Monday, May 2, 2011

chapter 16

4. Who is Judith Miller? Should the United States have a federal shield law to protect reporters? Judith Miller was a reporter that spent 85 days in jail for refusing to testify about her confidential sources in connection with the leaked identity of CIA Valerie Plame. I think that the shield law is a good thing. As long as the story is true they should have rights to be able to disclose their sources to anyone or whoever they want to. If they did not have that right then people would be in danger if they told them where they heard certain information from.

5. What do you think of the current movie rating system? Should it be changed? Why or Why not?
I believe that the movie rating systems are fine where they are at now. There is not need to change the system. The ratings let the parents and the people know just how bad or what kind of language that the movie has in it. Although the system is good the ratings are getting a little flexible. Some of the Rated R movies today would not be rated R today. There are scenes that i do not think are for the movie theater, but they show it anyway. I do not think they should change the system but maybe they should tweak it a little. Just kind of catch up with the times and make sure that the things that are shown that are supposed to be shown for the certain type of rating.

6. Should the Fairness Doctrine be revived? Why or why not?
The Fairness Doctrine i believe should be revived. It is like the 1st amendment says you have a the right to free speech. You also should have the right to make your viewpoints known to the public and people should be able to argue or debate with the comments that you make on a certain political or non political subject. Although the TV or radio can only broadcast certain things i believe that it is important that they run them such as the Bin Laden issue. I believe they should let people speak their opinions and say what they want to say within reason.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

chapter 15

1.What are your main concerns or criticisms about the state of media studies at your college or university? I think that the media studies at Lenoir Rhyne are pretty good. If i am understanding what a media study is, i believe that they should help you a little more with jobs. When you go to choose your major they should tell you right then what fields are open and give you some idea if you will have a good chance of getting a job in that field or not.


2.One charge that has been leveled against a lot of media research both the effects and the cultural models is that it has very little impact on changing our media institutions? Do you agree or disagree?
I would somewhat agree because like me everybody has a different opinion about the media. Although my opinion about the media is not always a good one. I believe that most of the media likes to feed on the bad things that go wrong more than the good things that happen. The media has a tendency to also lie about things or not write the whole truth. So i would have to say that it does have a little impact on the media institutions rather than a big impact.



3. Can you think of an issue that media industry and academic researchers could study together?
One issue that i think the media industry and academic researchers could study together is the issue on steroids. Although steroids are illegal i think that in baseball the media is blowing the issue of players using them to another level. I think that researchers and the media should get together and see if they should really be illegal. Although steroids allow you to hit the ball farther you still have to hit the 90 mph fastballs and the curve balls that break 2 feet.


Saturday, April 30, 2011

chapter 13

1. Are you exposed to popular culture from other countries? Why or why not? Give some examples. I do not think that i am exposed to any other popular cultures from other countries in anything really other than sports. The reason that i am not exposed to anything from other countries is mainly i just don't really look it up or watch anything that has to do with any other countries. It not that i don't care about other countries because whatever happens over there in some way it has some effect on the U.S. The only way that i am exposed to the media is watch SportsCenter and they talk about soccer from other countries.

2.Do you read international news? Why or why not? I do not read international news at all. Once again its not because i don't care about what goes on there because like i said before i do, because most of the time whatever effects in other countries also effects the United States. Also I don't read the international news because one i don't have time and two i don't know where there is international news besides the internet.

3. What steps can reporters and editors take to cover media ownership issues in a better way? I think that reporters do pretty good at covering the news and what is going on around the world. Although i do think that reporters need to get more information or find out if it is true before they report it. Sometimes they report things that are no where close to being true. Other than that the reporters are pretty good at their job.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

chapter 12

1 What do you think of when you hear the term public relations? What images come to mind? Where did these impressions come from? When i hear that term i usually think of people who just wont to start trouble. Most of the time the things that write about in their articles are not even true. The images that comes to my mind are story's that have not bit of truth or little truth to them. These impressions come from just plan reading the articles in the paper and knowing a little more about the topic than most.

2. What might a college or university do to improve public relations with homeowners on the edge of a campus who have to deal with noisy student parties and a shortage of parking spaces?
A college or university can get a special number to the security and whenever they have a problem they could simple call the number and the security could take care of it right now. Or they could even have special events for the homeowners on the weekends so that they can get out of the house when parties are going on. Since the parties most of the time are late i think the number to campus security would be your best bet.

4.Can and should they often hostile relationship between the journalism and PR professions be mended? I do not think that journalism and PR can be mended. The reason i believe this is because journalism tells both sides of the story, negative or positive. When it comes to PR they only tell one side of the story and usually it is the side that has the most interest or that will get the most gossip. They have conflicts because the journalism can sometimes look bad or draw conflict from the other side by giving a bad report on them, as for PR since they only tell the one side and they spin it to where both sides are happy about the story.

chapter 11

2. Why are so many people critical of advertising? People are so critical of advertising because most of the time they advertise things that don't happen. For example the Mercedes car commercials, when they want everyone to think that the best Christmas present to give your wife would be a Mercedes car. Also in beer commercials they try and make people who drink beer look so cool, like if you drink beer you will be cool. All in all i think people have a right to be critical of advertising.

4. Should advertising aimed at children be regulated?
I believe that there is already a little regulation towards the commercials or advertisements towards children. Also i do think that parents should tell children what is right and if something is bad on T.V. aimed towards them then the parents should let the children know that it is the wrong thing to do. All in all i guess it would not hurt to regulate the childrens advertisements.

5. Should tobacco (or alcohol) advertising be prohibited? Why or Why not? How would you deal with First Amendment issues regarding controversial ads? I do not think that tobacco or alcohol should be prohibited at all. It is the choice of the person whether they want to do it or not. Even though kids might see them on T.V. it still goes back to the parents in saying that they should teach them what is right and what is wrong. I would deal with it by saying that they is a freedom of speech but do not take it to far where you would have to take legal action because of a certain problem.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

chapter 10

1. what are your earliest recollections of books? Do you read for pleasure? If yes, what kinds of books do you enjoy? Why? My earliest recollection of books is when i was little and my mom and dad use to read me books like Brown Bear and the Bernstein Bears. I do not read for pleasure because mostly i do not have time. I go to school then i do homework and by the time i have time to read i would much rather do something else beside look at another book. I already read a lot for school so that is the main reason i do not read for pleasure, also i guess because i was forced to read a lot of books so i don't take the time to find what books could possible interest me.

2. What can the book industry do better to ensure that we are not overwhelmed by a visual and electronic culture? I believe the main thing the book industry can do so that we are not overwhelmed by visual and electronic culture is they can lower the price of books. Some books today are more expensive they the actual movie is. People may prefer to buy the movie instead of the book because one it is cheaper and because it will not take as much time to watch the movie than it will to read the book.

6. Would you read a book on an iPod or a Kindle? Why or Why not?
I would not read a book on an ipode or a kindle. Although i do not read much i would rather read a text or article in an magazine or a book. Reading in a book is more easily done and some people just like the feel of a book and believe that it is easier to take places. Another reason i would rather read a book in text rather than on a kindle or an ipod is the expense. Those items are a lot more expensive than if you would just buy a regular book, and not only do you have to buy the kindle but you still have to buy the book on the kindle for a couple of dollars. So i feel that it is a waste of money to buy kindles.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

chapter 9

1. What are your earliest recollections of magazines? Which magazine do you read regularly today? Why?
My earliest recollections of magazines were the Highlight books. I used to read those magazines and they always have games that i liked to play. They also had little comic strips in there that i guess i thought was funny. The magazine that i read regularly today would have to be Sports Illustrated. The reason that i read Sports Illustrated regularly is because it has articles on the latest news in sports, and since i watch sports everyday i also like to read bout some of the news that is not on T.V. but is in the magazine.

6. Discuss whether your favorite magazines define you primarily as a consumer or as a citizen. Do you think magazines have a responsibility to educate their readers as both? What can they do to promote responsible citizenship?
My favorite magazines define me primarily as a consumer and not an citizen. The reason my magazines are primarily consumers are the magazines that i read are like Dicks Sporting Goods , Baseball Express and even Sports Illustrated sales items in their magazine. These magazines are basically sports sales and they sale different sports apparel. Sports Illustrated although it does not sale a lot of items it does give information bout items. I believe that it is up to the company whether they want to educate their readers as consumers or citizens. Magazines can print more positive stories and give examples of athletes that have had positive influence on people's lives.

7. Do you think the internet will eventually displace magazines? Why or why not?

I do think that eventually the internet will displace magazines. The internet has already taken over a lot of things like we talked about in the last chapter. The internet has already taken over a little of the newspapers by putting them on the internet. Eventually the internet will take over magazines because everyone has the internet on phone so they can look up information on their phones or if they get bored in a doctors office instead of looking at magazines people will look on their phones for the same information. I think in another five or so years everything will be on the internet just like how DVD's took over VHS for videos.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

chapter 8

1. What kind of stories, topics, or issues are not being covered well by mainstream papers?
When a newspaper writes a story i believe most of the time they get to choose their topic which makes them bias as to which topic they want to write about. Some examples of stories they don't write about much in the newspapers are stories on steroids in baseball, also certain situations dealing with the environment and the U.S. government. Although they do put some information about U.S. government they do not elaborate on it at all, they just put the jest of situation. I believe that the newspaper is very bias as to who writes it. If they do not want to write about a topic most of the time they do not have too. The local papers will write more on what is going on in the town and the big city newspapers like the Charlotte Observer write more on what is going around in the United States.

2. Why do you think people aren't reading U.S. daily newspapers as frequently as they once did? Why is newspaper readership going up in other countries? I think that people are not reading the newspapers such as the U.S. daily because it is more convent to look on the internet and read the news. Pretty much everyone's home page such as Yahoo has news on the homepage. Also you have to pay to get the newspaper and since everyone already has the internet it is free to for people to look the news up on the internet. Another reason i believe the space issue, there is not space limit like there is in the newspaper.The readership is going up in other countries simply because the internet is not as popular in other countries as it is in America.

5. Will Blogs and other internet news services eventually replace newspapers? I think they eventually blogs and the internet news services will eventually replace newspapers. In today's newspapers they only have a certain amount of space to write about a certain subject and all subjects do not get mentioned in the newspaper, but with the internet there is no space limit and they can write how ever much they want. Also with the internet and blogs will also let people write what they have to say and allow them to view other viewpoints of different people on certain situations. With the way everything else is going electronically dependent the internet will also go that way as well.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

chapter 7

1. Describe your earliest memory of going to a movie. Do some research and compare this with a parent's or grandparent's earliest memory. Compare the different experiences. The earliest memory that i have of going to the movies are when i was in middle school when my parents would drop me and my friends off a the mall. We used to go to the movies every weekend with a bunch of friends. I asked my parents what their experience was like and most of their movie theaters were drive in movies. They also would go to a gym which is now like the hickory theater but would only play one movie. Also before that movie there would be two cartoons that would play then the main movie picture would show after.

2. Do you remember seeing a movie you were not allowed to see? Discuss the experience. The movie that stands out to me the most that i was not supposed to see would be Predator. I was at my friends house when i was in 6th grade and it had come on HBO one night and me and my friend watched even though we knew that we weren't suppose to. My parents ended up finding out, they didn't get to mad just reminded me what we should say and what we shouldn't say as far as language. So my experience with this situation in all was not a bad experience just got reinforced what was the right thing to do and what they wrong thing to do is.

3. How often do you go to movie theaters today? How often do you play DVD's on at television at home, or watch movies on a computer? Which experience do you prefer and why?
Today i do not go to the movies very often any more. One because of the price and two because now it is just easier to stay home or go rent it with all of the new technology they have today. I play DVD's every night to go to sleep to. I watch movies all the time and have a stack of DVD's in my room.I although do both i put DVD's in my computer and i also go on websites that play movies that i do not have at home. The experience that i prefer is to watch DVD's on television. I find it to be easier to watch it on T.V, plus you can be more relaxed than you are in movie theaters.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

chapter 6

1. How many cable channels do you watch regularly? What programs do you watch? What attracts you to a certain channel?- I really do not watch T.V. that much i usually only watch it the most two hours a day. When i do watch it though the normal amount of cable channels are i watch regularly are about 4 to 5. The programs that i watch regularly ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, A&E,TV Land, CBS and TBS. I usually like to watch ESPN and CBS channels is because i love sports and that is all that is on that channel. The shows that i watch on A&E are Criminal minds and First 48. I pretty much like everything on TV Land from Andy Griffith to I Love Lucy. I usually only watch TBS when the braves game is on so therefore it relates back to sports. What attracts me to these channels again is i love sports and anything to do with mystery or crime, and as for TV Land i just like the old shows.

4. CNN and MTV have changed our society as well as the global culture. Have these changes been positive or negative? Explain.

I believe that they have both changed the society in good and bad ways. Although i think that CNN has influenced the society in more of a good way than MTV has. CNN allows the U.S. to view what not only is going on in our country but a lot of other countries as well. They are able to see live broadcast of governmental issues being discussed and what is going to be done about certain problems get government has. With MTV i believe that it has been more of a negative change than a positive change. On MTV they show a lot more reality shows than any other station. By saying that they reality shows they show promote a lot of drinking and other provocative situations not suitable for kids. Again then again it does promote some shows like Teen Mom which shows how hard it is to have a kid when you are a teenager. Maybe shows like that will actually help out teens in scaring them into not wanting to have sex until they are married or at least able to financially take care of their kids.


6. Some Critics argue that citizens no longer participate in traditional neighborhood activities and that cable has played a role in fragmenting society keeping us in our homes. Do you agree or disagree? What has cable done well, and in what ways has it adversely affected society? I do not agree with the statement that citizens no longer participate in traditional neighborhood activities. Just because cable has came out it doesn't force anyone to stay in there homes. It is still the person choice whether they want to go out or stay in and watch T.V. I probably only watch one to two hours of T.V. a day so i believe that cable has nothing to do with it. If your parents let you watch a lot of T.V. when you were a kid and didn't make you do any physical activity's then i think that has a bigger part in citizens staying in their homes and not going out. Cable has done well in created all sorts of shows for all sorts of people in the United states. Then again cable has adversely affect the society by some of the shows that they allow to come on their channels.






Thursday, February 10, 2011

chapter 5

2. How much T.V. do you watch today? Which programs do you try to watch regularly? What attracts you to your favorite programs? - When i watch T.V it is most of the time in the mornings or the afternoons. I probably watch about five or six hours of T.V. a day. The shows that i watch regularly are ESPN, Criminal Minds, and different movies at night. Mostly every-night i like to fall asleep with my T.V. on, and it is usually Andy Griffith that is playing. What attracts me to ESPN is just sports i love to watch sports and if i missed a game there is no other show to watch better than ESPN. I love mystery movies and shows and that is what attracts me to watch Criminal Minds. Andy Griffith is a classic and i have grown up watching it my whole life.

3. If you were a network television executive, what changes would you try to make in the programs that America watches?- If i was an executive at a television network i would first take a lot of the reality shows and soaps off the air. I feel that some women that watch the shows get so wrapped up in these shows that they do not know what it real and what isn't. I would also take shows like Jersey shore and Bad Girls Club off the air. All these shows are is girls going out partying and drinking every night, and they are making it look like it is so cool. They are not showing some of the consequences if something where to go wrong. I believe that it is giving the teenage girls the wrong impression on drinking and hanging out with friends. Most of the time when they are drinking they are not drinking responsible and that sets bad examples for teens today.

5. How could T.V. be used to improve social and political life in the United States?- There are many different ways that T.V. can improve social and political life. Since almost every American home has a T.V. in their house i think the best way to reach people about political and social issues would be through T.V. You can let people what is exactly going on with the political world in America. I know if it wasn't for a T.V. i would have no clue what is going on in the world, especially when presidents talk or have their State Of the Union Address. It would also help to let people know if something is true and not just a rumor in dealing with laws and when they are passed, or what is going on with the new health care plans. Social improvement can be useful in letting the citizens of the United States what exactly is going on with certain American issues such as our involvement in the Egypt crisis.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Chapter 4

1. The earliest i can remember listening to the radio is when my mom would take me to elementary school in the mornings. As soon as i got into the car in the mornings the first thing i would do is turn on the radio. Which fifteen years later that is still the first thing i mess with when i get in my car. Once again my favorite song when i was little was achy breaky heart. I was about seven when i was listening to achy breaky heart. The station calls letters i believe were WKKT. The reason why i listened to this station was it was always on when i got into the car. I never really knew any other station when i was little besides country stations.


3. If i could own and manage a commercial radio station i would choose to pile up the commercials in the middle of the day. I would not want to play a lot of commercials in the morning because when people are riding to work the last thing they want to hear is a bunch of commercials. Also when they are coming home from work they would not want to hear commercials. By me playing the commercials during the day i would still have enough sponsorship money to run the station. Since a lot of people normally don't listen to radio during the day that is the best time to play the commercials. Also by me playing music instead of commercials when most people listen to the radio it will keep them listening to the station more often therefore ratings go up.

5. The radio can be used to improve social and political discussions in the U.S in many ways. First it can help get out information on national radios such as NPR. When elections are going on they can use the NPR to let the citizens know what certain politicians plan on doing. It improve with social discussions by also getting out different information such as amber alerts. It can help with catching criminals whether it is saying what kind of car they are driving or where they have been last seen. Lastly it can help with social discussions by giving citizens warnings if bad weather is coming. It would also be helpful to know if you were near a tornado if your in a car that you wouldn't know otherwise. Radio is a very helpful way to get information from place to place when your not near a T.V or a computer.

Chapter 3

1. When i was little my favorite singer was Billy Ray Cyrus.I first started listening to his music because of my parents and family. My family are big country fans so that is a big reason I'm a big fan also. When i started listening to Billy Ray Cyrus i was about seven or so. My favorite song that he sang was Achy Breaky Heart. Because i was so little when i listened to him i don't think there was anything important about the music i just listened to it because the rest of my family and the people i was around listened to it.

2. If i ran a noncommercial campus radio station the music that i would play would be the music that was most popular at that point in time. I would ask the students before i got it up and running what exactly they like to listen to, and for them to give me feed back on what they thought of the station. The music i would play would be Temporary Christan, Country, Rap, Alternative and a little bit of oldies. Since it is a noncommercial radio station i would probably try to do some fund raising event to get money to get caught up on the modern technology.


6. I believe that most of the global popularity of rock music depends on exactly what kind of rock music we are talking about. It depends on if its the beetles rock or Marylin Manson rock. Although most rock i believe is a negative cultural influence. The rock music talks a lot about drugs and depending on who you see sometimes they do drugs while putting on the concert. For example Mostly Crue talks about smoking in the boy's room as one of their songs. Kids might get the wrong impression which is smoking is the cool thing to do. The only pros i can see in rock is being free. They teach you to do your own thing and not follow what everyone else. Another con is that a lot of rock is dated back as earlier as the beetles and it is still being played today. The cons are they sing about drugs and cuss a lot.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Chapter 2

1. My first encounter with the internet was very helpful in many ways. It was in middle school when i had to do a research project. I know longer had to go to the downtown library and read out of books. My mom was there to help me look up the information on the internet. It was a lot easier to find information by typing information in a search engine than flipping pages through a book. It was a lot faster and i believe a lot easier than me trying to find the information from a book or magazine.

2. The possibilities of the futures Internet that i am most excited about are, how easy they will make information on subjects to find, what you will be able to watch such as certain sporting events and movies. You can already watch some sporting events for free but not all of them. Some sites want you to fill out a survey or buy a package so you can watch it. Also like the sporting events you can watch some movies but most movie sites want you to buy packages as well. The possibilities that are most troubling is what will people be able to find out on other people. There are already some programs that are on the Internet that if you buy you can find out where people live and how old they are and even their job salary's. Also if there will be a way in the future for them to get into your computer where they can actually see what you are doing at the point in time. Like anything else where there are good uses for the Internet there will be bad uses that comes along with it.


4.I do believe that virtual communities are genuine communities. Virtual communities are informational systems in how people communicate with each other in the virtual world. With genuine and virtual communities meaning they both share the same interests, it help people meet new people on the internet or even help bring people together. It is also a way for people to talk about there problems. If someone is shy in person it will help them talk to people because they will be behind a computer instead of talking them face to face. In today's world the most common virtual community is Facebook. It helps people keep in touch with old friends or meet new friends with the same interest, even if they are on the other side of the world.

chapter 1

1. When i was younger the show that i used to watch was Wrestling. As i grew older i grew away from it because i realized it was all acting an none of it was real. Even though a lot of shows are all acting wrestling just got ridiculous. The older i got wrestling changed, you could tell that it wasn't real. It started becoming more of a show than actual wrestling.I do not think that wrestling had any influence or impact on shaping my identity. Although my friends an I use to do the wrestling moves on each other we all knew that it was fake. I also had my parents to tell me what was right and when they were doing wrong, for example cussing and do all their inappropriate jesters. I believe that you should let your morals impact your identity never any T.V shows or performer.

3. A popular media product that i believe is harmful to children is violent video games. There are many violent video games out there such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of duty and Manhunt. I believe that you don't really have to make it know, i think that its already know you just have to know how to stop it. With most people that are put in jail for killing someone they have came in contact with some kind of violent video game. In Grand Theft Auto you kill people, cuss a lot, steal from people and you can even pick up prostitutes. Some young kids might think that this is cool and actually make it a reality. The product should defiantly be removed although it is not the main cause of kids violent actions it certainly does not help, and the games do not serve a good purpose at all. Even though the games have a rating on them younger kids will still find ways to get them. A way to band the product is simply just don't let the violent games go into the market. Stop stores from purchasing the games and you could monitor the internet for people trying to load the games on the internet, and when you catch them fine them.

5.In the United states we are fortunate to be able to have all of the technology that we have. For traditional and native cultures it is very harmful for them not to have that luxury. By them not having the modern technology such as the internet, they will be further and further behind the world in everything such as natural disasters and the economy in general. If a natural disaster is near them it will take along time to get to them an warn them, even then it might be to late. Also the economy, they will be the last to know what there own government or leaders are doing that could harm or benefit them. Also by not having a form of email it takes them a lot longer to deliver messages. All of these ways can have a big effect on the native or traditional cultures that are not caught up on the basic form of technology such as email, phones and the internet.