Why are you so emotional?

By: Gigi 

What makes us so emotional? What sparks those intense feelings of anger, sadness or fear? For you, it may be the spider on the wall or the death of a loved one. Walking the streets of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, statistically the most dangerous city in South Africa, the 4^th most dangerous country in the world with a 78.8% crime rate as determined by Numbeo.  You may think would spark these intense feelings, but quite the opposite.

I have always been at ease. In fact, I had never felt emotional until my first encounter with American media. In August 2006, sitting in front of the glowing television and curious about this country that people from developing countries abandon everything for, seeking better opportunities, I tuned in to listen to the news about the September 11 attacks that happened in New York years earlier.

Thinking back, I don’t remember much of what was said about the attack, but what I will never forget is how I felt, listening to that news; I was anxious and terrified that such an incident actually took place. And as I grew and interacted with more articles and stories from the United States of America, that feeling of anxiety and fear continued to hold me captive. In fact, a year ago, if anyone has asked me to sketch a picture of America, I would have drawn a sex-hungry, racist, terror-stricken, serial-killer-producing country that revels in wars and total chaos. Exaggerated much? Well in truth, this sketch would simply have been a reflection of what I have observed in American media for the last 10 years—what American media chooses to show to me! Don’t believe me? Well, I dare you to click on CNN.com right now and see for yourself. I did, and this is what I saw:

“3 in custody after 3 bodies found”, “Terror group leader mocks army…”, “Inside America’s biggest jail”. The image above mostly displays stories of death, imprisonment and terrorism. Accordingly, it can be seen that through its headlines, American media instils a sense of danger in the minds of its viewers and thus, makes people very emotional. This perceived sense of danger creates a culture of living in fear, even when that fear is unwarranted. Gallup after conducting research about the perception of crime in America stated, "the government's U.S. crime statistics have been improving steadily over the past 15 years, but several Gallup measures of Americans' perceptions of crime, after growing more positive for a brief period a decade ago, have edged back to a more highly negative outlook." This statement that in America we fear an invisible evil. 

Overall, I believe that  media has poisoned the minds of people, especially Americans, creating a sense of insecurity. As a result, we must be critical of the sensationalized information that is fed to us. We must be able to filter these information, leaving out the intense feelings that come with it and understanding that the media is just trying to get attention and journalists are just trying to get paid.

Work Cited:

Gallup, Inc. "Most Americans Believe Crime in U.S. Is Worsening." Gallup.com. N.p., 31 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.

Media Writing

By: Johnny

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Media writing encompasses a wide variety of jobs and career paths in the many sub-sections of media. All a job has to do is be somewhat related to writing, or the media, or both, and then it can be considered a job in the media writing field. According to a textbook I found on ablongman.com, there are four characteristics of media writing. These characteristics are accuracy, which is said to be the most important, and then completeness, efficiency, and precision. It also lists the three main goals that media writers should have when writing their pieces. These three goals are striving to make your writing satisfactory, engaging, and powerful. Feel free to follow the link I've created to read more about their introduction to media writing.

The opportunities and possible jobs that are out there in the field of media writing are near endless. Say you're fresh out of college with a nice pretty degree in something that's some way related to writing, what are a few of the more common or relatable jobs you could potentially go after? Well, I found a great page on the Reinhardt University school's website titled, What can I do with a degree in Media Writing?. This page has a lot of good information having to do with this topic so if you're interested I highly recommend you check it out. I will only list here just a few of the related careers and the potential employers found on the page. The careers include being an author, columnist, critic, editorial writer, journalist, a news director, editor, or writer, a researcher, a scriptwriter/screenwriter, a speech writer, or being a television reporter. For some of the potential employers there are advertising agencies, news agencies, book publishers, hospitals, newspapers, radio stations, education organizations, public relations firms, entertainment firms, manufacturing firms, telecommunications firms, and even libraries and museums. And like I said, these are just a few of the possible careers and potential employers listed on the website.

All in all, the field of media writing is a career path that can be approached from many angles. If you enjoy writing, media writing as a career will probably interest you.

Works Cited

Stovall, James Glen. "Welcome to Introduction of Media." Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Web. ablongman.com, http://www.ablongman.com/stovall1e/instructors/lec-introtomediawriting.html 

"What Can I Do with A Degree in Media Writing?" Reinhardt University. Web. reinhardt.edu, http://www.reinhardt.edu/academics/Arts_Humanities/What-can-I-do-with-a-Degree-In/media-writing.html

Media Then, Media Now

By: Curtis

Back when America was founded by Christopher Columbus, before the French Revolution, before the 300 Spartans fought the Persians, alphabets were already used. Before the creation of alphabets, people carved on walls to record history. But with the creation of alphabets, was the written form of history - instead of pictorial ones. As a result of the invention of alphabets, media came to be. Letters started to be written on items.  Items that looked like paper were created and used. The first printing press was made out of wood. It was created in 1051 A.D. in China. The very first movable type printing press was not Gutenberg in the 1440’s. The first movable printing press was actually made in Korea in 1234 (notes from MI 101 class).

With the use of printing press, books were made. Books were some of the first types of media and are still part of today’s society, even though they may be used less often now due to the increase of social media. Of course, back then books were rare and if there were any for sale, they would probably be bibles. As books were published, more and more people became literate (notes from MI 101 class). With more and more people able to read, people started to use this to their advantage and began to promote things and giving people news from and to other places. It was pretty much the building blocks of civilization.

As books came in demand, printing presses needed to improve their production rate. People looked for cheaper and faster ways for books to be printed. As technology improved, so did the production rates of books. Books these days are printed easily and the cost to print each book is cheap. But we do not use books or newspapers as the main source of media anymore. Nowadays, people use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media to communicate information. Even the books that worked so well for centuries had started to decrease in print because of electronic copies that are available. I used to go to Borders near where I lived and had a great time there reading books. That all changed when Borders closed down and that forced me to go to bookstores even farther away. I prefer printed books over new electronic copies because of how easily distracted I get when I use the internet for reading.

Work cited

McPherson, Jim. "Media History Timeline." Media History Timeline. Whitworth College, 2002. Web. 24 Sept. 2016.

Straubhaar, Joseph D., Robert LaRose, and Lucinda Davenport. Media Now: Understanding Media Culture and Technology. 8th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth, 2014. Print.

Ewoldsen, David. "Print Media: Books, Newspaper, Magazines." MI 101. B115 Wells Hall, East Lansing. 13 Sept. 2016. Lecture.

How does the media industry influence political behavior?

By: Emily 

Before reading this article I had a pretty good understanding how profound the impact the media industry has on politics. This article describes a political scientist's point on how the media makes politicians less likely to indulge.

The media has always done a really good job, whether it’s wanted or not, at publicly exploiting people and topics. This article perfectly describes the relationship that media and politicians have. For example, Snyder states that “the model assumes that media commentators are unbiased and strive to present the news factually and that people act rationally in their best interests. Because these assumptions represent a best-case scenario for the media to reduce pandering, it is surprising that the media sometimes makes matters worse.”

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The phrase “there is no such thing is bad publicity holds true in most cases involving the media and politics. For example, in this year's presidential race, Donald Trump gains a lot of  press, mostly bad, but surely eye catching. This publicity is helpful in Trumps case due to the fact that he’s making headlines and capturing people's attention. In this youtube video, The Young Turks; the hosts of an online news media show, explain the link between campaign coverage and campaign performance. Highlighting the fact that media coverage has a profound effect on the success or downfall of a politician's campaign.

Although the media industry doesn’t always cover accurate information, there is no doubt that when it comes to politics the media does a great job at influencing potential voters.

Works Cited

"Ken Shotts: How Does the Media Influence Political Behavior?" Stanford Graduate School of  

Business. Web. 18 Sept. 2016.

Prompt 2: Ethics in Journalism

By: Victoria

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As this blog has uncovered the week prior, media exists in many various forms. This week I will focus on journalism but more particularly, all the ethical and moral decisions that journalists have to make. The reason why I’ve chosen journalism among all the other forms of media, is that, the primary purpose of news is to educate and inform their readers – and with that comes a lot of responsibility, not only on the journalist’s part, but on the entire paper as well.

In this post, I refer to NYT’s code of ethics which can be found here.

It is unsurprising that the first rule in the book is to report everything as impartially as possible. This means portraying both sides of the story and giving equal amount of coverage to them. It means, not coloring the article with one’s own personal biases and opinions. The neutrality, especially when it comes to reporting on politics, is necessary. But as noted in my previous post, I understand that this is sometimes hard to do.  Even more so when we cannot control our own personal biases that may unconsciously come through in our writing. But nonetheless we must try our best to eliminate this. Hence, the use of the words “as possible”. Having done a little bit of journalism myself in school, I practice this too and find that this is imperative in order to present a wholly accurate and fair story. (I’ve also come to realize that this is not just an important skill in journalism, but it extends to life too. It helps me to try and see things from different perspectives and come to an informed, educated conclusion or opinion.)

Many of the rules try to address the problem of impartiality. Romantic relationships with sources must be declared, information gathered by journalists may not be used to his or her advantage, journalists may not accept gifts, among many others. I think NYT is going to great lengths to protect their neutrality as they realize the level of influence they have over their readers, which is quite a large portion of society – not just in America, but the rest of the world. 

It is also important to note that advertising may also affect a newspaper’s neutrality. A study has been done that shows a positive correlation between advertisers and media bias. A huge portion of a newspaper’s profit is through advertising revenue. Advertisers can control content by threatening to pull out when the content is not their favor (Ellman and Germano, 28). Therefore, there is a section in the handbook too, about proper dealing with advertisers to try to prevent this from happening.

As mentioned above about the responsibility that news organizations have, it is apt that NYT has a section in their handbook solely dedicated to the “duty to [their] readers”. It is even written in the section that the “readers are our employers”, which I feel, says a lot about their accountability.

When chasing their stories, journalists cannot “inquire pointlessly into someone’s else personal life.” This is about respecting the interviewee and his or her privacy. If it does not pertain to the story, or is not a critical part of the story, then the journalist must respect the right of the interviewee to withhold such information. They may not then pressure or assure favorable coverage in exchange for the information.

The Society of Professional Journalists also has its own code of ethics that oversees all journalists regardless of the publications they write for. In general, I would like to believe that all journalists abide by these rules, with the exception of tabloids, perhaps.

In order to be a well-respected journalist in this industry, it will be beneficial to follow this code. As a journalist, one wields incredible power and one must not forget that people look to journalists as reliable sources of information.

Works Cited:

Ellman, Matthew and Germano, Fabrizio. “What Do The Papers Sell? A Model of Advertising and Media Bias” Mar. 2008, http://www.iae.csic.es/investigatorsMaterial/a8287092114archivoPdf1062.pdf. Accessed 20 Sep. 2016

“Ethical Journalism” New York Times, Sep. 2004, http://www.nytco.com/wp-content/uploads/NYT_Ethical_Journalism_0904-1.pdf. Accessed 19 Sep. 2016.

“SPJ Code of Ethics” Society of Professional Journalists, Sep. 2014, http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp. Accessed 20 Sep. 2016.

Prompt 1: Lights, Camera, Action

By: Gigi

Ever wondered what it’s truly like to work as a producer or a director of a show? Sure, we’ve all seen portrayals of producers and directors on TV screaming, “Lights! Camera! Action!” or “Cut!” However, in reality, this is only the icing on a rather gigantic cake!

Accordingly, for the sake of producers and directors all over the world, I will attempt to debug the common misconceptions surrounding their work by shedding more light on what producers and directors actually do.

To know the truth, you must first know the existing beliefs, right? Well then, I asked a couple of my peers what they thought producers do. Check out the video above to see their responses, but if you’re not feeling up to it, that’s OK. Here’s a summary: Most students said that producers and directors were “creative visionaries” who spent their time “planning shows”, “working with people”, and “handling the action on set.”  These responses were not too different from what I had in mind. And now, I had to confirm if these responses were truth or just preconceptions which the media had created by airing shows such as “UnReal.”

Thus, I went scavenger hunting, exploring trusted websites about careers such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This particular website describes the job of a director/ producer thus, “Producers and directors create motion pictures, television shows, live theater, commercials, and other performing arts productions. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain or inform an audience.” Indeed, this definition really resonated with me as it highlighted the crucial and potent educational aspect of media which, what with the boom of reality shows and tabloids, is often overlooked.

So, now that we know what producers/ directors actually do, let’s go underneath the cake’s icing (yes, that gigantic cake I mentioned earlier) to discover what makes the cake.

Quoting the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “producers and directors typically do the following:

• Select scripts or topics for a film, show, commercial, or play.
• Audition and select cast members and the film or stage crew.
• Approve the design and financial aspects of a production.
• Oversee the production process, including performances, lighting, and choreography.
• Oversee the postproduction process, including editing, special effects, music selection, and a performance’s overall tone.
• Ensure that a project stays on schedule and within budget.
• Promote finished works or productions through interviews, advertisements, and film festivals.”

Media and its Many Forms

By: Johnny

In this day and age when we think of “media”, the first things that usually come to mind are the technological types such as the internet and television. In reality, the forms in which media is communicated is very widespread, ranging from print media, to broadcast media, to the Internet. It’s surprising to know just how many ways people can learn information through the media, and how they’re so subtly integrated in our everyday lives.

Before technology struck and took over the world as we know it, media information, believe it or not, was still being communicated with the public in the form of print. Print media, which includes newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters etc., is the oldest and most influential form of media. Even with the more modern forms of media becoming as popular as they’ve gotten, print media and especially newspapers will always have a place in people's lives. The New York Times is often called the newspaper of record, with people saying, if it’s not in the New York Times, it’s not important. This could be taken a number of different ways, but I think it’s safe to say print media is the most trusted form of media information.

Broadcast media, which includes radio and television, is the most widely used source in the U.S. for getting news information (Sparknotes, “The Media”). Although fewer people rely on the radio as their primary news source nowadays, people did heavily rely on it before the arrival of television in the 1950s.

The last and most contemporary source for media information is the internet. The slow transformation it’s made into the news and media information market has led people to rely on its online sources instead of traditional print or broadcast media. Internet websites, such as CNN and NBC, have incorporated their print and broadcasting outlets into the internet and can now provide text, audio, and video information to their users. The versatility and customizability the internet has is the main reason it’s become so popular.

I think it’s safe to say there are many different forms in which media information can be delivered to the public, and in hindsight, the information is all generally the same. The internet is merely expanding on all the other types of media resources and technological advancements have brought more options to the table.

Works Cited

“Types of Media” Spark Notes. Sparknotes.com <http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/the-media/section1.rhtml>

Angela Oswalt Morelli , MSW, edited by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D. “Types of Media” Community Counseling Services Inc. Communitycounselingservices.org <http://www.communitycounselingservices.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=37582&cn=66>

https://www.reference.com/technology/different-types-media-8855c5ffeb12da10