Accused: The Man Who Threw Rocks on the Freeway

North, East, West, and South; NEWS

Although the origin of the word 'news' is unknown, it could be identified that news has dealt with every event and problem. Referred to by the Collins COBUILD dictionary, news is information that is published in newspapers and broadcast on radio and television about a recently changed situation or a recent event in the country or world or in a particular area of activity. The two newspapers in this essay are The Sydney Morning Herald, a broadsheet and The Daily Telegraph, a tabloid. Both newspapers are published daily in Australia but each newspaper uses different way to convey information. This essay will compare and contrast methods of expression, news values, and key themes between both the newspapers of the same story, on the same day.

Two daily newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph which were published on Tuesday, 24 July, 2007, reported about an accused man who threw rocks on the freeway. According to both the newspapers, the man, Peter Hodgkins, 25, who was at home on bail, was arrested two days ago in Kiama Downs. About 3.15 am on Sunday, he throw the rocks from the end of the Princes Highway, then a traveller, Nicole Miller, 22, who was a beauty therapist, was struck by the rocks he threw that smashed through a rear side window of her friend's vehicle. After the incident, she has needed the support of a breathing machine in Wollongong Hospital because the rocks thrown by Peter Hodgkins had crushed her skull and injured her face. Both articles wrote information about the rock thrower, Peter Hodgkins. According to his own profile on MySpace, a social networking website, he is a devoted single father, loves his daughter and earns less than $30,000 a year. In addition, two articles reported how he was arrested and how he had got bail.

Both newspapers were similar and different in their methods of expression, news values and key themes. Firstly, methods of expression such as headlines, photographs, and article's placement, are completely different between each newspaper. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote "The man accused of throwing the rock" and "The woman fighting for her life" in the headlines on the left section of the front page, and inserted photographs showing the man, Peter Hodgkins, whose face is affected as mosaic design and the woman, Nicole Miller, who is smiling without mosaic design. On page 3, The Sydney Morning Herald also wrote "At home on bail: the man accused of freeway rock attack" in the headline, and also inserted the same photograph as the front page with a sub headline, "Charged…Peter Hodgkins was arrested after a tip-off". However, The Daily Telegraph wrote a different headline which stated, "Friends shock at rock arrest" on the left section of the front page, and inserted a photograph showing Peter Hodgkins without any distortion effect. On page 5, this newspaper used the headlines, "Secrets of rock attack suspect" written by the biggest point typeface in this page and "Loves daughter, idolises dad…in deep trouble" by smaller point typeface than Secrets…'s. Moreover, there were three photographs on this page, one of these photographs showing Peter Hodgkins, which is the same photograph of The Sydney Morning Herald's but no mosaic effect and showing the half of the his body with tattoos, especially 'PAYABLE ON DEATH', and two of the photographs showed the woman and the damaged car with a broken window. Even though the two newspapers used the same photograph showing the man, their treatments are quite different. According to Sheley and Ashkins (cited in Davis 1981, p. 492), pictures of crime news presented in newspapers reflect on the public’s conception of crime. In this case, the tabloid content of The Daily Telegraph made fear and anger more than content in this article's from the man from using his smiling with the finger in contrast with the smiling woman.

Secondly, news values of the two articles are similar. Even though the two articles were written about crime, the flow of stories followed an entertainment form. In terms of these stories, 'human interest' and 'emotional appeal' may be defined as the news values. For example, the broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald did not avoid typical tabloid content. In the beginning of this article, The Sydney Morning Herald wrote the facts, Peter Hodgkins was logged on to his social networking website, MySpace after being charged and his hobbies are fishing and surfing. These facts were not directly relevant and necessary in order to explain this incident in itself, but these are generally relevant to understand the context. Tabloid content that may appear in newspapers and broadcast on radio and television especially shows crimes, sex and celebrities' scandals (Lumby 1999, p. 39). The Daily Telegraph also followed tabloid content through photographs. Additionally, the attractive headlines, for example, 'Loves daughter', which were against this terrible crime, captured the attention of readers.

Finally, the treatments of each article are also similar. Traditionally news can be separated between soft and hard news. "'Soft news' deal with human interest stories and news items considered 'interesting' or 'entertaining'. 'Hard news' deals with 'important' stories and is usually considered to contain more 'hard facts'" (Turner 2006, p. 9). Both articles treated a story focusing the one man and his victim. It is sufficient to define that both stories are soft news. People who have known this story will be afraid but it was simply an accident. There is no plan to be not a victim. As a result, these stories just seem to convey more entertaining facts rather than educational information. However, although the flow of this story is focused on one man, this news carries on hard facts. This means stories of crime still can be defined as hard news.

In conclusion, both newspapers treated the same story about an accused man who threw rocks. Even though they showed the same photographs, the ways of expression are different. Moreover, these headlines are different because both newspapers each focused on different points. It could be defined that they have different target audience. However, the story is obviously crime news as hard news, though the flow of this story seemed entertainment news.

References

HarperCollins 2003, Advanced Learner's English Dictionary, 4th edn, HarperCollins, Glasgow.

Lumby, C. 1999, Gotcha: Life in tabloid world, Allen and Unwin, St Leonards.

Sheley, J.F. & Ashkins, C.D. 1981, 'Crime, Crime News, and Crime Views', Public Opinion Quarterly, vol. 45, Elsevier North-Holland, pp. 492-506.

Turner R. 2006, 'The News', Media Analysis 1, Insearch UTS, Sydney.

Rupert Murdoch, a Throne, and Tabloid Content

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K3

The Brief of the Website, jyhwang.com

1. Goals/Purposes of Website
www.jyhwang.com, this personal website, may be introduced and promoted by J.Y. Hwang. "These days almost all large corporations and a great many small businesses use the Web for promotion."(Farkas and Farkas 2002, p. 7). A website gives the information about a company to promote itself. A personal website also can give information about someone's personal portfolio. There are too many blogs of J.Y. Hwang's because people who are users of those blogs have different needs for each blog. As a result, when J.Y. Hwang wanted to tell or show something, J.Y. Hwang must update the same contents on each blog. This website is going to be the exclusive official J.Y. Hwang website. That means visitors use the website to get information about J.Y. Hwang.

2. Target Audience
● To the people who have already known about J.Y. Hwang
The people who are friends and parents of J.Y. Hwang's will be able to know his present situation and see his recent photos and news.

● To the people who want to know about J.Y. Hwang
If someone wants to be his friend, this website may be the first step to know about him.

● To the people who want to see J.Y. Hwang's videos
This website will be his most important portfolio, especially to the people who want to be a business partner, such as a film maker and a producer, with him. The videos made by him will be uploaded on this website.

3. Message
The message of this website is to show that J.Y. Hwang has the sensibilities and the skills about films to be one of the film industry's most successful directors.

4. Contents● Index
This page will be produced using Macromedia Flash. Visitors will be able to enter the main page though the click on this page.

● Main Page
There are five linked pages in this website, 'Biography', 'Photographs', 'Blog', 'Videos' and 'Information'.

● Biography
Visitors can read his profile and access Wikipedia.org through 'Wikipedia' button which is a sub link page of this.

● Photographs
This page will show small images of his photographs and then it will become a large image when visitors do the click a small image.

● Blog
The blog has already been published on Blogger.com but this blog will not open via a new window. The blog will remain in the lower half of the frame.

● Videos
This page will be connected to the purpose of this website directly. There are now three videos made by J.Y. Hwang. These videos play on YouTube, so visitors do not have to install any program to view video files.

● Information
There may be two sub buttons in this page. One of these buttons is 'Site Map' which is the structure of whole website, and another is 'Contact' which is J.Y. Hwang’s contact detail, such as e-mail.

5. Design Approach
The design concept of this website is simple and clear and easy to use, read, watch and enjoy all contents. According to Robin et al (2002, p.95), the website needs an overview and balance with the functional aspects because it is not a magazine. The authors also demonstrated that, by comparing Google.com to Excite.com, a website must be used simpliy because too many visual images can be a confusing to users (Robin et al 2002, p.95). Thus, the main colours of this website may be white, grey and black. The graphics, such as banners, buttons and icons, are simple and natural with the main colours.

References

Farkas, D.K. & Farkas J.B. 2002, 'Understanding the Web: A Designer's View', Principles of Web Design, Longman.

Robin W., John T. & Rohr D. 2002, 'Design is Not the First Step', Robin Williams Web Design Workshop, Peach Pit Press.

A Brief History of Political Cartoons

In this article "A Brief History of Political Cartoons" (Backer 1996), the author describes a history of political cartoons, especially in the ages, 16th–19th centuries.

According to the author, political cartoons are composed of two features which are caricature and allusion. Backer (1996, para. 1) also distinguishes that individual parodies and caricature derives from the Mediterranean with Leonardo da Vinci, whilst associating editorial cartoons with the German author, Martin Luther. His cartoons had strong impact with simple images. As a result, more people who were of low literacy classes could read and understand.

The author points out an American political cartoon, the title "Join, or Die." which was made by Benjamin Franklin, was published in "virtually every newspaper on the continent" in 1754. In this cartoon, the disconnected body of a snake became famous and is notable as the start of political cartoons in America(Backer 1996, para. 5).

To recognise the history, the author uses examples to identify the development of political cartoons in America. Illustrations of these are Thomas Nast’s, Tweed’s and Joseph Keppler’s cartoons. "The effect of cartoons after the Civil War can be found in an anecdote whose components have elevated it to the stature of myth."(Backer 1996, para. 6). From these words by the author, can be believed that the American Civil War affected the cartoons of Nast and Tweed but people’s behaviour would become anti-social and satiric tempers. That was the reason why high and middle classes did not like their political cartoons. In addition, one of the illustrators in that time, Joseph Keppler gave the low-class readers accessibility to understand cartoons more easily.

In conclusion, the author, Backer (1996) clarifies that the start of political cartoons by Martin Luther has brought ability to people, especially in low and middle classes, to participate in politics, providing increased value of the people’s opinion.

Reference
Backer, D. 1996, 'A Brief History of Political Cartoons', United Mugwumps and the Masses, viewed 17 July 2007, <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/PUCK/part1.html>.

The Sources, Relevant Rupert Murdoch’s Success

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The Concept Map for Feature Story

The Wedding of James Packer and Erica Baxter

Two daily newspapers, “The Sydney Morning Herald” and “The Daily Telegraph,” published on Friday, 22 June, 2007, reported the wedding of James Packer who is one of the Australia’s richest men and his new bride Erica Baxter, an Australian singer and model.

According to both the newspapers, they married two days ago, on Wednesday, 20 June, 2007 in Cap d’Antibes, France with guests approximately from one hundred and fifty to two hundred. There were many influential people, such as famous Hollywood actor Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes, actress, Wendi Deng who is the wife of Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive officer of News Corporation, Eddie McGuire, Channel Nine personality and PBL boss John Alexander on the list of guests.

In addition, uninvited guests like paparazzi watched their wedding from a distance. Both articles wrote about the wedding dress of the bride, which was worth one hundred thousand Australian dollars haute couture gown and created by John Galliano of the Paris fashion house Christian Dior. This dress was produced after six-hundred to seven-hundred hours of handwork. However, Baxter ordered two dresses, one to wear at the public wedding ceremony and the second marriage ceremony.

Two articles of both newspapers were similar and different in their methods of expression, news values and key themes. Firstly, methods of expression completely differed. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote “Here comes the Packer bride and the paparazzi” in the headline and inserted photographs showing James Packer’s vow and Erica Baxter wearing a dress and escorted by her father, Michael Baxter, whereas The Daily Telegraph wrote “Packer’s style switch from low-key to lavish” and inserted photographs showing Packer’s vow but different angle and guests taken under helicopter.

Secondly, news values of two articles also differed. The Sydney Morning Herald reported a summary of this wedding in order to deliver general information. As a result, this was written by moderate words. However, The Daily Telegraph focused on the bride’s wedding dress and used sarcastic words, such as ‘lavish’ and ‘splurge’, because it is able to give a feeling of satisfaction to their readers who want to know defects of powerful people. Finally, these key themes were similar. Both articles used the same key words, a wedding and a dress worth one hundred thousand Australian dollars.

K3 in the Redfern Park

Redfern Park, New South Wales, Australia

My Lime-Green K3

Illustrated by KJ

Designed by J.Y. Hwang