Week 10 News Story Reflection

Apologies for the lateness of this news-story reflection. Week 10 !


SEPTEMBER 8TH 2009
ONLINE NEWS STORY

Reference Details:

Facebook rescue highlights 'ongoing struggle'

By News Online's Clayton Bloom


Relevance:

This news story is relevant because it highlights an alarming switch of first response in emergency situations to communication on Facebook, rather than to 000 Emergency Response. This article indicates how it is potentially dangerous, delaying help from emergency services. The news story highlights an ongoing struggle of public education campaigns to deal with social networking sites and their increased role in our lives, especially in educating people about who to call in emergency situations.

What

The news story is a follow up to a previous article called “Trapped girls call for help on Facebook”, by the same news company, reiterating the need for Public Education Campaigns to target the use of Facebook, and Emergency Services, after two girls posted on Facebook that they were trapped down a drain, instead of calling 000 for Emergency Services.

Issues

The main issue raised was that there is an increasing transference of everyday activity onto online social networks, but now it seems to have transgressed into people alerting Facebook before they alert emergency services. This could have dire consequences as delay of Emergency Service response can impact largely on the success of the rescue mission.

Use in forming argument:

The article could be used in forming arguments surrounding the use of online social networking sites, and its increasing impact on real life situations. The argument could be formed that with the increased use of social networking sites, there is an increased risk that Emergency services could be delayed so much that someone does not receive help in time. This is a risk that we cannot take, so it must be ensured that everyone is educated about how to call and when to call emergency services, and when Facebook is just not appropriate.


Critical Evaluation:

Upon critical evaluation, this article seems a reliable source of information as to the current state of Facebook interaction amongst youths. While this would not be every young person's reaction to an emergency situation, any situation where this happens is too many.

Character

The character of this article is reliable. It has noted sources, and refers to a reported event, with scholarly interpretations of the implications of that event. The writing style is scholarly, referencing real issues with Communication and Media to highlight social problems that social networking can entail.


Currency

This article is only a year old, published in ABC News Online on the 8th of September 2009.


Intention

This article is credible, ABC News is one of the most established journalism networks in Australia. They are usually less commercially intended in their publishing. The author wrote this article with the intention of highlighting an alarming trend in today's society, especially in youth population. His sources include a Professor from Queensland's University of Technology, as well as a member of the Metropolitan fire service. His intention in using these sources are to highlight the connection between Communication and Media and real life situations that social networking can have huge influence on. The audience this article was intended for is most likely parents, as well as teenagers who might have a Facebook themselves. It is not only intended to inform community of the need for increased public education, but to act as a public education statement in itself, reminding Facebook users to keep it in its place, and use Emergency Services appropriately.

Authority

The author is reliable, as he is published in ABC News Online, a well established news station in Australia. Clayton Bloom has been working at ABC News for 6 years. His sources are well identified, with one of them being scholarly, and his article refers to a report on the incident that was published a day before.

Kate Lowe