Reflection

I have learned a lot from this entire subject and from all of the required assignments given as they have broadened my knowledge for publication and design. The theory that I find most crucial is the Semiotic Landscape and meaning making in modes by Kress & van Leeuwan.

According to Kress & van Leeuwan (2006, p41), modes are forever present in representational and interactive behavior and therefore, practices and actions are never discrete from mental activity. I am very much fascinated by how all our schematic reactions and responses all interact with modes and how interpersonal meanings can affect our behaviors directly and indirectly.

Modes can also have the potential to mean many things in a particular text (Kress & van Leeuwan 2006, p.27). I find how modes can mean so many things very intriguing as a single text or a picture's potential meanings are endless. Have a look at the picture below of the girl leaping through the water and see how many aspects you can make out of it. I most certainly meant a lot to me.

(Source: www.dpxmag.com)

References

• Kress, G & Leeuwan, V 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.

Ethics in Journalism - Invasion of Privacy

News of The World (NOTW) Shut Down After Phone Hacking Scandal

On July 2011, Rupert Murdoch, owner of News of the World (NOTW) had shut down his company due to a hack scandal that that invaded different people’s telephone conversations such as celebrities, prominent figures, families of murder victims and politicians by using a four-digit PIN to access their voice mails. The tactless action by the newspaper eventually lead to a damaged reputation along with all its advertising clients pulling out due to massive disapproval of social media users.

(Source: Upi.com, www.upi.com)

The issue of the final publication on the 9^th of July 2011 before the newspaper agency was shut down.

According to Nissenbaum (1997, 109), the meaning of privacy is that it declares space for individuals where they are free of public judgments, scrutiny and responsibilities. The statement was supported by Kieran (1997) as he stated that privacy prevents people and journalists from getting supremacy over individuals to their disadvantage. I believe it was indeed crude and abhorrent for the News of The World to have phone hacked into people’s personal conversations for their own benefit and therefore, I find it to be ethically and morally wrong.

To what extent do journalists go to give a good story? Another incident, which involves invasion of privacy, was the Vanessa Perroncel case. Perroncel, who is a French model, had her privacy invaded by two newspapers. According to Greenslade (2010), on July 2010, Mail on Sunday and News of The World (NOTW) had acquired Perroncel’s private information and claimed false facts that she had been having an affair with English footballer John Terry (Greenslade 2010). Soon after that, the two newspapers had apologized for invading Perroncel’s privacy and also publishing false information.  

(Source: What’s On Xia Men,  www.whatsonxiamen.com)

An image of Perroncel with Terry during a football match taken during the Carling Cup game in 2007.

In an ethical point of view, Patterson & Wilkins (2002, p122), states that a person should have the power to control certain information from certain people and also the extent of what and how that information is published or presented. And once a person or a company’s private information has been invaded, the consequences can be damaging such as the diminishing of identity and reputation. According to Kieran (1997, p74),  invasions into the personal aspects of an individual’s life can leave a mark of harm and distress. Under these ethical circumstances, it was unethical and morally wrong for the News of The World to have use such a distasteful manner. Therefore, journalist in the field of publication and design should always be ethical and extra sensitive to people's feelings.

References

• Greenslade, R 2010, Two newspapers apologise to Vanessa Perroncel for breaching her privacy, The Guardian, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade+football/john-terry>.

• Nissenbaum, H 1997, Toward an Approach to Privacy in Public: Challenges of Information Technology, Princeton University, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/toward_an_approach.pdf>.
• Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2002, Media Ethics: Issues & Cases, 4^th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.

• Kieran, M 1997, MEDIA ETHICS: A philosophical Approach, Preger Publishers, United States of America.

Ethics in Advertising

Ramadan Advertisement by Media Prima Strikes Controversy

There are many concerns advertisers should look out for in order to not send out a controversial message. For instance, the 8TV channel from Media Prima Bhd was forced to take down a controversial string of television advertisements during the month of Ramadan this year after it was strongly disapproved by the public claiming there were racist messages contained in it. The advertisements displayed a socially incompetent Chinese girl acting disrespectful in front of a Muslim community and disrespecting their ethnicity. The advertisements then end with a message pleading non-Muslims to respect the importance of Ramadan. 

(Source: Youtube, www.youtube.com)

The controversial advertisement by 8TV channel

According to Plous & Neptune (1997), advertisements are universal and are the most significant cultural elements changing the modernity of society. Having said that, advertisers still design advertisements that can sometimes cause worrying stereotypes and other complications (Patterson & Wilkins 2002, p54). Therefore, producers of advertisements have to be considerate towards their target audience. In my opinion, I believe it was wrong for 8TV channel to have produced the advertisements in such a manner, as it was insensitive towards the non-Muslim culture.

Another occurrence that was similar to this incident was the Intel racist advertisement during 2007. The following advertisement was initially supposed to describe how improved the performance of their new processors but received negative feedback from the public due to the image used, which was a white American boss with his employees who were African American athletes bowing down to him. The following advertisement depicted slavery and ended up being very controversial. 

(Source: AdSavvy, www.adsavvy.org)

The racist advertisement by Intel

According to Patterson & Wilkins (2002, p51), advertisers have to respect the audience who will be receiving the persuasive message contained in their advertisements. And if they failed to do so, the impact of these advertisements can be strongly accepted by cultures as racial and gender stereotypical advertisements (Patterson & Wilkins 2002, p54). Aside from that, Kieran (1997) claims that wrong use of media can be considered as an offense of harm as receivers have the potential to be emotional distressed and disgusted. In conclusion, in the field of publication and design when thinking in an ethical perspective, advertisers must be sensitive towards contextual factors and other subtle aspects.

References

• Kress, G & Leeuwan, V 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, 2^nd edn, Routledge, New York.
• Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2002, Media Ethics: Issues & Cases, 4^th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.

• Kieran, M 1997, MEDIA ETHICS: A philosophical Approach, Preger Publishers, United States of America.

• Pious, S & Neptune, D 1997, RACIAL AND GENDER BIASES IN MAGAZINE ADVERTISING: A Content-Analytic Study, Wesleyan University, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.socialpsychology.org/pdf/pwq1997.pdf>.

Launch of First iPad-Only News Application Raises Concerns for Traditional Publications

On February 2^nd 2011, Rupert Murdoch launched the new iPad-only newspaper application that serves to provide daily coverage of news designed only for the iPad. The following application brings groundbreaking technology innovations to a new level as it provides users with instant updates of news, Twitter feeds related to the following news selected and the latest occurrences all for a cheaper price. As different pioneering innovations for publications as such are being made more, there is a growing concern that the use of traditional tabloids and newspapers are declining, especially in the use of the younger generation.

 (Source: TechedOn, www.techedon.com)

In such a fast moving era like ours, technology will continue to develop. And with these forms of development, education is changing and societies are improving. According to Kress & van Leeuwan (2006), modes symbolizing meanings will continue to change throughout time and meaning-makings conveyed semantically can expand into distinctive aspects of social practice. Therefore, in my opinion, human behavior towards technological aspects such as digital news publications should be accepted and adapted by societies of today.

The numbers of people who live in modernized cultures using smart phones are constantly increasing. An example of another revolutionary article would be the Evernote application for iOS technology. 

(Source: Evernote, www.evernote.com)

Very much like Murdoch’s application, Evernote serves a new purpose in another aspect, which is note taking. The application provides a convenient way for users to note down their ideas, easy interacting with colleagues and productive ways to plan schedules that can be easily synced and accessed from their devices (Evernote 2011). The cutting-edge application in a way revolutionizes the way people can take notes of details, whether or not in class or at work and might bring an end to traditional writing of notes soon.

(Source: Evernote, www.evernote.com)

According to Walsh (2006, p.33), interpretation between readers and texts are a two-way interaction and thus, forms of which we interpret new texts can create new aspects of implications. In the field of design and publication, multimodal texts are currently turning into the regular patterns of society and therefore, our conceptual framework to understand them has to incorporate new ways of mode processing knowledge (Walsh 2006, p36).

References

• Kress, G & Leeuwan, V 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, 2^nd edn, Routledge, New York.
• Walsh, M 2006, The 'textual shift': Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal text, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, p.33-36.

• 2011, Take Note of Everything, Evernote, viewed 13 November, <http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/>.
• 2011, THE WORLD AS A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT, University of Amsterdam, viewed 13 November 2011, <http://www.mobieleonderwijsdiensten.nl/attachments/1765201/World_as_learningenvironment.pdf>.

Ethics In Photojournalism - Photo Manipulation

Religious Jewish Newspaper Apologizes for Altering Photograph


Di Tzeitung, an orthodox Jewish newspaper has apologized for altering a photograph in the newspaper of Barack Obama and his deputies supervising an operation carried by navy army officials that killed Osama bin Laden. Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason, the counterterrorism director, were removed from the image as Di Tzeitung cites religious rules such as banning pictures of women in the newspaper, with the belief that showing pictures of females disrespects them. 

(Source: Siasat.pk, www.siasat.pk)

The original photograph before being digitally manipulated with Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason. 

(Source: Vos Iz Neias, www.vosizneias.com)

The manipulated photo published in Di Tzeitung without the two women.

In my opinion, I believe it was not right for Di Tzeitung to have manipulated the picture and published it. But I also believe the incident happened because of the difference of contextual aspects that both parties come from. In the aspects of semiotics, Kress & van Leeuwan (2006, p.7) states that representations are made out of complexities that arise from cultural, social and psychological factors focused by a specific context. They also state that visual communication expresses meanings that are structured by different cultures through the semiotic process (Kress & van Leeuwan 2006, p.19).

Another occurrence similar to this one would be the Nikolai Yezhov and Joseph Stalin photo manipulation in Russia. Stalin, Premier of the Soviet Union, saw Yezhov, who was the chief of Soviet secret service, as a threat to the people and had him murdered (University of Minnesota n.d.). Pictures taken of him were also erased with the attempt to remove him from history.

(Source: University of Minnesota, www.tc.umn.edu)

The original picture of Stalin and Yezhov walking side by side above and the manipulated one below where Yezhov was digitally removed. 

(Source: University of Minnesota, www.tc.umn.edu)

According to Lester (1999), photographers have the accountability to depict only authentic photographs and are in no position to manipulate pictures or distort facts. As stated Patterson & Wilkins (2002, p.212), photography should not deceive audiences who expect it to be an exact depiction of reality. Therefore, under the circumstance of proper publication, design and photojournalism ethics, it was not right for the Di Tzietung news papers to have manipulated the picture.

References

• Kress, G & Leeuwan, V 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, 2^nd edn, Routledge, New York.
• Lester, P 1999, Chapter Six: Picture Manipulations, California State University of Fullerton, viewed 13 November 2011, <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/chapter6.html>.
• n.d., Falsification of history, University of Minnesota, viewed 13 November 2011, <http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hick0088/classes/csci_2101/false.html>.
• Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2002, Media Ethics: Issues & Cases, 4^th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Screen vs. Print Document Design

Readers of documents these days choose a very direct approach in reading as most of them might not, in some cases, read from start to end. According to Hilligoss (2002), most readers currently prefer to scan as a tool to complete their thoughts for relevant findings.

According to Nielson (1999), three out of the six steps in differentiating print and screen/web designs, such as:

1.)   Dimensionality

2.)   Multimedia and Interactivity

3.)   Navigation

As stated by Nielson (1999) print media is made up of 2-dimensional layouts, which makes it achievable for people to turn tangible pages.

(Source: Google Images, 4freephotos.com)

On the other hand, screen designs are a 1-dimensional layout where readers get to experience scrolling between different pages by just a click or a drag of their mouse.

(Source: Google Images, Downloadstock.net)

As for multimedia and interactivity, screen media would benefit more than print media in a sense of user engagement. Although print media can contain pictures that give influence to a reader, screen or web media allows readers to provide their comments on the following subject, news or issue (Nielson 1999). This provides readers with audience interaction where practical feedback can also be obtained.

(Source: Google Images, gettingtoyesfaster.com)

Lastly, in terms of navigation, print media’s feature is simple page turning, where readers benefit with a simple printed outline. As for online media, it benefits readers with its convenient and specific navigation through websites.

Although online media represents a better medium to some comparing to print, it does not mean that print media is no longer required; it represents an essential tool of communication despite its traditional features. In my opinion, I believe both mediums are beneficial in their own way and are crucial in the world of communication.

References

• Holligoss, S 2002, Visual Communication: A Writer’s Guide, Clemson University, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://www.ablongman.com/mycomplab_content/pdf/long_hilligoss.pdf>.
• Nielson, J 1999, Differences Between Print and Web Design, Useit.com, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html>.

New Forms of Media Publishing

As stated in my second blog post, the usage of blogging continues to explode in growth. As stated by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006, p.36), new understandings are brought about in the semiotical landscape due to the modernization, multiculturalism, technology and communication in media. Thus, the modes of social media will continue to expand. Day-by-day, new forms of communication mediums in the social network are emerging.

(Source: O’Neill, n.d., makeuseof.com)

In the words of micro-blogging, an example of a breakthrough platform would be Twitter. According to O’Neill (n.d.), Twitter represents a social platform that allows users to write and broadcast short messages to their followers.

Although it seems more like sending a mobile text, Twitter is known for its unique benefits to bloggers and the media. Firstly, it serves as a medium that provides news where many media outlets have their own authentic account which functions as an online newspaper. 

(Source: Twitter.com, 2011)

Secondly, bloggers are able to support their blogs by using Twitter’s website called ‘Twitter Feed’. By the use of this, bloggers are able to ‘tweet’ their posts automatically through Twitter where it serves as an efficient method of promoting their webpages (O’Neill, n.d.).

Lastly, Twitter also provides credible methods of clarification. Most organizations and brands use Twitter as a medium to communicate and interact with consumers. This certainly shows its benefits towards the industry of Public Relations.

(Source: Twitter.com, 2011)

According to Naughton (2006), the unique and multifaceted modes of the relationship between online media and traditional journalism will develop to be beneficial to each other. In such a fast-moving era we all live in, the effects of these two powerful mediums are already starting to complement each other. 

References

• Kress, G & Leeuwan, V 2006, Reading Images: The Grammar Of Visual Design, Routledge, New York.
• O’Neill, M n.d., The Complete Guide to Twitter, Makeuseof.com, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:kf9YILoM5r4J:manuals.makeuseof.com.s3.amazonaws.com/twitter-guide.pdf+twitter+pdf&hl=en&gl=my&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiMKa92dpj5vnBDHl43ercpzos_Lva6g2ULzogBnMpPzUHWSPTCGELT04Rj_oxIRusOs8hiXyHNAbwyySysV20X2w_mPCpcx2BJnU-CBaUjfJSJ0J7EN5rJoP6F8DYWRdrALwfL&sig=AHIEtbSAWRW15Rf9sxJBsf0LE5O_gKfg1g>.
• Jantsch, J 2009, Using Twitter for Business, Duct Tape Marketing, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://www.johnjantsch.com/TwitterforBusiness.pdf>.
• Naughton, J 2006, Blogging and the emerging media ecosystem, Reuters Institute, viewed 24 August 2011, <http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/discussion/blogging.pdf>.