Ed Affair

Q. Is there evidence of external factors influencing the framing and sourcing of the Intelligent Design debate?

Purpose

The purpose of this essay is to determine if the framing and sourcing of the Intelligent Design debate has been influenced or limited by external factors such as journalist agendas, reliance on elite sources, audience expectations, political and religious affiliations of the news organisation, etc.

Scope

Drawing on the voting patterns from the 2004 US Election, I will be analysing the newspaper coverage of the Intelligent Design debate from Republican and Democratic states. There will be a focus on the editorial section of these newspapers as it tends to reflect the position of the media organisation.

Main Ideas

• Framing – how has the intelligent design debate been framed by the media? What opinions are more salient than others, and are there other arguments that have not been included in the coverage? As Entman (1993, p.54) states “most frames are defined by what they omit as well as include and the omissions of potential problem definitions, explanations, evaluations and recommendations may be as critical as the inclusions in guiding the audience”.

• Sources – has there been a reliance on elite sources and quotable quotes that have supported the framing of the debate? Have some sources featured more prominently in some newspapers as compared to others? As Schlesinger states “the media are structurally biased towards very powerful and privileged sources who become ‘over-accessed’”

• Media Agenda – is the media trying to appeal to its target audience by framing the debate in a certain way? Is there a leaning towards one side over another based on the ideologies of the journalist or media organisation?
“Journalists rely on narrative structures that mask more than they reveal and short-circuit the kinds of contextualization, sourcing and analysis that can provide new insights on hot-button issues and move public discussion forward” (Winston 2005, p.67)

Key Readings

Entman, R.M. 1993, ‘Framing: toward clarification of a fractured paradigm’, Journal of Communication, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 51-58.
This article seeks to define the terms ‘frame’ and ‘framing’ and explains how they are used in the media and how they work. At the time the article was written Entman was calling for a consistent concept of ‘framing’ and argues that a definition will benefit audience autonomy, journalistic objectivity, content analysis and public opinion and normative democratic theory.

Ericson, R.V., Baranek, P.M. & Chan, J.B.L. 1989, Negotiating Control: A Study of News Sources, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
This book focuses on the ways various source organisations organise to communicate through the media, and how they go about producing ‘news’ or limiting what is released. It examines the degrees of control source organisations have over the news media and vice-versa and the tensions faced as each party deals with secrecy, confidence, censorship and publicity.

Manning, P. 2001, News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction, SAGE Publications, London.
This book explores the nature of news source-news organisation interaction, as well as examines the ways in which they work together to produce news within the constraints posed by markets, ownership structures and political institutions. It also mentions smaller interest groups and their struggle in getting their agenda noticed in the media.

McCullagh, C. 2002, Media Power: A Sociological Introduction, Palgrave, Basingstoke.
This book explores the role of the media in society and its effects on the way audiences receive and interpret the news. It examines how the world is represented to the audience in media content, how the news is produced and how the context of its production shapes its nature and content.

Schudson, M. 2002, ‘The news media as political institutions’, Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 249-269.
This article examines the role of the media in politics by identifying three main approaches. The first is patterns of media ownership and organisational behaviour in liberal vs. repressive states, the second is the social organisation of news and the interaction between journalists and their sources and the third is news as a form of culture that incorporates pre-disposed general belief systems, assumptions and values into news writing.

Gross, P.R. 2005, ‘Courtroom testimony offers an excellent road map for reporters’, Nieman Reports, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 69-71 and
Winston, D. 2005, ‘When the conflict narrative doesn’t fit’, Nieman Reports, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 67-68.
These two articles examine the news coverage of the intelligent design debate and identify some shortcomings in the way it has been handled.

In a follow-up to an earlier post about the decline in university enrolments, there has been more written about this trend in today’s broadsheet newspapers. The Australian has reported that it is the regional universities that are experiencing under-enrolments and are consequently needing to lower entry scores for courses in order to meet federal government quotas. As The Age stated

“If universities fail to meet student quotas, they face the prospect of losing financing.”

Entrance scores for some courses have now dropped to the 50s across NSW, Victoria and Western Australia at smaller universities as students listed metropolitan universities as their first preference. In Western Australia, the strong employment market in the resources sector has led to many students not re-enrolling in favour of high salary packages being offered. The drop in entrance scores has been criticised by Brendan Nelson, who feels it is compromising the standard levels of universities.

This is a dilemma for universities as they struggle to comply with government regulations

“The mixed messages are confusing, not least for university managers as they grapple with the new regime and try to second guess the commonwealth’s response to non-compliance.”

This shift away from regional universities may lead to Nelson proposing to put in place an American-style structure where students enrol in general undergraduate courses conducted at smaller universities and then move to the sandstone universities to complete postgraduate professional courses. This move has already been undertaken by the University of Melbourne as the South China Morning Post (3/12/05) reports. As it is mainly undergraduate courses that are HECS funded, this seems like an attractive solution to cash-strapped universities as post-graduates have to pay full fees which in some cases mean outlays of up to $100,000.

There is opposition to such a move:

“The Melbourne announcement was attacked by academic and student groups as well as professional organisations worried the extra time needed to complete two degrees would worsen Australia’s skills shortage.”

and

“Labour Party said it was very concerned that further Americanisation of the university sector would put a high-quality education out of the reach of many Australians.”

It seems that Brendan Nelson needs to take another look at the direction of Australian universities and devise policies that keep universities sustainable without compromising standards. Did the passing of VSU do that?

It seems that when there is a slow news week in education, the rise in school fees - especially in private school fees - always guarantees some noise in the media. An article by SMH (31/12/05) called “School fees lock in the smartest”, reported that some private schools are asking parents to

“pay huge, non-refundable enrolment fees more than a year in advance, in a move critics say is aimed at keeping the smartest students away from selective public schools.”

With the number of year 6 students sitting for the selective high school exams increasing and becoming more competitive, private schools are resorting to this method in an effort to lock in the more academically-gifted students that have private schools as their alternative choice. This in turn reflects well on the school when these students perform well in state-wide exams such as the HSC.

As well as asking for high enrolment fees, annual fees have also risen at Sydney’s top private schools with Shore passing the $20,000 a year mark and The King’s School and Sydney Grammar close behind. The schools cite building repairs and salary costs of additional teachers to reduce class sizes as the main reasons for the increase.

An article by the Guardian late last year stated that Australia was the country of choice for Asian international students due to cheaper fees, cheaper cost of living and their desire to settle here after they had finished studying. The US and UK in the meantime experienced a drop in applications because of the London bombings and the US clampdown on foreign students after September 11.

But in a few short months this sentiment has changed, as The Australian reports.

“The boom in overseas students studying in Australian universities appears to be at an end as global security fears and the rising dollar make this country less appealing internationally”

Another factor is that Asian countries in the Asia-Pacific region are starting to invest more into universities, making it more attractive for students to study locally. This is a concerning factor for Australian universities as international students have become a critical source of income, especially as government funding has declined. The passing of VSU legislation will mean that many of the services offered by universities will cease, making them even less attractive to foreign students.

The US on the otherhand, has just announced a review of the number of student visas issued as well as a new language initiative for schools to teach “non-traditional” languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and Farsi. This is new initiative is being undertaken in the interest of national security as the Bush government has discovered there is a shortage of Americans who speak these languages. In the words of Bush

“Learning somebody else’s language is a kind gesture, and a gesture of interest. It is a fundamental way to reach out to somebody and say, ‘I care about you.’ I want you to know that I’m interested in not only how you talk but how you live.”

Already, Chinese language centres called the Confucius Institute, are aligning themselves with US universities such as the University of Maryland with five others expected to open soon and twelve more are under discussion.

It is quite astounding to note that while the US has a higher number of immigrants from many more countries than Australia, it is only now that they are providing resources and programs to educate people about different nationalities. Obviously Hispanic culture is the most dominant in the US but for a country that prides itself on being ahead of everyone else, they seem a bit slow on the uptake in this case.

The push for more students into full-fee paying university courses by the Federal Government does not seem to be working as The Australian reported last week. The number of students applying for tertiary education courses has dropped since last year and the number of students enrolling in full-fee courses has plateaued. The drop can also be attributed to an increase in the cost of university courses, even through HECs and any financial assistance from the Government simply does not cover the cost of attending university especially for those that also need to pay rent and other expenses.

The increase in the cost of tertiary education is being felt overseas as well, as the The Guardian and The Times report. The Blair Government has introduced top-up fees of £3000, up from £1,700 which has led to a drop in the number of applicants to universities, especially the smaller ones. Although they have a similar HECs style repayment system, i.e. paying off uni fees after starting full-time work, the initial layout is providing a deterrant to recent high school graduates.

It is possible that this drop off in university enrolments could continue into the next decade, as an article in The Australian predicts.

“Young adults, impatient with school dependency, rejecting more years of “just learning”, headed to flexible employers anxious for their services. University enrolments dropped; creative work-based edu-ventures emerged.”

With the competition for graduate positions in certain fields such as law and business growing fiercer, it is possible that there may be more students studying part-time, while working full time in order to tailor their educational qualifications to meet employer expectations. This in turn will change the structure of the university system, especially if the trend towards overseas universities establishing campuses in Australia and vice-versa becomes a policy of the universities and government

“Born global” high-achiever Australians are enrolling in Asian or US enterprises, over there or at branches here. They will pay for international education that gives them an edge in networking and career. By 2010, our new elite seven universities noticed many bright and young students heading overseas for first degrees (with travel deals keeping family close) rather than spend three years in a “local”.

If education policy continues in the same direction it seems to be headed, it seems that the gap between the well-off and the not-so well-off will widen in terms of the number of opportunities that are available to university students.

The age old debate between religion and science has been played out again in a Pennsylvanian courtroom over whether or not ‘intelligent design’ theory should be taught in the science curriculum. For those not aware, it is stated in the United States constitution that there is to be a separation of church and state - which means that religion is not allowed to be taught in any state schools. The judge, John E. Jones III ruled that intelligent design pushes a religious motive in its teachings that life must have been designed by an intelligent source as opposed to Darwin’s theory of evolution. While Judge Jones acknowledged that there were gaps in Darwin’s theory

“However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions.”

And therefore should not be taught in Pennsylvanian state schools as part of the science curriculum.

It was interesting to note how many newspapers picked up this story and a list of some of those that did are listed below. A few papers just reported on the ruling, while others added related articles as a local response to the decision.

New York Times

The Australian

Daily Herald Utah

Washington Post

Washington Post opinion

The Guardian

The Independent UK

The Times (brief article)

Globe and Mail Canada

Daily Telegraph

Gulf News (UAE)

There have been in recent times many studies and articles about how Generation Y (those born in 1978 and 1994) will cope in a future of an aging population, lessened job security and rising property prices. The Sydney Morning Herald recently published another such article based on a qualitative survey carried out by senior strategist, Catherine Heath at advertising agency George Patterson Y & R. The surveys were conducted using focus groups of up to 10 participants, although it does not say how many focus groups were used. The article states

“…they truly believe that one day the lifestyles of the rich and famous they eagerly follow in the gossip mags will be theirs.”

“the universal theme among interviewees was money and a desire to make lots of it.”

An interesting point that the article brings up is the “proliferation of gossip mags” that have made the lifestyles of today’s celebrities seem attainable by Gen-Y. In the movie Good Night, and Good Luck based on the work of journalist Edward R. Murrow, there is a speech made by the lead character about how the content on television in the 1950s was heading down a path of simply insulating those who watched it and making them complacent in their own small world. Perhaps the instantaneous nature of how Gen-Y lives is leading to an unexpected and unpleasant shock “with the realisation that the pinnacle of its achievements is a job as a middle-ranking accountant, a Toyota-Camry and a semi the wrong side of Parramatta road”.

It seems that the way to avoid this disappointment is through education, as Adele Horin argues. She states

“More than ever, education and formal skills dictate how people fare in the new economy. To the credentialled go the spoils”.

This does in some part explain the pressure and hype placed on the results of the HSC as it can smooth the pathway for economic prosperity. This sentiment is also echoed in South Africa with a push for the educated to become entrepreneurs as there is a shortage of jobs to the number of those that completed final year exams.

It seems that the race is on for qualifications, skills and bargaining power and while it means a more competitive job market and therefore economy, what has it been at the expense of?

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald today reported that the attendance of children in years 5-8 fell from 95% in year 6 to 85% in year 8. The reason for this is that the transition from primary school to high school is a difficult period which is not made easier with the number of core subjects and few electives that students are required to complete. The article stated that

schools had to be “tailored to the needs of individual students” rather than being part of an amorphous “large system of schools”.

This point is interesting especially considering the amount of funding currently going to public schools at the moment, I find it hard to believe that a school will have the resources to tailor education to an individual’s needs. While it is acknowledged that some students have learning difficulties, having compulsory traditional subjects is necessary in the early years of education so as to give students an idea of how such information is applied in everyday life. This is especially indicative in the many reports about literacy levels - has anybody noticed that correct grammar and spelling has gradually gotten worse in adults?

The SMH was the only paper to run with this story today, the others are still concentrating on the Sydney riots. It is interesting to note that they seem to have taken heed of criticism with regard to the role of the media in how they are presenting the conflict.

Remember back in school when everybody was talking about somebody the only way that gossip was spread was via hand-written notes passed back and forth and whispered comments made with our hands covering our mouths? Well, in the digital age and the increased use of blogs, this conduct has now transpired to the internet which has a far greater reach and consequently led to more traumatic experiences for the victim.

Cyber-bullying has become a new way for bullies to torment their targets with schools seemingly helpless in trying to stop personal abuse, name-calling, insults and sexually explicit comments on student blogs as reports in the UK and US have found. Even child celebrities cannot escape this, as Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter films discovered when a mock profile of him was posted on a blog and fellow students made the following comments:

“friends: none” and “[the] media’s sucking **** **** and you still deny u like punk and wear tartan trousers. When u coming back anyway?? suppose u dont need education when ur as rich as u r”.

One entry from Ranelagh Church of England school in Bracknell, Berkshire, last week read: “Thought I would repeat how much everyone hates you and that my lifetime wish is for you to [be partly] sliced into pieces.”

Although it is possible to block users from a blog to prevent re-offenders, the damage is usually done once the target reads the comments. A blog host has refused to take down names from their site after a request by British schools claiming that this type of bullying is safer because it’s not taking place in the real world.

Welcome all to Ed Affair, a blog about education news and current affairs happening in Australia and around the world. While it will be looking at the issues discussed in the articles themselves, I will also be examining how the news has been dealt with by the journalist/publisher based on academic paradigms.