Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Handling the paparazzi

Being a Journalist, I have always thought of how to derive out more information from my sources and what strategies to employ to make my news and write up more engaging, source oriented and interesting.  But it is even more interesting to note the kind of strategies an individual employs while handling media. It becomes even more a subjective concern when it comes to handling paparazzi. The extent of homework a media worker does is definitely lesser than the homework done by the source of information himself. Because facing and handling media is actually a difficult and strategic concept. It is sometimes very difficult to know what information a journalist is looking for so ideally it is very important to consider some serious concerns before being ‘public’. Facing the media is an art and it becomes even more engrossed only when you learn an employable strategy and earn a real good time‘s experience.  It is always considerable to address some very important questions before going public.
Know the Media’s purpose:  Covering any individual or any celebrity by media is never void of any purpose. One thing is for sure, a journalist always looks out for news. All that he wants is to fill in the space he is responsible to fill. So to handle media effectively, always try to know the purpose of their being behind you. See for what they are willing to cover you. Is the purpose is limited to get a good story at any cost or never mind the truth? Are they really professional or some factors influences or motivates them?  Try to find out what counts as news for them. It is very important to look for new information you can pass on to them because a journalist would always look for something new.
Know their mindset:  It is always advisable to think with the mindset a journalist would try to cover you. Try to gauge their mood and look for an answer as why they are so suspicious. People in the limelight usually worries of as how to present themselves in the most positive light and in the process they become more conscious about their real self thereby giving false notions and irrelevant suspicions to cook false stories.  So it is highly important to comprehend the kind of mindset and eye they keep on you.  Journalists always try to picture a biased view on screen. And mostly they try to give an entertaining angel to their story for the active engagement of the audience. So before getting recorded, know what they are actually looking for.

Handling paparazzi should be an strategic activity. It should be planned well in advance. Make sure that the information is passed on and the ball is still in your court. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Contradictory Concerns- Propensity of social world and Presentiment over privacy


Do you scan your friend list before posting anything on your fb account?
Do sometimes the privacy concerns bounce you back from posting anything on your account?
Do you consider all or few while posting anything?
Do certain issues heard about privacy invading of other users’ scare you from taking few actions?


If the answer to all above stated queries is affirmative, then where does the definition of social networking justify itself. A space where a user decides to be with his own conscious decision stops the same user to network him freely contradicts the very existence of social world. Various researchers have identified and stated that the decision to post and share anything over the social networks is highly influenced by our idea of perceived audience. Inability of segregating the audience in to different categories leads in creating an identical image of the audience for a user thereby influencing his decisions about sharing anything over the network. Moreover the variations in the privacy settings of the SNSs over the years have complicated the security concerns even more. It has regulated the social interaction to an extent that a user can customize about a single individual having access to a particular type of content over these sites.
At the initial level, the very set up of these social networking sites affects the definition of communities it has created over the network. For instance, Facebook has put every another user having an account with the site under the category of ‘Friend’. Friends in the Friend list created over fb includes various other sections also like ‘real friends’, ‘facebook friends’, parents, acquaintances, relatives, workmates, classmates, siblings and many more. So the decision about sharing data and information also is taken keeping in mind these various categories of audience thereby influence the behavior and conduct of sharing personal information over the social planet. Even information tweeted over the twitter passes on to various other networks through the application of hash tags. So the nature of its being flexible in terms of its access to large communities via internet has raised the concerns of privacy rather more.  I would think more times than a regular user while sharing any check in or a photograph or a personal experience and feeling if I  have a community of my colleagues as my ‘facebook friend’on my account.
To conclude with what, how and to whom personal information is shared over the social networks depends upon the perception of the audience a user has. Conceptualization of the audience in the mindset of the user influences their decision of sharing any sort of information over the social networking sites. So ideally it talks about how the interaction level and communication styles over the social networks is highly influenced by the idea of’ imagined audience’.