Media and Society Blog

Week 10: What I learned.

randibrown — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:45:10 +0000

There were many things that stuck with me throughout this course. I think the main thing that stuck with me would have to be how much I consume media. I didn’t realize how much media I consumed until I wrote the paper and had to write down everything and for how long I consumed the media. I’m much more aware of the media I consume, such as billboards and radio. I didn’t realize how much time I spent on the internet and how much I relied on it. Also, when we spoke with people like David Cohn, and learned more in depth about the world of newspaper management and his very successful blog, I realized that journalistic opportunities are more prevalent than I originally thought they were, and there are a lot of options if you wish to go into the journalistic field—not necessarily just newspaper or broadcast. I also really enjoyed when we talked about viral media, like the “I love my ducks” video. I never really think about it when everyone talks about a youtube video that I have to see. It’s because it has gone viral, and this is also a form of advertising. This video made the band that made it a ton of money off of t-shirts, etc. (branding). I didn’t know media consumed this much of my life, I think this is the main thing I took from the class.

Week 9: Disney

randibrown — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:42:14 +0000

When it comes to Disney and their “themes” and if they affect young children and impact their ideals on how they should act, I would have to agree with the college students that we see throughout the first film. Disney is entertainment, and although there are multiple messages that can be construed negatively, kids will not catch onto that. I watched Disney movies all throughout my youth and I in no way think that I need a guy to rescue me, or that it’s okay if a guy yells at me like the beast yelled at Belle. Disney films are just pure entertainment. I don’t think that people need to read so much into the messages of Disney. Yes, the women of Disney films are all very stereotypically beautiful, with tiny wastes, etc., but with all the other media out there, I find it difficult to believe that this is what causes self-image problems in young girls. Stick thin supermodels that girls see in magazines are what causes these sorts of thoughts in young women. I think kids do have impressionable minds, and a few subtleties like that the woman always has to get rescued by the man or that girls have to look exactly like woman Disney characters and use their bodies to get what they want, could possibly stick with some kids. It’s up to parents to teach their children that these stereotypes aren’t true. Mostly I think kids are too young to catch on to any of these messages and take them to heart, impacting their behavior. I think we don’t notice these things until we are adults and can analyze it, and by then we should be able to tell the difference between entertainment and fact and still be able to look at a Disney movie and just see pure fun. The one lady that talked mostly during the second film, I think, was reading way too much into it, but I suppose that is their job.

Week 8: David Cohn

randibrown — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:36:36 +0000

David Cohn is a very successful man. He looked so young on the video conference that we had with him in class. I can’t believe he owns his own website that publishes news stories as well as sells them to other news organizations. He is a very serious journalist and I was very impressed with what he has accomplished with Spot.us. I was surprised that he had hired high school journalists to write for him. That’s really cool. I liked that he considered anyone who could write a good story and get paid a “professional journalist” and that they didn’t necessarily have to have all the schooling that really prestigious journalists have. Although he did say that most people that write for him do have a high level of journalistic education. I feel like journalism can take on so many forms after the discussions we have had in class and also the guest speakers we’ve talked to. David Cohn doesn’t write for a big newspaper but he is still a very successful journalist. I like that he just covered news local to the bay area because I think it is a good local source for up and coming journalists to get out there, as well as a good source for news for the locals of the bay area. It seems popular to have small, local news organizations because the news is more focused than that of the big organizations and you can still make really good money.

Week 7: John Shipe

randibrown — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:40:08 +0000

I really enjoyed John Shipe and his guest lecture. I learned a lot about the recording industry and how it works. I never knew that you could just start up your own recording label and not have to go through a big corporation. I think it’s great that he did that. I really liked what he said about why. If I was in his position I would also want to start my own recording label because then you’re not going through a big corporation and handing over all your work and music. He gets to write his own music that he likes, someone doesn’t tell him to write and then he handles the business aspect of it too. I bet he makes more money that way because a percentage of his profits aren’t going to a manager or whatever. It also seemed like it was more work to have your own recording label. For example he had to make his own website. He does have to pay other people to do certain things for him like the website, etc. I found it interesting that he really didn’t care if people illegally downloaded his music. Often people are so against it, without even talking to some artists. Some artists probably like that it gets their music out to the public. I also really enjoyed his music that he played for us at the end of his lecture. I actually think I might look him up on iTunes.

Week 6: Facebook and Social Networking

randibrown — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:28:21 +0000

On Thursday we talked about Facebook and social networking. It really got me thinking about the huge growth that Facebook has made across the world. I remember when my brother (who is 5 years older than me) said that he had a Facebook, I hadn’t even gotten a Myspace yet, and I was like, “what’s the point?” I didn’t understand the big deal about social networking sites. To me, they were stupid and a waste of time. We talked about how these sites first began as a way for people to get in touch with old friends and classmates. And it really does do that. I’ve gotten in touch with so many people from earlier in life through Facebook. We also discussed if Facebook and social networking sites actually made people less social or even anti-social. Someone suggested that if someone is anti-social, it’s because they have pre-existing problems. I agree with that. I have a Facebook, and I’ll admit, I check it frequently. But I am not anti-social. I check my Facebook if I’m at home, doing homework, watching TV, etc. But I still have a life and I wouldn’t turn down something fun to do to be on Facebook. I do thnk, however, the internet and texting have simplified conversations and relationships because a lot of the communication is done through a screen instead of face to face. I think that is the only negative aspect, otherwise Facebook and similar sites are a good way to keep in touch with people.

Blog post 5: blogging

randibrown — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:18:23 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/technology/14youth.html

I’ve always thought of blogging as amateur. However, lately and also after reading this article I see that blogging has more crucial uses. Such as in the article I read they discussed the importance of fashion blogging. These people started this fashion blog and said that it’s a way to get young journalists integrated into the business. They stressed the importance of multiple fashion blogs for the fashion business as a whole. For this reason I do consider bloggers as journalists. Well, some bloggers. Some blogs are stupid and not important to people or society as a whole, and the people who start those blogs are not journalists. Now because of this class I have a blog, and I don’t consider myself a journalist really. However, in the article the people that write for these fashion blogs I would consider as journalists. This is because it’s a well respected blog. My opinion of blogging has changed since the beginning of class because I look at certain blogs/bloggers more seriously now. Like before I might not have taken those fashion blogs seriously, but now I look at them as serious fashion information outlets. I think that, for these reasons, and the fact that most media outlets are transferring to the internet now, that blogging actually does have a future in our society. Blogging will continue to help start journalists out and get media businesses started and help put ideas out there.

Week 4 Michael Jackson/The Beatles

randibrown — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:22:07 +0000

In class we discussed Superstars such as Michael Jackson and The Beatles. These happen to be two of my favorite artists. They are also two of the world’s most well known superstars. We watched “Thriller” in class which was the first music video to really have a story to it and it was even in movie theaters. Michael was able to reach so many loyal fans because back then it was harder to get into the music industry. Now a days, it is so much easier to become famous that there will unlikely be a star like Michael again. Same with The Beatles. Even further back, The Beatles, even being from London, were able to reach such a larger audience than artists today. This is because of audience fragmentation. There is more competition, so it is harder for forms of media to reach a large audience. Everything is fragmented into different groups to reach out to separate audiences that are interested in different things. It’s so much easier for media to reach an audience, and there’s so much more, that it can’t all reach one audience. Not like when Michael or The Beatles were big. They were the only things like them out there, and there was less media output so their music was heard by everyone. I think it’s sad we’ll never have a Michael or a Beatle again.

Alternative Media

randibrown — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:06:57 +0000

In Yes Magazine there is an article about healthcare reform titled Health Care: It’s What Ails Us. It is basically an editorial piece about how horrible the healthcare system currently is. It throws out startling statistics such as the “18,000 die each year because they lack medical coverage.” It is very slanted on one point which is what makes Yes Magazine an alternate source of media. It’s not just reporting the news or telling you what happened it’s giving you an opinion on it and telling you what this magazine believes.

On the Alternet site, the title of the first piece I spotted showed me right away that it was an alternative form of media. It was: Meet the Senators in the Creepy Right-Wing Cult Trying to Defeat Health Care Reform. It was very liberal and straight forward about the hatred the writer had for the republicans known as “the family”. This website struck me as a very liberal alternative form of media.

However, when I searched for healthcare articles on the New York Times website it first came up with an overview which just looked like a review of the basic facts. It might still have been slanted, as many news sources are, but it was much harder to immediately spot the slant.

When I searched for global warming issues on the Democracy Now! Website I found short snippets of facts. I couldn’t really spot a slant but the facts sure seemed to all be pointing one way but that could just be the nature of the facts, one such example includes “The study estimated that nearly 20,000 people die prematurely each year from air pollutants emitted by power plants and vehicles.” Although I didn’t see anywhere where the author of the article said “I think this…”, the facts were all slanted that way in all of the short pieces.

On the Washington Post website, when I searched for global warming stories one of the stories I came upon was Shell wins federal approval to drill for oil off Alaska coast. This strikes me as a strict news story which just reports the facts on this event without editorial input.

Newspaper

randibrown — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:08:05 +0000

Newspapers might not have much of a future, but I sure hope they do, considering I love them. I might very possibly want to write for one someday. In class we discussed if we would pay for an online newspaper. In my opinion I get so much more out of the actual physical newspaper than I would from an online one. If I go online to look up a story I have to specifically search for the story I want. When I read the paper newspaper I often see stories that I would have never seen because I can physically flip through the pages. For this reason, I have found out so many things that I would never have known. Because of these reasons I think I would get more for my money paying for a paper newspaper that comes to me and that I don’t have to go search for, than I would paying for an online version. Especially since we can currently get the online version for free, it would be weird to pay for it.

Unfortunately, even with these reasons, the newspaper doesn’t seem to have much of a future. I think the newspaper will be gone before paper books, and even those futures are looking bleak. Our society is moving in a completely electronic direction and soon we might never hold a newspaper or book in our hands, which I think is sad. The internet will soon hold all forms of entertainment, news, etc.

Week One: TV/Movies

randibrown — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:16:26 +0000

On TV/Movies, How do you choose TV programs and/or movies to watch? How thoughtful are your choices?

I choose TV programs or movies to watch based on pure entertainment. When watching the Oscars or something of that sort I notice that the awards are based on some deep meaning or how thoughtful the movie is. Never does the fun, lighthearted chick flicks get any recognition from the critics. But those are the movies that I enjoy. I don’t think too much before choosing a movie, I just go with what I think will be most entertaining to me, and often what I think will require the least effort to watch. Some of the most critically acclaimed movies or TV shows take a lot of effort to watch and to understand. And on a lazy Sunday night, that’s just not what I’m looking for. Same goes for TV shows; I’m going to watch what I think will make me laugh and keep me interested. It’s not always the shows that are going to win an Emmy, but that’s okay.

I love TV and movies. Sometimes my friends or family won’t go see a movie because they don’t know if they’ll like it. I’m not picky, I like to give everything a chance if it looks remotely interesting. Also, so if anyone asks about a movie and if it’s good, I can usually give a solid answer.