The relevance of this blog: What's it all about?

Throughout the following posts I will develop a close reading of the multimedia text 'Newcastle Beachfront in Decay', written and directed by the Herald's senior journalist Greg Ray (see video link in post below). This sample of video journalism has strong local youth culture significance and integrates fluidly with the critical study of the issues surrounding street art and graffiti (rich and relevant sites for critical study in Visual Arts). It would be most suitable to aim the critical study of this media text at year 10 students. The study would be a theoretical component of a broader street art unit wherein students head towards the creation of a school or community mural, incorporating street art techniques and styles. Critical media analysis in year 10 Visual Arts would intentionally foreground students' future critical analysis of media texts in stage 6 English units: a learning experience that further scaffolds and develops student critical inquiry skills against media texts.

I'm particularly interested in this text because of its local relevance, and I hope I can pass it on to one of my colleagues (teaching locally) or perhaps use it on my next local prac experience. As a high school student I do remember quite well the few critical media analysis tasks my English teachers embedded into the classroom learning experience. I loved these tasks because I could see the relevance: I was gaining a critical perspective on the forms of media that surrounded me so much of the time. The texts engaged me with global critical discourses that I would become more and more engaged with over time, but they didn't hold any particular local relevance. I think presenting a text that has explicit local relevance such as the one I have chosen, will further boost the appeal of potential critical analysis tasks for my targeted age group. Although the text is local in its relevance, it is characterised by many of the global narratives that are found in all kinds of media texts far and wide, thus engaging students with broader critical discourses for future reference.

Newcastle Beachfront in Decay - Video

Through the link below you will be able to watch the particular media video release I am analysing. It was written and narrated by the Newcastle Herald's Senior Writer, Greg Ray / filmed and edited by Chris Totterman and released on the 10th of July 2009. I wish I could have been able to embed the video on this page, but it wasn't so easy to do.
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/general/multimedia-newcastle-beachfront-in-decay/1564747.aspx?order=1

Part 1 A: Who created this message?

The most obvious answer to this question would be Greg Ray from the Herald, like der brain, he put his name on it!! Yes, Greg Ray did write, narrate and even act in the short web video. But to really get the most out of my analysis of this media text I must first dig deeper into the above mentioned question. Professor of Media and Communications, Simon Cottle, says that when trying to understanding media it is particularly important to recognise the broader producing culture out of which the text arises (2003). This refers to the broader range of organisational contexts that influence the way Greg Ray represents events and issues in his media reports.

Greg writes for the Herald, Newcastle's only daily paper, owned by one of Australia's largest commercial media companies, Fairfax Media Limited. At its core, Fairfax Media is an influential corporate business primarily interested in the pursuit of increased revenue and profits through the saturated ownership of a variety of media forms: newspapers, magazines, online media and radio. On Fairfax's website the image of corporate power, wealth and mass ownership is boasted proudly. The obvious intended audience is potential and existing shareholders as the majority of the website deals explicitly with the value of its stock (see http://www.fxj.com.au/home/). Despite the fact that Fairfax is one of Australia's largest media groups, a thorough examination of the website reveals no information regarding their journalistic philosophy or intentions. The company profile is depicted most narrowly through a fiscal lens (see http://www.fxj.com.au/corporate-profile/corporate-profile.dot). 

The Newcastle Herald has shared a lengthy history with the Newcastle community. Founded in 1858, the daily paper has long enjoyed its reputation as being a balanced and reliable source of community news (Norm Barney, 1998). In 1998, after a being produced in broadsheet form for 140 years, The Herald converted to tabloid size: advertising itself as "The Compact with Impact". Proponents of the paper assured readers that the journalistic integrity was not under compromise, explaining the shift to tabloid size as just keeping with the times. Sales rose significantly during this period, as did the amount of advertising and 'sport news'. Former subscriber and lecturer of Communication and Media Arts at Newcastle uni John Sutton raised concern that the journalistic integrity was in fact deteriorating leading up to the switch to tabloid format, in a suspected bid to stay on-side with the business community. In the past The Herald has been revealed for its advocation of a variety of commercial developments that have impinged on council regulation (Australian Broadcasting Corporation [ABC], 1998). Despite the controversy that has surrounded The Herald's journalistic integrity and relationship with the business community, the tabloid paper maintains that for the local readers it's still the number one source for "authoritative news, information and analysis about their community, their society, their country and their world." (The Herald, 2010, accessed June 4, 2010, from http://www.theherald.com.au/contact.aspx?publication_id=257&department_id=1).

Part 1 B: Digging deeper (the who and the why)

The Herald's senior writer, the one, the only..

Among The Herald's readers Greg Ray is a well known dude. He has carved out an identity as a strong historical and investigative writer, winning a multitude of regional awards for many of his articles. Greg is noted for his contribution to the public's knowledge on a range of important issues and is said to have produced articles of national importance (Forum contributors, n.d. accessed May 5, 2010, from http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Ray_Greg_976810119.aspx).

Presumably, with The Herald's self-proclaimed reputation as a balanced and reliable source, and Greg's position as senior journalist, the media release Newcastle Beach Front in Decay (July 2009) is just trying to put forward a generally accepted community view: the view that the legal graffiti wall is a stain on the landscape, the council needs to shape up their act and the Mirvac development is simply awesome. In fact if we have a look through the back catalogue of Greg Ray's journalism on the South Newcastle area, such 'balanced' and 'well researched' representations are a recurrent theme. Lets have a look...

On the 11th of August, 2008, almost a year before the release of the Newcastle Beach Front in Decay video, The Herald published Greg's article Plan to Beautify Newcastle Beach (accessible via this link). The article featured this image, with the caption 'MESS: The skate park at South Newcastle Beach."

The opening line, "NEWCASTLE'S blighted city beachfront may get a much-needed overhaul, thanks to the Mirvac redevelopment of the former Royal Newcastle Hospital site", along with the following words in the short article effectively painted the picture of a dirty and misused location, that fortunately, might rediscover its potential through the influence of a nearby apartment building development.Greg Ray interviewed Mirvac director Gavin Tonnet to contribute his perspective on the state of and future hopes for the beachfront area.

The following day's paper contained another of Greg's short articles (link), this time head-lined City lost $1m on hospital site deal: council - an unusual arrangement of words for an experienced writer, but with the overall effect that an inept council lost one million dollars on a site deal. The article also featured this image with the caption "GOLDEN: Design for Mirvac's development. Artwork by Mirvac."

Greg Ray's unusually worded headline combined with the image and its included caption effectively portrayed the developer Mirvac in a, shall we say, golden radiantly positive light, and the council in a rather negative light, making somewhat of an economic blunder. This is perhaps confusing when we read through the actual article to find that Mirvac by way of technicality were able to avoid paying the city council an originally negotiated community contribution of $2.835 million, now paying just $1.89 million. Essentially what happened was that Mirvac was able to redirect the $1m loss into the surrounds of their own development and away from the wider community. Looks like Greg tried particularly hard to dilute that truth.

The above examples reveal a standard tabloid approach characteristic in Ray's journalism. It seems that at least in the instance of his journalistic representation of the Newcastle South beachfront in recent years, his intentions aren't exactly parallel with those that he and The Herald are known for (supposedly and via self-proclamation). We can see that Ray doesn't create the message to represent an accurate and balanced depiction of local events and issues, but rather distorts local events and issues, to stay onside with the business community and thus foster the relationship between advertisers and advertising space. He does so at the sacrifice of his own journalistic integrity.

In such examples, media produced by The Herald fails to project a balanced community view. In its alignment with the business community The Herald projects a view which is only sectorial within our local society (Sutton cited in ABC 1998). Furthermore, they do so under the false guise of community oriented news - providing corporations like Mirvac with a subversive political tool through which to promote their aims. Now that we know who has created the message and perhaps why, let's have a closer look at exactly how representations are constructed in the media release video Newcastle Beachfront in decay (July, 2009).

With a little bit of Photoshop (yes, a manipulative technique) we get a more, umm illustrative representation of Greggy

Part 2: Filmic techniques used in the representation of South Newcastle's beachfront

In media representations there are always 'denotations' and 'connotations' (Kellner & Share, 2005). Denotations refer to what is specifically represented in the media. In the case of the selected text, the South Newcastle legal graffiti wall and skate park are denoted. Connotations refer to underlying cultural systems of beliefs, values and judgments - and are often more easily gauged once you know who created the message and why. The connotations embedded in the short film align with Neoliberalist ideals that value the commercialisation of public space: maximising corporate profit and consumer 'choice'. Connotations are represented through the subtle technical devices of different media forms: techniques that have a strong impact on the way media messages are received by audiences. Advocates of crticical media literacy in education, Kellner & Share (2005), warn that media texts are most damaging when messages are naturalised: presented as unproblematic truths. By aligning both connotations and denotations in the video, viewers are presented with an unchallenging and seemingly straightforward message. The following paragraphs will outline the recurring filmic techniques used by Ray & Totterman to naturalise their message.

The three obvious tools that have been used to construct the message:
1) Image: as represented through a variety of camera techniques and selections of subject matter.
2) Music: a dynamically varied soundtrack, marked most obviously through the contrast of calming and then chilling music.
3) Greg Ray (yep he's a tool too!): through his gestural and dynamically varied spoken language.

Throughout the entire sequence of the video these three elements move in a highly synchronized manner. At the start of the video Greg Ray narrates using a relaxed tone. His narration is also highly descriptive, drawing on a vocabulary of words characterised by their strong positive connotations: 'lovely', 'neat', 'clean' and 'amazing' among them. Underneath his voice you can hear a piano playing in a major arrangement (brightly toned) matching the relaxed and positive mood of Ray's dialogue. The introduction is supported by warm illustrations and historic photographic images of many people enjoying the South Newcastle beachfront. South Newcastle's beachfront is represented as a beautiful, once highly used and enjoyed gem of the Newcastle coastline.

As the visuals now denote the beachfront in the present day the warm piano tune begins to fade away, suddenly but softly spiraling into a moody dissonance as does, to an extent the mood of the narrator's dialogue. The camera gives us a panoramic sweep of an almost deserted Newcastle beach, rotating its view down toward the South end footpath. The piano playing is marked by a abrupt moody emphasis and then stops as the scene cuts to the upper and at the time of filming most neglected section of the legal graffiti wall. Through the use of carefully constructed and layered filmic techniques emotively targeting the senses of sight and sound, the viewer has been well primed for Ray's following portrayal of an 'uglified' South Newcastle beachfront.

Through word choice and tone Ray's narration shifts significantly. In the line 'Newcastle famous legal graffiti walls' we can hear an inflection that denotes sarcasm, mocking the fact that something so apparently 'shabby' and 'pungent' in smell could be legal. Camera sequences convey Ray walking through the graffiti zone. Subtle bodily gestures indicate that he is uncomfortable in and unimpressed by his surroundings. The urban hip hop groove used through this sequence denotes the kind of youth subculture that might occupy the space, skaters and graffiti writers. With the exception of one spray-can muralist, the implied sub-community is not present. As he states 'I don't think many people would find the result attractive [referring to the art of graffiti writers]' we can see that Greg positions himself in reflection of a supposed wider community view.

The next sequence is marked by a foreboding ominous soundcape background to a dark low angle shot depicting Ray as he enters what he describes only as a 'fairly dank underpass'.As Ray proceeds into the darkness with caution the chilling sound effects heighten the allusion of danger implied in the constructed representation of the area. A very specific camera shot cuts to the image of a tagged-over council sign. The employment of visual metaphor in this image confirms Ray's implied message that misuse and disorder among graffiti writers has led to the undesirable state of the beachfront. Nothing more is said through this sequence as Ray allows his gestural language to do the talking. He moves through with caution, stopping to pick up some litter, he examines it and throw it back to the ground. In his face Ray faintly expresses disgust. Gestural language is stronger here than at any other point in video. Upon analysis it becomes obvious that overt gestures and actions (picking up the litter) have been used to assert the notion that this area is in no state for public use.

Leading into the next sequence with the comparison of the area as "somewhere between a school quadrangle and a prison camp", some very kitsch sounding pop-punk and corny visuals of a skateboarder's perspective as he/she rides ramps and grinds rails all combine to trivialize the current use of the location. This short sequence has also been included to give the effect of journalistic balance, alleviating the viewer from Greg Ray's narration and point of view, but failing to give an actual skate park user's perspective on the place. The final example of graffiti selected in the edit is a tag depicting the words "SYDNEYZ FINEST VANDALZ". With a personal knowledge of the area I can see that tags have been overemphasised in the included imagery, with little depiction on the many dozens of well-executed murals that existed at the time.

Some inspirational contemporary music gains volume. Ray gazes up to lead a camera cut to a new image. 'Over the top of it all are the Mirvac cranes', he narrates, with a tonal inflection that he might characterize the way one speaks of their beloved spouse! The viewer is now presented with a range of warmly toned, crisp and clean images: apartment rooms overlooking a deep blue ocean and a southbound view along the Newcastle beach shoreline, no litter or seaweed in this shot. The Mirvac development is seen to intrinsically link with a cleaner, nicer, more user-friendly beachfront.

The following sequences roll out to employ the same recurring techniques. Contrasts in the mood of the narrator's dialogue, music and visual devices move together - the formula switching periodically depending on the denoted subject matter, be it the Southern beachfront as a skatepark and legal graffiti zone, or alternatively as a potential non-skate park / non-graffiti zone. This predictable pattern of technique combination serves to attempt to construct the maker's message as naturalised and unproblematic. The intended message is made obvious:
1) The South Newcastle beachfront has 'been particularly neglected and abused', with the implication that the graffiti zone and an inept city council are to blame.
2) The nearby Mirvac development supports the community's hope that the 'whole graffiti, weed-infested, concrete-cancered, broken-handrailed, littered, uglified mess' will get 'tidied up'.

How might other people understand the media text in ways different to how I have?

When it comes to media messages different people will experience the same message differently. As audiences decode texts a whole range of factors influence the way a message is received. Socio-economic status, cultural background, family history, relationships, political bias, interests, values, nationality, past times and experiences etc. etc. all influence the way we perceive the world - media messages included (Kellner & Share, 2005).

For example, I had my Mum watch the video and tell me what she thinks. At the end of it she said 'Oh my, isn't that terrible the state that place is in.' I asked her if she been there. She had not. I put forward my opinion that having spent some time there [when it was a legal graffiti zone] I felt that the condition and atmosphere of the area had been misrepresented. At first she refuted my opinion, 'but look! you saw how dirty it was.' I asked her to consider what she actually saw that made her feel it was dirty. 'The drain and the graffiti' she replied. I informed her that the open drain featured in the video is not actually connected to the skate park and exists about 30 meters outside the old graffiti zone. To allow her to experience some of the graffiti that wasn't shown in the video I presented her with a dozen photos I had taken before it was painted over. She had a look at the photos. Re-evaluating her opinion based on the way she received the message, she said 'well I guess I'd really have to go down there before I could really make my mind up.'

In recognition that personal experiences influence the reading of a media message, the video's creators have deliberately attempted to give the viewer an experience of the area - only as we have seen, this vicarious experience is highly constructed. The intentional employment of a vicarious and constructed experience is the core technique employed by the makers of the message. In the supporting text beneath the video the writer spells it out for us to see:

'Herald Senior Writer Greg Ray and staff artist Chris Totterman take you on a walk along the oceanfront
and ask you to imagine how beautiful this gem ought to be.' (link to page)

Ah, but they are not asking you, they are actually trying to tell you!