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| Media professional, journalist Carrie Bickmore Retrieved from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia /commons/thumb/4/49/Carrie_Bickmore.jpg /220px-Carrie_Bickmore.jpg |
Despite the media’s constantly evolving landscape,
journalist Carrie Bickmore has appropriated to the shifting trends of the media
industry by utilising the changes as a foundation to the success of her career.
The journalist has an obvious knowledge of the industry and through this has
applied the concepts of media convergence and globalisation to reach a
diversified audience and propagate her image as a trusted media professional. Her
commitment to the public sphere and fourth estate has also contributed to the
success of her career by establishing a ground of trust between herself and the
audience she reaches. Carrie Bickmore has embraced the changes of the media
industry to cultivate the growth of her career, allowing her to directly reach
audiences and maintain her power in the role of a successful media
professional.
Born on December 3, 1980, Bickmore is best know for
her role hosting the Network Ten series The
Project (Famousbirthdays, 2016). She studied journalism at Curtin
University of Technology and inaugurated her career as a newsreader on 92.9FM
after acting as an emergency fill-in for an ill colleague (Vickery, 2007). She
continued her career in radio until converging to the platform of television in
2006, presenting a news segment on Rove
Live (News.com.au). In 2009 Bickmore expanded her prominence as a media
professional when she began her role as a host on The Project (Enker, 2014). The success of Bickmore’s career was
recognised when she won the Gold Logie award in 2015 and was dubbed the ‘Golden
Girl’ of Network Ten (Nadilo, 2015).
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| Mother of two Carrie Bickmore balances her family with her career. Retrieved from: http://images.canberratimes.com.au/2010/11/13/2042522/carrie-bickmore-420x0.jpg |
Carrie Bickmore is a media professional who interests
me personally due to the overwhelming achievements and success she has
accomplished throughout her career. Working as a television presenter, Bickmore
has succeeded in a field that I hope to establish my career in and is therefore
a key role model who I take inspiration from in my journey towards success. Her
seamless transition between radio and television demonstrates her versatility
as a media professional and is something that I must adopt in order to be
successful within the industry. I am particularly inspired by Bickmore’s
personal values and believe that her core principles quite accurately align with
my own. She has shown resilience in the way that she has tackled the hurdles of
her personal life, which is a quality that I recognise within myself. She has a
strong-willed determination in the way that she has built her career as a media
professional and within the projects that she has set herself in her personal
life. Her passion and determination is a quality that I personally value and
hope to execute in a similar way throughout both my career progression and
personal achievements. The working mother of two succeeds to maintain a
devotion to her career whilst balancing a commitment to her family. She proves
that young female journalists can still be successful in their career whilst raising
a family, which is a feat that I too hope to achieve. Bickmore’s commitment to
appropriate with the changing landscape of the media industry exemplifies her
as a role model to aspiring journalists like myself who are striving to enter
the diversifying industry.
Throughout her career Carrie Bickmore has continued to
acclimatise to the demands of the changing media landscape by embracing the
concept of media convergence. Described in Joseph Turow’s text, convergence is
when content that has traditionally been restricted to one platform expands to
multiple media channels (2011, 6). The effect of convergence on Bickmore’s
career is explicit through the shift of media platforms in which she has
worked. Beginning her career as a radio host, she took on her first role in
television as a newsreader on Rove Live
(News.com.au). Working in both radio and television for three years, media
convergence allowed Bickmore to expand from the traditional practice of working
solely in one medium to conversely broaden her presence across multiple media platforms.
Converging her influence across multiple channels allowed Bickmore to reach a
wider audience and increase her popularity as a trusted media professional. The
growth of her television success continued when she began her role as a host on
The Project. The show takes a modern
approach to news stories by delivering current events and trivial issues in a
comedic style. The Project’s modern
approach makes the show appealing to young, contemporary viewers and maintains
the relevance of news to a diversifying modern audience. By delivering news in a contemporary approach
Carrie Bickmore has successfully adopted media convergence to alter the
relationship between existing audiences and recirculate media content in a
powerful new way (Jenkins, 2004, 34). Demonstrated through her seamless
transition across media platforms, Carrie Bickmore has sanctioned the concept
of media convergence in order to contribute to the rising success of her
career.
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| Carrie Bickmore alongside her co-hosts on The Project Retrieved from: http://images.tenplay.com.au/~/media/TV%20Shows/The%20Project/Wardrobe/September%202014/Panel140901W.jpg |
Furthermore, globalisation has been an integral factor
in contributing to the success of Carrie Bickmore’s career as a media
professional. Globalisation refers to the expanding scale, increasing magnitude
and fastening of social interaction which links communities and expands the
reach of power relations across the globe (Flew, 2007, 67). Throughout her continuing role on The Project, Bickmore adopts the concept
of globalisation by reporting news stories and current affairs which are
relevant on a local, national and global scale. This not only keeps the show’s
Australian audience linked within global events but also introduces an
international audience to content based within Australia, thus expanding the
scale and increasing the magnitude of the show’s viewership. Content is made
easily accessible for viewers around the globe with each episode posted online
after they air on Channel Ten (TenPlay, 2016). Carrie Bickmore effectively
applies the concept of globalisation by sharing recaps and segments of the show
to her twitter page which reaches an audience of 223,000 people located across
the world (Twitter, 2016). The show’s segments are also posted onto The Project’s Facebook and Twitter pages
which have a following of close to half a million each (Twitter, 2016; Facebook,
2016). This content is then shared by local and international viewers across
their own social media accounts, thereby linking communities and expanding the
reach of power relations across the globe. The impact of globalisation has
allowed Carrie Bickmore to reach a diversified audience and propagate her image
as a trusted media professional within the changing landscape of the media
industry.
Carrie Bickmore’s contribution to the public sphere
has acted as a pivotal element to the success of her career. As explained by
Alan McKee, the public sphere is a metaphorical space where people can interact
to form public opinion, publicise their views and deal with matters of general
interest (2005, 4). Throughout her role on The
Project Bickmore has contributed to the public sphere by creating a
platform that generates discussion and debate on matters of general interest. The
varying perspectives of panel members are publicised during the show then the
conversation is continued when the audience form public opinion through social
media platforms by expressing their stance on the topic of debate. Bickmore
furthers her contribution to the public sphere by her personal efforts towards
raising awareness and funding for cancer research. She does this by highlighting
brain cancer research as a matter of general interest and encouraging the
public to get involved. After winning the 2015 Gold Logie Award Bickmore
dedicated her acceptance speech to her late husband, Greg Lange, discussing
brain cancer as a highly underfunded area of research (Stephenson, Weir &
Willis, 2015). She encouraged the public to wear ‘Beanies for Brain Cancer’ to
show their support and received an outstanding response from the community. All
over Australia people were wearing beanies and sharing photos on social media
to make their contribution in the movement for brain cancer awareness (Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, 2016). Carrie Bickmore
continues to make a significant contribution to the public sphere through both
her career triumphs and her personal efforts towards brain cancer research,
contributing to her success as a journalist within the evolving media
landscape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6D7NyJMN5w
In addition to her commitment to the public sphere,
Carrie Bickmore has also found success in her career through her contribution
to the fourth estate. The media acting as the fourth estate is a concept that
first arose in 1840 after Thomas Carlyle recognised that an informal political
power was held by the press (Hampton, 2009, 3). Carrie Bickmore contributes to the fourth
estate throughout her role on The Project
by exposing controversial news stories to the public that criticise and
evaluate government decisions. A recent example was a segment discussing
‘Chasing Asylum’, a film created by Eva Orner which shows never before seen
footage from inside Australia’s offshore detention camps (TenPlay, 2016). The
panel members interviewed the film-maker and critically commented on the film's
content, encouraging viewers to continue the discussion via social media.
Working as a media professional within the journalism industry, Carrie Bickmore
has used the fourth estate to contribute to the success of her career and
maintain her power as a professional communicator.
In spite of the media’s constantly evolving landscape,
journalist Carrie Bickmore has appropriated to the shifting trends of the media
industry by utilising the changes as a foundation to the success of her career.
The journalist has an obvious knowledge of the industry and has applied the
concept of media convergence to transition through varying mediums throughout
her career. Similarly, globalisation has allowed her to propagate her image as
a trusted media professional and expand her reach of power relations across the
globe. Her commitment to the public sphere and fourth estate have also contributed
to her success by creating a platform for viewers and co-hosts to generate discussion
on matters of general interest. Carrie Bickmore has embraced the changes of the
media industry to cultivate the growth of her career, allowing her to directly
reach audiences and maintain her power in the role of a successful media
professional.
References
Cure Brain Cancer Foundation. 2016. “Beanies for Brain
Cancer”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
Enker, Debi. 2014. “Channel Ten’s The Project lacks
substance, sting”. Accessed March 21, 2016.
Facebook. 2016. “The Project”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
Famous Birthdays. 2016. “Carrie Bickmore – Bio, Facts,
Family”. Accessed March 21, 2016.
Flew, Terry. 2007. Understanding
Global Media. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hampton, Mark. 2009. “The Fourth Estate Ideal in
Journalism History.” In The Routledge
Companion to News and Journalism, edited by Stewart Allan. Oxon: Routledge.
Accessed April 3, 2016.
Jenkins, Henry. 2004. “The Cultural Logic of Media
Convergence.” International Journal of
Cultural Studies 7(1): 33-43. Accessed April 2, 2016. doi:
10.1177/1367877904040603.
McKee, Alan. 2005. The
Public Sphere: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nadilo, Blake. 2015. “Golden girl! Carrie Bickmore
accepts Logie in a beanie as a tribute to her late Husband”. Accessed March 21,
2016.
News.com.au. 2013. “Carrie Bickmore brought to tears
on The Project during segment about brain cancer”. Accessed March 21, 2016.
Stephenson, Alison., Weir, James., & Willis,
Charlotte. 2015. “Carrie Bickmore wins the Gold Logie, dons a beanie in
dedication to her late husband”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
TenPlay. 2016. “Chasing Asylum – Network Ten”.
Accessed April 2, 2016.
TenPlay. 2016. “The Project – Channel TEN – Network
Ten”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
Turow, Joseph. 2011. Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication. New York:
Routledge.
Twitter. 2016. “Carrie Bickmore (@BickmoreCarrie) |
Twitter”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
Twitter. 2016. “#TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) |
Twitter”. Accessed April 2, 2016.
Vickery, Colin. 2007. “Carrie on Laughing”. Accessed
March 21, 2016.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/television/carrie-on-laughing/story-e6frf9ho-1111113582394
