Module 5
One thing that really stood out to me in the slides titled, “The rise and fall of professional journalism” was the emphasis on the need to better media. The section, Media & Democracy confirms my beliefs that the media is affecting society in more negative aspects than positive. Throughout this semester, I have experienced a more negative outlook and impression of the media. It has made me believe that the media does not have good intentions. I know this may appear to be a bit pessimistic, however, the point I am trying to make is how the media uses us in multiple ways. Throughout the course, I have really opened my eyes to how much influence media has on its audience. I’ve learned that people need to educate themselves better because with out proper knowledge, media will just destroy us and cause more violence than it has already antagonized.
According to FAIR and the article titled, “How to detect bias in the news media?”, an effective way to become familiar and educated with the medias’ public agenda setting is to question yourself. They to believe, just as Sternheimer might agree, that the media has a huge amount of power and emphasis in shaping political discourse. These questions consist of considerations such as, keeping an eye out for stereotypes, double standards, and a reoccurring lack of diversity. Also, pay close attention to whose telling the story and what their point of view is. It can be really important to pay attention to the language and whether or not the story remains consistent. Becoming active readers, media literate, and educating ourselves can be a start to improve media and democracy.
The Media & Democracy slide states that it is impossible to get to a better world without creating some changes in the media.(McChesney, 2002) I couldn’t agree more. I really came to the conclusion that the media uses us and needs us, therefore we have the power to stand up and change media for the betterment of society. Out of curiosity, after taking this course do you have any different opinions/thoughts about the media, since taking the course, or still the same?
People of different races, ethnicity, gender groups, and cultures, are not feeling welcomed. I would say that the majority of society feels excluded and judged by the outnumbered, “ideal american”. In the class we focused on several activities and readings where it was apparent that society has expectations of society. We can see this, because it is everywhere. It is in movies, shows, magazines, and it is the “ideal american” The Caucasian family . A survey of major cable news stated that programs and shows display a “stunning lack of diversity among the guests.” (Hart, 2014)
Media advertises models such as, the 5’9 100 lb Victoria secret woman and puts an impression among others that being thick or overweight is not acceptable way to look. From this, people can develop insecurities and can hurt themselves to “fit the look” . Some examples of what people with body image issues due to cope with their issues is develop anorexia or bulimia; just to keep up with societies expectations.
Media also has a large influence on preteens. The trends and attitudes they are influencing preteens are causing them to growing up faster than they once did in the past. If you take a look at the clothing trends for example, in comparing a 16 year old in the early 90’s and her fashion versus a 16 year old fashion in today’s society, it is dramatically not the same. Showing more skin, cleavage, curves is what is in in today’s fashion. What happen to modestly and self respect? Sternheimer discusses reality shows and their influence on teens, which relates to my opinion on the influence of media and preteens. An example given in chapter 10 was the show My Super Sweet Sixteen. In this show kids are given Bentley’s and Million dollar homes and parties. What happen to the good old fashioned family dinner and an outfit as a birthday gift? After this show aired, a survey was conducted on preteens. They found that 74 percent teens and 66 percent teens agreed they would be happier if they had more money to spend on themselves. (Sternehimer, 2013, p. 246) Going on a tangent here but something that raised a question for me was when reading this chapter I noticed this survey didn’t state how many teens and preteens were surveyed. Do you think that is Lying with numbers to persuade you because of their own bias? Just a thought..
One thing I found really interesting that linked to another classmates voice thread was the idea of media, poverty, and young mothers. Chapter 11 in the text discuses how media discourages young mothers and that they make feel that having a child is more of a disadvantage than consider it positive. (Sternehimer, 2013, p. 278) Because of this mindsets it basically sets young mothers up for failure. In a voice thread, a student had shown us an ad where a baby was crying “I’m twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen.” This advertisement was so shocking and awful and yet a perfect example of the discouragement Sternheimer refers too.
One thing all these readings have in common is the idea that the media enables violence, crimes, racial bias and stereotypes, poverty, and so on. They all also connect the way the media portrays and represents women. I loved how all our readings really coincided with the lectures.
References
Global Media Marketing Project. (2015). Who makes the news. Retrieved from http://whomakesthenews.org/gmmp
Hart, P. (2014, July 1). Who gets to speak on cable news? Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Retrieved from http://fair.org/extra/who-gets-to-speak-on-cable-news/
How to Detect Bias in News Media. (n.d.) Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Retrieved from http://fair.org/take-action-now/media-activism-kit/how-to-detect-bias-in-news-media/
McChesney, R. (2002). The rise and fall of professional journalism. Into the buzz saw: Leading journalists expose the myth of a free press. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (363-381).
Radford, B. (2003). The news bias: Distorting reality and feeding fears. Media mythmakers: how journalists, activists, and advertisers mislead us. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, pp. 65-101
Sternheimer, K. (2013). Consumption and materialism: A new generation of greed? Connecting social problems and popular culture: Why media is not the answer, pp. 245-268.
Sternheimer, (2013). Beyond popular culture: Why inequality is the problem. Connecting social problems and popular culture: Why media is not the answer, pp. 273-287
