What are you reading?

Investigating!

What do people want to read about?

.Love?

.Life?

.Drama?

Journalism is about finding the best way to report, entertain, and take a hold of your readers mind and keep them interested in what you as the Journalist has to say.

I have learned that Journalism is what makes the world go round. Think about it, the normal person's live typically consist of the same boring routine. Getting up going to work, eating, spending time with loved ones and then repeating this over and over again. What Journalism does is it takes these everyday steps and documents them but instead of blabbing about the boring parts it pulls out the best or the cream of the crop information. Everyone likes to read about different topics, but I have found that most are obsessed with tips of things such as; love, drama, health and fitness, soul searching and mystery. People want to read about something crazy and exciting, because when life is typical and boring its nice to relax and read articles or books on things that put a sense of spark in your life.

 Journalism ties people together by discussing issues that without Journalism would have never been throughly researched and analysed. Journalism goes together with Media. Media has a huge effect on all our lives. Journalism is the story and the Media is what takes that story and sends it out so that the whole world can have a hand at reading it. 

Although there are many topics to write about Journalist do have guidelines they must follow to do so:

1. Journalism's first obligation is to the truth.
2. Its first loyalty is to the citizens.
3. Its essence is discipline of verification.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7. It must strive to make the news significant, interesting, and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

Journalism is something that will always be here. Society will always have the to desire to read and write. People want to hear, see and talk about what is going on in the World in which they live.

SPREAD THE WORD...Journalism! 

 

Just a movie?

The Roommate

Reflecting on class discussions I have decided to blog about a recent movie I went to see"The Roommate".

While watching this movie I analyzed how the producer created the characters' images and what we as the audience were suppose to take from this film.

The plot of this movie is about two girls who are college roommates. One of the girls whose name is Rebecca has a bipolar disorder. She becomes obsessed with her roommate Sara. She follows where she goes, who she hangs out with and tries to control every aspects of Sara's life. 

I thought this movie had a lot to do with what we have been reading and discussing in media class, because it  was a movie that made you think and piece together what was taking place. It was filled with suspense and action moments that made jump in my seat.

I think it is very interesting how film makers know what noise to make and what camera shots are going to keep our eyes glued and our hearts racing. I could relate to this movie no not because my roommate is a psycho, but because I am a college student. The producer throws out a scenario that is crazy but actually could be true. Maybe it is just a movie, just a silly idea. Although it makes it as the viewer think what if? What if you were a victim one day like that of one in a movie?

Makes you think...

Dream Job

I wanted to blog on some of my thoughts...

I am constantly thinking about the future and what goals I want to achieve. I am a Com. Major and the top of my list for the dream Communications job would be to become a Broadcasting News Analyst or the host of a television show!

Here are some funny News Anchor Clips :]

Anchor Man Bloopers

News reader can't stop laughing at Model falling down

Case of the giggles

TV Hosts!

"Real"

Reality

What makes reality.. real? Seems like a dumb question to some who believe that every reality show they watch on television is real. Well I hate to break it to those people but reality television is rarely real.

A clip of The Hills - a beautiful life

For example I used to be in love with a show called "The Hills". The Hills is a show that is about a girl Lauren who is a real girl living in L.A working for a prestige magazine " Teen Vogue". The T.V show showcases the lifestyle of Lauren and her fabulous friends. Now the thing is yes these people are real and the what they do is real but when you analysis their conversations it clear to see that their scenes are staged and planned to take place. 

Producer know that to hold the attention on their viewer they have to put only the edited clips of all the drama and action. They pack months of footage into 30 min segments so they we glue to the television.For me despite knowing this information I still continue to watch reality shows.Even though most of it is fake, I am drawn into the chaos of reality stars' life.

Fictional

When I watch a Fictional movie I get lost. If the producer has done their job I can sit in my seat and drift into the movie. I fall in love with the characters, I follow the plot and imagine myself in the scenes. 

A movie I love to watch is "Pirates of the Caribbean". This is movie gave me a rush of excitement. I wanted to     jump aboard the ship and became a pirate.The visuals were so great and the actors made the movie seem like reality, but we all know that the pirates robbing boats with one eye and a parrot on the shoulder isn't normal to see now a days.Although it never hurts to image living life in such a way.

Other movie such as: Avatar, Twilight, and Harry Potter are great action packed movies that take viewers into a world of their own imagination.

  

Avatar Trailer!

I think its good to have a balance of reality and fiction. Sometimes people want to see what is really going on in the media, the live news, real stories. Then on the other hand it's nice to have that hour and a half or two to really imagine and drift off into another world. This is why so many people fall in love with movies because it gives them the reality break they may need.

Media fictional or non-fictional gives us the time to sit, relax and forget the chaos that surrounds our own lives. 

Media Concerns

A topic often debated is how is media effecting the new generation of children in todays society?

I wanted to have an interview with a parent of a small child to give them a change to voice their opinion about the effects of media. 

I sat down with Tracey who is  a mother of a two year old little girl Morgan. Tracey is also an assistant principal for an elementary school. I began by asking her a couple of questions.

#1. What is your concerns about the effects media has on your child? 

Her response: " I am very aware that media has a huge impact on my daughter. Children are like little sponges, they absorb everything they see,hear,or read. When Morgan watches a program she picks up on everything they say and then she later runs around the house quoting it." 

#2. How do you determine what Morgan is allowed to watch?

Response:" I look to see if it has an educational background or not. I need to know that what my child is watching is appropriate for her age. I also watch out for commercial, because some commercial on television are not suitable for young children." 

She also went on to say that Nick channel has no commercial so she allows her child to watch that channel and feels safe knowing that no adds are going to come on.

She likes to find good shows that instill math based or school subjects that teach her daughter how to count and solve problems. At the age of two her daughter Morgan has already picked up on foreign languages in Spanish and Japanese. These is from her watching shows like "Dora", that teaches children how to say words in Spanish.

 She also considers Baby Einstein a great video to watch, Einstein plays classical music and shows bright colors and shapes. She does have concerns about parents who allow their children to watch anything they want. There are even some Disney movies that have content for middle school up to teens and these are not necessarily good for small children to watch.

Click to see a Little Einstein video

Tracey said that Morgan already knows how to work an Ipad and has her own games that she can pull up and play. She does monitor and limits the time Morgan can spend playing games and watching T.V. Music shows have taught Morgan how to play on the drums and encourages her to sing and dance around the house. Another thing Morgan likes to do is open digital books on the Ipad and has her mother read them to her. 

Watch to see two year old use an Ipad

What I have concluded from the interview with Tracey is monitored media is great. It is teaching children at an early age how to use their minds. Yet, I also discovered that children are progressing a lot faster now and it is important that parents con sensor what their child is absorbing.

Don't let your little sponge get filled with dirty water, let's keep it clean. :]

Concentration of Media

When I researched concentration of media ownership I discovered it is a process that over time progresses to fewer individuals or organizations control increasing share of the mass media. Most of the major media outlets are owned by a proportionately small number of conglomerates and corporations. The leading companies conglomerate to produce multi-industries. They are entirely different businesses that come together into one corporate structure. This way billions of dollars are distributed not only to one large company but to several to make a multi-billion dollar company conglomerate.


Click here to view the top companies in media

AOL Time Warner, the Walt Disney Co, Viacom and News Corporation are a few of the top leaders in media. They produce the majority of what we watch, read and talk about in the media today. These companies all strive to give the world media attention from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed at night. They are able to reach millions of people all over the world. History was made when in 2001 when AOL and Time Warner merged together to produce the World’s largest media company. To explain why companies want to merge together is like thinking of two different salesmen, one man is selling toothbrushes and the other is selling toothpaste. You can make more money teaming up with your opponent if you sell the toothbrushes and toothpaste together than separate.


Click to view the TimeWarner website

I chose to do research on Time Warner. Time Warner is a huge company that is a top leader in media production. While reading chapter 2 in our media literacy I learned that media collaboration is a process that requires the input of numerous people. The producer is chief, then there’s the script writer, the director of films, cast members, production managers and so on. The Time Warner Company has over 38,000 employees and about a 100 subsidiaries. They own almost every show on T.V today. There subsidiaries range from Warner bros. line of family entertainment, Turner Broadcasting,   people magazine, HBO channels, Reprise Records, and a Time magazine. To be an effective media communicator we must look at who is responsible for creating the media production?What are the demographic characteristics of the media communicator(s), Such as age, income, race and gender? How do these characteristics affect the content and outlook of the media production? 

Time Warner has mastered the ability to target their viewers and expanded on ways to hold their attention and interest in the company. The Harry Potter movies have surpassed $1 billion dollars in the Box Office for the ninth consecutive year. Harry Potter is just one investment Time Warner Company owns.  They are way more than just a collection of great brands under one roof. 

This business strives to gain competitive advantage from opportunities for constructive collaboration. Concentration has many good aspects for a billion dollar company like Time Warner, but it can also bring about bad aspects as well. Some people argue that concentration is a problem. They believe that concentrated media will give audiences what they or because owners, will have little long term ability to deviate from market dictates. These ideas have increased policy makers’ recent inability to understand non-economic concerns with the media concentration. With the good or bad aspects Time Warner states “Whether measured by quality, popularity or financial results, our divisions are at the top of their categories.”  

Do you see what I see?

Semiotics is all about how our society views signs. how we interpret a sign may be different than how other people take it. See we are used to our countries way of communication. From example we know to stop when we drive up to a red light, but in another country that may be a signal to go. Wouldn't that be awful if there wasn't an orderly way to understand and follow directions. Problems would be inevitable, fights would be breaking out left and right.

Semiotic definition of "sign"

The sign (or word) is made up of two parts, a signifier (the acoustic image) and a signified (the mental concept). 

Do you know the meaning of these signs?

t

What if a person from another country was having a heart attack and was in desperate need of a Doctor?

Would they be able to find the hospital?

When you think about it, it's quick interesting that we just know how to interpret signs at least the one's here in the U.S. I can't recall ever having to ask what a sign meant or how to find the restroom sign, I just knew.

Above is an example of a foreign sign

I have no clue what this means...anyone want to take a guess?

I guess in this country I would be out of luck.

Luckily we don't have a problem with this sign ^... at least not that I'm aware of!

Click this link to watch a video on Semiotics