Australian Doctor Dissects Video Gaming Addiction
By: Dylan Colaneri
With the advanced digital technology we have today, it is safe to say that everyone knows someone who plays video games. But could someone actually have a real addiction to playing video games? Well, that’s exactly what Dr. Daniel King of the University of Adelaide wants to uncover with his new research.
King has noted in his extensive research that a treatment could be crafted for video gaming addiction “if a standard definition of video addiction was adopted.” In his research, he reviewed data on harmful video game behaviors from around the world. However, King says there’s no clear consensus on what constitutes pathological gaming.
I found it intriguing that a doctor from Australia is interested in diving into the world’s video gaming problem. I never thought about the concept of video game addiction but the industry has been booming for the last thirty years, so the importance of this research is vital for future generations of gamers.
Dr. King acknowledged that “although there are some similarities, video gaming is not the same as gambling.” The research from the university has also shown that “pathological video gaming has its own set of addictive components which can be distinct to internet gambling or other behaviors like online shopping and using social media.”
Some of the harms identified from potential video game addiction included damaged relationships, careers, sleep and health. And because the video game industry is attached to the large media sector of Australia, I think it is important for people to digest this information and think about the way they play video games. This research is applicable to the worldwide audience and should continue to be developed for our future generations. What do you think about video game addiction? Is it something that should be studied and treated as much as gambling addictions?
University of Melbourne Launches “The Citizen”
By: Dylan Colaneri
Having a strong journalism program is essential for any university that is seeking to impact the media industry. The University of Melbourne is doing just that. Recently, their Center for Advancing Journalism has launched The Citizen. The online publication is similar to many other large university publications and aims to incorporate stories written by both professional journalists and students who are in the Masters of Journalism program.
I think this new addition at the University of Melbourne will help foster a new passion for budding journalists and increase the already popular media sector of Australia. The new editor-in-chief of this publication is Margaret Simons. Simons is also a freelance journalist and the director for the Center for Advancing Journalism at the university.
Giving students the opportunity to work with professionals is vital for their growth as journalists and will certainly help foster new techniques and story-telling abilities. The Citizen will be funded through private, grant and university money but it mostly aims to “produce good journalism” from a wide range of topics.
I believe it is important for young journalists to learn and experience the industry first hand prior to entering the “real world”. And because The Citizen will be linked to the Australian Press Council principles and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s code of ethics, they are ensuring that their journalists are practicing the correct way and with the utmost integrity. Do you think it’s important for college-level journalists to have an experience like The Citizen prior to starting their careers?
New Zealand’s Most Attractive Industry in 2013
By: Dylan Colaneri
The Annual Randstad Awards identify the most attractive companies in countries worldwide. The survey results are used to produce three kinds of reports focused on companies, countries and sectors. This year in New Zealand, the media industry has been named as the “most attractive industry” to work for at the 2013 Randstad Awards for the second year in a row.
The research from the annual Awards examines what New Zealanders consider most important when looking for a new employer, as well as the most attractive industries. The media industry has been evolving in New Zealand through the growth of social media. The industry received praise at the Awards for its interesting job content, employee benefits and competitive salary.
Similar to ABC and NBC in the United States, TVNZ (TV New Zealand) was named as the most attractive company in the media sector, and was recognized as the fourth most attractive employer in the country overall. Even with trends changing in the media industry, people remain positive about the job front and the future opportunities that it has to offer.
Paul Robinson, who is the director of the Randstad Awards in New Zealand, believes that the media sector is in a great position all-around and that companies will continue to maintain their momentum. With new and digital media booming throughout the world, it can only be estimated about how many new jobs and companies will emerge in New Zealand. What sector in the United States do you think is the most attractive industry to people?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1304/S00991/media-voted-new-zealands-most-attractive-industry.htm
Honoring the Legend of a New Zealand Journalist
By: Dylan Colaneri
You could definitely make the argument that Peter Arnett is one of New Zealand’s greatest journalists. You could also make the argument that he is one of the world’s greatest journalists, too. With that being said, it is no surprise that one New Zealand film maker is currently raising money to make a film about New Zealand’s greatest war correspondent.
Bruce Nixon has been working on a 90-minute documentary on the life of journalist Peter Arnett since 2011. Arnett was certainly from a rare breed of journalists–with many pegging him as having a fearless style to his work. Nixon wants his audience to understand how incredible Arnett’s life was and how meaningful his story-telling was for his country.
It has been reported that the future film has received an initial grant from the Invercargill City Council and was accepted into a 60-day fundraising scheme for the pilot stage of Boosted, a sponsorship website of the New Zealand Arts Foundation.
Peter Arnett is currently 77 years old and a professor of journalism at Shantou University in China. His amazing career work covers everything from the crises of the Vietnam War to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Arnett is certainly an icon in the New Zealand media community and was fortunate enough to win a Pulitzer Prize during his illustrious career.
What do you think about Peter Arnett being recognized for his work in a film? Should more journalists receive praise for their efforts to cover difficult topics and stories?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10880148
UNESCO World Press Freedom Day in Australia
By: Dylan Colaneri
The UNESCO World Press Freedom Day will take place on May 3rd and this year’s theme has the attention of many media professionals in Australia and New Zealand. The theme is sure to spark debate over the current media states of both countries: “Safe to speak: Securing freedom of expression in all media.”
Some of the topics that will be covered throughout the day’s lecture include the “exploration of the libertarian origins of press freedom and the advent of social media and citizen journalism.” The lecture will take place at Griffith University in Australia and will explore the ideas of truth and story-telling in journalism.
The presentation will be hosted by Dr. Mark Pearson who is a professor of Journalism and Social Media at Griffith University. Pearson has been an advocate of increased press freedom for a long time and is the Australian correspondent of the Paris-based global media freedom advocacy organization Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders).
The presentation will certainly take aim at what the future for press freedom might look like in Australia–giving many media professionals a level forum for debate. Why do you think Australia has such a low ranking in overall press freedom (30th worldwide)? What are your opinions about allowing freedom of expression in all media, for certain country?
Social Media and the New Zealand Exchange
By: Dylan Colaneri
Social media can be a powerful tool for any company. New Zealand and their Stock Exchange (NZX) are currently working together with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “allow companies to disclose material information to the public through social media sites.” A recent Facebook post from Netflix was the influence for the SEC to clarify its rules in New Zealand.
Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Snakk Media in New Zealand, Derek Handley, had several views on the SEC’s stance. Handley noted that “if a vice-presidential candidate for America can be announced via Twitter, then you should be able to use it to announce some news to the market.”
The SEC emphasized to listed exchange companies in New Zealand that they must receive a confirmation from the NZX prior to releasing material company information. The presence of social media is slowly changing the ways businessmen like Derek Handley conduct themselves and their ventures. He added that Americans in general are more active on social media than New Zealanders, and that his country needs to keep up with the change.
Rod Drury, executive at Xero in New Zealand, referred to social media as a “double-edged sword.” Like his fellow countryman Handley, Drury acknowledged the importance of having a social media presence in business but also highlighted the need for companies to avoid gossip and rumor business news.
Do you think the growth of social media in New Zealand’s business culture will improve for the better? What are some examples of positive company social media use in America that New Zealand can look to for inspiration?
Australian Media Team Impressed by Pakistan Press Freedom
By: Dylan Colaneri
In recent years, the press freedom in Australia (as noted by Reporters Without Borders) has been ranked as high as 30th worldwide. Newspaper delegations have sought out other countries to explore various degrees of press freedom and reportage. But few could have predicted what country Oliver Perret and Jenny Zang of the Sydney Epoch Times were most intrigued by–Pakistan.
Perret, who is a project manager for the Australian newspaper delegation, said that after visiting Pakistan his impressions of the government and press laws have changed dramatically–and for the better.
Because most Australian newspapers are owned by Rupert Murdoch, Perret quickly discovered that they didn’t have half the newspapers Pakistan had, noting that most of the newspapers in his country had a strong editorial standard. Jenny Zang, who also accompanied Perret, noted that the different media streams in Australian had different relations (Pro-US, Pro-China) unlike that of Pakistan. Zang was pleasantly surprised to find that the press was so free in Pakistan and that the reportage was completely unfettered in Pakistani newspapers. The media tandem added that the country itself was beautiful and unlike most of the associations linked to Pakistan through television and electronic media.
What do you think about Australia using Pakistan as a potential model for press freedom? Do you think it’s important for countries to explore other nation’s media systems to potentially improve their own?
Human Rights Watch
A group based out of New York has decided to take up a vendetta against the military and since then it has gone global. The Human Rights Watch says that it is creating an international coalition for a global treaty that would stand up against the creation of ‘killer robots.’ They are referencing the military drones that are currently being used and developed further if ever need in another war. The group warns against a ‘robotic arms race’ saying that if a country were to come out with a ‘Terminator-style’ robot it would only be a matter of time until someone else did. The London Division of this group has started the Campaign To Stop Killer Robots. The group says that a human should always be making he decisions when it comes to warfare weather it is on the battlefield or from a base mile away. The campaign is also joined by other groups that are against things like landmines, cluster munitions and the building of lasers. According to the article fully autonomous robots that make their own decisions could be possible within 20-30 years. To launch the campaign against killer robots the Human Rights Watch wheeled out a home-made robot which sat outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2013/04/24/12/48/campaign-to-ban-killer-robots-launched
“It’s Not Just Cricket”
What baseball is to the US, cricket is the Australia. This article discusses the fate of the Australian cricket squad as they prepare for The Ashes tournament in England this summer. Chris Rogers was recently added after his solo Test in January of 2008. Test cricket can be related to professional baseball but instead of traveling to different states these players are international. Test cricket is the longest sport of cricket. The matches are played between two teams that have acquired ‘test status’ which is determined by the International Cricket Council over a period of five days. These matches are considered the most complete examination of the teams playing ability and endurance. As of right now there are only ten national teams that have Test status; the most recent team was Bangladesh in 2000. The playing time for these matches are five days and for every one day there are three two-hour sessions with a forty minute break for lunch and another twenty for tea. Like baseball cricket plays in innings and during each inning one-team bats but instead of pitching it is called ‘bowling.’ This July will start off the oldest rivalry between Australia and England. The first Test match between the two was in 1882 and has been an ongoing tradition since. “Quest for the Urn” will start July 10th with a series of five Test matches in England against the defending champs. After the series ends the victor will be presented with an urn that is said to contain the ashes of cricket equipment. 
Concentration of Media
Concentration of media in Australia and New Zealand has been a factor in their media systems. NewsCorp and the Fairfax Group have seemly run up a monopoly on both nations. Combined, they own 88% of the newspapers that are sent around Australia. Fairfax has dominated the scene in New Zealand with nearly doubling the amount of newspapers owned compared to anyone else. Together, both of these groups own close to 90% of all media that is transferred throughout the airways and print in Australia and New Zealand. One of the issues also has to deal with the way news is distributed. Australia’s main news outlet on television is Media Watch which is funded by government ran ABC.
With centralizing media outlets, there is only one point of view to both countries. There isn’t a lot of different government ran media outlets and their source of news is being programmed by only two people. How is news perceived by the people of Australia and New Zealand if they have different opinions? They are being force fed news that may not be the news they want to here. NewsCorp and Fairfax could program whatever they want because they control all of the media outlets but 10%. It may be reliable news at the time, but there comes a time where questions arise of sketchy news.
New Zealand is known for its extensive political blogging. There have been numerous times where a blog has been published that have brought up controversy. Some include prison experiences by high profiled bloggers such as Tim Selwyn and Martyn Bradbury. They were charged with sedition because of blog posts. When the media is controlled by one ruler, nothing that the people want to hear will get out to the public.
http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/STS218/media/ownership/concentration.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10385762
-C.J. Waldron
Thunder From Down Under - Comm 410 Project 
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