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Fashioning the Future

Video 1: Introduction to Fashioning the Future by Ashlee Murphy

The fashion journalist, once the gatekeepers to the fashion capitals of the world and their runways, are now fleeting to rule the World Wide Web.This expansion comes from not just the breadth of opportunities and advancements known to social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and yes, even Tumblr, but also to keep up with the relentless battle against the fashion blogger and the decline of print media. Starting the conversation for this structural shift to modern journalism is important to divulging the true impact of technology and social media - is it a friend or foe to the future of journalism?

THE FASHION BLOGGER

Call it amateur, but the rise of the fashion blogger is real. Once marginalised by their lack of degree or profession, the blogger was a rare sight on any forum of journalism. Many believed it was pure PR, disguised by the pretence of journalism. However, if new media has started anything, it’s the democratisation of the journalism sphere. 

Fashion bloggers are now seen as the voices of potential - the people that can freely, analytically and without the constraints of appeasing media standards and organisations, comment with fresh perspectives in an industry that relies on the ideal of the ‘new’. However, is this ‘freedom’ damaging to the integrity of journalism? 

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance developed the Journalist’s Code of Ethics in 1944 which has since served as a core for Australian press self-regulation. Bloggers, by their separation to traditional media professionals, and the absence of ‘quality-control’ associated with media representation, are not applicable to this code. This, along with a lack of experience and education in the areas, presses the argument on blogging as being an unprofessional practice and an unreliable source for fashion news - especially in a society where the detriments of fake news are so very real.

Author Geoffrey Millerson (1964, p. 14) argues that professional practice can be defined by 23 characteristics. Six of these are transferable across industries:

1. A skill based on theoretical knowledge.

2. Intellectual training and education.

3. The testing of competence .

4. Closure of the profession by restrictive organisation.

5. A code of conduct.

6. An altruistic service in the affairs of others.

Evaluating fashion bloggers against this criteria proved that a blogger cannot currently be defined as a profession as the nature of blogging only appeals to the sixth characteristic. Equally so, the capabilities and lack of boundaries characteristic to blog posting continues to lower the bar on what constitutes ‘journalism,' and therefore implementing the ‘professionalism’ of the job. However, their voice, as one that is accessible anywhere in the world on any device and any online platform, is on none of us can really avoid as a forum of fashion news.

The role of the fashion blogger in new media is one that is disruptive - one that will break down the barriers of ‘professional practice’ and continue to democratise the journalistic sphere until we all could just be bloggers or civil journalists across multiple news platforms. Either way, the current journalists playing field sees the bloggers with reigns over the internet, and in today’s digital world, perhaps it’s them that are the highest stakeholders.

Figure 1: Growth of readership for Australian fashion magazines in the span of 12 months. Data retrieved from Roy Morgan. 

THE TANGIBLE FASHION MAGAZINE

As seen from the data visualisation above, readership values for Australian fashion magazines in the past twelve months are staying pretty stagnant, or if not, slipping (see Frankie). This shows us the growing concern for the future of print media, and more specifically, the fashion magazine.

Industry professionals still remain adamant that print is irreplaceable. Former fashion editor for Queensland media corporations Quest Newspapers, Courier Mail and (now inactive) BMagazine, Laura Churchill, says that although she may be a ‘dinosaur’ in her thinking, she still ‘loves to be able to pick up a newspaper or a magazine and be able to read something tangible - something you can keep’. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL MINI INTERVIEW WITH LAURA CHURCHILL

Dinosaur? Maybe. Just maybe.

The battle between online media, such as blogs, and print media is undoubtedly a paradigm shift as the world continues to digitalise. This shift, and opening of new platforms, would give off the idea of more job opportunities, however in most publications, print journalism teams also contribute to their digital platforms, which perhaps is a core lesson for the future of fashion journalism (not to foreshadow or anything, wink).

The shift was given life by the rapid rise of technology and the Internet. These complimenting areas have distributed the idea of the world as an interconnected web of politics, economics and culture due to the technologies speeding up the delivery of information (Arnould et al., 2005, p. 214-215). Journalism and fashion, as two industries that rely on time, politics, economics and culture at their cores, are pretty cozy in this domain. Repeatedly, we’re seeing this shift leave print media in the dust.

A key example of this is the UK edition of the internationally renowned InStyle Magazine, which in 2016 stopped its print publication to instead focus on online-only distribution. 

“What we have achieved with InStyle over the last few years has been hugely rewarding and the team has, rightly, won numerous awards and nominations for their work across print and digital,” said editor Charlotte Moore.

“But the fashion world is changing dramatically - the way our audience interacts with it is changing and we have to change to meet that challenge. With a focus on delivering the InStyle experience across all digital platforms, we can really give our audience 24-hour access to all the fashion and beauty looks, trends and brands they clearly have such a huge appetite for.”

However, this bold decision from InStyle UK was met with criticism as leading fashion and journalism professionals believe that the future for print remains strong.

“I think that magazines, Vogue and Condé Nast, all they do is talk about online content and online projects. And I think they slightly forget their own DNA,” says Godfrey Deeny, former fashion editor-at-large of Le Figaro. 

“The DNA of magazines is the same as the DNA of luxury products: to make beautiful objects and reflect a certain amount of intelligence.”

If there were any greater example of adapting to both print and online, let it be Deeny’s ventures between them both. Deeny, other than being the former fashion editor at Le Figaro, has an extensive journalistic history as the editor-in-chief of Vogue Hommes International, and buerau chief of Women’s Wear Daily in Paris, under John Fairchild (Business of Fashion, 2018). He is currently positioned as the editor-in-chief of German magazine Achtung while still contributing fashion critiques for Le Figaro. Although boasting the impressive resume of print-focused titles, Deeny was also highly involved in the launch of online fashion website, the Fashion Wire Daily, as the European editor-at-large, AND just last year succeeded as the inaugural international editor-in-chief of Fashion Network.com. 

By embracing positions across both mediums, Deeny has been able to secure a sensational career in fashion journalism that spans over 25 years. 

IMAGE 1: Print and Online examples of fashion journalism. Image credit to Megan Dennis.

Perhaps then, a collaboration (rather than a battle!) between the print and digital sides, is at the core of a thriving future for fashion journalism. By marrying the online idea of immediacy and the reputable traditions of print, all aspiring journalists would be ‘multi-lingual’ in their approaches to media platforms. The notion of being a cross-disciplinary journalist is also referred to as multi-skilling, or up-skilling - a trend that sees the journalism industry depart from specialisation in platforms (such as broadcast journalists, print journalists etc.) to adapt to all areas of journalism for maximised flexibility (Nygren, 2014, p. 76). In a survey conducted in 2012 of 1,500 journalists, 73% could see future journalists being multi-skilled (Nygren, 2014, p. 81). Six years later, we are the future journalists. As myself, and other’s in my position begin our journalism careers with an eye for fashion journalism, the area of multi-skilling needs to be at the fore-front of our minds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ashlee Murphy is a third year fashion and journalism student at the Queensland University of Technology. While her ultimate goal is to overthrow the great Anna Wintour in her position as Vogue Editor-in-Chief (see Ashlee’s own interesting interpretation of this above), Ashlee knows that Rome wasn’t built in a day and is happy to embrace the freelancer life until her reign of the fashion journalism industry comes. If she’s not busy reading up on critical areas of fashion studies and brushing up on her online shopping skills, she’s raising a beautiful labrador x golden retriever puppy. 

REFERENCES

Abnett, K. (2016). ��How Newspaper Supplements Took On Fashion Magazines.” Business of Fashion, February 17, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/how-newspaper-supplements-are-beating-fashion-magazines-at-their-own-game

Arnould, E., Price, L., & Zinkhan, G. (2004). Consumers (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Arthur, C. (2012). “A blogger or a journalist? Debate over the power and influence of tech writers”. The Guardian, February 27, 2012. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/26/blogger-journalist-silicon-valley-dan-lyons

Business of Fashion (2018). Godfrey Deeny. Retrieved from https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/godfrey-deeny

Hermida, A. (2010). TWITTERING THE NEWS. Journalism Practice 4 (3), 297–308. DOI: 10.1080/17512781003640703

Jackson, J. (2016). InStyle UK magazine to shut print edition. The Guardian, October 19, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/19/instyle-uk-magazine-digital-only-time-inc

Maisey, S. (2017). “In conversation with fashion critic Godfrey Deeny - who has spent 25 years critiquing the industry.” Lifestyle, November 11, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/in-conversation-with-fashion-critic-godfrey-deeny-who-has-spent-25-years-critiquing-the-industry-1.674746

MEAA. (2018). MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.meaa.org/meaa-media/code-of-ethics/

Millerson, G. (1964). The Qualifying Associations: A Study of Professionalization. London: Routledge and Paul.

Nygren, G. (2014).Multiskilling in the Newsroom: De-skilling or Re-skilling of Journalistic Work? The Journal of Media Innovations 1 (2): 75-96. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/jmi.v1i2.876

Roy Morgan. (2018). Australian Magazine Readership, 12 months to June 2018. Retrieved from http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/magazine-readership

Wang, C. & Stivers, V. (2018). Inside The Fake News Campaign To Smear Russia's Biggest Fashion Influencers. The Refinery, May 7, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/05/198267/fake-news-russian-it-girls-miroslava-duma

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Third, and final instalment to my podcast series. Thank you to everyone who has listened in on my thoughts of online journalism and gone through the journey of Ashlee’s discovery of podcasting.

Share your own thoughts about online journalism with #dae-zea and join the digital conversation!

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Unsure why the text didn’t save. Considering I started the upload process at 12am and here we are at 5am, I think I’ll leave it. Please reimagine the title as:

Speed Vs Accuracy

A podcast by Ashlee Murphy

Share your own thoughts about online journalism with #dae-zea and join the digital conversation!

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Smartphones make Smartreporting

Ten years ago, on June 29th 2007, the world was introduced to the first generation of the Apple iPhone.

At the time, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, had commented that, “there's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidised item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60 per cent or 70 per cent or 80 per cent of them, than I would to have 2 per cent or 3 per cent, which is what Apple might get.”

Eating your words, Steve?

Because in the first half of 2017 alone, the iPhone 7 proved it was the world’s favourite smartphone. The iPhone 7’s big brother, Plus, was even sold out online before Apple could even get the model to store shelves.

And for good reason, the specs on this things are incredible, and only get better every year. Journalists are now beginning to putting down their audio recorders, film cameras and DSLRs to favour the all mighty smartphone. Below, I list three of the most important ways that I myself have used my own iPhone (albeit it’s the 6 model. Forgive me for being behind the times), and examples of journos using this in professional situations…

Audio recording for interviewing and broadcasting

Hidden amongst a few core apps that one may never use (I’m looking at the Health app in particular) is one that I use as a student journalist every time I approach a new story. Voice Memos.

Voice memos has the ability to record and file audio, which has proven very handy for interview situations. While I call my interviewee on my MacBook computer, my iPhone records the audio by my side. While having a face-to-face interview, my iPhone listens intently on the table. I discuss how interviewees perceive iPhones in my podcast here (which, FYI, was recorded in Voice Memos), however the on-the-go mobility of the iPhone makes it ideal for spare of the moment interviews when a news story arises.

In fact, why stop there? The App Store holds many opportunities for journalists to enhance their audio with trimming and splitting tools, fade in/fade out sequences and audio effects; then share the edited work back to their news station. Here’s some examples.

Griffin iTalk Recorder Premium

Rev (FREE)

RecForge II (FREE)

Neal Augenstein of WTOP-FM and wtop.com in Washington, DC uses VeriCorder Audio Pro himself as his primary field reporting app. Augenstein has been donning this approach to radio broadcasting for seven years.

IMAGE: Wowza

2. Live reporting

In 2016, Facebook launched a new feature called Facebook Live that stole the exclusivity of live broadcasting from broadcast media. What once required a team of cameras, equipment trucks and satellites now just requires a smartphone and something to say. The update serves to challenge the role of the journalist by presenting everyday people as broadcasters and podcasters. Journalism has coined these individuals as citizen journalists.

While I may not broadcast live myself, live videos are dotted around my Facebook feed more than memes are these days. I cannot deny their value which is identical to the values of live reporting from television news programs. It’s instantaneous news.

Facebook Live exceeds traditional news programs, however, in that the sharability of online content reaches wider audiences than localised television. One such example is a women’s march held in JFK Airport whereby protestors chant against the Trump administration. Their message may have been shared amongst Facebook numerous times, but the footage was able to be downloaded and shared to other social media sites, such as Youtube where the original poster garnered an additional audience of over 75 000.

3. Photojournalism

I cannot dispute the quality of a DSLR camera, however I cannot put my iPhone 6 down either. For an online story I did regarding the behind-the-scenes of a university fashion magazine, all accompanying photos were taken with an iPhone 6.

For good reason too; for such a small compact little thing, the 8-megapixel iSight camera is nothing short of amazing. Additionally, the iPhone has the panorama option and editing software inside the iPhoto app. Instant photos with instant editing options of endless opportunities. However, the compactness of the smartphone is a major advantage in terms of being discreet. Bumping out the tripod, lenses and bulky DSLR body to favour a thin, streamlined mobile that is not bigger than the size of your hands means taking a shot often can go without notice. This can be the crucial difference between getting an image or not.

Professional photographer, Julian Calverley has created an exhibition and a book, called #iPhoneOnly that involved him swapping out his professional equipment for his smartphone camera.

"I'm used to carting around a lot of equipment - my Alpa camera with the PhaseOne IQ180 back is worth around 50 grand - but [the iPhone] is just this single device. You don't need to think about taking it with you. You don't even need to think about controls really. There's a degree of control with focus and exposure, but other than that, it's basic,” says Calverley.

In light of the media recent key shift to the digital sphere, it’s ever important journalists are up and happening with the latest forums of communication - the smartphone being at the top of that list. So here’s how I, along with switched on journalists all over the world, use the ingenious smartphone. Share your own smartphone tips and tricks with #dae-zea and join the digital conversation!

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My first podcast EVER, broadcasted for KJB222. Ignore any difficulties talking as I am getting over my sixth bout of tonsillitis for the year.

Join the digital journalism conversation! Find the listicle blog post, an accomplice to this podcast, here and share your views with #dae-zea.

RESOURCE: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/closer-story-accessibility-and-mobile-journalism

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CHAPTER TWO: A REGULATED JOURNALIST A DAY KEEPS THE FAKE NEWS AWAY

Regulating the voices of journalists has been suggested to address the rising fake news trend that is tainting today’s media sphere. However, is this regulation just censoring the voices of some of the most valuable voices of today’s journalism? Ashlee Murphy of dae-zea tackles this pressing debate in a two part blog series.

“Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived,” states The Cluetrain Manifesto, a work of business literature compiled collaboratively by four American business analysts/journalists.

There is no dismissing the value of the internet. The buzzing realm of the world wide web comes with an inherent freedom of speech and opportunity for conversation. The internet is quickly evolving to be the world’s most immediate source of news. Right now 38% of Americans are keeping up online only and 72% of those are reading their news on mobile devices.

Since the rise of the internet, titles such as ‘the blogger’ have come to the professional journalism scene. And, despite the often lack of qualifications, 57% of the American population is more likely to send their money that way rather than mainstream media. This is majorly in hand to the readership-journo relationship that is present in the conversational nature of being online.

UK Managing Director of affiliate marketing network, affilinet, Helen Southgate, now poses the question to bloggers, “how (do) they go about building on this trust, maintain editorial integrity, and at the same time, monetise their site?”

Regulatory demands are being made in light of the fake news epidemic and as the web is the widest distributor of the ‘open, natural, uncontrived’ human voice, online journalists are in the spotlight of criticism.

Convergency reviews have previously disregarded bloggers, with the Finkelstein Review citing only those with 15 000+ hits online warrants regulation. With so many of the internet’s influential voices below that bracket, it is long overdue for Australia’s regulations toward media and communications to see a refresher. This is largely due to the traditional frameworks for regulation being aligned with broadcasting and telecommunications, which dominated the media sphere in the 1990s. Clearly, these frameworks are just no longer appropriate for new digital media.

The biggest loophole within this framework revolves around the pressing question of what is an online journalist to do in a profession that next to no-one wants to pay for? Well, the answers, as described by Crikey, are speed (with accuracy lagging behind), Churnalism and advertorials. This means real, quality news content is lost; drowning in a sea of poor quality, unoriginality and profit marketing. Crikey describes this as online journalists ‘essentially viewing readers as eyeballs to be sold to advertisers.’ Of course print and broadcast are equally as guilty, however the intangible conversational, casual nature of online media often means that viewers don’t really know that what they’re viewing may be inaccurate or sponsored. Such content is not within the monitoring of media guidelines.

Due to that very casual nature of online, and specifically social media, journalism, there is a ‘heard it through the grapevine’ narrative evident.

The photo of one victim, a 22 year old student named Sunil Tripathi, had been shared over Facebook by his friends and family after he’d been missing almost eight weeks. However, Twitter and Reddit escalated his search when users falsely accused Tripathi as one of the Boston Bombings suspects. Within twenty-four hours, the name and image of Tripathi was trending over both social media networks.

PHOTO: Twitter

Malinowski’s (who is notably the BuzzFeed Senior Sportswriter) post sparked further speculation over the innocence of Tripathi. The tweet was retweeted almost 140 times, and supported on other social media sites such as the Tumblr of largely infamous pop-culture blogger, Perez Hilton. His family subsequently endured a long night of phone calls, hundreds of threats and anti-Islamic messages (although they are not Muslim).

Tripathi was later found dead in the Providence River, ruling out any foul play and suspicion over his involvement with the Boston Bombings.

Social media was so very, very wrong and it is the flexibility, rapidity, spontaneity and economical value that makes it such a viable option to spread ‘alternative facts’, such as the misidentification of Tripathi, for journalists. This stands as the most potent support for the regulation of journalists worldwide.

A comparison between a media licence and the medical school graduate “MD” was deliberated in part one of this blog series. The health practitioner registration installs faith from patients, why shouldn’t a similar assessment process be attributed to journalists?

Doctors don’t deter their patients from seeking treatment from specialists or other medicinal sources; a regulated journalist wouldn’t be bigoted against readers extending their interest to other sources either. Therefore, an open media sphere with the freedom of speech that journalists hold so dearly wouldn’t be severed, but journos would still practice under ethical, universal regulation.

While regulation will be no quick-fix to the curing journalism of fake news, the newfound media trust that will be installed with new regulations across all journalistic forums will make fake news easier to distinguish.

Join the digital journalism conversation! Find part one of this online series that addresses the negatives of this debate here and share your views with #dae-zea.

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CHAPTER ONE: THE WORST PART OF MEDIA CENSORSHIP IS… *CENSORED*

Regulating the voices of journalists has been suggested to address the rising fake news trend that is tainting today’s media sphere. However, is this regulation just censoring some of the most valuable voices of today’s journalism? Ashlee Murphy of dae-zea tackles this pressing debate in a two part blog series.

People love the internet, and especially social media. It’s new, vibrant, exciting and free. We all have something to talk about, whether it be through Snapstories, Tweets or the ever populating Facebook Live videos. The opportunity for conversation gets people engaged and they feel as though their opinion is really wanted and cared about. Just human nature to appreciate that, right?

The internet is also a place that relies heavily on sharing. Social media is at the very base of this, especially because it is at everybody’s palm. The smart phone and social media are the twentieth century’s power couple; a romance stemmed from the three C’s; convenience, conversation and collaboration. Because of this sharability and interactivity, media giants have embarked on online journalism strategies to further their content forums to more audiences in a more engaging scope.

And that’s exactly what online journalism is; the new media scope. Traditional media is no longer the immediate gatekeeper to information because it has lost relevance to a world of bloggers, podcasters and vloggers. However, with these emerging ‘professionals’ comes a fair deal of questions regarding their credibility.

The debate of journalist regulations has been thrown around the media industry recently with sharp glares at online journalists. Social media’s sharability and interactivity have been scrutinised for its potential to initiate and open the throttle on fake news.  However, the wheels on that bus have been going round and round on traditional tabloids for decades, just see below. Perhaps it’s traditional media tropes we should be wagging our fingers at.

Photo: hutchyb/iStock, retrieved from AARP.

In fact, if there is anything from traditional media that should be completely retained, let it be the reliance on market liberal theories.

Market liberal theories refers to a free flowing ‘marketplace of ideas’. The internet does this well by neglecting some of the more traditional employment barriers (enter the media ‘amateurs’: aforementioned bloggers, podcasters and vloggers as well as start-up news outlets and freelance journalists) in favour of a greater media pluralism. Regulating the media would just stand to interrupt this.

Dr Tim Senior writes for Crikey, ‘As an interested observer and consumer of journalism, I thought clearly journalists needed to have some system of external regulation, and wasn’t sure how they couldn’t see this. The current system was broken, journalists had too much power, they could write whatever they wanted, push a particular agenda under the guise of free speech.’

His point is driven home with a comparison to doctors (notably Senior is a doctor), however one can’t simply compare journalism to the field of medicine. Medicine requires lengthy training, specific detailed knowledge and demonstration. One would argue that journalists, as gatekeepers of the truth and the loudest public voices, should follow some similar gruelling education and licensing processes. However, there are just too many question marks hovering above the concept and none of them are being answered. Why? Because it is just too difficult to introduce a filter to an industry that’s already established a new liberated media landscape online.

Let’s all be good journalists for a second and consider the W’s: who, what, where, when, why. Who would determine what knowledge and skills someone should learn and be able to demonstrate to get a journalism license? What are these rules for journalism? Where would these rules be established for global consistency? When will these same people enforce the rules and impose penalties? And why? Journalists are not general practitioners. Journalism and medicine are completely incomparable industries; regulating processes that may be necessary for medicine are redundant for media. Why, you may ask? The journalism sphere needs ‘amateurs’.

Call them ‘amateurs’, but these little guys are broadening the title of a journalist. Niche markets require journalists with immediate knowledge and passion for the specialised industries, whether this be hyperlocal stories or specifics such as search engine optimisation. With so many niche interests, there is clear competition within the market for attention. Online journalism is accessible. There are little to no entry barriers and, in comparison with print, inexpensive online advertising rates and ‘laser sharp customer targeting’. Thus, those with interest can jump on deck and start pulling the ropes instantaneously with quality content and the ability to distribute it on the world wide web. Soon enough, the under dogs are the top dogs with an aptitude for evolving and enhancing their business models to meet global journalism market demands.

All in all, we should be considering the technological shift in the current journalism business model and neglecting any further regulation within the media code of practice. It’s unnecessary. The internet is too conversational in nature to control, hence why these online journalists are doing so well. Besides, to legislate authorities to regulate the media would cause conflict between the government and the major Australian media organisations that parliament has direct association with. As quoted by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2011, when he was the Opposition Communications Spokesman, “we would be just walking away from so many tenets of a free society.”

Join the digital journalism conversation! Find part two of this online series that addresses the positives of this debate here and share your views with #dae-zea.

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MODEL: Duckie Thot

For Paper Magazine

‘Beautiful people’

September 2017

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Kristine Zandmane by Stephen Lewis for Lui December/January 2014/2015

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Giambattista Valli / FW Couture 2016

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Vanessa Moody by Nathaniel Goldberg for Harper’s Bazaar US April 2016

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Prada Fall/Wint 2016 - Rianne Van Rompaey by Steven Meisel

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Valentino | Haute Couture | Fall 2016

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Oyster Market: ‘Heartbreaker’ Shot By Mason Stevenson

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Dsquared² F/W 2016 (Details)