Steve Molks has managed to obtain the job that just about every Australian male would dream about - sitting around, watching TV, giving his opinions about it, and getting paid for it. Gold.
Chemist gone blogger/journalist, his website, MolksTVTalk contains stacks of reviews, TV News and podcasts about the latest and greatest of TV, locally and around the world. JOUR1111 was lucky enough to have an hour of his time, where he talked to us about he does, and what we can do now to help us break into the industry in the future.
Molks talked mainly about the whole new realm of communication that has been opened up with the invention of blogs and twitter. Blogging is becoming increasingly important and intertwined with the workings of the mainstream media. And if we as hopeful journalists can produce quality work of a brand we can call our own, in such a way that it can be integrated across all media platforms, we will have a very good image in the eyes of our prospective employers. We can use social media now to help evolve us into an employable machine. After all, the blog he started for fun has now become his job, and his articles even get picked up by Newspapers and radio stations every now and then - which just proves the power blogs can have in today's new media society.
Twitter is another platform which has changed the way the media communicates entirely. There is endless amounts of information on Twitter - you can even get an exclusive story if you dig deep enough. Twitter has the potential to create interesting dialogic communication between anyone and their audience, and journalists have learned to love it's ability to spread facts instantaneously.
The huge recent changes in the way information is presented to us, will change the way we understand society, hence influencing the type of writers we become. So Molks says, get involved now. Get experienced now, and develop 'Brand You' now. The longer you stick at it, the more effort you put it, the more rewards you will reap in the long run.
Molks also talks about the programs he critiques - of course he has to sift through a lot of rubbish, but he is lucky enough to talk about some quality programming a lot of the time. He also gets to do interviews with some awesome people, like Will Anderson, and creates weekly podcasts for his loyal audience.
Twitter is another platform which has changed the way the media communicates entirely. There is endless amounts of information on Twitter - you can even get an exclusive story if you dig deep enough. Twitter has the potential to create interesting dialogic communication between anyone and their audience, and journalists have learned to love it's ability to spread facts instantaneously.
The huge recent changes in the way information is presented to us, will change the way we understand society, hence influencing the type of writers we become. So Molks says, get involved now. Get experienced now, and develop 'Brand You' now. The longer you stick at it, the more effort you put it, the more rewards you will reap in the long run.
Molks also talks about the programs he critiques - of course he has to sift through a lot of rubbish, but he is lucky enough to talk about some quality programming a lot of the time. He also gets to do interviews with some awesome people, like Will Anderson, and creates weekly podcasts for his loyal audience.
I did some digging around MolksTVTalk's site and found a lot of interesting content. Informative recaps of television episodes, and reviews of series to come. Molks has an incredibly entertaining and witty writing style which is easy to read, although if you're not one for long articles, this site may not be for you. It would be wonderful to see Molks put more of his true opinions about television shows out there - after all, he sits through enough of them to have a valid and credible opinion.
Although I appreciate what Molks does (and I'm sure hundreds could only dream of being in his shoes), he even said himself - what he is doing is not going to change the world. And I must admit, I feel the whole reason I am doing journalism is because one day, I hope to be in a position where I have the power to make positive changes in the world - or at least the society I live in. So television reviews, or blogging about something else trivial for work, is not something I would aspire to in the future.
Molks Recommends -
Although I appreciate what Molks does (and I'm sure hundreds could only dream of being in his shoes), he even said himself - what he is doing is not going to change the world. And I must admit, I feel the whole reason I am doing journalism is because one day, I hope to be in a position where I have the power to make positive changes in the world - or at least the society I live in. So television reviews, or blogging about something else trivial for work, is not something I would aspire to in the future.
Molks Recommends -
Mad As Hell with Shaun Micallef on ABC, Friday 8pm ABC1.
WARNING: May contain rampant fanboyism.
Mad as Hell was the best 30 minutes of Australian television I've seen in a long time.
Shaun Micallef is back, and reinforcing the popular view that he deserves a much more regular spot on our screens than once a week. Mad As Hell is entertaining, insightful, distractingly hilarious, obtuse and everything we've come to expect from the man who's been anointed as "Australia's own Jon Stewart".
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