, relatively privileged white male I will never know the challenges and difficulties of growing up on the streets of Harlem, L.A etc. However, through the poetry of Tupac Shakur, NAS, Notorious BIG, Jay- Z etc I can try and understand and contemplate what it's like growing up in an environment where you aspire to be a drug dealer or a gangster. Blues music in the early 20th Century was an outlet for African-American musicians to tell their own stories. Rap and Hip-Hop are the Blues of today. I imagine the 'rappers' being referred to were the musicians you hear on pop stations now. This isn't rap. It is commercial pop music...does this sounds familiar to our lecture on Commercial Media? The real audience of this 'music' is advertisers and an audience that is dumbed down.

Tupac Shakur is considered perhaps the most poetic of rappers. He was an incredibly well-read and intelligent young man. Here is a link to a list of books he was known to have read http://www.alleyezonme.com/tupacsReadingList.phtml. Is it any surprise then that this man could create such poignant lyrics as in one of his best known songs Changes.
I see no changes. All I see is racist faces.
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under.
I wonder what it takes to make this one better place...
let's erase the wasted.
Or his ode to his mother, Dear Mama
A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it
There's no way I can pay you back
But the plan is to show you that I understand
You are appreciated
If anyone rivals Tupac for pure poetry it would be NAS. His debut Illmatic, released in 1994, was a revelation. His track NY State of Mind is an autobiographical story of his days working the corners as a drug dealer.

I got so many rhymes I don't think I'm too sane
Life is parallel to Hell but I must maintain
and be prosperous, though we live dangerous
cops could just arrest me, blamin us, we're held like hostages

One of his later songs I Can, released in 2002 is a desperate plea to boy and girls who were in danger of following his early choices in life and ending up on the streets dealing drugs. I wanted to find a few lines from this but ended up adding the entire third verse because it is so powerful and brilliant.
Be, be, 'fore we came to this country
We were kings and queens, never porch monkeys
There was empires in Africa called Kush
Timbuktu, where every race came to get books
To learn from black teachers who taught Greeks and Romans
Asian Arabs and gave them gold when
Gold was converted to money it all changed
Money then became empowerment for Europeans
The Persian military invaded
They heard about the gold, the teachings, and everything sacred
Africa was almost robbed naked
Slavery was money, so they began making slave ships
Egypt was the place that Alexander the Great went
He was so shocked at the mountains with black faces
Shot up they nose to impose what basically
Still goes on today, you see?
If the truth is told, the youth can grow
Then learn to survive until they gain control
Nobody says you have to be gangstas, hoes
Read more learn more, change the globe
Ghetto children, do your thing
Hold your head up, little man, you're a king
Young Princess when you get your wedding ring
Your man is saying "She's my queen"Doesn't sound too illiterate to me.

Finally on to Jay-Z. Perhaps the most successful rapper of all time. Husband to Beyonce, hero to aspiring MC's and disadvantaged youths, mult-millionaire businessman. Perhaps the wittiest and cleverest rapper of the last twenty years aswell. And behind The Beatles (19) he has the second highest amount of number 1 albums on the American charts (12).

His soundtrack to American Gangster is a concept album of sorts. A semi-autobiographical look at his early life on the streets. The track American Dream is a twist on the traditional American Dream of suburbia.
Step One in this process, scramble up in your projects
And head to the heights where big coke is processed
You gotta convince 'em that you not from the Precinct
 
When it comes to wordplay though Jay-Z stands out from all other rappers. Take this example from Brooklyn (Go Hard)
I Jack, I Rob, I sin
Awww man, I'm Jackie Robinson
Except when I run base, I dodge the penNot only does it roll and flow so beautifully together but it also has multiple meanings. 'Run base' and 'dodge the pen' are both baseball terms. Running base also refers to dealing drugs and 'dodging the pen' would mean not being incarcerated. Ethics aside, it is without a doubt wonderfully witty.

How about these lines from Blue Magic, also from American Gangster.
Blame Reagan for making me into a monster
Blame Oliver North and Iran-Contra
I ran contraband that they sponsoredHe repeats the same syllables. Iran-Contra/ I ran contra. What was he referring to? During Ronald Reagan's second term senior members of his administration secrectly facilitated arms sales to Iran, a country that was and remains under an arms embargo.

Rap is a truly important cultural and social tradition and instead of being marginalised and judged by people who don't understand it, it should be investigated, analysed and ultimately celebrated for the geniuses that continue to carry on it's legacy.

Week 6- Commercial Media

Commercial Media. Media for the masses? Pandering to the advertisers? Editors and producers more worried about their ratings than the content and quality of their stories and reporters. I had no idea what to expect from week 6. Reassurance that everything would be okay? Dire warnings of my future in journalism?

Admittedly the first few slides did nothing to ease my mind. Here was proof that the readers, viewers and listeners meant nothing.  Well, that's not quite right. Their choice of soap and cereal meant something. It meant something to the advertisers who could target certain audiences.

Gore Vidal is a person I have always greatly admired. He is unusually articulate, well-spoken, intelligent and thoughtful. His biting wit has been the bane of many Republicans (and a few Democrats) over the past few decades. Whilst researching Independent Journalism for this blog I stumbled across this wonderful clip of him on YouTube talking about the state of the media. I think he has summed up in a matter of minutes with his elegant language just how dire Commercial Media can be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWODMla3IWk

Of course this is coming from an American. Does this relate to Australia? One only needs to read Australian broadsheets. The national newspaper The Australian is undoubtedly right leaning, and more and more the Opinion columns are working their way into news. This isn't necessarily a criticism; they are one of the few newspapers to constantly tackle the hard issues. Queensland's newspaper The Courier Mail doesn't engage with enough real issues for one to confidently form an opinion on any lean or bias they may have. Unless one follows the Brisbane Broncos, then it's the best source of news in the country. The following link is for a very interesting article that The Monthly ran on the editor-in-chief of The Australian Chris Mitchell http://www.themonthly.com.au/power-rupert-murdoch-and-australian-s-editor-chief-united-states-chris-mitchell-sally-neighbour-3589.

For a (hopefully) non-biased look at how the media cover stories we watched a clip from ABC show Media Watch.
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3424273.htm
This clip highlighted some of the big negatives of the Style of Commercial Media, dumbing-down and tabloidisation. The need to create headlines and compete for audiences means an escalation of attention grabbing headlines. Like an old fashioned arms race, news outlets compete with one another for a larger audience by whatever means necessary, especially with the ad revenue for newspapers dropping.

I'm really looking forward to the next lecture, which will be on Public Media. Looking back on this post it reads very much as an attack on Commercial Media, but I happily admit I read The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald just as often as I read ABC online. It will be interesting to look at Public Media with a critical eye.

Week 5- Radio & the sounds of silence

I was looking forward to the Richard Fidler interview in the lecture for week 5. I try to listen to Conversations as much as possible. I like his interview style; he seems engaged and friendly and seems to create a sense of trust and harmony with the person he is interviewing.

He offered many good insights and advice on conducting radio interviews and the use of radio as a medium. The fact that there are no visual aids has positives and negatives. Radio can be very intimate, but it can also fade away into the background while people are ‘driving, making breakfast’ etc. This is important to remember for later on when he mentions who he sees as his ‘audience’. He considers it his job to be a facilitator between the audience and the interviewee; a striking and wonderful description.

Conversations is an hour show, usually with just one guest but sometimes two. Nevertheless the research that would go into the show must be very thorough. He says that often the best guests are people whom no one has heard of. That reminded me of one show I listened to with Colin Dillon, Australia’s first Indigenous police officer. I had never heard of Colin Dillon but it was one of the more interesting interviews I had listened to, and still remember it vividly more than three years later.

An interviewer needs to be curious and interested. Fidler argues against following a relentless and belligerent line of questioning. The interviewee is likely to become defensive and offer less. One of my favourite interviewers is Andrew Denton. I loved watching Enough Rope. There are a number of clips I could use as an example of the way he creates an environment and trust to get the most out of his interview subject but I chose to share this clip because Dave Grohl rarely speaks about Kurt Cobain, and in this clip he spoke so beautifully and unhindered about Nirvana, Cobain and Cobain’s suicide. (From about 5:00 on).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0bsPaIz9Wk

He mentioned the use of silence. I would have thought silence in radio would have to be a big no-no but he said silence can be incredibly powerful. But it shows respect for the guest. You don’t want to jump in the second after they have revealed something incredibly powerful or personal. It makes perfect sense and I have taken notice of this when listening to interviews since.

Towards the end he gave advice for journalism students such as worldliness, voracious reading, ask questions, be open minded. But the most interesting thing he said was to have a willingness to expose yourself to people and ideas you disagree with, people with different currents of thought. It seems so simple but it is so necessary. I struggle to sit through more than one minute of FOX news. The only time I have watched Bill O’Reilly for more than five minutes is looking up YouTube videos where he gets shot down in an argument (like below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_uBWxdZqpI&feature=related

Radio seems to be moving with technology as well as any other news medium. Podcasts, online streaming are available worldwide for popular radio shows. If anything radio has found a new and larger audience.

Week 4 reflection- Pictures

Week 4 was focused on picture stories, tying in nicely with one of my other subjects, Introduction to Visual Communication. It’s amazing how all of my subjects, barring Popular Music, are all linked in some way. Obviously there are many different aspects to being a good journalist and reporter.

For as long as there have been stories, there have been pictures. Indigenous Australian’s cave paintings, French cave paintings dating as far back as 15,000 B.C. The allegory of the ‘shadows on the cave wall’ by Plato was very interesting. It was rather funny when placed next to the family in front of the television set and reminded me a lot of ‘reality television’, or a rather more intelligent example might be the film The Truman Show. I was also struck by how Religion used pictures. Throughout Bibles and in Churches there were strikingly beautiful illustrations and decorations, certainly a good way of influencing their ‘flock’. Below is a photo of the lead singer of The Vines one of my favourite and, I believe, most under rated Australian bands. I think the photo was taken at the start of their career when there was huge hype around them and Craig Nicholls was labelled the 'Messiah of Rock'. It has always stuck in my mind because I think it is a rather striking image and an interesting take on how magazines, in this case NME (self-proclaimed Bible of Music), will report on bands in a reverential way.

The use of photo-shopping by magazines and publishers seems to be harking back to the way Religion could influence their followers by controlling what people see. I personally don’t read many fashion magazines, so though I was of course aware of photo-shopping, I didn’t realise the extent to which it’s done, or how much technology can change images. I must admit I do find it a bit unsettling and it has probably made me question what I see more and more. Though the flipside to that is photo journalism now produces amazing images, images that years ago would have been blurry couldn't be used. The picture of the London Riots is a great example. 

But as much as technology has advanced, the basic principles of a great photo are still the same; framing, focus, angle & point of view, exposure (light), timing (shutter speed) and capturing ‘the moment’. The photos on the slides were stunning. The photo of the School Shooting Aftermath in particular stood out for me; it was an absolutely stunning image.

Once again, the rise of social media in reporting was highlighted to us, including the use of social networking in organising and orchestrating the Arab Spring.

With the 24-7 newscycle of the 21^st Century there is always something happening now. Pictures and moving pictures are more important as a news medium, but, “a picture has no meaning at all if it can’t tell a story” Eetu Sillanpaa says. Very true, and important to remember. Following the lecture I googled Eetu Sillanpaa to see some of his other pictures. I chose to share this one below because it tells a story and it uses the elements of taking a great photo that we were taught about during the lecture. The lighting and POV in particular are lovely. I also read an interview with him about the photo of the young girls following the school shooting. It was very interesting, and I was struck when he said he select a technically inferior photograph if it is better at telling a story. Great advice. 

My current dream collaboration

As I sit here trying to catch up on blogs and lectures I realise a few things. First, I seriously need to stay up to date with my blogs in the future. Second, I feel like I am repeating myself over and over and hope this doesn't mean I am failing to grasp the different theories and practices. But finally, and probably least important, I have been compiling in my head a list of sorts. A list of musicians who I wish would get together and write songs together. I'm not asking for much. Doesn't have to be an album and a world tour, doesn't even have to be an EP. I would happily settle for a single with one or two b-sides. So who tops my list at the moment? James Mercer from The Shins and Kanye West. Without question this could quite possibly be amazing. James Mercer has worked with hip-hop royalty before. He and Danger Mouse have a side project, Broken Bells, which has released a fantastic self titled album (2010) and an EP Meyrin Fields (2011). Below is a link for the first single 'The High Road'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWBG1j_flrg&ob=av2e


The Shins have also experimented with hip-hop beats, on 'Sea Legs' from their excellent third record Wincing The Night Away (2007).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI8nLLDEc68

Mercer has to be the best songwriter in rock music at the moment. The Shins fourth album Port of Morrow, released last month, is another slice of guitar pop heaven. Every line is imbued with melody and a sense of meaning. His words sparkle. The lead single Simple Song is utter pop brilliance. Complex melodies and themes, lyrics that are incredibly intelligent, witty, beautiful and poetic, soaring backing vocals and an overwhelming feeling of hope. Mercer delivers in one song what countless artists struggle to do over a career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoLTPcD1S4Q

So onto Kanye West. The world biggest popstar. The most controversial, divisive, quotable musician of the millenium. Whatever people may think of him, there is no denying he is an artist of the highest quality. Five inventive, funny, challenging, overwhelming and brilliant albums. He has worked with the cream of hip-hop already; Jay Z, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell, Mos Def, Common, Kid Cudi etc etc. He has worked with celebrated film composer Jon Brion, responsible for the scores to such films as Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
He has worked with uber-cool French electro duo Daft Punk. He has worked with uber-talented pop-folk indie god Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDBCoXzR-z8&feature=related

His collaboration with Chris Martin, Homecoming, was one of the standout tracks on his Graduation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDBCoXzR-z8&feature=related

Imagine a James Mercer-Kanye West production. The best songwriter in rock and the best songwriter in rap. Two of the best artists and writers in the world today. I can only dream at the moment, Should tweet Kanye with the suggestion...

Week 3 reflection- Text

Prior to the week 3 lecture I decided to have a quick browse of the readings supplied on blackboard. Five minutes later I stopped. The Journalism Studies reading seemed to be incredibly dense and verbose. I thought perhaps I may have a better understanding of its material and be better placed to tackle it after the lecture.

What is text? Fast. Flexible. Complete Control. Portable. Searchable. Dominates Online... Immediately I am forced to contemplate what seems like a simple question.  It also another reminder that we now live in the age of the web 3.0, another reminder that I need to embrace this or be left behind.

The concept of the inverted pyramid seems so uncomplicated with the graphic in the slideshow. The very important facts go at the start of the article, funnelling down to the less important facts. I suspect that over the following three years the inverted pyramid will be constantly referred to. It seems to be the basis for journalism.  It makes perfect sense too.

After the lecture I did return to the Journalism Studies reading. Whilst incredibly dry at times it is also incredibly important. Whilst the origins of the inverted pyramids are clearly still disputed amongst researchers, the fact is that it is now unquestionably the commonplace practice of journalism. The reporting of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Europe seems farcical now. One of the causes of the biggest event in history at that stage and the assassination itself wasn’t reported until the end of articles.

I found the slide about the Poynter eyetrack interesting. I would have thought that photographs, or illustrations, would be the first point of focus for the reader. But as the slide says ‘text rules’. With this in mind I made a conscience effort of where my focus was drawn upon seeing the articles in the slideshow. Sure enough I went straight to the text, specifically the headlines. In the image below my eyes immediately went to guardian.co.uk, then to the headlines on the left even though the largest piece of information on the page is the photo of Bradley Manning.

Towards the end of the lecture there was another mention of blogging and social media. The lines between social networks and blogging are disappearing. Text is blogs. Text is emails. Text is tweets. These are feasible sources of news and current affairs. I am gradually learning this.

I realise this blog itself has not followed the inverted pyramid. Should blogs adhere to this? They seem to be more of a chronological reflection. I should practice using it though.