Hard News: Quantum Faster
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Actually, the genius of Phelan's article is that it produces reactions from journalists that prove the point he tries to make, which is that they hate theory that goes beyond craft.
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It could have been written better, even for that audience, no question there. But it's not the bloody point.
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Personally I think journalists - teachers and editors particularly - should be conscious of things like how the claim to neutrality is taking a position and that ideas of what journalism is, and should be are cultural artifacts.
This is not the same thing as columnists having to like longwinded academic prose, which, scanning the paper, seems to be the complaint.
I can also accept the validity of high-level academic critical study of journalism without demanding journalist concern themselves with it.
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Actually, the genius of Phelan's article is that it produces reactions from journalists that prove the point he tries to make, which is that they hate theory that goes beyond craft.
Personally, I've been taking a strong position to try and flush out a discussion that might be useful where the paper isn't.
I am struck by how defensive some of you are in response to criticism of the paper, and by the readiness to offer excuses for its lamentable style.
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I am struck by how defensive some of you are in response to criticism of the paper, and by the readiness to offer excuses for its lamentable style.
Right back at ya. Only 100% reversed :-)
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Yeah, I'm with Stephen there - insert favourite pot kettle cliche here.
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Alright, show me where I'm wrong, with reference to the paper. Show how it supports its arguments.
Should it have to refer to the the reality of training courses -- ie, how much theory is currently taught? what kind? -- if it's to mount an argument for an increase in that proportion? What evidence does it present for its case? Does it present any evidence?
Go on, argue its merits, rather than merely mounting a tribal defence.
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No doubt Paul Litterick will correct me, but I bet that art schools have valuable staff members who nonetheless cannot produce compelling works of art themselves.
It doubt it's that Phelan is incapable of communicating effectively, more that he is subject to a cultural expectation to be long-winded. Either way, the last thing you want is this kind of writing serving as an example for young journalists.
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Go on, argue its merits, rather than merely mounting a tribal defence.
I thought we had, to be honest - Philip, Stephen, Geoff, myself, in what I thought were fairly reasonable terms. I'm not going to mount a paragraph by paragraph defence for Phelan, not having all day and all, but I thought the paper made sense, the examples he used were convincing. More generally, I happen to think that the crapitude of New Zealand journalism is systemic enough to suggest that if we replaced every existring journalist with a slightly better or even much better journalist, it wouldn't lead to an actual appreciable improvement. So maybe it's worth interrogating the structure of the thing, and if practicioners were encouraged to do it themselves when they're learning the trade, it might be a good thing. Theory can be a useful tool to that end, and Philip and Geoff have already documented from their experience that it's possibly not taught enough or ringfenced too much. If that sounds like an offensive proposition to Karl and yourself, fine, it's not really a problem I'm going to devote valuable man hours to.
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So maybe it's worth interrogating the structure of the thing, and if practicioners were encouraged to do it themselves when they're learning the trade, it might be a good thing.
Of course. But Phelan hasn't demonstrated that that doesn't already happen, or considered to what extent it does.
I remain of the view that he's made a relatively limited set of observations last 20 pages, and used language to aggrandise that set of observations.
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the very last thing we would want young people in communications jobs to do is emulate such a style.
Yes, but surely we don't also want them to be trained up into merely consenting to and replicating the myths perpetuated by folk like du Fresne (eg "the marketplace of ideas"--which is a claim ripe for unpicking and unpacking).
By 'theory', I don't necessarily mean Continental cultural theory--it also includes the important ideas about democracy and public access raised in last night's Media 7. Indeed, regular inclusion of commentaries such as Media 7, Mediawatch, Charlie Brooker, The Daily Show, Brass Eye, FlowTV etc should an integral part of journalism training but I know this doesn't happen.
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the very last thing we would want young people in communications jobs to do is emulate such a style.
Yes, but surely we don't also want them to be trained up into merely consenting to and replicating the myths perpetuated by folk like du Fresne (eg "the marketplace of ideas"--which is a claim ripe for unpicking and unpacking).
By 'theory', I don't necessarily mean Continental cultural theory--it also includes the important ideas about democracy and public access raised in last night's Media 7. Indeed, regular inclusion of commentaries such as Media 7, Mediawatch, Charlie Brooker, The Daily Show, Brass Eye, FlowTV etc should an integral part of journalism training but I know this doesn't happen.
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Once again, apologies about the double entry, This laptop is due to be taken apart, to remove crud in the touchpad. I suspect it is part of a pretzel!
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I suspect it is part of a pretzel!
It's obviously a metaphor for the food industry inflitrating and subverting from within your means of meaning making. Liminally.
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I generally agree with Russell that Phelan has made a little go a long way. It would probably be easy for any of us to boil his essay down into a couple of pages. But as was said above, there are different style and language requirements depending on who you're writing for, and I doubt that Phelan would submit writing like that as an op-ed for a newspaper or expect journalists to imitate the style.
Confronted with that paper, Du Fresne thought it proved that academics strive to make the world appear more complex than it is. I would argue that columnists like Du Fresne try to make the world seem simpler than it is, and his unquestioning use of phrases like "marketplace of ideas" shows that, as Geoff says above and Tim Corballis also says in the comments on Du Fresne's blog. It's that claim to be unideological. Somewhere between that complexity and that simplicity is a good place to pitch our writing.
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lummie, what happened to casual Friday?
I'd've loved some grandiose philosophising on my course, Wtgn Poly 1995, but really other than shorthand - praise be - we were more focused on how you avoid being sued.
but short courses such as mine have to be focussed on practical isses - you can be as up to speed on lofty notions as you like, but if you can't write to space and deadline you're dead weight.
for mine, I try not to complicate things. just present everyone's best argument and let someone else figure out the score.
the wierd thing about that is how often people reach completely opposite conclusions from the most straight forward stories.
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What's postmodernism's special claim on journalism training?
If you turned up for your first day at the Levin Chronicle and the chief reporter said, there's a cat stuck up a tree and we need 300 words by lunchtime
You come back with 300 words about the perceived symbiotic relationship between cats and trees in post structural economic theory with regard to Global warming.
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Yes, but surely we don't also want them to be trained up into merely consenting to and replicating the myths perpetuated by folk like du Fresne (eg "the marketplace of ideas"--which is a claim ripe for unpicking and unpacking).
No, we don't. And I was meaning to be provocative, so I'm sorry if I upset anyone. If I get time later on I'll tell a couple of stories that might further clarify my position.
By 'theory', I don't necessarily mean Continental cultural theory--it also includes the important ideas about democracy and public access raised in last night's Media 7.
Neatly embedded in this morning's Hard News post, telly fans! I'm really pleased with the ground we covered.
Indeed, regular inclusion of commentaries such as Media 7, Mediawatch, Charlie Brooker, The Daily Show, Brass Eye, FlowTV etc should an integral part of journalism training but I know this doesn't happen.
I suppose I'm thinking of the Christchurch course, where I think Norris, Zanker and Pauling do provide their students with a flow of challenging ideas. I fly down and talk to those kids every year, because they're bright and engaged. There are courses closer to home that I no longer bother with.
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You come back with 300 words about the perceived symbiotic relationship between cats and trees in post structural economic theory with regard to Global warming.
...and that might make more interesting reading than "the local fire brigade arrived"
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It's obviously a metaphor for the food industry inflitrating and subverting from within your means of meaning making. Liminally.
Rofflenui
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argue its merits, rather than merely mounting a tribal defence
I don't think I'm in the tribe of academics, or post-modernists, or Marxists. On the other hand, there's the tribe of journalists...
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Reminds me of The Sokal affair you know The paper, titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" What would Durkheim have thought?
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I don't think I'm in the tribe of academics, or post-modernists, or Marxists. On the other hand, there's the tribe of journalists...
Guilty as charged, quite possibly. But, as explored in this week's Media7, it's the likes of Phil Kitchin and Nicky Hager we rely on to speak truth to power.
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Academic wankery does not do itself any favours, but then neither do regurgitations of existing power relationships without the slightest awareness about media's role in them.
I sure know which one of those I see most often. Some are more obvious like the smugly obedient editorial asides on TV1's "news", while others are insidious like the way certain social subgroups are relentlessly portrayed across a variety of channels by a non-variety of journos.
Thanks for addressing this topic and I'll try to fit in some time to watch the show.
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I suppose I'm thinking of the Christchurch course, where I think Norris, Zanker and Pauling do provide their students with a flow of challenging ideas.
I agree. Indeed, I think it is the best journalism course in the country. I don't teach journalism (I teach about journalism), so I can say that.
Have a great weekend, all. I am off again on Saturday to see the Chiefs play more magnificent rugby. If anyone is passing through Hamilton East, we have a glut of feijoas at the moment! Call by for a bag.
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