Basketball Grand Final: Saints vs George Roberts

On Thursday, 4th of April, at James Cook University, tension was boiling between the two residential colleges, George Roberts and Saints Catholic College. The two women's teams both played really well, however, of course, there can only be one winner.

Both teams took turns of scoring between three and five goals in a row, with Katie-Anne Batty scoring many points for George Roberts and Althea Bowden scoring plenty for Saints.

George Roberts took the lead before half time, when the scores were seventeen to thirteen. As the game progressed, the scores became extremely close, both tying at 22 in the third quarter, increasing the tension. However, to the dismay of the Saints team and their supporters, George Roberts won thirty to twetny-three.

Saints player Sophie Manoy said, "We played very well but we went down in the end." The Saints had hoped for a victory as George Roberts has been defending champion for several years. However, the spirit of the players continued off the courts.

While basketball is said to be a non-contact sport, there were several trips and falls, some which led to penalties, others which didn't.

Half of George Roberts' goals were penalty shots, as opposed to the Saints who scored more goals in the proper game than with penalty shots. It could be argued that this says a great deal about the skill of the players.

Out of the Saints team, two girls stood out more then others. Sports representative Althea Bowden and well known sports-player Liv Reynoldson could be seen giving 110% (not to say that the other girls weren't) and it could be plainly seen that these girls were the ones targeted most, not only by George Roberts players but their supporters as well.

Overall it was a good game which led to sore throats from cheerers on both sides. In the end, it's the spirit that matters, and there was an abundance of this from both teams.

Tutorial #6

This week the class revised much of what we have learnt in the past, such as the inverted pyramid technique and what it means to be a journalist. However, there is a new aspect of journalism that was explained to us. In every story there are facts, and these facts have to come from somewhere, right? They come from sources, which are the people who are responsible for the information.
Any facts which are not well known or widely accepted must be referenced, otherwise it counts as plagiarism.
Sometimes, however, a source may not want to be recognised for the information they give. This could be due to many reasons. Perhaps they are revealing negatives about a company they work for and fear for their job, or maybe they witnessed a crime and would like to keep themselves safe from criminals. There are many scenarios that could lead a person to wish to remain anonymous.
The source may or may not wish for their statements to be put directly in an article. When information is "on the record," the source can be quoted and named. "Off the record" information may be used, but the source can not be named or attributed to it in any way (anonymous source). "Background" information cannot be used in the article in any way, but is rather there for the journalist's background knowledge so that they gain a better understanding on the discussion.

During the tutorial, the class divided into pairs (although I was in a group of three) and we were told to write a profile story on each other. A profile story is a journalistic story about a particular person and what they have done, what has happened to them, or anything that would make a good story. However, the main focus is on the person in question. For example, I interviewed a girl named Brittany, and I will be able to write a story on her love of music and the concerts she has gone to and plans to go to in the near future. The story has a word limit of five hundred words, so I will be able to expand it, giving brief histories of the concerts and their beginnings and explaining the style of music that Brittany appears to like.

Tutorial #5

This week's topic is news agenda and agenda setting. Agenda setting, in basic terms, is the control of reader's opinions by journalists. There are four major agenda types:

• Public Agenda - this has to do with the topics that the public thinks is important.
• Policy Agenda - this is about the issues thought to be important by the people who have the power to make important decisions.
•  Corporate Agenda - what big businesses and corporations consider to be important.
• Media Agenda - items which are discussed and concentrated on in the media.

An example of agenda setting given to the class by the lecturer was Justin Bieber's haircut and the war in Afghanistan. Today, Justin Bieber's new haircut is more likely to be on the front page and the war in Afghanistan is more likely to be further towards the back. This is because Justin Bieber is a celebrity who many people want to know everything about because he is rich, famous, talented and good looking, and that is what is considered important. It is also more pleasant to read about than war.
 Agenda setting is all about influence, and Harold Lasswell states that, "mass media injects direct influence into the audience." This basically means that the media tells the audience not only what to have an opinion about, but what that opinion should be.
There are many aspects in the "Agenda Setting Family." These include:

• Media Gatekeeping - The media chooses what is revealed to the public and what remains hidden.
• Media Advocacy - When a message is promoted or advertised through a story.
• Agenda Cutting - When certain stories are pushed back or cut out because they are seen as less important than other stories.
• Agenda Surfing (Bandwagon Effect) - This is when the media follows the latest trends and public opinion.
• The Diffusion of News - This is the process of communication of important events to the public.
• Portrayal of Issues - The perspective of an issue that is presented to the audience. This will usually influence the audience to think positively or negatively about a topic or event.
• Media Dependence - Many people depend on the media, and the more dependent they are, the more susceptible they are to agenda setting.

However, agenda setting is not all bad. It does explain how readers prioritize events and topics. It also allows journalists to predict how to write a story and what they should write about, knowing that the audience will see it as important.

Animal Magnitism

At James Cook University in Townsville, students aren't the only ones who are making use of the grounds. Turkeys are seen sunning themselves, digging for grubs and just plain old walking around. It appears that some students, majority of which are female, become frightened at the sight of these birds. However, I have yet to see a single bird become aggressive towards any students, besides the occasional warning cluck if they get too close of course.
Turkeys are not the only birds that call JCU home. Many parrots of different sizes and colours have been seen around campus, giving the students something more beautiful and less intimidating to look at than the turkeys. These parrots tend to keep to the trees but an occasional act of bravery will lead to them perching on railings not too far from students.

 On the edge of campus, on the residential campuses, a different type of animal can be found lazing around on the grass. Just the other day I was walking to my building at Saint's Catholic College and I saw that, right next to the other building, there were a couple of grey kangaroos lying in the sun. They were not disturbing anyone nor did the students attempt to disturb them, and so there is a harmony here between man and beast that allows us all to live together.

However, not all of the creatures that make their way on college are wanted. Bugs, whilst small, are a nuisance when there is an abundance of them. I live in a building where windows are always open and there is a lot of nature outside. The bugs flock to the light they see at the windows and voila! Irritation galore.

The bug infestation would be a lot worse, however, if not for the geckos that also reside with us here on college. There are many that can be seen chasing after small bugs and sometimes even each other.

Overall, rather than see these animals as beasts entering our territory, I see this sharing of space as a sign that JCU is a natural and comfortable environment that instead of destroying nature, it lives with it. This gives myself, and I'm sure many others, peace of mind that we aren't part of natural destruction.

Tutorial #4

This week, the class learnt about news values and identified them in stories on the internet. The news values are as follows:

Frequency: These are the news stories that happen quickly and frequently as to keep things fresh.

Threshold: Bigger impact means more people that the even affects. This means more interest from readers.

Unambiguity: This is when the reader can infer things from there own background knowledge of the subject of the story.

Meaningfulness: This is how much the reader can connect to the story through emotions and their own background.

Stereotype: Stories with stereotypes fulfill both the reader's and society's views of how things are expected to be.

Unexpectedness: Unexpectedness is when a story is surprising, unusual and/or shocking. These stories tend to have a greater effect than those reporting on everyday happenings.

Continuity: This is when a story is long-term or ongoing for a long period of time, meaning readers would like to keep up to date with information on the topic.

Composition: Stories are constantly in competition with each other, and therefore only the strongest and most important will become printed.

Elite Nations: The more influential a global power, the more news coverage it receives. This is because everyone wants to know about those who control our world and society.

Elite People: The rich, famous and powerful also get more news coverage because they are the people everyone wants to be.

Negativity: Bad news appears to attract more attention than good news, as people either want to know if they are threatened and how they ought to keep safe or they enjoy seeing that bad things happen elsewhere and to others rather than themselves.

Drama: A story is presented as just that, a story, which entertains through drama.

Visual Attractiveness: Visuals are extremely important because they are what the reader notices first. Photos and good formatting make an article look more attractive.

Entertainment: Entertainment value allows the reader to enjoy the article rather than be bored by it.

Proximity: Proximity is how close something is to the reader's home or place of importance. Obviously, the closer it is, the more it will affect the reader, making them more interested.

Brevity: This is everything that goes towards a story, such as timing, order and the control of flow between stories, particularly on TV.

Celebrity: Similar to the news value of elite persons, the richer and more famous a person is, the more people want to be them and want to find out about them.

Good News: Good news makes people feel warm and fuzzy inside, and readers will look forward to this feeling when reading it.

Relevance: This is when a story can relate to a reader's situation.

Despite the large amount of news values listed here, these are only a few of the news values in the world of journalism.

Created From Cardboard, Filled With Heart

Caine’s Arcade Goes Viral

On Sunday afternoon dozens of people, mainly families, flocked to a small Auto-parts shop in East LA to play at Caine’s arcade, a nine year old boy’s world of homemade cardboard games.

The surprise event was organised by Nirvan Mullick, Caine’s very first customer. Mullick had entered the Auto Shop looking for a spare part, but found more than he expected and ended up spending $2 for a Fun Pass, giving him 500 turns at the cardboard arcade.

Mullick said, “This kid’s a genius ... (and) the fun pass is an awesome deal.” With the help of Caine’s father, Mullick organised a flash mob to appear at the arcade on a Sunday afternoon.

Caine’s father had been worried that Caine would be bullied at school, as none of the other children believed that Caine had his own arcade. Caine even went as far as to stop wearing his “Caine’s Arcade” shirt, of his own design, to school.

The event led to many people playing at the arcade and was sure to boost Caine’s confidence, who, with a smile on his face, handed out passes and prizes to happy customers.

The soccer game: Originally, Caine had only one soldier to defend the goal post. However, when he realised that was too easy for customers, he added two more soldiers to increase the challenge.

The basketball game: This is the first game that Caine made for his arcade.

The claw game: This is Caine's personal favourite. This game consists of a simple claw which hooks onto the toys, which originally belonged to Caine. This "machine" is of Caine's own design.

The prizes: When a customer wins a game, their reward is one of many toys donated by Caine himself. Only nine years old himself, he says that he does not miss the toys, as they were from when he was little.