KJB102 Assignment 3 - Essay.
- Jun 11, 2017
- 9 min read
Word Count: 1942
Ensuring that people’s voices are heard and represented within society is one of the cornerstone values of democracy. Whether this is achieved as a politician representing a constituency, a trade-union advocating for their members or an organization being involved in a stakeholder engagement process, effective communication is key. As a future communications professional, I am passionate about working in public advocacy roles either in Government or community organizations by participating in digital media management, communication strategy or public relations. This essay will look at three communication concepts; the public sphere, media digitalization and media ethics. Beginning with the public sphere in Australian society, we will focus on the roles of advocacy groups such as the trade union movement and GetUp! in the public sphere. This will then lead into a discussion around media digitalization and how social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been used by advocacy groups to communicate directly with their followers. We shall also look at the role that media digitalization played in the 2009 Iranian elections, when traditional media outlets were unable to report from Tehran. Finally discussing media ethics, we will look at ethical issues surrounding digital media in society and ethics in the trade union movement with allegations of corruption.
The public sphere is not a tangible object like a newspaper as discussed by McKee (2005, 1), however the information or ideas printed in a newspaper are what contribute to the public sphere. Contributing to the public sphere as a communications professional plays a key role in influencing change or setting the agenda in society. However, the concept of the public sphere does present concerns. As noted by Sommerfeldt (2013, 280) it doesn’t give an equal voice to everyone in society and can often lead to problems of dominance by the most affluent or wealthiest sectors of a society at the expense of the marginalized. It is therefore important that as communication professionals, care is taken to ensure the voices and opinions of the disadvantaged or marginalized are not displaced by self-interested motives as discussed by Dutta-Bergman (2005, 272).
In Australian society, trade-unions have contributed to the public sphere through their advocacy of the working-class. In 2004 through to 2007 the Australian Council of Trade Unions [ACTU] conducted one of the most effective public relations campaigns targeting government policy. The ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign as discussed by Muir (2010, 58) targeted “those earning less than $60,000 per year with dependent children”. The campaign focused on the erosion of workplace rights such as collective bargaining and appealed to the perennial notion of the ‘fair go’. This was portrayed in the public sphere through an advertising campaign, an example of which can be viewed in the video clip below.
Muir (2010, 63) Also observed that the ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign utilised internet and email services as a specific strategy for communicating with the community; a strategy which was new for the ACTU. Donations were administered through the website, national days of action communicated and opportunities for people to share their stories on how they had been impacted by the Work Choices legislation were all part of the online campaign. ‘Your Rights at Work’ ran within the public sphere from late 2004 until the successful election of the Labor Government in November 2007. It utilized traditional and new media to create a conversation in the public sphere that contributed to the repealing of the Work Choices legislation and the changing of government.
More recently the activist organization GetUp! have contributed to the public sphere through grassroots online campaigns targeting progressive issues such as the detention of refugees, climate change and public health-care. As discussed by Vromen and Coleman (2011, 81) GetUp! relies on an opt-in system of communication. People subscribe via email and are alerted to campaigns that they can choose to participate in or not. An example of a successful campaign run by GetUp! is shown below.
As Campaign director Mark Connelly states in the video clip, the campaign requires members to donate to GetUp! to enable further funding of the campaign. This method of activism see’s debate within the public sphere limited to issues that GetUp! members want to see change in.
By looking at the concept of the public sphere from the perspective of public advocacy organizations, we have seen how communication professionals can help to ensure marginalized constituents can engage in issues that are important to them.
Media digitalization is completely embedded into how we receive and view our news today. As discussed by Drucker and Gumpert (2012, 95) consumers can view digital media services based on their own personal preferences. “Digital Media gives people an infinite choice of what they can do and when they can do it.” (Drucker and Gumpert 2012, 95). To further demonstrate this, shown below are screenshots of Google News and the Facebook trending side-bar customized to my personal interests. In ‘Google News’, there is a ‘Top Stories’ section and a ‘Weather’ section all customized to my location. Facebook also includes a trending news section with categories including: Politics, Science and Technology, Sport, and Entertainment as can be seen below.
The digitalization of the media has also enabled consumers to actively participate in the delivery of content directly to global audiences via mobile phone technology and social media platforms. In 2009, following the Iranian Presidential elections, protests erupted over perceived election irregularities and voter-fraud as discussed by Featherman (2015, 1). The Iranian government implemented a media blackout and traditional media outlets were unable to report on protests. This media blackout resulted in a new form of ‘Citizen Journalism’ with protesters tweeting pictures, videos and short messages of the protests to global audiences via Twitter. Sullivan (2009) discusses how young people in Tehran who embraced technology were leading the way in the digitalization of the media.
The digitalization of the media has resulted in traditional media and journalists having to change how they share information with their audiences. Journalists now communicate directly with consumers, by tweeting news directly to their followers or retweeting their own media organization’s content to their followers as discussed in Dominic L. Lasorsa, Seth C. Lewis, Avery E. Holton (2012, 23).
As a communication professional involved in advocacy work, the ability to use social media services to communicate directly with media outlets and relevant stakeholders demonstrates the benefits of a digitalized media. Referring to GetUp! again as an example, their Twitter-feed and Facebook pages are examples of how an advocacy organization communicates directly with followers and the media simultaneously. As the below screenshots indicate, GetUp! reaches an audience directly of 111,000 followers through their Twitter account and have a Facebook following of over 400,000 people.
Screen-capture from the GetUp! Twitter page, and below Screen-capture of their Facebook page.
As digital technology in the media has made it easier to access information and communicate, it has also raised new questions surrounding media ethics in the digital space. As technology has become more advanced the lines around what is socially acceptable behaviour but ethically wrong, has started to blur as outlined by Ess (2011, 169). Ess discusses issues such as online piracy and illegal downloading. This ethical issue can be applied from a personal perspective to my current life. As a university student who is unemployed I am not able to afford subscriptions to costly cable media services such as Foxtel. However, the content delivered on Foxtel, is content I wish to consume. Ess (2011, 169 – 170) discusses this concept as being an ethical dilemma that can be resolved in a traditional sense, even though it is a new media technology. I know from a legal point of view I am breaking the law through pirating copyrighted material, however I also know that by taking precautions this type of piracy is virtually undetectable and socially acceptable. As C-Scott (2015) discusses, Australians downloaded more copies of the premier episode of Season Four Game of Thrones in 2014 than any other country in the world. To resolve my ethical dilemma, instead of pirating the content, I can watch it with friends who have purchased Foxtel.
In my personal branding statement, I discussed how taking ownership for the work I do and following through on commitments and promises is critical to establishing my credibility as a communications professional (Martin, 2017). It is also important that decisions I take are ethical and do not bring myself or the organizations I work for into disrepute. It would be inappropriate as an advocate for a trade union or community organization to try and find a reason to justify an action I’ve taken if the action conflicts with either my own values or that of the society as discussed by Plaisance (2009, 3).
Due to the political nature of the advocacy work required within the Trade Union movement, allegations of un-ethical practices or abuse of power are unfortunately an all too common reality. In 2014, allegations of corruption were alleged by the Australian government, who initiated the process for a Royal commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. (The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, 2015). As discussed by Keany (2015) The final report recommended various actions be taken including the referral to the police of various individuals and organizations. The Australian Labor party also responded to the inquiry by stating “let's not be fooled here: this is a political stunt, a political exercise, and it's one that needs to be called for what it is and at the same time we can deal with these serious allegations.” O’Connor quoted by Keany (2015).
An additional ethical issue that arose from the instigation of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption was the cost of such an inquiry. Keany (2015) discusses critics of the inquiry argued the estimated $80 million cost of the royal commission was not justified given the economic outlook in the budget. Salter (2015) outlines the apparent bias of Justice Dyson Heydon who headed the Royal Commission, when it was discovered that he gave a key note address at a Liberal Party fundraiser. Salter finishes by stating “this whole tortured and costly pantomime is unnecessary anyway. If corruption is a criminal offence, why not let the criminal law deal with it?” Salter (2015).
In Conclusion, this essay has discussed three topics as they relate to my future career aspirations to work as a communications professional. The essay began with a discussion around the public sphere identifying issues such as equality of discourse within the public sphere and the importance of ensuring that individual needs do not displace the voices of the marginalized in the community. Utilizing examples of the successful ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign and the political progressive activist group GetUp! we saw how the public sphere can be used to create a groundswell of discussion and ideas on prominent issues in society. Digitalization of the media was then discussed with examples such as Google News demonstrating that content can now be customized to individuals based on their own individual preference and locations. We saw how ordinary citizens could utilise social media platforms such as Twitter to convey information to the world following the Iranian elections. The digitalization of the media also was explored through the abilities of advocacy organizations to communicate directly with their followers and the media simultaneously. Finally, we examined a personal example of how ethics plays a role in modern technology by looking at copyright infringement. This then lead onto a discussion around ethics in the trade-union movement given my personal aspirations to work within this field.
References
Allan, Stuart. 2009. “The Fourth Estate Ideal In Journalism History” in The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism, edited by Mark Hampton, 1 – 92. Taylor and Francis. Accessed June 11, 2017. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=460287
C-Scott, Marc. 2015. “From convicts to pirates: Australia’s dubious legacy of illegal downloading” The Conversation, April 10. http://theconversation.com/from-convicts-to-pirates-australias-dubious-legacy-of-illegal-downloading-39912
Dominic L. Lasorsa, Seth C. Lewis, Avery E. Holton. 2012. “NORMALIZING TWITTER” Journalism Studies, 13(1): 19-36. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2011.571825
Drucker, S. J., & Gumpert, G. 2012. “THE IMPACT OF DIGITIZATION ON SOCIAL INTERACTION AND PUBLIC SPACE”. Open House International, 37(2): 92-99. http://gateway.library.qut.edu.au/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/1242489079?accountid=13380
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Ess, Charles. 2011. Chapter 6, Overview, Frameworks, Resources : Digital Media Ethics. Polity Press. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/reader.action?docID=1180912&ppg=33
Featherman, Chris. 2015. Discourses of Ideology and Identity, Social Media and the Iranian Election Protests. New York: Taylor and Francis. http://www.tandfebooks.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/view/10.4324/9781315739847
Keany, Francis. 2015. “Trade union royal commission findings: Malcolm Turnbull says report shows widespread malpractice in unions” Australian Broadcasting Corporation. December 31. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-30/trade-union-royal-commission-turnbull-report/7060250
Martin, Stephen. 2017 “About Me.” Personal Branding Statement, June 11. Accessed June 11, 2017. https://stevemartinishere.wixsite.com/stephenmartin
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Muir, Kathie. 2010. “‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign: Australia’s ‘most sophisticated political campaign’” Labor History 51 (1): 55 – 70. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=764de9ad-93e9-49cf-9022-135c2455b150%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=125
Salter, David. 2015. “Trade union royal commission a tortured and costly pantomime” Crikey, September 4. https://www.crikey.com.au/2015/09/04/trade-union-royal-commission-a-tortured-and-costly-pantomime/
Sommerfeldt, Erich J. 2013. “The civility of social capital: Public relations in the public sphere, civil society and democracy” Public Relations Review 39 (4) 280 – 289. http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0363811113000052?via%3Dihub#bib0145
Sullivan, Andrew. 2009. “The Revolution will be Twittered”. The Atlantic, June 13. https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/06/the-revolution-will-be-twittered/200478/
The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. 2015. “Final Report”. Accessed June 11, 2017. https://www.tradeunionroyalcommission.gov.au/reports/Pages/Final-Report.aspx
Vromen, Ariadne and Coleman, William. 2011. “Online movement mobilisation and electoral politics: The case of getup!” Communication, Politics & Culture 44(2): 76-94. http://search.informit.com.au.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=627591033342578;res=IELHSS
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