Save The Internet!

I chose to write about the website SaveTheInternet.com. This website caught my attention for obvious reason; one being because I couldn’t live without the Internet and two because I think it’s an important issue that everyone should be aware of. On the   SaveTheInternet website at the top of the page they share with us a statistic that states “There are two million everyday people that band together with thousands of nonprofit organizations, businesses and bloggers to protect internet freedom.” When seeing this I realized that I have been blind to the realization of just how important it is that we have the Internet available to us.

I have been taking the freedom of the Internet for granted. SaveTheInternet is a website created to get people on board with Internet issue and the idea that one day our freedom could be taking from us. One of the topics they focus on is Net Neutrality. This is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. The service providers are not aloud to discriminate between different kinds of content online. Net Neutrality is the reason we have free speech online and it protects the consumer’s right to any equipment or service without interference from the network provider.  SaveTheInternet informs it’s viewers on the consequences of a world without Net Neutrality. Without Net Neutrality competition would be limited and access information could be restricted. Innovation would be stifled and free market would be sacrificed to the interests of a few corporations.

SaveTheInternet addresses what’s happening right now in congress, lets us know who else is supporting Net Neutrality and what we the public can do to help. Before looking into this website I was unaware that currently The Free Press filed a legal challenge to Open Internet rules. The blog site on STI allows people to post current issue they would like to write about on their website. They also have a place to find resources and tools that can help us contribute to their cause. Two of those tools are already very popular ways to inform and spread the word to the world one of which is Facebook. You can join their Facebook and keep updated on what’s happening and can post questions or thoughts. The second tool to help the campaign is by following them on Twitter. They tweet about their concerns and post information to their followers.

To save the Internet they have an act now link that you can click on and you actually are able to virtually sign a letter to the Senators to demand that they protect our right to an open Internet. The company says that they will deliver the signed letters to their offices in Washington. On the right side of the page is the document being signed and you are able to read it and then on the left side are boxes to fill in your information name, email, etc. They have already had 88,472 actions taken. This is already 88% of their 100,000 goal. To run this website they do take donations and there is also a link for that as well. They do not take money from the Government or any other association so in order to keep this cause up and running they have to ask for our donations.

SaveTheInternet.com is a cause that will help to further our media and democracy, because it is determined to get people on broad and to gain backing on saving our rights to Internet freedom so that we can have the media that we have today. If this website and others like it weren’t around we could easily have our rights taken from us and not be allowed to speak, watch, reach out and openly share videos on the Internet.

Silencing the journalist

Journalism is a very competitive industry. Journalists are not only gathering the information we read but they are also in a daily battle to get their stories printed. The media companies choose what they want to print for the public eye and regardless if it's the truth or not they will publish the story, because they want the big bucks. 



The issue I have with the media deciding what gets published is how will we ever know what the truth is if there are only lies on top of lies. The Media Producers silencing the truth and controlling our Journalism is a problem that has caught my attention, because I believe we should know the truth and nothing but the truth!




Imagine waking up one day grabbing the news paper and everything you read was completely ran by the government or even a high CEO of a company. It's becoming all about dollars and ratings now and people are losing their values of what is right and wrong. Think about it like this; if our government wanted people in our country to believe that the war was over then all they would need to do is pay the big bucks for a producer to twist a story here and there. As the readers at home we would have no evidence of the truth from a lie and therefore we would be persuaded towards whatever way they wanted us to think.
What a scary thought!




 If journalist are paid and silenced from writing the truth, then we as the people of America are going to be in the dark. It would be taking our civil rights away and we as a united country would begin to fall apart. I think we need to make sure that journalist are able to do there jobs by informing us on what really goes on in our world and they should be able to publish the whole truth.

Horizontal Integration

 Horizontal integration occurs when a firm is being taken over by, or merged with, another firm which is in the same industry and in the same stage of production as the merged firm.

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.

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.” 

"Questioning the Media"

In Chapter 2 we discuss all of the possibilities the internet may have for us and the future generations. I'm so excited about what I may be able to have access to in the future. I have always dreamed of one day in the future being able to speak to a friend through holograms. Imagine holding an object in the palm of your hand and an image of your friend being illuminated right in front of you.



I'm excited about invention like this, because today the we have loved ones spread out all over the country. If we could log onto the internet and use a virtual program like Facebook, except with a 3D app the possibilities would be limitless. We would be able to introduce people a 1,000 miles away to a friend sitting 2 feet away. I think we can invent a way to not just see people on the internet, but they would actually in a 3D way pop out of the screen and talk to us.



This might be our future one day!




As the Internet progress it becomes faster and the bits are holding more and more data. There is so much data on the internet it's hard to wrap our brains around just how much information is shared and saved onto the internet.

One day we may have jaw dropping computers such as this one show in the video below!




 Although there is a lot to be excited about there is also troubling ideas about the future.
One of my troubling thoughts is what if technology becomes so advanced that it spins out of control. At the moment we control the internet, but what if one day the internet advanced itself so quickly that it takes over us.

Who would stop this monster machinery? What will we do when the one who was created decides to take control over its master?Our brains are not capable of keeping up with the speed of a computers brain.



My fear is that we will create robots with computer brains and similar to the movie I Robot where they will take all humans captive and then gives us the order instead of vice verse!