eJournalist - A Refereed Media Journal

Volume 6, Number 1, 2006

Abstracts

Capturing the Digital Natives:The News Corporation Agenda.

Alan Knight

News Corporation is converging text, audio, television, and animation to become the first fully globalised, integrated media consortium. The company is switching its emphasis from newspapers, which provided the launching pad for Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, half a century ago, to new media. In doing so, News hopes to secure profits by addressing new ways in which news is created by and for younger audiences. Murdoch sees this process as capturing "digital natives".

T To facilitate these changes, News in 2004 moved its registration from South Australia, where it had its corporate origins, to the United States. Rupert Murdoch and his family had transformed News Limited from a regional Australian newspaper to News Corporation, a horizontally and vertically integrated multi media giant selling not just news but marketing its cultural packages across the United States, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Australia, whose media was progressively dominated by News Corporation products including newspapers, cinema, music, cable television and sport, became a consumer of these American accented products. As a result, Australia moved from the centre and source of News Corporation businesses to an increasingly remote corner of the corporate empire. This paper considers how the growth of News Corporation and the globalisation of its agendas impacted on Australian journalism, politics and culture. Murdoch meanwhile, describes News as the model for transnational media conglomerates in the 21st century.

An illusive leader’s annual speech

Kasun Ubayasiri

Despite spearheading a three decade long conflict with the Sri Lankan government force and for short period the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has remained an illusive figure in the island nation’s northern conflict. The Tiger leader has provided few media interviews in his lifetime, and virtually non since the late 80’s, at times adding fuel to the south’s politically motivated rumours announcing his death.

However, every year on November 27 Velupillai Prabhakaran has continued to address his ‘nation’, a much publicised statement which is viewed small window into the Tiger ideology. Despite its significance in providing and insight into the course of the ethnic conflict, little or no systematic research has been conducted to analyse the semiotic content of the annual speeches.

In this context this paper aims to provide a detailed analysis of the annual speeches, based on the texts available through numerous pro-Tiger sources, in a bib to determine the main narratives outlined in the Tiger leader’s ‘speech to the nations’.

Tamilnet and the International press: Global coverage of a radical press.

Kasun Ubayasiri

The paper provides a systematic analysis of Tamilnet’s role as a primary news source in the mainstream international media. It argues the format and content of the web-based news provider has yielded results in generating wider coverage for a self confessed Eelamist narrative that may have otherwise failed to reach international media consumers.


volume one number one number two volume two number one volume three number one number two volume four number one number two volume five number one number two volume six number one number two volume eight number one number two volume nine number one number two volume ten number one number two volume eleven number one number two volume twelve number one number two volume thirteen number one number two volume fourteen number one number two volume fifteen number one style notes submit an article	Volume 6, Number 1, 2006 Abstracts Capturing the Digital Natives:The News Corporation Agenda. Alan Knight News Corporation is converging text, audio, television, and animation to become the first fully globalised, integrated media consortium. The company is switching its emphasis from newspapers, which provided the launching pad for Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, half a century ago, to new media. In doing so, News hopes to secure profits by addressing new ways in which news is created by and for younger audiences. Murdoch sees this process as capturing "digital natives". T To facilitate these changes, News in 2004 moved its registration from South Australia, where it had its corporate origins, to the United States. Rupert Murdoch and his family had transformed News Limited from a regional Australian newspaper to News Corporation, a horizontally and vertically integrated multi media giant selling not just news but marketing its cultural packages across the United States, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Australia, whose media was progressively dominated by News Corporation products including newspapers, cinema, music, cable television and sport, became a consumer of these American accented products. As a result, Australia moved from the centre and source of News Corporation businesses to an increasingly remote corner of the corporate empire. This paper considers how the growth of News Corporation and the globalisation of its agendas impacted on Australian journalism, politics and culture. Murdoch meanwhile, describes News as the model for transnational media conglomerates in the 21st century. An illusive leader’s annual speech Kasun Ubayasiri Despite spearheading a three decade long conflict with the Sri Lankan government force and for short period the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has remained an illusive figure in the island nation’s northern conflict. The Tiger leader has provided few media interviews in his lifetime, and virtually non since the late 80’s, at times adding fuel to the south’s politically motivated rumours announcing his death. However, every year on November 27 Velupillai Prabhakaran has continued to address his ‘nation’, a much publicised statement which is viewed small window into the Tiger ideology. Despite its significance in providing and insight into the course of the ethnic conflict, little or no systematic research has been conducted to analyse the semiotic content of the annual speeches. In this context this paper aims to provide a detailed analysis of the annual speeches, based on the texts available through numerous pro-Tiger sources, in a bib to determine the main narratives outlined in the Tiger leader’s ‘speech to the nations’. Tamilnet and the International press: Global coverage of a radical press. Kasun Ubayasiri The paper provides a systematic analysis of Tamilnet’s role as a primary news source in the mainstream international media. It argues the format and content of the web-based news provider has yielded results in generating wider coverage for a self confessed Eelamist narrative that may have otherwise failed to reach international media consumers.	Editor Professor Alan Knight, Central Queensland University Advisory Panel Dr Yoshiko Nakano, Hong Kong University Elliott S. Parker, Central Michigan University, USA Dr Philip Robertson, Central Queensland University Jim Tully, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Dr Stephen Stockwell, Griffith University Philip Cass, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates Dr Steve Quinn, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates