With the upcoming presidential election it can be seen on every channel an advertisement for either Barack Obama, Hillary CLinton, or John McCAin. With

This past Friday we had a dicussion in my media class about how television influencec negative behavior on our youth. There was an incident I just recently observed on the Today show involving violence and youths. The Today show displayed a video made by high school teenage cheerleaders that were attacking a girl in one of the cheerleaders homes. Basically a young lady went over to another young ladies house to confront her regarding rumors that were being spread about her in school. What the first young lady who was the victim did not realize was that she was walking into an ambush. The house was filled with teenage cheerleaders, friends of the accuser. When the girl walked in she had n o odea that she was going to be “jumped”. The teenage cheerleaders in the house to turns yelling and berating the victim while they beat on her and kicked her all over the house. The whole incident was videotaped by two young gentleman who were also in the house. The teenagers were proud of what they had done and plastrered the video on you tube for all to see unaware that they would be charged for assault against the victim. The students said they did not do anything wrong and that it was self defense however it was clearly not. Many of the accused parents stated that they were not bad children and that something must have forced them to do this, cause this was out of character for them. their children were another victim of negative media influence

Law and Order Episode.

Law and Order Episode.

Last night I was watching an episode of law and order about a freighted young girl named Ashley who happened to be raped by her father’s boss. I though this would make a good blog because in this episode the detectives were trying to get a hold of a tape that was considered evidence in their investigation from a local news station. Someone had given to the news station to make her look as if she was lying and when the detectives tried to get possession of the tapes the news stations refused. This news station felt lucky because this was a top story that everybody was covering and they were the only ones with this tape. Of course they were not going to give it up without a fight because they said it interfered with their first amendment rights. Detectives argued that they were more concerned with a sensationalized story and getting ratings while trying to explain they were trying to protect a witness. Anyways, as it turned out that news station was given permission to air the video because, it was an interfering with their amendments rights. And indeed they aired it, in spite of putting others at risk knowing they were interfering with a major investigation.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act

The Youth Criminal Justice Act

The Youth Criminal Justice Act is for children that range from ages 12 to 18 living in Canada. I t helps explain the right of the youth that may have gotten in trouble with the law. What is interesting about this act to me that it gives and children, which may have committed a crime, privacy rights. Basically this means that is that the identity of a child that commits a crime can only be given away in the media if police feels that he or she is a threat to society. It has to be under very special conditions that they do release the child’s name. Some considerations are if the child has committed crimes like murder, or aggravated assault and have not been arrested yet. And this is only for the benefit of the police to track them down. This act allows the media to follow through with their story by attending trials, to get information, however the identity of the child must remain concealed. This means no pictures, and no names can be released. This act applies to the newspapers, articles on the internet, or even personal postings like Facebook or MySpace that may interfere with their investigation.

The Comfort of Reality Television

As I turn on the TV tonight I pray that something good will be on. I flip to my favorite channel which is MTV and wait for the next drama stricken realtiy tv show to come on, MTV which used to be stictly music videos is now a parade of reality tv shows ranging from, dating, to makeovers to birthday parties.Not that this is a problem because I love reality TV, and obviously so does America because they have taken over primetime TV. Sitcoms and takshows have been replaced with “Nanny 911’s”  and  competition reality tv.  America loves reality Tv because it allows them to view into others lives, and maybe make theirs seem not as bad. For instance,I might be struggling through this semester, but at least I’m not stuck in a house secluded form the world, eating slop for a week, at risk for being up for elimination. (Big Brother). Reality TV allows Americans to see all walks of life, days of Leave it to Beaver are no more. Now viewers can watch the “Flavor of Love Girls” fight it out while spit and weave fly through the air. Or they can watch Ty Pennington bring tears to a family’s eyes as he shows them their newly remodled, home. Reality TV offers something for everyone, sexy rocker chicks willing to bare it all for title of Mrs. Brett Michaels, chefs becoming cut throat for the title of “Top Chef”, and teens spending mega bucks for the biggest sweet sixteen soiree. Reality TV is the cure to boredom, stress and sexual frustration, it is the best entertainment available, and it’s fee and safe. You cant go wrong, just pick up your remote and click the TV on, and be ready for a wild ride into the lives of some fellow Americans.

Internet Dating

 I had to talk about the topic of internet dating and chat rooms.  My cousin who will remain nameless has opened my eyes to the unbelievable workings of chat rooms and internet dating. My cousin is a 25 yr old female, attractive and intelligent, she is an extrovert and loves attention from the opposite sex. She is also married. Even though she is married she likes to go onto Yahoo chat rooms and meet new people. Because America is a society with little or no morals, my cousin constantly receives instant messages from men asking for her pic, and if she would like to view their web cam. My cousin tells the men that she is married, and they quickly reply with, ” I don’t care,” and that it’s just for fun. Being the flirtatious individual that she is my cousin sends them a pic to drool over and the chatters respond with, “your hot!” and all sorts of other lewd comments. Because my cousin loves a good thrill she plays into the game with the male chatters and answers all questions to the fullest extent. Eventually the male chatters will turn the conversation from calm and pleasant to hot and risqué. My cousin who is not ashamed or afraid of her sexuality happily responds to the male chatters with all the appropriate answers to the conversation. Within a matter of minutes the male chatters are asking if they can send her a picture, or if she would like to view their web cam. Thinking she will finally know the identity of her chatter she is shocked and taken back when she opens the pic and is staring at an engorged penis on her computer screen. Now my cousin has chatted with many different gentlemen in the past couple of months and not one has been afraid to grace her with their manhood, even after she tells them she has no cam and she is married. She even had a guy text her a pic of his penis to her cell phone, which she then sent to me and all her friends.

        Anyways the point of this blog is that the chatting scene and Internet dating is not as innocent as it seems. Match.com is not really trying to make a connection, it’s just a way for people to hook up sexually. Same with the chat rooms thought they may start off innocent; it always turns raunchy in the end. Proof of this can be seen on the show “To Catch a Predator” which airs on ABC. On this show internet pedophiles are caught trying to hook up with adolescents they met on the internet. This show has captured over 100 men, so just imagine how many men are talking to and hooking up with women over the age of 18. Internet is the superhighway for sex, and chat rooms and internet dating sites are the exit for a quick rendezvous. In chat rooms, you can be anybody, say anything, and let all your inhibitions fly out the window, the possibilities are endless.

 

Influencing Public Opinion

Americans believe that media has a strong influence on our political institutions and influencing public opinion. There are several reasons why people feel this way. One reason is because advertisers spend thousands of dollars each year to capture our attention in hopes of influencing our decisions in some way.  Another reason is that the media can have dramatic effects on particular events, like hurricane Katrina or even the September attacks. We all remember the chaos between the hurricane victims, the government and the whole issue about how the situation was being held. The September attacks broadcasted on television had a lot to do with the killings of foreign people who may have resembled some of the hijackers from the four planes. Beyond influencing public opinion, one of media’s greatest influences is political agenda. Political agenda are things that are identified as needing government attention. Sometimes the media forces the government to confront issues that may have once been buried like global warming or even aids. They have even taken further steps to confront global warming issue by turning it into a fashion statement to raise money and make be more aware. The objective is to get people to take care of the world by recycling, carpooling and so on. 

 

 

 

Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers are people that are responsible for the direction of news flow. They decide which stories to cover and how to handle the elements of these stories. Gatekeepers are usually the executives, new editors, and some reporters. There are only a few individuals that can qualify as gatekeepers. They decide which topics go through the gate and are responsible for how this material is presented. Even though this is suppose to be the case I think that the traditional role that gate keepers are suppose to have has declined  in the  media for several reasons. One reason is the simple fact that the media can not cover everything because time limitation impose a severe constraints on television news broadcasting. For an half and hour news has to share a quarter of that with commercials. Another reason is the fact that all the high expectations of being a good journalist is dependent upon anonymous sources that tend to be questionable anyways, and finally the fact that the majority of the news and the consist of dubious quality. There are too many constaraint  on the news media, however the Internet is free of gatekeepers, and so there is no contraints on its content.

Horse Race Journalism

I was having a conversation with my sister about horse race journalism. She had this discussion in one of her political classes and I though it was and excellent topic to write on. For those who are not aware of horse race journalism, this is when elections covered by the mass media, focus on whatever candidate is ahead rather than the national issues. When the election process first started, I noticed that Hilary Clinton received a lot of attention from the media.  And besides the fact that she is a woman, Hilary Clinton is the wife of one of our favorite presidents, Bill Clinton.  However as time progressed, Obama began to pull ahead and Hilary was no longer the focus. Journalist was more interested in what Obama was doing because the polls reflected a new leader. I think journalist covers these stories because it offers new material on a daily bases. I think the whole election process in America is portrayed as a competition between two individual rather than a confrontation of opposing parties and platforms. One reason that I why I think this is true is because of the Pastor Wright incident and the negative teachings Obama supposedly followed for 20 plus years.

 

 

Frank and Wanda discuss the media and Obama

This morning on my way to school I was listening to V103’s Frank and Wanda morning show. They were discussing Obama’s speech on race and how fox news was more concerned with a sensationalized story than the truth, and made it seem like Obama was apart of a church that was filled with hatred. So Frank goes to discuss how the clips of Rev Wrigtht were made to upset people and to rethink their feelings about Obama being president. They continue to say that clips that were shown were a little over 5 years old and that fox news station intentionally went digging for something juicy that they knew was not true. They waited for the perfect time to release these clips they put togehter because they knew this was a very crucial moment for Obama. There was one part of a clip they broadcasted that offended many people, which was when Obama’s pastor stated, ” God bless America…..No god damn America!” Out of that whole speech Fox news carefully chose that particular moment to get others to believe that Obama was not patriotic. Then people actually concluded with that information that was given to them through fox that someone who goes to a church like this for so many years must stand by his pastor and the things that fox chose to air. Frank and Wanda though it was unfair to show that for several reasons, but one crucial reason is that you couldn’t tell what he was talking about based on the little that they showed. So Frank and Wanda took upon themselves to air some of the sermon on the radio, Five minutes before, and a couple after. Obama’s pastor was discussing how messed up our government is and how they change all the the time,  for the good or worse. So when the pastor made that comment he was talking about  relationship between the goverment  and god based on the action that are taking place now. Everything that he said was true about the government, so why did Fox choose to air that knowing that the meaning would be easily misconstrued?