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Mark Levin uses brash commentary, compared to CNN.com
Photo taken from CNN.com
When the union leader protests began at the capitol of Wisconsin in February 2011 in reaction to Republican Governor Scott Walker’s bill, it sparked a controversy across the nation that ideologically divided many, especially in the media. The proposed bill would diminish bargaining rights for public workers and require them to pay more towards their health care and pensions in order to shrink a $3.6 billion deficit. Among those divided are two news sources: The Mark Levin Show on the radio, a bold conservative show, and CNN.com, a more ideologically neutral source, with hints of liberal lean. These two sources reported on the protests using very different approaches to cover the topic and differing frames to present their news that in some way are consistent with their respective political sides. Those on the right believe the public union employees are being freeloaders and stealing from the taxpayers, while those on the left feel public union employees’ rights are being imposed on by the government. The two stories compared in this paper were both breaking stories for both sources; CNN broke the story first on February 16th while Levin aired it the next day on February 17th.
The Mark Levin Show‘s History and Demographics
Mark Levin is one of America’s preeminent conservative commentators with his conservative talk radio show, The Mark Levin Show. His radio show began in 2002 on Sunday afternoons on WABC. In 2003, he obtained the competitive daily 6-8pm time slot. Within the first 18 months, he became the number one show on the AM dial and eventually in 2009, he was given an extra hour. In 2006, Citadel Media, formerly ABC Radio Networks, took over the syndication of the show. Citadel Media is owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, a radio-only media corporation and the third largest radio group in the U.S.
Blog #13: Researching the Mark Levin radio program
For our final project, we are working with the Mark Levin radio show as the alternative new source. Levin’s program is heavily aimed at the right side of the news spectrum, with a website splashed in red, white and blue and pictures of soaring eagles. Many of the current headlines are strong criticisms about Obama’s new budget proposal, and most other headlines seem to stay at home in the United States. Because this program is so conservative, we will most likely pin it against a more liberal mainstream news site, such as CNN radio. Both of these sites will be good tools for research.
Denver Post reporter consistently frames marijuana issue
The current issue of medical marijuana has been a very central one for people in Colorado for the past couple of years. Since the passing of the initial bill that made it legal, there have been many debates and revisions to the bill. One journalist for the Denver Post, John Ingold, has been tracking the issue since its start, and his opinions appear (although subtly) through the way he frames his stories.
On February 11th, the Denver Post published another article written by Ingold about the public hearing about proposed revisions to the medical marijuana regulation bill. The debate about the bill had begun with certain proposed changes to the industry, but the bill had been rewritten to deal with other issues.
Cox Communications may need to update with the digital times
Image taken from Wikipedia.org
Cox Communications is the third-largest cable television provider in the United States and the ranked the fifth in the top worldwide MSOs, with just over 5 million subscribers. This telecomm provider is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises and offer cable, internet and phone to its subscribers. The company appears to have some very moral intentions around the communities they provide service for. There are several communities in California with middle schools that have received grants for technology from Cox Communications. A couple weeks ago, the company donated over 8,000 meals to the homeless and underserved in Orange County. At the same time, at the San Diego headquarter, the company completed an alternative energy project. Cox Communications seems to have a lot of their interest set on the community. But that isn’t to say that it doesn’t have problems just like any other MSO.
That 70s Show creates stereotypical 70s subtexts – rewrite
Members of the cast of That 70s Show
That 70s Show is a sitcom, comedy show that is supposed to personify the lives of teenagers growing up in the culturally explosive and rebellious period of the 70s. The show follows six high-school kids from the made-up town of Point Place, Wisconsin. The point-of-view of the show is through the eyes of these rebellious, rock n’ roll-loving teenagers that (supposedly) show the fun-loving side of the 70s: drinking beers, smoking marijuana, listening to rock music and cruising around in the car with friends. The audience expects this fun-loving part of the show because many of these viewers grew up in the 70s and find the show to be a fond reflection of that decade.
The ambiance of the 70s is definitely over stereo-typed in this show. Although the “love generation” culture was a big part of the 70s, not everywhere in the United States were going through the same revelations of the 70s as Point Place is in the show. Many of these stereo-types insinuate certain subtexts in the show that, while obvious to the viewer, are also what make the show appealing to those viewers.
The winners of the Wikis
The three smartphones in competition (the iPhone, Android and Blackberry) all have their own personal styles and followers in the market, so it’s sometimes difficult to compare. While it’s clear that the iPhone dominates in the market, I believe that there is room for competition. The Blackberry’s time came and went with the introduction of the iPhone, but the Blackberry will always have its followers (especially in the business world). However, I think that the Android operating system could take over the market as the leading smartphone. It has a similar touch screen interface as the iPhone, but there is much more depth to the operating system (Linux) and lots of room for the phone to constantly grow and evolve because it’s open source which means people anywhere can make apps or improvements for the Android phone. While I think the Android has a persuasive argument, there is definite substance to the argument on the Blackberry Wiki page. The recommendations for updating the workability of the Blackberry are very important and could be simple fixes that would perhaps give them another boost in the marketplace. The Blackberry Torch is comparable to many of the other leading smartphones out there, so it looks like the Blackberry company has been working towards those improvements.
That 70s Show creates stereotypical 70s subtexts
That 70s Show is a sitcom, comedy show that is supposed to personify the lives of teenagers growing up in the culturally explosive and rebellious period of the 70s. The show follows six high-school kids from the made-up town of Point Place, Wisconsin. The point of view of the show is through the eyes of these rebellious rock n’ roll-loving teenagers that (supposedly) shows the fun-loving side of the 70s: drinking beers, smoking marijuana, listening to rock and cruising around in the car with friends. The audience expects this fun-loving part of the show because many of these viewers grew up in the 70s and find the show to be a fond reflection of that decade.
Print media, such as the NY Daily Times and CNN.com have ran stories about the ending of the show and where the actors are now. The show debuted on the Fox network in 1998, but since then it has aired on many other broadcast and cable outlets, such as ABC Family and MTV.
Blog 2: Media Diary
Friday (1/7)
11:43 am: used phone to text
12:15: listened to Pandora radio in the car
12:30 – 4 pm: listened to music at a friend’s house and read a book on and off
6 – 7:30 pm: on my laptop, I watched an episode of American Dad! on Hulu and surfed around the internet on other sites such as Facebook. I was listening to music the whole time.
7:30 – 8:30 pm: read a book
Saturday (1/8)
10:30 am: used phone to text
10:30 – 11 am: listened to music in my room
11 – 11:20 am: listened to music in my car
12 – 6 pm: listened to music at a friend’s house and read a book, occasionally used my Android phone to surf to random sites on the internet
7 pm – 7:30 pm: watched an episode of South Park on my laptop
9:15 pm: used the phone to text
9:30 – 10:30 pm: listened to music while hanging out at a friend’s house
10:30 pm – 2 am: went to a party, there was music. I used my phone on various occasions to text and call
Sunday (1/9)
9:15 am: used the phone to text
9:30 am: listened to music in the car
10 am – 12 pm: listened to music at a friend’s house
12-6 pm: listened to music and read a book, used my phone to surf the internet occasionally
6-7 pm: watched an episode of Family Guy on my laptop
7-9 pm: listened to music
9-11 pm: watched Grandma’s Boy
Monday (1/10)
10 am: used phone to text
11 am: listened to music in my car
11:30 am – 2 pm: listened to music and read at a friend’s house
2-2:30 pm: listened to music in my car
3-4 pm: used Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, email
4-6 pm: was online in class (for my class) with Gmail, Youtube, WordPress and Twitter
6-7 pm: used my phone to surf the internet and text
7:30 – 8 pm: watched an episode of The Simpsons on Hulu
8-10 pm: used my laptop and internet (social networking sites) to work on homework
Overall, despite the enormous quantity of technology and media outlets available out there, I don’t tend to indulge myself in them very habitually. But I do tend to use communicational media for entertainment purposes first (seen in my huge use of music in my daily life), personal communication second, and work/school related communications third. This is how it has always been for me for the most part, but now that I am taking only communication and journalism classes, a lot of my personal social-networking use is being cross-used between my classes and personal life (I have a Twitter, Youtube, WordPress and Gmail account for my classes).
I mainly use the technology for the purpose of music – either buying or downloading or sharing and listening to it or making it. It is a constant presence in my life whenever I have the free time to occupy it with music. I even use my phone a lot these days to listen to music on the internet radio Pandora (I used my phone first for texting, second for calling, third for listening to music, and fourth for surfing the internet). Even the times that I was surfing online this last weekend, it was highly probable that I was surfing around on music sites or Youtube to listen to music. In this way, I use a lot of communicational media for my own entertainment purposes.
For personal communication, I mainly use my phone, but I do use tools such as Facebook, which I can also access on my phone. However, although I do use technology and things to keep up with my personal communication, overall, I do not think I use my phone or Facebook that much. I tend to keep their usages down to a minimal. It seems to me I would rather listen to music or watch a movie than be actively engaged with people though my technological tools. Perhaps in this way, I am more of a passive user of communicational media and technology rather than an active user that reaches out to connect with others. And for this reason, I believe I use communicational media the least of all for my work/school because these are both duties that require you to be active and I do not like to spend a large amount of my work and school time going through emails and responding and scheduling appointments in datebooks and making phone calls. I think my mind sees the potential for technology when it comes to entertainment because there are some incredibly engaging technological tools out there!
Media&Culture 