John Cokley

Growth of ‘Long Tail’ in Australian journalism supports new engaging approach to audiences

An Australia-wide study of journalism employment in Australia conducted in 2007 is replicated using 2013 data and the comparative results are problematized. Three questions emerge from this process: ‘What do the new data suggest for journalism employment in Australia?’ ‘What do they suggest for journalism practice in Australia?’ and ‘What do they suggest for journalism education in Australia?’ Contemporary theory from outside journalism is deployed, namely that of citizen engagement. The study finds there are more jobs for journalists across more publications in Australia in 2013 than in 2007. Several drivers of the changes in the Australian journalism employment market are suggested including the strengthening demand for greater choice among media consumers. Links are also suggested between the concepts of ‘choice’, ‘engagement’ and ‘financial viability’. Results suggest that journalists and publishers wishing to enhance their readers’ levels of choice and engagement should moderate or decrease their traditional focus on ‘information’ and instead increase readers’ ability and inclination to share their online content on social media. The article concludes that ‘Sharing Studies’ should be introduced into Australian journalism curricula.

The Great Bridge of China?: Journalism Education Curriculum Trends Suggest More Research Into the Capacity for International Mobility Among Chinese Journalism Graduates

Current curriculum trends in tertiary journalism and communication education in the People’s Republic of China are investigated using information from the websites of the 2,198 Chinese universities that published course lists in December 2013. Of those, 439 offered journalism majors and this article samples 274 of those universities (12.5% of the national total). They fall into four groups: Research-oriented, Research and Teaching, Teaching only, and Specialized. A content analysis is conducted of subject synopses published on each university’s website. While international research suggests that subject offerings are likely to reflect a combination of internal institutional policies regarding journalism education and domestic student demand, with some external influence from government, educational institutions, and employer requirements, only in China is there evidence that journalism courses include compulsory study of a major global foreign language specifically for journalists (in this case, English). This study suggests further investigation into whether Chinese journalism graduates will have more capacity to be globally mobile and thus more employable than contemporary graduates from Europe, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

The ultimate edge: The case for planning media for sustaining space communities

Governments and intergovernmental organisations have long recognised that nspace communities – the ultimate ‘settlements at the edge’ – will exist one day and nhave based their first plans for these on another region ‘at the edge’, the Antarctic. nUnited States President Eisenhower proposed to the United Nations in 1960 that the nprinciples of the Antarctic Treaty be applied to outer space and celestial bodies (State nDepartment, n.d.). Three years later the UN adopted the Declaration of Legal nPrinciples Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space nand in 1967 that became the Outer Space Treaty. According to the UN Office for Outer nSpace Affairs, ‘the Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository nGovernments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of nAmerica) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967’ (Office for Outer nSpace Affairs, n.d). The status of the treaty (at time of writing) was 89 signatories and n102 parties (Office for Disarmament Affairs, n.d.). Other related instruments include nthe Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the nMoon Agreement (Office for Outer Space Affairs, n.d.-a). Jumping to the present, a nnewsagency reported in July 2014 (Reuters, 2014) that the British Government had nshortlisted eight aerodromes in its search for a potential base for the UK’s first spaceplane nflights which Ministers want to happen by 2018 (UK Space Agency, 2014). The nUnited States already has a spaceport, in New Mexico (Cokley, Rankin, Heinrich, & nMcAuliffe, 2013)...

Ethnic and Cultural Focus in Airport Driver Training.

Abstract A series of linked relationships is advanced which together suggest changes should be made to training programs for airside drivers at major airports in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Overall, the links suggest a relationship between the number of airside incidents such as collisions at airports, the ethnic diversity evident among airside drivers, and the training programs for those drivers. The article advances literature from religious, sporting and ethnic communications research which strongly suggests that addressing an individual or group’s ethnic characteristics, especially kinship relationships, increases the effectiveness of business-oriented communications such as education and marketing. But data from interviews among developers and managers of airside driver training programs suggests that no attempt has been made previously to address airside drivers’ ethnic background. Reasons presented for this include a widespread lack of recognition of ethnic diversity as an issue in airside driver training, and a consequent lack of government regulation to incorporate such recognition in training programs. Other reasons include cost factors in training development, and the fragmentation of the airside business space between hundreds, if not thousands, of independent contractors. This article suggests that the inclusion of ethnically-oriented strategies in airside driver training programs will act to improve training outcomes and result in fewer airside incidents over time. Benefits available to the transport industry include reductions in liability costs, improvements in passenger and asset safety, and reduction in network blockages.