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Archive for Comm 455

Propoganda is not dead

Posted by: | October 4, 2012 | No Comment |

Propoganda is generally thought of as the comic-like posters on city walls or public service announcements that have been left behind in mid-20th century antiquity. However, all one must do to realize that propaganda is alive and well is turn on their television, especially during election season.

It’s presence is ubiquitous: before practically every Youtube video, in the commercials segmenting your favorite shows, and slapped on the back of opinionated individuals’ cars.  Every fall during election season can be remembered as a flurry of mud-slinging and finger pointing.

These advertisements are filled with attacks on the opponent’s credibility mixed with praise for the belligerent’s own, and no attack goes unanswered by the other side.  For many voters, this back-and-forth exchange can be overwhelming.

So with such equally feverish attacks by both sides, how does one know who is telling the truth?

Thanks to the internet, there are now organizations and websites dedicated to helping sift through the vitriolic sludge churned up by television advertisements and debates and find out when a candidate (or any public official) is speaking the truth or just running their mouth.

FactCheck and PolitiFact are two popular options, and they can be accessed by anyone, no membership or fees required.   Yet even with organizations like these that help clear up misconceptions about what politicians say, it is worthwhile to look into the sources of funding for these organizations and who writes them.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual to do their own research on the issues to form their own stance.  It is crucial that voters be swayed not by advertising campaigns or incendiary language, but by the substance behind each candidate.

under: Comm 455
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Sensationalism and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

We live in a culture where the latest episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” pulls in more ratings than the Republican National Convention during  the 2012 presidential election. The latest TLC phenomenon, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” is a prime example of how sensationalized news is undermining the foundation of ethical journalism.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is a reality television show, reporting on the lives of a Southern-American family, featuring a child who participates in beauty pageants. The show is supposed to be about the child, Alana’s, participation in beauty pageants but it focuses more on how the family deliberately disregards all social expectations regarding manners and maintaining a level of dignity and class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS2SzGUwaMI

This sensationalized news is essentially putting the family on a pedestal of mockery.  The ratings for the season finale of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” made it the most watched show on all of television. Besides the ethical issues that arise from watching a TV show that mocks others for entertainment, the ethical issues that arise from such poor reporting are even greater.

As students of communication, it is easy for us to see the distinction between serious journalism and sensationalized “fluff” such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” but this distinction may not be so apparent to the rest of the population. Whether the distinction is clear or not, this latest television sensation is yet another dismal reminder that the face of journalism is moving farther and father away from the days of quality reporting set by Edward R. Murrow and closer to the standards set by the creators of entities such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” 

under: Comm 455
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A new “raw” word of mouth

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

There is a new website heavily promoting the use of word of mouth called Rawporter, which offers rather nice benefits to users or “rawporters” who post pictures and videos on the homepage of this site.

Rawporter’s claim is this; with the increase of social media sharing of pictures and videos across the web, any large news source can snatch said pictures or videos and use them in their own stories without giving the photographer or videographer any credit.

Rawporter wants to change this concept.

With this website, the hope is (as it has only been up and running for about 2 years) that citizen journalists and bloggers can catch raw newsworthy material and post it onto their website before sharing it elsewhere via social media.

Rawporter has an App on iPhones and Androids that sends assignments to any registered “rawporter” that tells where a news channel needs some raw footage or pictures from an event that just took place. The news outlets offer a price for these pictures or videos and the first rawporter to get to the scene simply takes the shot or shoots the footage, uploads these onto their app on their phone, and gets their cash reward by having Rawporter sell it.

And the credit of your snapshot or video is finally given to you.

Rawporter App on iPhone and Android

As of now, users must have a PayPal account to receive their compensation for their work, which Co-Founder Rob Gaige says “will change once the website works out more of its ‘kinks’.”

But how will Rawporter protect your entries from being taken by the mainstream news without them first paying?

With each entry submitted into Rawporter, it is embedded with an encription code and copyright card that can only be taken if bought by a local media outlet.

So, it is a good idea, but it has some downsides to it, as most ideas still in their early stages do.

This website assumes that mainstream news stations will send out messages to Rawporter before sending their own cameramen.The mainstream channels could see this as saving money, offering less for pictures then paying their own cameramen.

It also hopes and believes heavily that their rawporters can “be in the right place at the right time.” which is not too far of a claim as any person can have an account for free and any person can upload what they want in the hopes of a cash reward.

So who’s to say you could not end up being in the right place at the perfect time and catch a great story in the making?
under: Comm 455
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Remembering an honest storyteller.

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

  “If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”

                    – Hunter S. Thompson      

You’ve undoubtably heard of Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote some of the most telling and influential stories journalism could possibly offer. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Rum Diaries,” to name a couple, are extremely educational tools for the young journalist. What could be taken away from these teachings in Gonzo journalism you ask.

If you take a moment to understand the context and setting of Thompson’s works, which were distributed by several of the largest magazines and newspapers in the world, you’ll begin to absorb just what he was for the generation he belonged to, and even more so, the time we live in now. HIs stories were radically honest. 

He could be sent to an NFL game to write a story, and come back a month after deadline with a story that blows the top off the whole organization. He got away with running past deadline because he could be trusted to tell his audience a story, while immensely upsetting to some, about the unreal truths of a time and place.

Thompson infiltrated realms in American journalism that no one else could. After writing “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” in 1971, he started covering George McGovern’s campaign and published “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72.” Thompson was fiery and driven to report on what he felt was the real American Dream, and what aught to be.

Ultimately, he didn’t change the way Americans acted, but instead brought forth the truth as no one had ever seen it. Thompson’s way of writing is more important now than ever before. During political and country wide unrest over issues that matter most, honest journalism is the only journalism that deserves an audience.

The quote that introduces this story should give you an idea of the kind of difficulty Hunter S. Thompson faced in being as honest as he was. He always had more to say, yet he understood that the line must not be crossed if he was going to play the game. We, too, play the game.

Photo and courtesy of TheChive.com

under: Comm 455, newspapers
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News vacuum in the dark ages

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

People have always had an innate desire to know what’s going on around them. As Professor Klein worded it in class, “News doesn’t like a vacuum.” When their need for information is not fulfilled, people become very nervous and frightened.

Take the Dark Ages, for example. Literacy was much lower in this time period than during the flourishing of the Roman Empire. The only way people received their information was through the Church, which not only delivered the news, but served as a gatekeeper to control the flow of news. Students learned how to read with the text of the Bible. With only one source of information, and a natural tendency to feel vulnerable without news, the Church was able to exploit this and hold power over its subjects.

Bibles during this time often contained illustrations for citizens who could not read. This allowed Christianity to reach a much broader audience. Unfortunately, only the wealthy could afford to send their children to school, which contributed to low literacy rates and the need for news to be disseminated by a higher source.

medieval bible

under: Comm 455
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Blogging and its importance

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

It is amazing how quickly blogs became a primary means of communication for individuals online.   In the 1990s, however, most people regarded Web pages as things to read and not a place to publish or post.  The growth of the Internet has allowed blogs to become a competitor to newspapers and other traditional mainstream sources of information.

Today, access to a computer and global networks make it possible for anyone to publish their opinion on the Internet.  Blogger, created by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan, is credited as largely responsible for bringing blogging to the mainstream.

From Matt Drudge’s notable blog, the Drudge Report, that broke the news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, to The Huffington Post and blog wars of today, blogs turned traditional publishing upside down. Blogs have allowed individuals to become news-tellers and gain a global voice for free.

Today, with the advent of social media, blogs are only a portion of person’s online persona.  While blogs are unlikely to go anywhere soon, there is definite room for growth in style, presentation, credibility and content.

Blogs have become an integral part of our online culture.  In his account of the blogging revolution, Scott Rosenberg  described that thanks to technology and media, all of us have the same marvelous power to reach out to the rest of the world.

under: Comm 455
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Rachel Maddow: political pundit of our generation

Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

After hearing Professor Klein mention political pundits in class on Thursday, I thought it would be interesting to write about Rachel Maddow, a popular political pundit who has proved to be influential in the media, especially considering the upcoming presidential election. She holds politicians accountable, like in this video where she criticizes Mitt Romney for lies about Obama.

Rachel Maddow, host of the Rachel Maddow Show, is one of the first liberal women to take a stab at political punditry. Maddow’s show first aired on September 8, 2008, and has since been named “one of the best shows of the decade” by the Washington Post. Maddow’s ability to tackle political issues and explain them in an interesting and coherent way make her show a valuable contribution to MSNBC.

She also brings a bit of humor to her show. For example, consider this clip concerning Mitt Romney and airplane windows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43z2NGHS2tI&feature=related

Maddow is a refreshing face in a world filled with white male pundits, including Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. Maddow’s show has helped place MSNBC as the main opposition to Fox News. Maddow, however, did not support Barack Obama in 2008, mentioning to the Washington Post, “I am a liberal. I’m not a partisan, not a Democratic Party hack. I’m not trying to advance anybody’s agenda.”

Photo courtesy of truthwinsout.org

Her style for holding politicians accountable and stating her passion for civil rights and justice can be seen in this video concerning Todd Akin, Rand Paul, and the Civil Rights Act.

 

under: Comm 455
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The lucky 18

Posted by: | October 1, 2012 | No Comment |

It’s something everyone stares at for hours on end, absorbing as much newsworthy and useless content as possible until they have to go to the bathroom or actually do something important with their lives.
When that moment comes, it’s not difficult to part ways with the television because you know that when you come back every single one of those 100 channels will still be there. What if there were only 18 channels to choose from?  No, not because you didn’t get cable, but because that’s all there was.
Moment of silence, for the souls that had to struggle through that in 1941. But believe it or not, most of them were probably happy to have the 18 channels.
Who blessed the people options and the ability to see something on the other side of this screen? The U.S. Federal Communication Commission. Nowadays most people don’t even know what they do. But historically and currently they’ve done a lot. Lets all give a hand clap for their law that prevents the airing of obscene programming.. I know you may be thinking about shows like this, but at least the the words and images are censored out!
After stating a more recent thing that the FCC has done, lets go back to 1941. The FCC allowed the broadcasting of 18 T.V. stations to begin transmitting on July 1. Two stations were ready to go that day- The New York based NBC and CBS.
Well I hope that’s no big surprise that NBC and CBS were the trailblazers in television. But that’s not the point. Television helped expand the world of journalism technologically. After 1941 there was a new venue  for news sources to reach people.

Currently, a there have been many advances in technology since the television but it still remains a popular news source.

What’s your main news source?

mrebbeson.com

under: Comm 455
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College kid weekend getaways in Virginia

Posted by: | October 1, 2012 | No Comment |

With midterms descending upon Mason students, the stress of the semester is beginning to set in for many. Sure we have the weekend to have a little break and get our heads on straight, but sometimes that isn’t enough to keep us sane.

Extremely stressed college kid

Spring break is a ways away, but luckily there are other ways for students to let off some steam or take a break from their studies. This weekend is Columbus Day weekend which is great news for college students… THREE DAY WEEKEND!

No classes on Monday means a chance to have a mini vacation. So where should you go for a quick getaway with friends? The beautiful state of Virginia has many places to visit last minute and activities. Here are just a few ideas:

  • Kings Dominion and/or Busch Gardens

    • During the Halloween season, these theme parks are sure to get you to scream the stress right out of you!

  • Virginia Winery’s

    • You can usually find one right down the street from home, so save some gas and look one up and go!

  • Camping

    • Virginia has many beautiful campsites. A great way to relax with friends over some hot dogs and smores.

  • Visit the monuments and hit up Georgetown.

    • Also, the zoo is free!

    These are just a few of many great weekend getaways for college students needing a break from reality. Relatively cheap, a great way to relax and bond with friends, and try something different than the usual! Enjoy your holiday weekend everybody!

    under: Comm 455
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    Arthur O. Sulzberger, the Pentagon Papers, and the power of the press

    Posted by: | October 1, 2012 | No Comment |

    Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, who died on Saturday the 29th of September, was the publisher of the New York Times and the chairman and chief executive of The New York Times Company from 1963 to 1992. Mr. Sulzberger presided over an incident that is a text book definition of the power of the press when the New York Times released what would be known as the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

    The Pentagon Papers was an extensive report from the Defense Department which explained the role of the United States in Vietnam during the Johnson Administration, a role which the public as a whole was very ignorant of.The New York Times (source)

     

    The New York Times was able to not only make the public aware of the almost total lack of truth on the part of the U.S. government, but to also set a precedent for First Amendment rights in the ensuing Supreme Court case New York Times Co. vs United States.

    The role that Sulzberger played was that of the head of the New York Times Company. Under his watch the Times launched a hot button story, and even went to far as to defy the United States government. The results of the episode led to the erosion of support for the Nixon Administration in Vietnam, and for the entire conflict in general.

    under: Comm 455
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    People mazagine: The people’s obsession

    Posted by: | October 1, 2012 | No Comment |

    It’s no secret that the public is hungry for news. We’ve always passed on stories, gathered in coffeehouses and read up on any and every kind of news we could find. However, in 1974, a different kind of “news” magazine came along; celebrity reporting and human interest pieces came to the forefront of American culture with the start of People magazine.

    Thought up by former CEO of Time Inc., Andrew Hesikell, the magazine was started  on the idea of keeping “people” and the general public as the center of the stories, not news. To make his dream a reality, he hired former assistant managing editor of Time magazine’s Richard Stolley.

    We’re getting back to the people who are causing the news and who are caught up in it, or deserve to be in it. Our focus is on people, not issues.

    While the magazine is still widely popular, People.com is also a powerhouse in the publication’s empire. Exclusively featuring celebrity news, the website gets upwards of 30 million page views a day. There’s no telling yet whether with the advent of social media and the newspaper industry dying if People magazine will slow down soon. However, with a readership of 4.6 million subscribers, it doesn’t look like it’ll be anytime soon.

    Photo courtesy of LAtimes.com

     

    under: Comm 455, Uncategorized
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    Early American newspapers and the Franklin family

    Posted by: | October 1, 2012 | No Comment |

    Tired of the stale and dry news published in traditional newspapers, James Franklin, brother of Benjamin Franklin began publishing the “New England Courant“. Franklin got rid of hte boring addresses from the governor and began publishing satire and essays in the style of London’s paper, “The Spectator.”

    Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin wrote for the paper under the pseudonym Silence Dogood, keeping his identity secret even from James. In the time of early American newspapers, it was common for writers to use false names to protect them from harm at the hands of people they criticized.

    A copy of the “New England Courant” with a letter from Silence Dogood on the front

    In 1728, Benjamin moved to Philadelphia and began working on the  “Pennsylvania Gazette“. He began franchising other local printers who published their own newspapers and by 1750, 14 weekly newspapers were being published in the six largest colonies.

    Benjamin published series of essays in the “Pennsylvania Gazette” that contributed to the development of American literature with it’s unique satire, wit and mischievousness. His focus was very rarely on practical journalism, but his influence of the culture and society of Pennsylvania was invaluable.

    under: Comm 455, Uncategorized
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