As I read this piece I was quick to realize that the author of the article, Chris Hedges, is a very opinionated individual who is not afraid to use a strong opinion as his lead line. He has a way of sounding passionate and opinionated but at the same time maintain his credibility and I really enjoyed this piece. He touched on a lot of issues that I have heard about in some of my previous classes, such as the decline of the publishing industry since everything seems to be geared towards switching to the internet. Corruption in the media is another issue that I am particularly concerned with, I, like Hedges, believe that you must question everything that you read, hear, or see. Since all of our news is controlled by seven conglomerates I believe a lot of what we hear is propaganda, people these days tend to care more about the size of their bank account than the truth.
Hedges describes our society by using the phrases "collective self-delusion"and "manufactured reality" and I could not agree more. Since these conglomerates have so much control over what we see and hear, they can decide what to share with the public, as well as what information they would like to up hold from us. This brings me back to the example of GE, since they are a huge supplier of weapons, why would they want to show a lot of coverage on the war? All of these conglomerates are made up of numerous, extremely wealthy, corporations who are looking to become even more wealthy, meaning they have the power to sway many people's opinions on things through the media coverage that it recieves.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
9-16 New's with volume off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWZHTJsR4Bc
When I read the assignment for today I could not help but be excited to watch a news cast without the sound and vis versa. I had never thought to do something like this before to test the effectiveness of a newscast, but I think it is a great way to put television broadcasts to the test. The newscast I chose was one that I looked up on YouTube that comes from a Fox News interview about the intelligence of Sarah Palin. As I sat down at my computer, about to hit play, I decided that I would take a guess at which way would be easier for me to get the whole story. My guess was that they would be pretty equal in getting the point across, but in the end the clip with the audio would allow for more comprehension.
First, I watched the clip with the audio off. What I got from the clip was shocking to me because it was not a lot of information. The only way I knew what was going on was by the caption right below the reporters that flashed phrases periodically that said something along the lines of "if Palin costs McCain a single vote she is sorry" and " Palin thinks we should unite and work together", all comments being pretty typical for a politician to say. I knew, however, that if Shepard Smith and his colleague were talking about her, something important must have gone on.
Next, I hit minimize and only listened to the audio of the clip. Simply by doing this I was immersed in a news story that I found to be almost unbelievable and pretty embarrassing for Sarah Palin. Now, I'm not writing this piece to cut down Governor Palin at all, but if what these men are saying is true (which I assume it is because Fox News is a conservative station, meaning they would not report negative news about their favorite politicians if it was not a huge deal). What I heard was a report about the McCain campaign having worries about Palin's intelligence level, saying she did not know which countries were included in NAFTA and even more embarrassing, she was not aware that Africa was a continent. There were a few other points that they made about her being overly emotional and also refusing to prepare for her Katie Courick interview which she had a hard time answering some of the questions in.
Overall, I liked this exercise because it opened my eyes to how heavily the media relies on audio. After watching the story both ways I concluded two different stories, one that was your everyday politicians saying we need to unite and that Sarah Palin did not want to cause John McCain to lose any votes because of her. The second was a story filled with information that would really concern voters about the credibility of Sarah Palin. I would conclude after this assignment that news programs should put more visual queues or messages about the story being reported on.
When I read the assignment for today I could not help but be excited to watch a news cast without the sound and vis versa. I had never thought to do something like this before to test the effectiveness of a newscast, but I think it is a great way to put television broadcasts to the test. The newscast I chose was one that I looked up on YouTube that comes from a Fox News interview about the intelligence of Sarah Palin. As I sat down at my computer, about to hit play, I decided that I would take a guess at which way would be easier for me to get the whole story. My guess was that they would be pretty equal in getting the point across, but in the end the clip with the audio would allow for more comprehension.
First, I watched the clip with the audio off. What I got from the clip was shocking to me because it was not a lot of information. The only way I knew what was going on was by the caption right below the reporters that flashed phrases periodically that said something along the lines of "if Palin costs McCain a single vote she is sorry" and " Palin thinks we should unite and work together", all comments being pretty typical for a politician to say. I knew, however, that if Shepard Smith and his colleague were talking about her, something important must have gone on.
Next, I hit minimize and only listened to the audio of the clip. Simply by doing this I was immersed in a news story that I found to be almost unbelievable and pretty embarrassing for Sarah Palin. Now, I'm not writing this piece to cut down Governor Palin at all, but if what these men are saying is true (which I assume it is because Fox News is a conservative station, meaning they would not report negative news about their favorite politicians if it was not a huge deal). What I heard was a report about the McCain campaign having worries about Palin's intelligence level, saying she did not know which countries were included in NAFTA and even more embarrassing, she was not aware that Africa was a continent. There were a few other points that they made about her being overly emotional and also refusing to prepare for her Katie Courick interview which she had a hard time answering some of the questions in.
Overall, I liked this exercise because it opened my eyes to how heavily the media relies on audio. After watching the story both ways I concluded two different stories, one that was your everyday politicians saying we need to unite and that Sarah Palin did not want to cause John McCain to lose any votes because of her. The second was a story filled with information that would really concern voters about the credibility of Sarah Palin. I would conclude after this assignment that news programs should put more visual queues or messages about the story being reported on.
Monday, September 14, 2009
9-14 convergence and consolodation
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/opinion/14mon3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Until recently, advertisers have been allowed to paint a false image of what their products might do for you. We see billboards and newspapers filled with smiling, healthy, attractive people who seem to be enjoying the product being sold. Finally, officials in New York have decided to take a stand against this false advertising by creating an ad that would make any soft drink user think twice about chugging down glass after glass of the sugary drinks. The ad campaign features gooey globs of fat spilling out over the brim of a cup, rather than bubbly fizz. Following the graphic picture comes the phrase “Don’t drink yourself fat”. You’re probably wondering, “What does this have to do with convergence and consolidation?” I really wanted to choose a piece that was not just dry and boring, but rather something that would make me have to think about the relation, and something that I could challenge myself with a bit.
This piece demonstrates convergence through explaining how New York health experts are planning on changing the public’s view of soft drinks. They are utilizing the media to change people’s minds, instead of flashing false images the commercial takes a different approach, in hopes to steer people away from making unhealthy choices. As a think back into history, the impact that television has had on our nation is huge, the messages that are displayed to us do influence our spending and living habits whether we like to believe it or not. We are so surrounded today by advertisements through television that even if we say we don’t watch television, we subliminally still hear and see the ad (even if we aren’t fully paying attention to it. I think that the push for healthy commercials is a great idea, honestly I think that a lot of people just don’t realize what they are eating is harming them due to little regulation on what the advertisers can show.
As for another problem in our country, the concentration of media is something that few people know about, but really should hear more about. All the major broadcast channels are owned by a few major conglomerates (National Amusements, Viacom, CBS Corporation, Time Warner, News Corp, Bertelsmann AG, Sony, General Electric, Vivendi SA, Hearst Corporation, Organizações Globo and Lagardère Group). Now, these companies also own a lot of other business’, some being fast food or soft drink companies, so clearly they would want to help endorse their brands by advertising for them on their networks. I think the only way for these companies to not get out of control with false advertising is if the government comes up with some sort of regulation for these conglomerates, it is not fair to the American people to have a select few groups brainwashing them through false messages on the television. I can only hope that more people around the country start acting the like the New York City health officials by giving the people the truth.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Journalism Resume
515 Stillwater Avenue
Old Town, Maine 04468
Phone: 207-756-4050
Objective
· Become a staff journalist for the Bangor Daily News.
Education
· Greely High School graduate, class of 2007. GPA: 86.4
· One year completed at Emmanuel College in Boston.
· Currently a third year communications major at The University of Maine. GPA: 3.0
Experience
· Broadcaster for Lake Shore Elementary School’s television channel.
· Sports journalist for high school news paper.
· Experienced in interviewing, having been interviewed numerous times for sports related pieces in the Portland Press Herald and The Falmouth Forecaster.
Employment History
· Intern at WCSH channel 6 – helped in the production of Bill Green’s Maine working both independently and in large groups.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
September 8, 2009 Atircle Accuracy Check
http://www.thedailymind.com/how-to/how-to-become-a-better-husband-boyfriend-or-life-partner/
As a reader, this article seemed to be very eye catching to me at first glance. The head line was big, bold, and bright blue and really had me wondering "maybe someone out there really does know the secret to relationships...". As I began reading I quickly noticed that this was more of an opinion piece rather than an accredited article or scholarly journal, however, I believe that the author knew this article was not going to win him any awards for mastering science.
Even though this author chose not to site any sources but himself, I still find this article to be a well written opinion piece that contains a lot of statements and beliefs that I would tend to agree with. The way that the author begins his piece makes it clear that his intentions are to share some of his own advice, not advice of the experts. The way he comes right out and says it makes him seem a little more credible as an author, which would make me less likely to judge him harshly on the credibility of this piece.
As a reader, this article seemed to be very eye catching to me at first glance. The head line was big, bold, and bright blue and really had me wondering "maybe someone out there really does know the secret to relationships...". As I began reading I quickly noticed that this was more of an opinion piece rather than an accredited article or scholarly journal, however, I believe that the author knew this article was not going to win him any awards for mastering science.
Even though this author chose not to site any sources but himself, I still find this article to be a well written opinion piece that contains a lot of statements and beliefs that I would tend to agree with. The way that the author begins his piece makes it clear that his intentions are to share some of his own advice, not advice of the experts. The way he comes right out and says it makes him seem a little more credible as an author, which would make me less likely to judge him harshly on the credibility of this piece.
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