Breaking the News

As told by Marrisa Calligeros, being a journalist isn't always fun. In a journalist's career a time will come when it is necessary to make a 'death knock' in order to create the best news piece possible.

Aided by social media the 'death knock' has been taken a step further.

Through Twitter and Instagram journalists now have the ability to contact a person directly. This is a very valuable tool, but it must be used appropriately. The above instance raises questions about when and when it is not appropriate to try to contact someone through social media. Obviously, this is an example of when tweeting a grieving family is not okay.

However, the journalist looking to get some further information, is to an extent, doing his job. The 'death knock' is something that the journalist probably does not enjoy and would hardly call enjoyable, but in some instances it must be done.

Performing the 'death knock' is something that I never want to do, but eventually (if I do pursue journalism) will most likely have to do. Hopefully I am able to do it in the most respectful and appropriate way possible.

My thoughts on citizen journalism

I have been told about citizen journalism a lot. I remember the first time I got told about citizen journalism in a lecture at uni and thought to myself, then why the hell am I here. As I gained further understanding of what a citizen journalist exactly is, I started to discredit the news that a citizen could produced and did not believe that a tweet or a post was real news. However, I was naive to believe to think that a citizen could not break news and be accredited with the title of a journalist.

This is one of my favourite examples of a citizen journalist breaking news. Abdulkader Hairi was the first person to break the news of US and partner nations launching airstrikes in Syria. Hairi posted several tweets updating and telling events instantly, before any other journalist was able to. 

Hairi is just one example of how citizen journalism is an extremly fast and effective way of spreading news. Questions of accuracy, ethics and authenticity can be raised around citizen journalism, however  it is hard to discredit this form of journalism when news can be told instantly with a first hand perspective.

My mind wasn't changed until I witnessed effective and powerful forms of citizen journalism first hand, but now my eyes have been opened to the power of ones words.

Speed and/or Accuracy

Technology has helped deliver news instantly. Waiting for the nightly news to find out what has happened in the day is a thing of the past. Now, news is literally a click away.

A problem that has arisen with fast breaking news is accuracy. Journalists are attempting to break the story as fast as possible and are constantly posting new details, correct or not. The trade off between speed versus accuracy always tends to favour a faster update, rather than a correct news article.

In my opinion, as bad as it sounds, this isn't such a bad thing.

My reasoning behind this is rather simple. There is always the ability to make up for mistakes. By positing regular updates with clarified information a journalist is able to fix ambiguity in previous posts.

Live blogs are great examples of how speed and accuracy come into play when reporting breaking news. The general focus of live blogs is speed. Post every detail that surfaces, check its accuracy earlier.

This is great for the consumer of the news because it allows them to keep up to date with every thing that is taking place.

However, it does lead to problems because of inaccurate information being reported. But, like I said before, with an update that can be posted as fast as the original news, a mistake can be rectified or more information can be added.

So for me, I will take speed over accuracy any day, purely because accuracy will eventuate with due time.

The multi-skilled journalist.

ABC’s Elaine Ford has explained to the QUT Online Journalism class that a journalist must be multi skilled and able to produce news over multiple formats. This means that a journalist must be skilled in written, spoken and visual work.

The wide array of necessary skills provides an exciting prospect as the work that I may be doing will change every hour. A lot of people look for a job that offers variety in the tasks that they have to complete, myself included. Elaine has explained and displayed how varied a journalist’s life may be.

A journalist's day could be as busy as three radio crosses in the morning, an updated story to be posted during the day, a radio feature in the afternoon and then a live cross to the nightly news.

 Intimidating, yes, but also enticing. Being able to break and share news across so many different formats is something that I see as very exciting. I consider myself very lucky to go to a university where I am taught all these skills that will be able to hopefully make me the best journalist possible.

Writing an online story

After my latest assessment piece for online journalism I have decided that I enjoyed writing my first actual online story.

I wrote about a charity called 'Orange Sky Laundry'. What helped was that my subjects are absolute champions and were happy to answer every one of my questions and even let me watch and help out in the build of their van.

Nic and Lucas solving some problems

I was a little bit worried about how I was going to make this story interactive, but I got a great time lapse and took a few photos, which I was really happy with. I wanted to make a really good quality interactive map but my skills with Google maps are a bit limited, though I am slowly learning.

When I interviewed a volunteer I wish I had filmed him to grab a sound bite or at least took a photo of him in action. I wanted to talk to a few homeless people but I didn't get the chance to meet up with a charity service and was asked by the Orange Sky Laundry team to not spread the word around to much, or at least until they had solidified one of their sites.

Despite these problems I am rather happy with how my story went and feel that I have learnt a few things that will help me out in the future.

Orange Sky Laundry Changing the Lives of Brisbane Homeless

Two 20-year-old Brisbane men are set to launch a revolutionary charity which will be Australia's first mobile laundry service providing homeless people with access to free washing and drying facilities, run solely by volunteers.

Orange Sky Laundry will provide services that aim to improve the quality of life of those living on Brisbane's streets.

The idea is the brainchild of two 20-year-olds from Brisbane, Nicholas Marchesi and Lucas Patchett.

The non- profit organisation is based upon the simple mantra; to treat others how you would like to be treated.

The Build Process of the Orange Sky Laundry Van

A van with two washing machines and dryers will work with other homeless service outreach programs providing free clothes washing services, as well as basic hygiene packs and information on other out reach services.

Currently Orange Sky Laundry is in a pilot stage where they are undertaking a process of trial and error to ensure that they are effective as possible.

“There are over 50 charities that help service the homeless in South- East Queensland and we will work in conjunction with them in order to be where we are need most,” said Lucas.

“Obviously at the moment we can't be at everyone of them.

“So we are trying to figure out where we will be most wanted and needed.

“The only way to really do this is through trial and error.”

As a result a set schedule has yet to be decided upon, however Orange Sky Laundry is about to embark in a 3-month trial period where they hope to achieve maximum efficiency.

Co- Founders Nicholas Marchesi and Lucas Patchett

Eddie’s van, a service helping to feed the homeless, volunteer Malachy Maher believes that Orange Sky Laundry will make a significant change in the lives of homeless people.

“A lot of the homeless I have encountered don’t have to much self respect,” said Malachy.

“I don’t know exactly why but I think one reason is a lack of self worth.

“Orange Sky Laundry will hopefully change the way that the homeless view themselves by helping them maintain better standard of living even if it is just having a clean set of clothes to change into.”

Orange Sky Laundry have fitted out a van with two washing machines and two dryers that were donated by their partners, Richard J Laundry and the chemicals used have been provided by Symbio.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=ztIKUOYQrxcg.kaGMXQFDrQSg

As of yet Government funding has not been applied for, however, Nic and Lucas believe it will be necessary in the future.

“At the moment we are focusing on Brisbane, and with the donations we have already received we are able to fund the project.” Said Nic.

“But eventually we do want to spread to regions greater than Brisbane, so eventually Government funding is definitely going to be needed.”

The Orange Sky Laundry Van

The biggest hurdle that Orange Sky Laundry has faced is its access to water and power at the sites they wish to visit.

Currently, negotiations are taking place with local councils to seek approval to use public water or power, but Nic has assured that this can be over come.

“Accessing water and power is going to be tricky in certain places,” Said Nic.

“We are working with local councils to find an appropriate solution, but if that falls through local businesses can always help us out.

“If a nearby local business is kind enough to let us use their facilities there will be no reason that Orange Sky Laundry can’t go ahead.”

The idea for the charity was born through work with other charities.

“Lucas and myself have been fortunate enough to grow up in a stable family with everything we needed, but we both know that there is others out there that haven’t had the same blessings as us,” said Nicholas.

“We have both previously worked with charities helping the homeless but saw the need for something different.

“There are a lot of charities helping to feed and cloth the homeless, and there will always be room for more, but after talking to some of Brisbane’s homeless we started to see that there isn’t enough being done to help improve living standards.

“So we thought that starting a portable laundry service would help the homeless maintain a higher quality of living by ensuring that they will always have a way to wash their clothes.”

Orange Sky Laundry is hoping to launch early next month, for more information please visit www.orangeskylaundry.com.au

Unfortunately Orange Sky Laundry is yet to launch on Twitter! But this is soon to change and they are already being recognised!