Body Image Vlog

Final Blog – Transparency

After reading chapter 9 in Pavlik’s book, Converging Media, we examine the issue of ethical and legal issues with social media. Whether it is privacy or transparency, social media is in a struggle. “The need for transparency is becoming increasingly important with social media – a fact that individuals and organizations forget at their peril” (Pavlik 276). The book uses an example from a popular social networking site, Facebook. In 2009, Facebook had changed their privacy policy without much publicity. When the public found out about the new policy, Facebook was on the spot light. They were receiving threats from the Electronic Privacy Information Center and public outrage. Users of social media in the 21^st century want to be as transparent as possible; however, “transparency often works against strategy making and planning by companies, as they do not want to give away secrets to competitors (Pavlik 276). Many companies describe social media as controlled chaos because of all the information floating around the World Wide Web. It is scary to think something you posted ten years ago on Myspace can still be accessed today. When people post information, they want to know as much things as possible about the company. By not being clear on the privacy policy or what the social media plans to do with the information may make the author not content. Transparency is more important in the online social media world than the offline world. You are more vulnerable online than offline and therefore transparency is not as big of an issue. Overall, transparency is more important online than offline because of the vulnerability and the amount of people that have access to that specific information.

 

Final Written Assignment

For my final written assignment, I have decided to analyze the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News and a website run by Isthmus, a Wisconsin newspaper, www.thedailypage.com.

Blog 13 – Media Theory and Research

For my paper, I plan on researching by using the quantitative method as well as the qualitative method. The quantitative method is described as “Research that focuses on numbers and measures and experimentation to describe phenomena. Researchers usually have a hypothesis they are trying to prove or disprove through controlled experimentation.” On the other hand, qualitative research is described as, “Research that describes phenomena in words instead of numbers and measures.” Both methods will be used in order to prepare the most data for my paper. I am analyzing the Wisconsin Budget Issue from news stories on FOX News as well as CNN. Most of my research will be qualitative research will help me view another perspective and devise common themes within the articles and video clips. The quantitative research that will be done, I will look at simple demographics of the viewers of each station. A topic I will be looking into when performing this research is the agenda setting and framing that takes place within the two news channels. By each news source wanting to convey a certain agenda, their news is framed in a way that is attractable to that particular audience.

 

Blog 12 – 4 Theories of International Communication

After watching the Colbert Report: Cairo Turns into Jersey Shore, it is obvious that Mr. Colbert finds comedy in providing news. This is to be expected because the show is on comedy central. Comparing it to the article about Anderson Cooper being attacked. The Huffington Post reported more details of the attack and provided statements from Cooper’s crew in Cairo, Egypt. On the Colbert Report, it made a reference that Cairo has turned into the Jersey Shore followed by a clip of a man getting punched in the head ten times. Mr. Colbert also use body language and his tone of voice throughout the video makes sure there is parts to laugh. He also jokes on the grassroots movement in Egypt followed by the comment of the lack of grass in Egypt. He then proceeds to showing a picture of pyramids and camels. Colbert adds a video from CNN that gives some credibility to the report he is covering of Mr. Cooper. I would consider the T.V. show as a nontraditional news source. People that listen to The Colbert Report are aware there is a comedic twist and that not all information is being described. Even though it is not a blog or discussion group I would still classify it as a nontraditional news source. One of the issues with the nontraditional news source is the “same commitment to fairness and balance of coverage that a professional news source would have.” However, as we have seen in the past years, more and more news sources are becoming bias. In the New York Times Article, “Public Opinions”, there are numerous complaints about the voices that are replacing reports. There are a lot more opinion articles that are being placed in the news section. Mr. Colbert plays a role in mobilizing the public. Some citizens don’t like to watch FOX News or CNN because of the political bias of the stations as well as its seriousness. The Colbert Report is a good way to get some top headline news as well as a laugh or two within a few minutes.

There are four theories of international mass communication: the authoritarian theory, the libertarian theory, the social responsibility theory, and the soviet theory. The first is authoritarian theory, which is the oldest system of mass communication. This is when Government exerts direct control over the mass media. This is preventing someone to undermine the government’s authority. The Colbert Report does not go to such extremes to challenge the existing political system. This type of theory is most used in places such as China. The second theory is the libertarian theory or also known as the free press theory. It is based on the notion that “the individual should be free to publish whatever he or she likes.” The Colbert Report and other shows such as The Daily Show have their fair share of criticizing the government but it is always in moderation. For example, on the Daily Show the Bush Administration was the focus for almost a quarter of all the segments. The third theory is the social responsibility theory. It is used here in the United States and based on the notion that “the media play a vital role in informing citizens in a democratic citizen in a democratic society and, as such, should be free from most government constraints in order to provide the best, most reliable and impartial information to the public.” The media must provide analysis, explanation, and interpretation. The Colbert report provides all of the following. It is not as traditional as some main news sources as FOX, however, it does have the capability to analyze, explain, and interpret to the audience. The final theory is the soviet theory which is based on a specific ideology. “Media should serve the interests of the working class and should be publicly owned, not privately owned. “ The Colbert Report there is freedom of speech but only to a certain extent. The government still does censor some material if it is deemed necessary.

 

Blog 11 – The Colbert Report

After watching the Colbert Report: Cairo Turns into Jersey Shore, it is obvious that Mr. Colbert finds comedy in providing news. This is to be expected because the show is on comedy central. Comparing it to the article about Anderson Cooper being attacked. The Huffington Post reported more details of the attack and provided statements from Cooper’s crew in Cairo, Egypt. On the Colbert Report, it made a reference that Cairo has turned into the Jersey Shore followed by a clip of a man getting punched in the head ten times. Mr. Colbert also use body language and his tone of voice throughout the video makes sure there is parts to laugh. He also jokes on the grassroots movement in Egypt followed by the comment of the lack of grass in Egypt. He then proceeds to showing a picture of pyramids and camels. Colbert adds a video from CNN that gives some credibility to the report he is covering of Mr. Cooper. I would consider the T.V. show as a nontraditional news source. People that listen to The Colbert Report are aware there is a comedic twist and that not all information is being described. Even though it is not a blog or discussion group I would still classify it as a nontraditional news source. One of the issues with the nontraditional news source is the “same commitment to fairness and balance of coverage that a professional news source would have.” However, as we have seen in the past years, more and more news sources are becoming bias. In the New York Times Article, “Public Opinions”, there are numerous complaints about the voices that are replacing reports. There are a lot more opinion articles that are being placed in the news section. Mr. Colbert plays a role in mobilizing the public. Some citizens don’t like to watch FOX News or CNN because of the political bias of the stations as well as its seriousness. The Colbert Report is a good way to get some top headline news as well as a laugh or two within a few minutes.

 

Channel 7 Advertising and Public Relations

Advertising is defined as “an ancient form of human communication generally designed to inform or persuade members of the public with regard to some product or service.” It has now become very specific to the audiences that are watching the program or channel. As I observed this weekend watching Channel 7 news, there were different advertisements on the morning broadcast than the evening broadcast. It was very easy to determine the audience that most commercials were aiming towards. In the early morning, most of the commercials are focused on the older generation. I would guess the average age watching the broadcast is 40 and up. Some of the commercials shows were for Valentine’s Day because it was the day before and advertisers were in full swing to get as many customers to buy their flower delivery as possible. It was interesting to observe how obvious the commercials were focused on the older generation. Many of them were about retirement communities and credit unions. Another category of commercials shown in the morning was more expensive jewelry, cars, and products.

There were some differences in the advertisements in the evening. Once again, it was interesting to see how easy, if you were paying attention to the ads, that you could depict the audience that was being targeted. I noticed many new commercials in the evening that were advertising college such as University of Phoenix, clothes, and other popular shows coming up. There still was the commercial of cars and Valentine day treats.

Reviewing the commercials during the write up makes sense for the advertisements to be placed where they are. I am sure there have been numerous studies and questionnaires on the demographics of who watches the news and at what time.  Branding is defined as “the process of creating in the consumer’s mind a clear identity for a particular company’s product, logo, or trademark.” Channel 7 as a news program participates in branding by personalizing the advertisements at the specific times. Channel 7 wants to have their viewers feel as if they are customizing to them and will therefore do what they can to have more viewers by showing advertisements to target a specific demographic.

 

Crisis in Egypt

According to the book, framing is known as the notion that every story is told in a particular way that influences how readers think of the story. There are two popular and known networks that are either skewed left or right politically. Fox News is skewed right and CNN is skewed left. In general, the media is more liberal than conservative which is why we can’t always believe everything we hear. This can sometimes be a problem because “frequently the facts of a story are forced to fit into the frame, or angle, regardless of the reality (292). We need to do research to confirm what they say is true. The most popular current event has been the riots in Egypt. An article that is posted on CNN http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/02/08/obamas-support-democracy-extend-egypt/ talks about President Obama supporting universal values. The article then discusses the history of the Mubarak regime leading this article into a framing quote, “This lobby has convinced presidents from Roosevelt to Obama to ignore abuses by the regime that include not only the mistreatment of Saudi citizens but discriminatory practices against American Jews and Christians.” We can obviously concur that the author of the article has a clear influence that he wants his readers to understand. The story overall is fairly moderate because it is giving a lot of information on Egypt and the current events. The United States were not taking a side for a while which is why I think both CNN and Fox don’t have very skewed articles. It is hard for any human being to not frame a story because of human nature and their own opinions. President Obama has now come out and announced the need for a new government in Egypt. Other articles relating to the new government in Egypt such as the opportunity for the Muslim Brotherhood to take power will create more of a framed article based on the objectives of the author to influence his readers.