Lauren Dubois
“Journalism is the first rough draft of history” -Philip L. Graham
Archive for April, 2007
April 24, 2007 at 7:40 pm · Filed under Journalism
The humble telemarketer - the occupation of choice for students, travellers and millions of Indians. One of Australia’s most hated professions.
The 3rd of May will be a good day for anyone who has ever picked up the phone and heard that long pause….. and then… Hello, is Mrs Jones there?
The Australian Communications and Media Authority will roll out the much anticipated Do Not Call Register.
Just register your details and, voila! You will never get a telemarketing call again. And yes, it does include those calls from India.
The ACMA believe the register will be wildly popular. Australians hate telemarketing.
It’s understandable - we didn’t ask to be called, and with quality family time at a premium, most of us don’t want to waste it speaking to a stranger about a new phone plan.
But do we ever think about what it must be like to be the one who has to dial our number?
According to Rosie Lentini, an ex- Market Researcher, it’s not fun.
“It could be really soul destroying. People were so rude. It was like they forgot that you were a human being”, she says.
Rosie, 26, worked in the industry for 9 months during her honours year at uni.
“It really ruined my psyche. I would be so depressed at the end of the day. I would leave and feel used”, she says.
Stress related leave in call centres is common. Making and taking calls; being hung up on and abused. It can drive someone over the edge.
Andrew Brown, 25, would have preferred the callers to simply hang up on him.
“One person told me if I didn’t get off the phone, he would come to where I was working, wrap the phone cord around my neck and shove the receiver down my throat”, he says.
Telstra’s call centre environment and unrealistic sales targets caused one employee so much stress, she took her own life.
The task is perhaps so torturous, that a Sydney jail opened a call centre and put their female prisoners to work. The inmates were paid $35 a week to sell recycled ink cartridges and take customer calls for the RTA. Does anyone deserve such punishment?
Coming up with the most creative ways to torture a telemarketer has become a bit of a sport. Elaborate methods to do away with nuisance calls.
But ultimately, that person on the other end of the line has a family too. And they need to pay their bills.
So maybe next time you get a call, give them a break.
You can just politely say, “no thanks.”
April 14, 2007 at 11:49 am · Filed under Journalism
Q: What’s the difference between God and a lawyer?
A: God doesn’t think He’s a lawyer.
Lawyers are simply unpopular.
There is a reason that the ‘lawyer joke’ is a category of its own……
Tim Breakspear, a solicitor at Mallesons Stephens Jacques, doesn’t think he is unpopular. Tim believes being in the corporate sector protects him from public opinion.
“I represent companies and corporations, so never really encounter the public”, he said.
On the rare occasions he meets a member of the public in a legal capacity, he can explain any ill feeling as a side effect of the legal process.
“If someone is losing a case, they will take it out on everyone”, he said.
Government solicitor, Danielle Hann, ackowledges that her profession is not known for their morals. She blames the lack of trust and respect on high fees.
“Lawyers’ fees are not only relatively high but the way they charge doesn’t make sense to most people.”
Danielle points out that people will say they don’t like lawyers - until they need them. If people actually dealt with lawyers regularly, their opinions would improve.
Ysaiah Ross, a former Law Professor at UNSW sums it up.
“I think it’s because of the media image, and also most people who have had to deal with the law in any way usually are not very satisfied with it. So the law is complicated and lawyers, no matter what happens in a particular case, the lawyer always gets paid. You might be very dissatisfied with the service, but you’ve still got to pay.”
According to these lawyers, the public’s opinion of the legal profession is unfair and based on a few bad lawyers that are poisoning an industry of ethical, responsible and lawful practitioners. Perhaps this public opinion is a symptom of people believing what everybody else thinks?
Interestingly, the above lawyers all had negative comments about journalists….. glass houses?
April 12, 2007 at 10:42 am · Filed under Journalism
I am about to enter a profession that is seen as having a public image problem. In an attempt to find some peers, I thought I would take a look at some other professions that are suffering low public opinion.
Do they understand the reasons for this opinion? Do they agree?
Does it affect their ability to do their work?
Is the situation ever going to change?
First up is the Legal profession….. are they as sneaky and money grubbing as everyone thinks they are???
Stay tuned……
April 5, 2007 at 4:02 pm · Filed under Journalism
Newspaper journalists and TV Reporters are ranked No. 5 and 6 respectively, on a list of Australia’s most distrusted professions.
I am a journalism student. This is not good news for me.
What have I got myself in for?
The Roy Morgan research poll, released on Wednesday, lists 29 professions in order of perceived ethics and honesty.
Gary Morgan Executive Chairman of Roy Morgan Research says “In what is a blight on the journalism profession, three-in-five (59%) Australians agree that they don’t trust journalists to tell the truth.”
We are taught about ethics, standards and the fight to protect whistle blowers and confidential sources.
Journalists are willing to go to jail to protect their sources (as seen in the Harvey-McManus case), and yet the public would trust politicians and lawyers more…..
Why?
“Today Tonight has a lot to answer for” says freelance journalist Alison Apryhs.
In the deterioration of the war for ratings, programs like Today Tonight and A Current Affair seem to enforce the opinion that Journalists are now in the business of saying and doing anything for viewers.
Before Good Weekend columnist Amanda Hooten became a journalist, she shared the public’s opinion of journalists. She was concerned that journalism would be all about door knocking and chasing people on the court steps.
She found the job had a different meaning for her.
“I have a passion and love for the privilege of the job, of going into other people’s lives.”
Amanda doesn’t feel hindered by the public opinion. “I am always amazed by how many people want to tell their story.”
Triple J’s Ronan Sharkey agrees. He believes the microphone has the ability to help people open up.
“I am privileged that people would tell their story, for no other reason than I asked them.”
The public believe journalists are skilled in dishing out the lies, gossip and dirt.
Journalists see themselves as privileged in being able to give a voice to people who don’t have one.
Most importantly, there are still people who can see the ethics and standards of the media industry and are willing to share their stories with us.
There is still hope for us students, full of anticipation, ambition and starry eyed enthusiasm for our chance to change the world with our words.
