YEAR

12

ORAL PRESENTATIONS,

2012

MEDIA REGULATION, CENSORSHIP AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH

For this assessment task you are required to present:
A sustained and reasoned point of view on the selected issue that demonstrates the persuasive use of language. (VCE English Study Design)

You are required to:

(a) Read and discuss widely. You should check newspapers, magazines, the internet,
television news and current affairs programs for information about this issue. Talking to family and friends who have a different opinion, different perspectives and experiences will also help you clarify your ideas and enhance your understanding. (b) Write a detailed plan. This should include details about the persona, audience, context/scenario of your speech, as well as a purpose, your key arguments and a selection of relevant persuasive techniques that you intend to employ.

To prepare for the presentation you should:

Plan ahead and be organised!! o Speech Think about appropriate structure for a speech and for the specific purpose of your speech. Complete a draft and a final copy to edit and refine your work. o Visual aids consider use of costume, props, and technology. These must be carefully planned and organised. If you use PowerPoint for example, you need to do so properly in order to achieve your desired intention (i.e. to persuade). Do not put your entire speech on the screen. Do not read from the screen. The PowerPoint just helps to ILLUSTRATE your speech, but you must interact with it to show its purpose during your speech. You must also save your PowerPoint in more than one place as a contingency (on a memory stick AND in your network folder) and perhaps prepare a Plan B if technology fails. o Non-verbal Communication prepare cue cards, consider posture, movement, gestures, facial expressions, interaction with audience, etc. Rehearse very well! Your VOICE is very important. For instance you need to enunciate your words, vary your pace and volume for effect. You need to rehearse in front of an audience. Effective public speaking requires planning, preparation and lots and lots of practice! Time your presentation. It should be between 5 and 7 mins.

Remember that there are TWO components to this task: CONTENT the way you use language to persuade, and DELIVERY the way you present yourself!!

You will be given:

There will a timetable made for the orals over 3 days and you will be allocated a time slot. It will be your responsibility to find someone to swap with you and to let your teacher know, if your allocated time is not suitable. Any student who fails to make their allocated time without a legitimate reason will receive a UG for the SAC, but will still need to present for an S to pass the unit of work. 3 periods of class time in SAC conditions to write a draft of your speech using your research, detailed plan and any other resources you need (Be prepared for this in the first week back!) o At the end of each session (if singles) your work will be collected by your teacher and given back to you the next lesson. After the last lesson, your work will be collected, photocopied and returned for you to complete a final draft. This is because

the final copy of your speech, as in what you present on the day, needs to simply be an edited and refined version of what you had written in the draft-writing SAC this is for authentication purposes. So, you cannot change it dramatically! o Your teacher will provide verbal feedback only on your draft at some point during the drafting process. A final due date for your final copy of your speeches. This will be set in the week before the presentations. You must submit THE final copy on this date.

TOPICS for Research:

The following topics are associated with our issue. They have been discussed in the media recently. You may use these as a starting point for your research, to find an area of interest within this broad issue. o GOVERNMENT REGULATION:
Regulation is the process of applying and enforcing laws, rules or guidelines that protect or restrict rights and allocate responsibilities. Regulation can take many forms: legal restrictions enforced by a government authority or self-regulation by an industry. One can consider regulation as actions of conduct imposing sanctions, such as a fine, to the extent permitted by the law. Government regulation of media refers to the restrictions placed on the media in regards to the way it is owned, operated and what content it presents in order to protect vulnerable audiences and adhere to constitutional laws and ideals. E.g. The government plan to regulate the internet by increasing their capacity to block internet sites on a national scale. This happens to different degrees in different countries where sites are blocked by the government to stop access to certain information ranging from: pornography to social media (Facebook) during times of social unrest e.g. London riots (UK), anniversary of Tiananmen Square (China). E.g. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is a government regulatory body that regulates broadcasting, internet and telecommunications in Australia.

oSELF-REGULATION:
Self-regulation is when a media organisation is regulated by the industry in which it operates, as opposed to government regulation. E.g. The Australian Press Council (APC) is the self-regulatory body for all print media. It has very simple rules and guidelines for all print media organisations to follow and they are based on general freedom of speech, defamation laws (slander of the spoken word and libel for the written word), accuracy and fairness. It has two main aims: to help preserve the traditional freedom of the Press within Australia and ensure that the free press acts responsibly and ethically. Selfregulatory bodies like the APC have been called toothless tigers due to their lack of real power. Every media form has its own self-regulatory body (e.g. advertising, TV, radio, internet, etc.) E.g. Facebook regulates its own content by removing offensive sites/comments.

oCENSORSHIP:

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or offensive to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body. Censorship can involve the banning of certain media content, or the altering of content by removing controversial material.

This is different to regulation because it is the process of changing media content AFTER it has been made, while regulation rules are already in place BEFORE a media product is made.

E.g. Andrew Bolt (Melbourne newspaper columnist) was charged with violation of the Racial
Discrimination Act for expressing his opinion (regarding light skinned Aboriginals) in his weekly Herald Sun opinion column. E.g. The governments plans to enforce stricter regulations on the internet can also be considered an issue of censorship.

oGOVERNMENT INQUIRY and CONVERGENCE REVIEW INTO MEDIA:

A government inquiry is when there is a pressing issue that has been raised and needs to be addressed with suggestions for improvement for the future.

E.g. Rupert Murdochs News Limited debacle (phone hacking scandal) sparking an Australian
Government inquiry into newspapers print and online media, focusing on ethics, regulation and the role of the Australian Press Council. Stephen Conroy (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) was leading this inquiry. Due to the growth of online media and the increasing number of people who access news via this media form, the regulations regarding traditional print media and ownership, need to be revised in order to account for the new method of reporting and presenting information to the public, this is the basis for the inquiry.

oCONCENTRATED MEDIA OWNERSHIP:

The idea of concentrated media ownership is when there are few people who own the majority of media organisations, which means there is a lack of diversity and could potentially mean that the media and its audiences are influenced by those few people rather than providing a range of different views and opinions. E.g. Rupert Murdoch owns News Corp which is a parent company that owns News Limited, which in turn owns a vast number of pay TV channels, newspapers and magazines in Australia. Rupert Murdoch owns 70 percent of newspapers in Australia and many overseas also. Pretty much the rest of Australias media is owned by Fairfax. The media in Australia is dominated by these two corporations.

oFREEDOM OF SPEECH/INFORMATION:
Freedom of speech is the right to voice ones own opinion or view on any matter without restriction. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on libel, slander, obscenity, incitement to commit a crime, etc. Freedom of information is the right to be able to obtain any information. Countries have their own legislation about this also.

E.g. WikiLeaks set up and maintained as a way for people (journalist, politicians, soldiers,
etc.) to report on important social issues and conspiracies without fear of retribution or criminal charge (as each country has different laws regarding dissemination of information). Julian Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks. E.g. During the Michael Jackson manslaughter case the jury were free to comment/publish on their experiences throughout the trial, due to the American constitutional right to free speech. In contrast, in Australia, the television show Underbelly was not allowed to be aired while criminal

proceedings on the Melbourne Gangland War were still underway, let alone allowing the jurors or anyone associated with the court proceedings to speak to the media in any way. This shows just one example of differences in the laws regarding free speech in different countries. China and Sweden could also provide a good comparison to Australia.

MAKE SURE: The bulk of the information you find is AUSTRALIAN and RECENT it should be from September 2011 onwards. You MAY use older material and information about other countries to support your points and make comparisons, etc. but be careful not to RELY on outdated information, as the focus of your presentation, it should be current and based on Australian issues.

STAKEHOLDERS to consider in this issue

o Politicians o Journalists
o Parents

o Vulnerable

o Media moguls o Representatives of

media organisations e.g. The Australian Press Council, ACMA, etc.

o o

audiences such as: children, teenagers, the elderly, the mentally ill, people with antisocial tendencies, minority groups, etc. Internet users Reporters

o Social media users o People who need

access to a range of information: Researchers, educators, etc. People who need to withhold information: police, troops, etc.

Some POINTS OF VIEW to consider

For and Against Censorship and Regulation:
There are several arguments in favour of regulating and/or censoring media content. Some of these are outlined below:

For:
Protecting children is more important than total free speech for adults. Those in favour of regulation argue that it is preferable to limit, through censorship, free speech and the rights of adults to access whatever they choose in order to minimise the harm to children. It is impossible for parents to have full control over what their children access. While parents may be able to limit their childrens media consumption at home, it is difficult to prevent them accessing inappropriate material elsewhere. This is particularly relevant when the internet is considered. Excessively violent material, pornography, or material that incites crimes or hatred is seen by many community groups as a national problem. The government is therefore obliged to act in the best interest of most citizens. Some media material can be shown to be widely regarded as unacceptable or likely to cause offence to the broad general public. Certain kinds of swearing are examples of this. Racist content is another example. It is not the ole of the government to act as a nanny. Parents have the responsibility to set limits on childrens media consumption. Once the government regulates free speech in the media it is a slippery slope towards government restrictions on free speech in other forums.

Against:
-

In the borderless media environment created by the internet, it is increasingly difficult for national governments to effectively control content.

For and Against Stricter Media Ownership Laws:

There are different opinions on whether or not there needs to be laws about media ownership. Some of them are:

For:
Despite the growth of online information most people still get their news from traditional media. Conflicts of interest: big media companies often own other organisations not even related to the media so they may show bias in some cases and not tell the truth because it may harm their other investments. Information has turned to Infotainment as a business ploy to attract as many audiences as possible, which dilutes the credibility of the content we are presented with. Rather than finding out what audiences want and giving it to them, large media organisations may have the power to shape want audiences think they want. Individual media owners have enormous political and economic power which could affect democracy.

Against:
The perceived increase in ownership is cancelled out by the increase of diversification of media content that is provided by the internet and far more channels. Media content is mostly governed by audience demand anyway. So even if there were lots of owners, they would still be showing the same thing. The big global companies that own lots of smaller organisations can afford to spend money on new technologies, which means the media they provide can be progressive.

PLANNING:
You are to answer the following planning questions as you conduct research on the issue:
CHOOSING YOUR TOPIC: What aspects of the issue are of most concern or interest to you? Which sub-topic of the issue will you be focusing on and why? What are the arguments for and against the topic you have chosen? Which side of the argument will you be presenting? Are you going to reference issues from other countries in comparison to Australia? What will be the PURPOSE of your speech? PERSONA:

Who are you going to pretend to be? Why would you be talking about the issue/topic? Who do you represent? What areas of expertise would you have? What is the purpose of your presentation? What tone/attitude do you wish to present?

AUDIENCE: Who will you be addressing? Why would they be listening to you? What is the intended effect you want your presentation to have on them? What part do they play in the topic? What does it mean to them? How might it affect them? What effect might the type of audience have on the content of the speech? CONTEXT/SCENARIO: Where would your presentation take place? Why would it take place in this location? What effect might the location have on the content of the speech? Is there a formal/informal presentation style for the venue you have chosen? CONTENT:

What type of information would be appropriate for your persona, audience and context? What will be your main contention? What are your main arguments? (aim for 2-4 main arguments) What sort of persuasive language techniques will you employ to strengthen your arguments? Which persuasive language techniques are appropriate and effective for your purpose and audience?

Year 12 English: HOLIDAY HOMEWORK

ORAL PRESENTATION:
1. Continue your research of the topic you have chosen to focus on for your oral. 2. Refine your ideas about persona, audience, context/scenario, arguments and
persuasive techniques for your speech. Complete a detailed plan on each of those features to submit to you teacher for feedback on the first day back next year.

READING and RESPONDING:

3. Read our first text: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. (It is your responsibility to
make sure you have a copy to read over the holidays).

4. Write brief chapter summaries including details on plot, characters, setting, themes and
literary features. These will also need to be submitted on your first day back next year.

CONTEXT PIECE:
5. Complete the context piece you started in class after the Archie Fusillo presentation.
This will need to be submitted on the first day back next year also, as it will be considered the first piece in your folio of context writing in preparation for the SAC.

DUE DATE for all tasks: First English lesson back after the
holidays!

Have a happy holiday!

From your English faculty