Media Criticism Coursework
First Reading Response
Modern communication is taken for granted by people who have
grown accustomed to the ability to instantaneously communicate with their
friends, family, and business colleagues who live across the country, or across
the world. The process of reaching a digital communication age has been an
ongoing evolution of print media forms, and the creation of machines that could
communicate information across long distances. “What can truly be called mass
communication began to emerge in the mid-fifteenth century with the rise of the
printing press, which, along with other communication techniques,
revolutionized thought and society. The opportunity to print and disseminate
words relatively cheaply and easily supported an ever-increasing (but sometimes
controversial) democratization of knowledge” (Campbell, Fabos, & Frechette,
Gomery, & Jensen, 2014, pg. 5). The media is an integral part of our global
society, particular interest has now been paid to the power of mass media in
spreading news, information, business, and various forms of communication
across the world without requiring expensive forms of transportation in order
to achieve the desired outcome. When the
printing press first came on the scene in America, it made a huge impact on the
social and political climate. The advent
of print made it possible for information to be spread cheaply to the masses,
which was especially important when the colonists were trying to gain support
during the Revolution in order to push the British soldiers out. As print media spread throughout America and
the world, it became clear that what was necessary for this type of medium to
be successful was for all people consuming newspapers, pamphlets, and books to
have access to education. The printing
press often wrote up small pamphlets in easy to decipher language so that it
would be understood by men and women who were not wealthy, and therefore had
not been given access to the level of education that the upper class could so
easily attain.
As the
ability to print and communicate information with large groups of people became
possible, it became apparent that in order for printed messages to be
deciphered by the public, they needed to be literate. “It became clear to later
thinkers that democracy requires a public equipped with the skills and
resources needed to take part in the democratic process” (Campbell et al.,
2014, pg. 6). The availability to education, libraries, and a free press have
been pillars of a functioning democratic society because they give citizens the
tools to understand, and participate in political issues at the local and
federal level.
Since the
election of President Donald Trump we have seen a direct threat to the free
press. By limiting the voice of the
press, President Trump is creating an atmosphere that will allow his chosen
narrative to be shared and broadcasted to the public, minimizing the amount of
accurate information that will be circulated throughout the media. Historically,
the press has acted on behalf of the American people, remaining a beacon of
honesty and truth that is able to penetrate through dark clouds of political
propaganda and lies. Currently we are living in a society where media outlets
have been bought out by private companies, compromising their integrity, as
well as their ability to report unbiased news stories in an objective and
informative manner. With the privatization of media due to corporate ownership,
journalists are forced to cover stories and present them within the context of
their owner’s political interests. Media
in Society states that, “Conventional wisdom suggests that if journalism is
slanted toward particular political parties, ideological perspectives, or
interest groups, then citizens don’t have the full range of information they
need to become rational, self-governing citizens” (Campbell et al., 2014, pg.
29).
Slanted
journalism takes current events and spins them so that the story is told from a
chosen narrative, generally favoring the political or social agenda held by the
person who is writing the story. Considering this piece of
information, it is easy to see how a story can go from simple spinning and move
into the realm of complete fallacy, “While some fake news is produced
purposefully by teenagers in the Balkans or entrepreneurs in the United States
seeking to make money from advertising, false information can also arise from
misinformed social media posts by regular people that are seized on and spread
through a hyper partisan blogosphere” (Maheshwari, 2016). Throughout the last campaign cycle we saw an
excessive amount of fake news spread throughout social media, Trump’s campaign
advisors made sure to use the public mistrust of Clinton to their advantage
whenever possible.
Mark Hachman
created a social experiment using Facebook as his platform; he made two
separate accounts that had opposing political views in order to gauge the
differences between what Trump and Clinton supporters were being exposed to via
social media. What he found was, “our Republican
supporter, Todd White, was flooded with partisan posts. Worse, over a little
more than two days, we counted 10 such posts in his feed that were fake, most
accusing Democrats or their supporters of illegal activity. In all, White was
clearly exposed to more spin than his Democratic counterpart, Chris Smith, who
saw exactly zero fake news stories” (Hachman, 2016). The data that Hachman collected explains how
stories such as Eric tucker’s claim that paid protesters were being shipped
down to Austin, TX by the Clinton campaign using Coach USA buses. A simple
photo posted on Twitter, by a Texas businessman created a viral internet storm
spreading false information throughout the blogosphere, but how did this
happen? Here is a simple explanation, to a complex issue, “The problem goes
beyond fake news. As Facebook’s feeds prove, we live in a “post-truth’ world,
where the line between partisan spin and outright lies is practically
indistinguishable” (Hachman, 2016). Mistrust of media does not come solely
from political spin and biased coverage that occurs on a global scale, favoring
the powerful corporations and politicians who control the global economy. The
mistrust of media in this “post-truth” era (Hachman, 2016) goes beyond words,
and is present in every image we see flash across our television and computer
screens. Media in Society explains,
“One of the most controversial aspects of visual imagery is the relative
truthfulness of images and the ease with which images can be manipulated – the
question of whether visuals can be trusted” (Campbell et al., 2014, pg. 69). To be quite honest, I didn’t know much about image manipulation
until last Fall when I took Introduction to Photography. Before entering that
course, I knew how to crop photos on my phone, and use the Instagram filter
that made my teeth look whiter. I did know
the fashion industry uses Photoshop, and other image editors to enhance and
minimize the size of the models in their photos, yet I didn’t quite grasp what
went into that process. As I learned more about photography, I was blown away
at the time and effort that was put into altering images; most photographs that
have been published are altered reality. How can we trust what we see around
us, given this information? “With the proliferation of programs life
Photoshop and other digital image manipulation techniques over the past 20
years, what constitutes reality in photographs has become anyone’s guess” ( Campbell et al., 2014, pg. 71).
Within the
context of digital mass communication, media consumers need to know how to
critically decipher fact from fiction, and understanding the difference between
reliable and slanted sources. Millenials are accustomed to the newer forms of
media that are used to inform the public when current events occur, and they
are more likely to use platforms that companies will utilize to promote
cause-related marketing campaigns. According to The American Millenials Study
from Barkley, “Millenials, compared to other generations, reported greater awareness of newer, youth-oriented cause
marketing campaigns through social media, while Non-Millenials rely on
newspaper and direct mail” (Loechner, 2011). Given this information, we know the younger cohorts
of America is more likely to engage in integrated marketing campaigns that are
implemented using digital forms of communication. Marketing campaigns can be
slanted and manipulated just as easily as news stories, after all what is a won
election other than a successful marketing campaign? Millenials and
Non-Millenials need to learn how to critique the media messages that are being
thrown at them every day, and the majority of what they consume has implicit
messages that hold multiple biases regarding public figures and political
ideologies. By becoming critical media
consumers we will be equipped to actively engage in what the mass media
releases for our daily consumption, and capable of deciding if the information
we are receiving is factual or media spin.
References:
Campbell, R., Jensen, J., Gomery, D., Fabos, B., & Frechette, J. D.
(2014). Media in society.
Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin's.
Hachman,
M. (2016, November 21). Just how partisan is Facebook’s news? We tested it.
how-partisan-is-facebooks-fake-news-we-tested-it.html
Loechner,
J. (2011, September 7). Millenials High on Digital and Friends. Retrieved
January 3,
2017, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/157923/
Maheshwari,
S. (2016, November 20). How Fake News Goes Viral: A Case Study. Retrieved
news-spreads.html?_r=0
Second Reading Response
Narratives surround us everyday, two people
could retell the exact same event, and each one would tell a completely
different version. Why is that? Well, each person has their own personal
narrative that has been shaped by their lived experiences, which impacts how
they perceive the world around them. The way we share these perceptions that is
our narrative those are our stories. However, individuals aren’t the only ones
who make use of the narrative. The narrative, and its many forms are used and
manipulated within the media in order to portray a particular image to the
public. Narratives are particularly powerful within the realm of politics,
“Presidential candidates can create political advertisements that lack any
connection to their work in politics, and instead focuses on ideas or
characteristics that the American people will be able to identify with. It has
been show that more attention has been paid to issues that do not directly
involve political substance during elections” (Campbell, Fabos, Frechette,
Gomery, & Jensen, 2014, pg. 79).
Politicians have the power to control the
media, and the stories they release that cover them. It is unfortunate that our
news sources have gone from being completely independent, increasing their
reliance on the funding of corporations who have to report stories that align
with the values of their advertisers. Bill Moyers documentary Illusions of News takes a closer look at
the deception of journalism in its current state, and the many ways stories and
images can be used and manipulated to suit the narrative of special interests
(Illusions of News). As a citizen of the United States who relies on news
sources to give me information regarding current events, the amount of spin that I have learned exists through the
coursework of this class has unsettled me. I want to know that I can depend on
journalists to report accurate and truthful information, and instead of all
media outlets making that their goal – the public has to search for facts in a
sea of fiction. However, the question then is, will the average media consumer
take the initiative to search for the truth. The reality is, most won’t bother
to discern the difference, as the following example from Matthew Masur’s
article illustrates, “There will be many people who clicked share on this post
because of its headline. They may not even click to open the story. They will
never actually read these words. Ironically these are the folks who need to
hear it most” (Masur, 2016).
We are living in a world where the public
has become complacent, they believe everything released by their favored news
media outlet is absolute fact. It is unrealistic to attempt to force the entire
American population to deconstruct the current state of politics, though I wish
I could. Those of us who are lucky enough to understand the interplay between
political power and media know that a politician who has a negative political
record, can still be conveyed a qualified candidate if they have enough power
to buy the media’s compliance. According to Media in Society, “From our
narrativist perspective, politics is about who wields power, how they use it,
how they maintain and “operationalize” it through stories. But it also has to
do with how media are implicated in this process, and - most importantly – how
we think and act as citizens in relation to political power… how media reflect
and define the often unequal relations in power throughout contemporary
society, and what kind of citizens we need
to be with regard to the battles over power and meaning” (Campbell et. al.,
2014, pg. 107).
When it was announced that Donald Trump
had been elected President of the United States, it shook the nation at its
core. Parents felt betrayed that a bully had been elected to public office, demonstrating
to their children that behaviors they discouraged were now publicly acceptable.
The news reported increases in racial hate crimes and sexual violence following
the election, and I saw the election of an openly racist white supremacist man
affect how my significant other dealt with the world as a Latino man. The
election of Donald Trump caused the country to grieve publicly in a visible
way, our nation was not going to accept this mas as president without a fight.
However, the concerning part of his victory was that his supporters believed
that he was going to change things for everyone, not just the groups that
interest him the most. “Trump signaled the use of “Crosscheck” when he claimed the election is “rigged” because
“people are voting many, many times.” His operative Kobach, who also advised
Trump on building a wall on the southern border, devised a list of 7.2 million
“potential” double voters—1.1 million of which were removed from the voter
rolls by Tuesday. The list is loaded overwhelmingly with voters of color and
the poor” (Palast, 2016).
The fact that Donald Trump was able to strip the rights of millions of
vulnerable and disenfranchised Americans, yet still claim to be for “all
Americans” shows how he has been able to manipulate his public image by
controlling what the media has access to. Unfortunately this is not the first
election cycle that our nation’s minority groups have experienced a
violation of their civil rights when trying to participate in an election. In
the documentary Unprecedented 8,000
votes were removed from voter registration rolls in Florida because they were
accused of being felons, and registered illegally. According to the
documentary’s statistics, the 8,000 votes removed were the 15% of the
population that were innocent of any crime and wrongfully eliminated from voter
lists. Even worse, 2,883 of the reported ex-felons who had moved to Florida
were illegally purged during the 2000 election cycle (Unprecedented, 2002), all
of these factors led to the victory of George Bush over Al Gore, similar to the
dramatic win Trump experienced over Clinton.
Just as political power can allow government officials to manipulate how
they are perceived by the media, powerful media companies can evade
consequences for using unethical means to get leads on popular stories. Under
ownership of Rupert Murdoch, journalists at The
Sun were directed to hire private investigators to hack into celebrity
voicemails, in order to be the tabloid with the hottest celebrity scoops.
Rupert Murdoch was notorious for his love of gossip, his belief was that,
“headlines don’t have to be troubled with the truth” (Frontline: Murdoch’s
Scandal, 2012). Murdoch put pressure on journalists at The Sun to write twelve big stories a year, and if they didn’t
deliver they would soon find themselves looking for another job. In order to
deliver these stories the voicemails of prominent figures were hacked to ensure
that The Sun continued to have high
readership ratings, and could deliver new stories of high-interest to the public.
Tabloid journalism is a major shift from the original function of
journalism and written communication within America, which was to educate and
inform the public of current events, “Tabloid journalism requires a constant
supply of victims who’ve fallen on hard times” (Frontline: Murdoch’s Scandal,
2012). Journalism has changed as the
demands of the American public has changed, as well as the obligation of
journalists have shifted from the public to monetary interests, “For much of
the twentieth century, in fact, journalists viewed themselves mainly as
fact-gatherers or information conduits, trying to distance themselves both from
partisanship and from the storytelling mandate of their daily jobs. Today, and
over the course of U.S. history, technological and social changes have altered
the journalistic landscape” (Campbell et. al, 2014, pg. 133).
As the role of journalism in society has shifted, journalists have had
to adapt to social and political climates that are constantly evolving. What
used to be seen as acceptable, and even sought after news presentations are now
considered outdated. Media outlets are now more partisan than they have ever
been, leaving media consumers lost as they try to identify the truth within a
story. Even then the consumer will not get the entire picture, because often
the whole context of the situation is not reported, leaving a one-sided view
that favors an individual or group. In the world today it is impossible to find
a situation where power cannot overrule ethics in any given situation. The
films we watched gave us examples of how the desire for financial and political
power drives people away from morality, often into depravity. As citizens we
need to be aware of the constant hierarchy of power that is at play in our society, and take the time to educate ourselves on
the false images and ideals of American life that we are sold through media narratives.
References:
Campbell, R., Fabos, B., Frechette, J. D., Gomery, D., &
Jensen, J. (2014). Media in
Society. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Illusions of News. (1989, November 22). Retrieved January 18,
2017, from
Masur, M. (2016, November 15). Bernie Sanders Could Replace
President Trump
With Little
Known Loophole. Retrieved January 7, 2017, from
trump-with-little-us-5829f25fe4b02blf5257a6b7
Murdoch’s Scandal.
(2012, March 27). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from
Palast, G. (2016, November 13). The Election Was Stolen –
Here’s How. Retrieved
January 8,
2017, from readersupportednews.org/opinion/277-75/40246-
Focus-the-election-was-stolen-heres-how
W. (2011, November 21). Unprecedented – The 2000 Presidential
Election (2002).
I4Yxq8
Third Reading Response
The most significant factor within our society that hinders
the media’s ability to provide objective coverage of current events is the deregulation
of large media giants, and their continued purchases of smaller companies which
they turn into profitable conglomerates. Currently, “we live in a society where
we are immersed in media, the average person spends 10, 11, even 12 hours a day
using some form of media” (Rich Media, Poor Democracy, 2006). Given the
extensive amount of time Americans spend utilizing media outlets, it is not
surprising that we are being affected by the evolving business of for-profit
media. Initially, the function of media was to serve as a watchdog for the
American public yet as the creation of media companies focused on profitable
ventures has grown, the amount of programming that is informational has diminished.
Currently we have a media system where large media giants purchase smaller
companies with the intention of merging them into conglomerates. Once
conglomeration occurs, the company cross-promotes their products to the public
to ensure they make the maximum return possible on their investment. As a
result of cross-promotion and deregulation of the media industry, “one
blockbuster can carry a film studio for an entire year” (Rich Media, Poor
Democracy, 2006). Another issue that has occurred as a result of for-profit
media is that journalists no longer have control over the stories they cover,
“The professional autonomy of the field has come under attack because it
doesn’t make commercial sense” (Rich Media, Poor Democracy, 2006).
The deregulation
of the media industry has led many to support free-market media, “Advocates of
free-market competition have stressed that corporations offer a wide array of
choices and that in an open and supposedly free marketplace the media products
that the customers want will rise to the top while inferior products (and
companies) will fail. . .For example, they might emphasize that no one was
forced to go see Avatar and that the movie’s producer-distributor, Twentieth
Century Fox, created a superior media product that rose above the pack of
inferior forms of mass culture when the film premiered in December 2009”
(Campbell, Fabos, Frechette, Gomery, & Jensen, 2014, pg. 169). In theory it
appears logical that citizens are choosing the forms of media they consume,
however as media consumers we need to take a critical look at who is producing
the majority of films and television shows that we consume. Avatar is a film
that was produced by a prominent film company which releases successful films
every year, thus eliminating the idea that we have a free-market. The reverse
is actually true, the media industry is dominated by a handful of successful
companies which takes away freedoms from smaller companies to release
potentially successful films. You cannot have a free-market if only certain
members have a fair shot at winning the attention of potential consumers. But
that is the nature of entertainment, its purpose is to distract us from the
root of true social issues that exist within our world.
“Entertainment is
understood by many people to be crucially different from art. As New Humans
critics like Irving Babbit argued in the early twentieth century, and as
conservative critics argued in the Culture Wars of the 1980s, art is something
elite, special, maybe even sacred, and entertainment is something popular, run
of the mill, and sometimes, at least, profane” (Campbell et. all, 2014, pg.
199). We are inundated with this type of media every day, when I go to check
out at the grocery store I see magazines with gossip stories about the latest
celebrity break-up, or what Kim Kardashian wore to the Grammy’s. Americans are
fascinated by the lives of famous individuals because they are glamourous in
comparison to our regular nine to five working lives. The problem with this
obsession is that it is both unhealthy to us as individuals to be hyper focused
on the lives of complete strangers, and it keeps us distracted from current
issues such as the crisis in Syria that is occurring right now. I believe that
media consumers gobble up yellow journalism because it helps them cope with the
horrific events we see covered in the news every evening, which usually is
nothing in comparison to what is happening in a global scale, depending on the
channel that you watch. The majority of stories that have headlines that are
hyped up in tabloids are often focused on women’s bodies, love lives, fashion
choices, or other aspect of females that are of minimal consequence in the real
world. However, such stories help men who are struggling to cope with stress to
distract themselves by deconstructing the image of a powerful female and
minimizing her strength.
“Laura Mulvey has
explored visual pleasure in narrative cinema to explain how the “male gaze” –
men looking at women in a sexual way – projects itself onto women who are
simultaneously looked at and displayed. Often used in advertisements as well as
other visual media, the male gaze holds psychological power over young girls
and women as they learn to conceptualize their body image from a male
spectator’s point of view” (Campbell et. al., 2014, pg. 225). This explains why
women are so critical of their own appearance, and even of each other’s bodies.
We are taught that we have to look a certain way to gain approval in a
heteronormative society that is male centric, at a young age we internalize
these messages and become our own worst enemies as a result of these
unrealistic expectations placed upon us.
As women we would
hope that the media industry would look at data showing that unrealistic images
of beauty are harming girls and women, however they continue to push these
unattainable ideals in films, advertisements, and television shows. Why is that?
It goes back to who owns and controls the media, if a man owns a company then
he is in control of the narrative that is told in the media that is produced by
his company. Since the majority of media giants are run by heterosexual white
men, the narrative seen in most films are those meant to appeal to that
audience.
The deregulation
of the media industry not only allows for profit companies to grow at
unprecedented rates, enabling them to monopolize the mass media market. It
gives the media industry free reign to produce and publish any content that it
deems profitable, regardless of its effects on American media consumers. In an
ideal world American citizens would have more control over the media content
they consume, until then the best we can do is be mindful of where our
information is coming from, and how we can protect ourselves from internalizing
negative images we see within the media.
References:
Campbell, R., Jensen, J., Gomery, D.,
Fabos, B., & Frechette, J. D. (2014). Media
in Society.
Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin’s
J. (2006, September 21). Rich Media,
Poor Democracy Part 1. Retrieved January 28, 2017, from
J. (2006, September 21). Rich Media,
Poor Democracy Part 2. Retrieved January 28, 2017, from
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