My Research Analysis

For my first research topic I chose the issue of cyber bullying, this is a serious and fast emerging issue. I also chose this topic because I have dealt first hand with cyber bullying and I felt at ease writing something that I feel familiar with and something that connects both education and technology. Cyber bullying has become an increasingly common occurrence in schools over the recent years, with a recorded number of deaths from it as well as the rise of depression in teenagers, and the joining of suicide groups that are believed to be linked to cyber bullying. I decided to focus my research that links with the question “What is cyber bullying and how is it portrayed by the media?” and my research together.

My first entry is titled Cyber Bullying 101, which I decided to focus mainly on what exactly cyber bullying is so that I could better define and analysis my work afterwards. I also decided to mix this with a YouTube clip that I found of where a 13 year old girl committed suicide after a boy turned nasty on the internet. The YouTube clip had Tyra Banks a well known female role model for young girls worldwide discussing the effects of cyber bullying. I believe the choice of Tyra Banks doing this report was made so that the media could use a powerful influence to help put a stop to or help reduce cyber bullying.

But despite using a well known influence and telling the story of a young girl’s death they didn’t use statistics or even tell the viewers that the person behind the cyber bullying attacks was put behind bars, convicted, regrets what they did, etc/ There was no sorry closure to the attack. But they did promote a positive view when the mother of the daughter said “I am no longer full of hate towards them.” Them of course being the people involved in the attack, the mother also states that she now goes into schools across America and talks about cyber bullying and help try to put an end to it. This clip would have been better with the use of statistics or telling if a sizeable amount of laws or legislations being put into place as a result of the death of this girl, but they fail to do this.

My second entry focuses on some of the methods that are being used on preventing cyber bullying, which is why there is now cyber bullying prevention ads. The ad that I have used states “If you wouldn’t say it in person why say it online?”(1) It says this after a girl gets up on stage and gives a nasty speech on another girl in her class. Although this ad is eye opening and pretty much has a wow factor, it doesn’t have the correct wording in place to fully help prevent cyber bullying. The ad says “if you wouldn’t say it in person why say it online,” (1) but truth be told a lot of teenagers do say a lot of nasty stuff in person and that is called bullying. When doing it online is cyber bullying. The media’s approach to this should have realised that there is a difference and it would have been appropriate to suit the need to prevent and discourage cyber bullying, hence not making the prevention ad as effective as it could possibly be.

My third and fourth journal entries are similar with one being a report presented by A Current Affair that showed a school yard attack by a group of girls with one victim and was recorded by another student on their mobile and it was posted on YouTube. This report is different from previous entries as it has used an anti-bullying counsellor, Ms Susan Berne and she tells what types of things that appeal to cyber bullies and that is the ability to be anonymous, as it is real power control thing. The other entry being a newspaper report that has used information about what the government is doing to help conquer this overwhelming problem in Australia.

With the way the media presents this ACA report it appears that they are trying to show just what is occurring on our streets and in our schools. The ACA report is more for just raising awareness and not to try and change the public's view on the matter, unlike the ad prevention YouTube clip. It becomes obvious that it is more of an awareness report and the report ends with tips for both the parents and the victims of bullying. The newspapers media's approach- from using statistics and information about what the Government is doing to help stop and preventing cyber bullying, the media presents this newspaper article in a serious light. The added effect by using statistics makes the issue feel more real and problematic.

My final entry was a podcast that was a interview of the general manager of netalert Ms Lara MacDonnell; she discusses the recent findings of the “surveys of kids and parents about on internet safety conducted by netalert Australia internet safety advisory body and their co-operative community partner ninemsn found that cyber bullying in Australia is now starting as early primary schools.” (2) This is alarming not only to teachers but to parents and other Australians, as this implies that something must be done as the feel of this podcast is that this is a serious issue, with the use of statistics you have a clearer image of just how serious cyber bullying is.. With this type of media message it makes a clear and defining statement that work needs to be done to fix this fast emerging problem.

Overall my entries show different aspects covering a range of issues to do with cyber bullying, from what cyber bullying is, to prevention ads and results of cyber bullying. Each entry has a different media approach, each effective in their own way. Cyber bullying is a problem that needs to be addressed, different strategies should be used to reach out to all types of people. But I believe that further investigations into this issue to find an affective way of helping to prevent cyber bullying

References

(1) From the Ad Council:"Delete Cyberbullying. www.ncpc.org/cyberbullying" (Posted on YouTube)

(2) Edna- Australia's Free Online Network for Educators, Interview with general manager of Netalert Lara MacDonnell: http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/news/podcast/eli/EP8

Last day of cyberbullying..

Cyber Bullying Podcast..

This podcast is an interview with the general manager of netalert Ms Lara MacDonnell; she discusses the recent findings of the “surveys of kids and parents about on internet safety conducted by netalert Australia internet safety advisory body and their co-operative community partner ninemsn found that cyber bullying in Australia is now starting as early primary schools.” This is alarming not only to teachers but to parents and other Australians, this implies that something must be done as the feel of this podcast is that this is a serious issue, with the use of statistics you have a clearer image just how serious cyber bullying is. Lara MacDonnell states "that with the survey the results were quite high with 16% of girls have been bullied online and with 14% of girls being bullied through their mobiles, but the astounding fact is that only 7% of parents even knew that cyber bullying was occurring with their children." With this type of media message it makes a clear and defining statement that work needs to be done to fix this fast emerging problem.

Journal Entry Number 4..

Teens driven to suicide by cyber bullying..

This article was written by Gemma Jones from the Daily Telegraph, the article goes into detail about some statistics and basic information about cyber bullying as well as details about what the NSW Government is starting to do on the matter. The article states that the “NSW Government has formed an advisory panel of teenagers who have asked for drastic measures, including education classes for students and their parents and a phone helpline, to stop the growing problem”

Kid’s Helpline 1800 551 800

“In the most serious circumstances, online bullying can end in long-term mental health issues and suicide” The NSW Youth Advisory Council said. As from my previous journal entries it proves that this is a fact, death does occur from cyber bullying although I am yet to discover a resource that shows about mental health but if teenagers are willing to commit suicide than they must have had a mental problem first.


From using statistics and information about what the Government is doing to help stop and preventing cyber bullying, the media presents this article in a serious light. The added effect by using statistics makes the issue feel more real and problematic. But overall Gemma Jones the writer of the article ‘Teens driven to suicide by cyber bullying’ has given a more mature and endearing story that may help broaden the knowledge of cyber bullying to readers.

3rd Entry... Doesn't look good..

Stopping the violence....

This news report was aired on Tuesday the 16th by A Current Affair, the report showed a horrific video of a schoolyard fight, where a bunch of girls were attacking one another. The video was caught on a by standers phone, with technology the ability to record and broadcast things off your phone on to YouTube has become an increasingly common. With the attack being a sign on bullying but with the added video recording and posting on sites such as YouTube and facebook, it has become a cyber bullying attack as well as a physical one.

“These days with technology, if you’re a bully you don’t even have to show your face,” said anti-bullying counsellor Susan Berne from the news report. Since airing of the show viewers have sent in several other brutal attacks. It’s just amazing that by standers would record and upload these attacks, its taking cyber bullying to another level with displaying physical bullying and cyber bullying all in one. With the media presenting it this way it appears that they are trying to show just what exactly is occurring on our streets and in our schools. This report has the feel that it is more for just raising awareness and not to try and change the world feel, unlike the ad prevention YouTube clip. It becomes obvious that it is more of an awareness report when the report ends with tips for both the parents and the victims of bullying.

Despite not really being a part of my research journal I've decided to still put in all the tips from the Anti-Bullying counsellor Susan Berne as someone may find it beneficial

Tips for parents:

· Always support your child — they must feel like you're on their side
· Tell the school — speak to someone with real authority
· If the matter isn't resolved, consider changing schools
· Research other schools' bullying policies … Will they take effective action?
· Get more information on building your child's self-esteem so they feel confident in their new environment

Tips for helping victims of bullying:

· Ignore / don't respond to bullies
· Keep evidence of the bullying
· Block contact with bullies as much as possible
· Importantly, tell someone — especially your parents and a trusted teacher
· Let your parents take action, even if it makes you feel a bit uncomfortable
· As much as possible, avoid situations where bullying could take place

Another day.. another entry..

As I was researching for my next journal entry I decided to have another look into YouTube and I found this commercial used to try and prevent cyber bullying occurring, the ad states “If you wouldn’t say it in person, why say it online?” Despite being an extremely nasty and awakening type of commercial it uses the wrong type of wording as to when it says "if you wouldn’t say it in person why say it online", because truth be told a lot of people, teenagers mainly do say that sort of nasty stuff in person and that is called bullying, while doing it online is cyber bullying.

The media’s approach to this should have realised that there is a difference to how this is displayed, and a better wording would have been more appropriate to suit the need to prevent and discourage cyber bullying.

For example If you were telling this to a person just like this then it would be bullying but you have to be face to face unlike cyber bullying where you can follow the person right into their homes, and end it with a new text message sign, something as such. Yes the ad may be effective for a fair amount of the targeted audience but for the other part, they would realise that it is not as effective as bullies do say that sort of thing in person and online.

Day 1.. Cyberbullying 101..

Today is the beginning of a new era.. me using technology for more than just for checking emails and my facebook. Today is also a day where my eyes have been opened to all the possibilities that technology and the internet can be used for and to be honest it's kinda scary to take it all in but that is how society is today everything is based around technology. Although technology has numerous benefits such as keeping in contact with friends and family more efficiently, it also has it downsides, cyberbullying and internet hackers stealing our identities are just some to name a few. But for my research journal for LWT I will just be focusing on how technology interconnects with education.

So for my first topic I have decided to focus on cyber bullying, but more importantly than that I have chosen to answer my own question of What is cyber bullying and how is it portrayed by the media?

So what is cyber bullying? To be able to have a clear analysis on this topic we need to know exactly what the definition of cyber bullying is and according to Chris Webster's webpage..."Cyber bullying refers to bullying through information and communication technologies, mediums such as mobile phone text messages, emails, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging – and the latest trend – social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo."

Basically cyber bullying is any form of bullying that involves technology and because cyberbullying is relatively new there is no laws in place to protect anyone from this occuring. This leaves ecspecially children in schools affected and their bullies can now target them outside of school hours right into their homes.




My first resource is that of a clip of Tyra Banks, a well known Victoria's Secret model discuss just what can occur from an act of cyber bullying.





This YouTube video shows exactly what can happen as a result for cyber bullying. A 13 year old girl killing herself after a boy turns nasty on the internet; it became known that it was the mother of another girl behind the attacks that led to the young girl’s death. The mother denies doing anything more than to find out if the girl was saying nasty things about her daughter, as stated in the police report. Tyra Banks who is hosting the show with the report, goes on to interview the mother, who states that she is no longer full of hate towards anyone who may have been responsible for contributing towards her daughter’s death and now goes in to schools and talks about the dangers towards cyber bullying. This promotes a positive way to cope and deal with the loss of a child to cyber bullying as well as have an impact to promote the dangers of cyber bullying.

The media’s presentation of cyber bullying from the YouTube video with Tyra Banks.

It appears as though the media is trying to make cyber bullying more effective in communicating with individuals especially teenagers by using a well known model and her opinion on the show to broadcast what technology can do to our school children. Also the media presents this as a on the rise occurrence that more and more kids are becoming victims, but despite this they haven’t used any statistics showing actual percentages or numbers as to what is occurring in the clip and despite the media attention, no legal laws or legislations of adequate size to make an impact on a bigger population than those who watch these types or reports.