tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53186872011-07-15T07:25:48.998+10:00'The Australian' Readers' blogJoin by emailing: s_starr@mac.com. A group of readers of 'The Australian' newspaper log their responses on a semi-regular basis for the purposes of creating some journalism research data.Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1089518402838121432006-01-01T13:59:00.000+10:002004-07-11T14:00:02.836+10:00jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1102593845772347782006-01-01T13:00:00.000+10:002004-12-09T22:04:05.773+10:00jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1125323018267998462005-08-29T23:42:00.000+10:002005-08-29T23:43:38.280+10:00jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1058335247419762652003-07-16T16:00:00.000+10:002003-07-16T16:00:47.253+10:00I have now ceased working on this blog. You can find my further thoughts here: http://homepage.mac.com/s_starr/iblog/B515943294/index.html SidSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1056762546552781752003-06-28T11:09:00.000+10:002003-06-28T11:11:37.250+10:00Ever wondered how and why the USA has a naval base on Cuban territory? For answers and an excellent example -- IMHO -- of journalism, check out: In the Land of Guantanamo By TED CONOVER, New York Times Magazine - pub. date 29 June 2003 at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/29/magazine/29GUANTANAMO.html?pagewanted=1. I'm noticing some writing, in The Oz and elsewhere, related to the ABC's 'Cambridge Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1056674430111642822003-06-27T10:40:00.000+10:002003-06-27T10:40:30.006+10:00The Evatt Foundation has an article about blogging here: http://evatt.labor.net.au/news/230.htmlSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-1056664630677159622003-06-27T07:57:00.000+10:002003-06-27T07:57:10.516+10:00Memes are self-replicating clusters of ideas. Richard Dawkins coined the term to link the notion of the transmission of ideas with how he saw the replication of DNA in his book, The Selfish Gene. I perceive the Harry Potter novels to be highly successful examples of memes. The latest was pure pleasure, accessible and lots of fun. JKR is astute and opens the minds of her readers -- young and olderSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-959122862003-06-22T17:59:00.000+10:002003-06-22T17:59:41.363+10:00Oh! the week that was. Maybe our Ozzie politicians aside (muggles all of them) can learn a lot from our Harry and JK Rowlings menagerie of fantastic characters and her gift of the imaginary. There's more poltics and religion going on in a JK Rowling book than meets the eye. As there hidden parts to all of us. Yes! FGS Starr is a HUGE HP fan, Jean, I can vouch for that. And yes, I did pickJillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01442701853157006008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-958916502003-06-21T23:39:00.000+10:002003-06-21T23:39:47.320+10:00I never picked you for a Harry Potter fan, Sid. The TV descriptions of the first sales was bordering on the scary - or would that be spooky! I do think, although I am not guilty of reading Harry Potter (except to my youngest grandson a couple of years ago) I do feel we need fantasy in our lives. You know the old saying even if you aren't religious - "man cannot live by bread alone". There is jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-958771582003-06-21T08:39:00.000+10:002003-06-21T08:39:47.580+10:00OK, I've cheated. I downloaded the front page of The W/e Oz. It mirrors my mindspace a little -- the majority is an homage to JKR of HP fame. Aficionados know that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits the shelves today. [My own copy -- the first thing I've ever pre-ordered -- is waiting at my local Queensland Book Depot until I have done some work: this; and an analysis of the Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-958411472003-06-20T07:39:00.000+10:002003-06-20T07:39:37.773+10:00Incredible resources avaiable through the ABC/BBC prgram, 'What The World Thinks Of America' -- check them out: http://www.abc.net.au/america/resources/default.htmSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-958066872003-06-19T08:32:00.000+10:002003-06-19T08:32:04.033+10:00For anyone that is interested, I have written a report of my findings so far on The Oz. It is in '.pdf' format for anyone who has Adobe Acrobat Reader. The file is called "JC\Final Report\ozblog.pdf" and is available at this address: http://homepage.mac.com/s_starr/FileSharing4.html Just paste the address into your browser, go to the site and click the filename to download and read it. I would Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-957322582003-06-17T08:36:00.000+10:002003-06-17T09:59:01.000+10:00I have to be fair and add the comment that the ownership of newspapers in SE Qld is not 100%. Many of the titles are owned by less than 50%. For a full list of News Corp titles (less the recent sales to Fairfax in NZ) go to: http://www.cjr.org/owners/newscorp.aspSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-956569392003-06-14T19:16:00.000+10:002003-06-14T19:16:52.780+10:00Is it only me? I feel that up until a year or so ago, I could read the Oz and feel confident that I was reading a 'relatively' unbiased paper. However, recent editorials make me question that. Like Sid, I was a bit stunned to re-read that comment about "this paper is tied to no party, to no state, and has no chains of any kind". However, although the chains bit is a worry in light of jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-956555492003-06-14T17:28:00.000+10:002003-06-14T17:28:20.446+10:00From Jean's post: "This paper is tied to no party, to no state, and has no chains of any kind." Cor, what a whopper! That's a bit unfair of me. I have to say that the OZ manages an excellent semblance of independence. The problem is that none of us -- particularly in South-East Queensland where every paper is a Murdoch one -- believes it.Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-956554782003-06-14T17:23:00.000+10:002003-06-14T17:25:08.000+10:00"[T]he prime source of instability today is the failed state ..." writes Paul Kelly (p. 26) and I find myself agreeing with him, reluctantly. If you turn to the Editor, pages 8-9, it's easier to look at the continents: North America -- stable; Europe -- stable and growing; South America -- drug-ridden and inflationary; Asia -- teeming with people, riven by religious strife, misunderstood by the Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-956482852003-06-14T11:45:00.000+10:002003-06-14T11:45:54.700+10:00Browsing in my little tin box of treasures yesterday, I came across my yellowing copy of the very first edition of "The Australian" - Wednesday July 15th 1964. I remember it well - and I remember the introduction on the front page. I quote it below and wonder if the paper lives up to its original intentions. "GOOD DAY "Here is Australia's first truly national newspaper. It is produced today jeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-956112892003-06-13T11:10:00.000+10:002003-06-13T11:10:50.366+10:00mmmmmmmmjeanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03489849222733332022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-954391392003-06-09T08:41:00.000+10:002003-06-09T08:41:17.090+10:00The Oz is both loss-leader and flagship for Murdoch in Australia. It is an institution for a small number of us. With less than half a million of us reading the Oz during the week, and less than one million reading the Weekend Oz, it cannot be said to have a great reach. So, now I'm wondering about the part that the Oz plays in the public sphere. Three things come to mind immediately. Firstly, Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-951746142003-06-02T13:02:00.000+10:002003-06-02T13:02:00.643+10:00 Notice how much space The Oz devoted -- in its Inquirer section and elsewhere -- to Graeme Samuel (new, albeit temporary, head of the Oz Consumer & Competition Commission)? Y'see, TNCs (Trans National Corporations) know that they have to get on side of the corporate regulators, wherever they -- the TNCs -- operate. This is all part of the issue that societies have to address when they debate Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-951512402003-06-01T23:02:00.000+10:002003-06-01T23:02:37.510+10:00It's late Sunday night, the first day of June and last week's Australian is spread out in total disarray, between the dining room table, lounge chairs and coffee table some pages read, others waiting for a quick perusal, while others have been earmarked for an indepth study when time permits. I find as the days flow on in quick succession yesterday's news becomes tomorrow's and last week's Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01442701853157006008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-950470032003-05-30T05:36:00.000+10:002003-05-30T05:37:20.000+10:00The BBC are reporting on the usefulness of blogs -- so, it's official. This research is enabling me to see the importance of logging reflections over time. Cultural researchers have gradually appreciated the importance of the quotidian: the everyday and the mundane point toward reality in a way that glorification and glamour never can. Checkout: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2946188.stm Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-948398212003-05-25T08:09:00.000+10:002003-05-28T16:08:42.000+10:00Note: most of the ? marks in this blog are in fact single inverted commas -- an incompatibility between my Mac text and Blogger's. 6am Australian Eastern Standard Time. It's early, and very cold, on the Gold Coast. I have to get some of these thoughts down before I douse my body in the ocean and shock the invading demons into leaving -- temporarily. My mind is a traffic jam of ideas, Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-946042932003-05-20T09:26:00.000+10:002003-05-20T09:29:17.000+10:00Hands up if you're an intellectual. Of course you are, you're reading this. But I have a sense that there is a growing tension between those who think and those who do. I do not think that this is a binary opposition, but there are divides, and I wonder if they have always been there or if they are the result of our continued monaspera (made-up word for concentrating in one place) into metropoli.Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-945289272003-05-18T17:53:00.000+10:002003-05-18T17:53:36.620+10:00Sunday May 18, 2003 As I sit and reflect on my readings of the national rag for the week, several matters have coalesced and have pushed me, once again, to reflect on a recent research question, what does it mean today to be Australian? Putting Peter Costello’s Budget – the most newsworthy event on the political calendar after Amanda Vanstone’s revelation of how we can best spend our four Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01442701853157006008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-943773302003-05-15T17:36:00.000+10:002003-05-15T17:36:47.420+10:00Beyond the Logies, Bali trials, tonight’s budget, the most disquieting issue that Australians as a nation face today, according to our national daily rag, The Australian, is the failure of Dr. Hollingworth to act honourably as befitting a person of the cloth and as the Queen’s representative in Australia. A nation is only as good as the men and women who are selected to positions of authority Jillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01442701853157006008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-942313922003-05-13T09:11:00.000+10:002003-05-13T09:11:53.023+10:00Since starting the project, my feelings towards The Australian have become much more benign. Of course, much of this has to do with the ending of military operations in Iraq, although peace has not broken out just yet. I remarked to the people at the campus newsagent that it is now possible to buy The Oz at any time of day, yet when fighting was in full swing, the paper was only available early Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-937676112003-05-05T09:39:00.000+10:002003-05-05T09:40:20.000+10:00I found it difficult to read The Oz this weekend. Apart from moving home, there's SARS and all of the separation from others around the world that disease implies. Space on the front page is mainly allocated to our culture's next interesting clash: the left columns report on our disgraced representative of the Queen who is a former Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane -- will he stay? will we remain Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-933120862003-04-27T07:16:00.000+10:002003-04-27T07:58:20.000+10:00Spike Milligan and Emma Tom -- would they have approved of each other? In providing the best bits of The Weekend Australian, they had me thinking about God and sex. Spike reminded me why I like to read the bits in red [King James's reportage of Jesus] in the Bible and why I gave up religion: the words of Jesus are profound; regrettably no humour. What characterises the world I strive for -- one Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-932643302003-04-26T07:51:00.000+10:002003-04-26T07:51:22.973+10:00If you happen upon this site serendipitously and would like to participate, please email Sid Starr: s_starr@mac.com You can check me out at: http://homepage.mac.com/s_starr/Education2.htmlSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-932014702003-04-25T07:41:00.000+10:002003-04-25T09:04:45.000+10:00 We are a highly literate nation, yet bound in some ways by our partly Anglo-Celtic heritage that generally precludes participation in public debate. However, our viewing and reading habits are being influenced by an increasingly powerful culture from the United States of America. The Australian newspaper is our only national paper, albeit -- with new production technologies -- it can be producedSidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5318687.post-932007962003-04-25T07:28:00.000+10:002003-04-25T07:39:04.000+10:00This is the research question:- ==As Australia becomes even more cosmopolitan through globalisation, and the American ethos grows ever pervasive and persuasive -- what are the important recent public conversations in The Australian newspaper that are indicative of a) Australian nationalism; and b) how Australian culture is created?==Sidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921868033938812408noreply@blogger.com