Canberra attracts whalers as centenary balloon stirs controversy

Earlier this month the so called “Skywhale” made to the sky for its debut on mothers day this year to celebrate Canberras centenary celebrations. The Skywhale is one of many different attractions that will be held in the capital over the coming year. The Skywhale is set tocost the Australian tax payer three hundred thousand dollars (originally set to be one hundred and seventy thousand dollars)

“Although the Skywhale may attract attention to Canberra it may not be all positive” 

There is a lot of controversy regarding the Skywhale and its cost the public seem to be generally split between with their opinions. Many people find it unattractive or distasteful and even offensive. The Skywhale is set to keep flying high despite the slander the public and politicians throw at it, Afterthe Skywhale has completed its journey around Canberra it will be moved to Hobart’s Museum of Modern and Old Art where it will be an exhibit there. The fact that is not saying in Canberra is becoming a big problem for taxpayers.

Ex minister Jon Stanhope slammed the Skywhale saying it was a waste of money and  should stay in Canberra as a tourist attraction if the government was going to spend so much on it.

As with his enlistment, many people, including members of the Tillman’s family, believe that Pat Tillman’s death was used for political gain. For example, in the film, his mother, Mary Tillman (sometimes referred to as Dannie), offers the following statement:

It’s an atrocity that they would take a young man with honourable intentions who served his country and lie about how he died to promote a war, to use him as a political – a propaganda tool, basically. That is immoral.

 

How might changing the narrative (that is, covering up the accounts of fratricide from Tillman’s fellow soldiers) assist the US government’s cause? How did the revelation that Tillman was killed by friendly fire disrupt the narrative that depicts Tillman dying as a war hero? 

The US Government tried to cover up Pat Tillman’s death and use it as a media stunt for the US Army. It was used as a recruiting for the army.
Pat Tillman was a famous American football player who was very well known. He chose to give up his career in football to serve his country, which sounded like a patriotic act but turned into one of the biggest [exposed] cover-ups in America. The original story was Pat was killed in an ambush on his convoy in 2004. It was later revealed by many years of searching military records and tracking down officials his mother found that his death was not caused by enemy fire but rather friendly fire. He was murdered by his own teammates. It was also found that the US army that he was to be killed but killed in a way that it could be passed off as an accident. Through thorough research and pure determination his mother discovered that it was ordered by someone at a much higher position than they first thought. Pat Tillman’s story touched many people and worked as an efficient propaganda tool until it was revealed it was completely staged.

 

Sexual Health Program targets ACT College students

SHLiRP (Sexual Health Lifestyle & Relationship Program) is a government initiative which focuses on visiting colleges around the ACT as well as educating the general public.

Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT and ACT Health fund the program which has proven to be highly successful. On Monday the 13^th of May SHLiRP Visited Lake Tuggeranong College to run a seminar educating students on the heath risks involved in sexual intercourse. The aim of the program is to encourage students to protect themselves from Sexually Transmitted Diseases and pregnancy. Students also had the chance to talk to sexual health nurses and discuss any questions or problems they may want to talk about. They also offer free testing for chlamydia and other major infections. Although students were encouraged to talk to a nurse whether they are sexually active or not to discuss any concerns they may have.

All government colleges in Canberra have been offered the service free of charge in an attempt to decrease the number of youths contracting a potentially lethal infections. “Prevention is the best thing we can do”said a representative.

Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the free testing and the temporary clinics set up at Canberra colleges. Currently the number of youths infected with Chlamydia is around one in fourteen (source) , and the ACT government is trying to dramatically decrease that number to a lower percentage as it is one of the highest in the nation.

Feature Article:

 ACT To Get Education Boost For Trade Industry

Lake Tuggeranong College plans to expand its wood and metalwork faculties to accommodate the growing amount of students wanting to partake in trades in the Tuggeranong and ACT region. This also comes after the ACT Government reported all time lows for the trade industry. It is estimated The new building will be situated on the student tennis courts and will be expected to be named the Tuggeranong Sustainable Living Trade Training Centre, the building will service six surrounding schools and will offer certificate I and II qualifications as a carpenter, joiner, cook, landscape gardener, motor mechanics and more. all of the skills have major shortages in the valley. This comes after the ACT Government injected $176 million dollars into the ACT public school system to increase the amount of trades taken up for school leavers.It is expected to open in late 2015 and greatly decrease the trade shortage.

The Tuggeranong Sustainable Living Trade Training Centre will not only train college students but allow high school students to gain a head start of their possible careers and even gain appropriate certificates to get apprenticeships and further their education. Tuggeranong isn’t the only area in the ACT that will be receiving government funding for colleges and high schools, 3 trade centers around Canberra are due to be built in the next few years, including Daramalin College, Lake Tuggeranong College, Erindale College and Emmaus Christian School which will be named Dickson area trade training center.

Peter Garrett said  the Trade Training Centre program was designed to give students more post-school options while also addressing skills shortages.

The Tuggeranong Sustainable Living Trade Training Centre will have a capacity of about 90 students per year doing VET courses, says one teacher.

Another teacher commented, It is much needed and is well over-due in our community as we have too many students than we can teach at the moment and its causing us to be backed up and possibly not give the quality of education we would like to give to the students studying the course, and we recognize how important tradies are in our society and how important it is to give them the highest level of training as we can before they finish their schooling.

The Tuggeranong Sustainable Living Trade Training Centre will be situated on the tennis courts at Lake Tuggeranong College and possibly the basketball courts too, It is unclear this early in planning. The school is also deciding whether they will rebuild the sports courts currently behind the school and the carpark.

“It’s a good Idea and It’s a shame I wont be here to see it” said one tech student

“Its defiantly needed and should make a significant difference to our school community and our community outside of school” Says an executive teacher.

What is self regulation and regulation in the media?

Self-Regulation:

Under self-regulation the media chooses to commit and uphold a code of ethics that they chose themselves. For example the ABC has a anti bias policy which is completely self regulated with out any kind of authority enforcing the rules.  One of the reasons a company might do this is to gain trust from the public and have an overall better quality of news for everyone.

Regulated:

Regulated news is news that is regulated by an authority or government. In Australia the government regulates it in a sub department called acma, which the public can report/complain about things that may be offensive, incorrect or insensitive to a minority or the public in general.

Chalk Art at Lake Tuggeranong College #1

Lake Tuggeranong art students have created chalk art around the school. The chalk art is performance themed and will be extended by more students over the next few weeks. The art is located in the center of the courtyard on display for everyone to view and appreciate. The art depicts the amphitheater design of the building where the chalk is located. More art will be added in the next couple of weeks by other college art classes. 

Much of the art takes up most of the walls and brings like to the usual bare red brick walls. The ultimate goal of the chalk art is to cover the entire wall in it and to keep adding onto past drawings and building on top of the old art.

Some students added messages to their art and coloured entire sections of the wall.  If you wish to view all pictures as of Friday the 15 of march they will be uploaded in a separate post.

Images

(Question 1) – Cody Harris

1)   Compare the size of the news hole for the main story in a traditional newspaper and the main story in an online newspaper. Estimate the number of words in the traditional version and compare them with the online version of the same article. Follow all the hypertext links available on the online story and count the additional words on these links. Have the online versions lived up tho the analyst’ prediction of infinite news holes.

The size of the article that I analysed was exactly the same as the print version. It was the exact same length and had the exact same images and title. The online version did not differ to the print version. The only difference to the article was the online version was running ads on the story rather than having an ad section. Other than that it was an exact copy of the printed version.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/prissy-paddock-no-place-for-this-workingclass-hero-20130305-2fjjl.html

Is journalism a dangerous job?

Journalism can be a dangerous job. Hundreds of journalists every year put their lives at risk by reporting the news in dangerous places around the world. Including war-zones, natural disasters and unstable areas. The role of a journalist isn’t always dangerous. There are many branches of journalists, such as sport reporting, weather reporting and local reporting. Most of the time its safe to be a journalist. over 900 journalists have been killed all over the world since 1991 and over half were killed reporting war and politics in dangerous parts of the world.