Blog 1

With the taping of the brief coming in a few weeks, it has been on my mind all the time along with other assignments as the term is coming to an end. I find it certainly amusing that our direction for the brief went into a whole different route after the pitch. From my own perspective, I think that the original route was a safe one, in which we would bring in an expert guest and make it a discussion over extinction in Australia as well as the species in regards to the original fact check by RMIT ABC Fact Check. Although that would work well within the context of the assignment, I think it would be quite dull and lack the excitement and refreshing element that all members of our group rather do. Hence, thanks to the guests’ comments and ideas at the pitch, we now look to a new direction with potential for something special and really amusing. Having interviewing animals (or animal-wanna-be) while breaking the fourth wall are some ideas that I did not expect this assignment to come to, and although we have not planned it carefully, I am almost confident that our piece will be jaw-dropping and definitely unique.

This week in class, we were shown a very interesting video on why fact checking would not stop Donald Trump’s lies. It argues that it is the mindset of people, saying that the brain is extremely good at holding off what it chooses to believe and not believe. So in other words, the video essentially says that many of Trump’s supporters might acknowledge his so-called “lies”, but still choose to believe in them anyway. I personally do not stand on the same page with the arguments made here, but it gives me another thought on fact checking: sometimes, there is no point of doing it as people might not appreciate the point of it anyway. But, just like Trump supporters believe in him unconditionally, we still do it anyway here at the land of fact checkers.

Reference:

Vox 2017, Why fact-checking can’t stop Trump’s lies, Vox, viewed 16 May 2019, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8DQ2kseTWw>.

Blog 2

Today I did something out of the spur of a moment and the outcome interested me in an unsurprising way. I went on YouTube and put in the keyword “fact check” to see what would come up. The first page contains 30 videos, and 24 of them were related to Trump. Could it be said that the rise and consolidation of Trump’s presidency really brings the importance and relevance of fact checking to current affairs to another level? I think that is a debate requiring significant scholar research, which I would not go fully on for the sake of this blog post. But, I do think that Trump’s presidency from beginning to end had, is and will always be a good case study into fact checking.

The nature of fact checking is to assure public awareness of fake news and slowly changing the mentality of the norm in consuming news. I used to work with fake news on a daily basis, and I am aware that many people believe in the information being given to them in an article without a further check (or at least, my grandma is among them). Sometimes fact checking requires us to think about its relevance into the daily life of the ordinary people. This makes me think back to something Ruth said last week in class that debunking Barrack Obama’s place of birth does not have much impact because it does not affect the life of the norm. I think back to the question I got from our first session in the studio: “Does it matter?” I guess for fact checking, that is the most important question as we need a point to be doing all the hard work and make that work relevant.

Blog 3

We completed our brief today. On many aspects, I consider our piece to be a success. We managed to cover the fact check being done by RMIT ABC Fact Check in addressing all important points, emphasising the worrying nature of extinction in Australia at the moment to the audience. It was not as interactive and as “different” as what I initially imagine it to be after the pitch a few weeks ago. However, I am pleased to think that we still managed to engage the audience into it, not just through our host addressing the situation straight to them as I have seen many groups doing so. I do think that the concept and the way our group managed to handle this brief was different from all other groups in a really refreshing, fun but not lacking the focus factor manner. We had too many ideas of doing it, and the final piece we conducted had an interview we did with various people on the site of RMIT. We encountered a lot of technical difficulties, but ultimately we overcame them to give a decent final product, while at the time I was worried that we could use any of the filmed footage at all.

Being the DA, my job is to assist the director in how the cameras are the positioned, how the set is staged as well as communicating with other roles on the ground. I have grown into this role throughout the semester and throughout many different activities inside the studio. I found that I did my best on this last piece. I am proud that I always came to other people to make sure that everything on set is the way that me and the director want. It was a pleasure to have such direct and thorough communication with other friends on the ground. And the final product is the result because of this.

Reflecting back, I do think that there are certain aspects where we could have done better. The footage we filmed could have been edited better, as in many moments of the interview, the voice of people were out of sync. Ideas wise, I think that we address just enough information needed and that the verdict we shown is a solid one. However, I still like the idea of bringing in a special guest like we initially wanted. I feel that it could still play along very well with the product we produced, giving the whole fact check another ground of authenticity and just a different perspective (or pretty much the same) on a same matter.

I also was on auto cue for the first time for one of the groups. I thought it would be really difficult and problematic initially, but actually it was quite simple and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. I think that all of the pieces had their pros and cons, but we can see clearly the effort being put into by each group. It was a strong way to end what was an enjoyable studio and a solid semester. And we have Ruth to thank for that too.

Blog 4

When I first chose this studio to be my first preference for the semester, I was curious on the word “fact check”. I asked myself: “Facts are facts. Why do we have to check them?” It was a thought of silliness, but in all seriousness, the description of what this studio would be about really intrigued me. It relates to me closer than I initially thought, as at one point a few months ago, I had to work with fake news on a daily basis. I thought that through this studio, I might be able to appreciate news authenticity more than I am, and that my integrity as a journalist would be enhanced from this experience.

And it has been more than I expected. This semester, I was able to be in the TV studio for the first time, learning the basic tricks to some of the not-so-basic tricks. I was also able to learn more about fake news, such as how do they start, their affection and the mentality of people towards consuming them, or just watch clips after clips and learn something more about the media world. More importantly, I did not recognise the level that many people or groups of people would diverse the news into their own benefit (so misinformation and disinformation is something I had never thought about). Simply, I did not appreciate the effect of fake news and importance of fact check as a journalist before. This semester has changed the way I now practice, or choose to practice journalism.

I was also able to operate ultra-expensive cameras. Reading back some of the first blogs now, I laugh as I remember how I was scared of putting my hands on them, worrying that something might go really really wrong. I learnt about the set ups in a TV studio, as well as the many roles that people operate in them. I find this to be truly relevant to me, as I will take an internship in my national television back home towards the end of the year. And now I can’t say to my boss that I know nothing on the first day of work! It has overall been an exceptional semester, one that I really enjoyed. And all good things always come to an end. As the semester falls, I would like to thank Ruth for helping us having a great course, and also all my classmates for making my semester more enjoyable. My name is Khang, and this has been “Now, This”.