The world of Mass Media is a complicated place as told by former TV and Radio reporter, Al Meyers. “You never know what you’re going to be doing, but then there’s the ability to be able to do it and to share that with the people who are listening.” Meyers, who is retired, gave me the pleasure of sitting down and talking to me about the world of Mass Media Communication, then and now.
Most of what we hear about in the world today comes to us as it is broadcasted through the television news networking stations and the Radio broadcasts throughout the day. It is constantly being updated by the minute as news breaks everywhere, whether it is locally or internationally. However what about the people who present us the news, the people who work around the clock to bring us the necessary details surrounding a matter? Ultimately, what forces shape how media content is made? “It all starts on a typical day, you wake up, go out and find your story; news doesn’t have a set schedule, says Meyers. “Most of our main content comes from press releases that we receive from PR agents, and the rest of it comes from whatever is happening out in society.” A typical day in the day of a news reporter like Al consists of getting up extremely early in the morning, because news doesn’t wait for you, and either going out to cover a story, otherwise listening to their own radio at home, and then while travelling to work talking to other reporters at their station listening getting updated on what they missed, as well as working on what is first priority and getting the coverage needed to break the story. “It’s all about getting their first; you want to be the station that breaks a story first that way early morning listeners are always receiving the latest a...
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...nd write the news, but it is job of the higher ups, PR agents and editors who ultimately decided what they believe the public needs to know. The rest of it they either scrap or file away for those slow news days.”
In the end of the long tiresome process that comes with establishing the final product of media content that is broadcasted to the world, at the end of the day the forces that ultimately shape how media content is made, are the people behind the news and the people to present the news to society. People make the news what it is; any relevant situation that concerns society’s way of life, the way we think, what we do, how we do it, and the other factors that affect us specifically in a personal or communal way is considered as a message to be transmitted to the rest of the public so that everyone is on the same page, updated on the latest news and events.
In our society today, control is maintained by the authorities through regulation. In North America, major regulatory systems comprise two main systems of expertise. One is the criminal justice system, which is concerned with what will we do about crime and deviance. The other is the academic system of expertise, which is concerned with why crime and deviance exists. Academic expertise is the type of discourse deployed in the article by Michael Conlon to show, with ostensible authority, that maternal smoking during pregnancy is “linked” to adult criminal behaviour.
News organizations focus on content, quality and the audience. The audience is the main objective because without an audience to convey information to, their work lacks meaning. Time is the first determinant of news promotion. According to news organizations, time consists of how current or recent an event is. The greater the distance between the reception and deliverance of the news, the less significant it is. Which is why it is important for
Baran, Stanley J., and Dennis K. Davis. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub., 1995. Print.
In his editorial "Words Triumph Over Images," Curtis Wilkie blames today’s media for being “reckless” and “a mutant reality show”. He believes that television and radio are “unfiltered”, which causes the quality of journalism for newspapers to be unmatched. Yet, it is unfair to label all media that is not print as lesser because the quality of any media relies on the viewers and the individual journalists, and in drastic situations like a hurricane, reporters may have many road blocks. Any of these aspects can affect the quality of journalism, which invalidates Curtis Wilkie’s claim.
The Changing Faces of News, Rhetorical Analysis Does our government really control what we are able to broadcast? In this particular analysis, I will focus on the article named “The changing faces of news” written by an American writer and skeptic Benjamin Radford. Radford had a wide variety of topics including paranormal, urban legends and critical thinking. In this article Radford talks about the causes and influences the government has on broadcasting news. Radford uses specific words and evidence to prove his points throughout the whole article.
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
Over the last 500 years, the influence of mass media has grown exponentially with the advance of technology. First there were books, then newspapers, magazines, photography, sound recordings, films, radio, television, the so-called New Media of the Internet, and now social media. Today, just about everyone depends on information and communication to keep their lives moving through daily activities like work, education, health care, leisure activities, entertainment, traveling, personal relationships, and the other stuff with which we are involved. It's not unusual to wake up, check the cell phone for messages and notifications, look at the TV or newspaper for news, commute to work, read emails, take meetings and makes phone calls, eat meals with friends and family, and make decisions based on the information that we gather from those mass media and interpersonal media ...
Mass Media. Ed. William Dudley. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 121-130.
The Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society; its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of living and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority.
When journalism is chosen as a career, society tends to have a stereotypical image of a group of photographers chasing celebrities. If not, then an image of an anonymous person writing biased comments about current affairs, trying to manipulate the truth. However, their real work earns them every cent they deserve unlike the heartless lawyers who earns millions for defending criminals. The work of journalism, on the hand, consists of interviewing and attending events in all conditions in order to gather news and information for public interest. This is followed by further research into the background information then assessing suitability of reports and articles for public. The process is much more difficult than expected, especially with the requirement of interpreting news at the same time commenting on public’s behalf within an established style and format. Although the hard work usually comes to a good income, certain qualities and skills are needed.
Malcolm X, a human rights activist, once said, “The media´s the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that´s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Through numerous studies and considerable amount of research, it has become clear that the media has a significant effect on society and its perception. This applies to all topics, but mostly to issues that are difficult for the mass to experience for themselves. For example, our views of government and social institutions are largely based on the medium’s reports, not our own experiences.
Everyone watches the news but does that mean we have to trust them? The media is known for giving us verified information that is usually observed and /or proven. Most people get their information about current events from the news media because it would be impossible to gather all the news themselves. Television news is extremely important in the United States because more people get their news from television broadcasts than from any other source. Print media is the oldest form of media but is very significant. It is known for just reporting more than any other source of media. Radio news was the best ways to broadcast news before the television but, people still listen to the radio every day. “If errors regularly occur in a publication, its reputation suffers in threaten the very existence of publication,” said journalist Maximilian Schafer. Nobody wants to read false publication when they deserve the truth. There are several types of media but false news would still get out to the society by one of these Medias. There have situations where the news told the public false information and got away with it.
Throughout the previous years, the effect of mass media has produced exponentially with the innovation of technology. Initially there were books, tabloids, journals, photography, movies, broadcast, TV, New Media of the Internet, and now mass media. Nowadays, each individual are most depended on the news media and gossips to preserve their lives moving within everyday accomplishments. We trust the mass media for the existing newscast and evidences concerning anything that is significant and what we must be conscious of. We rely on the media as a consultant for gossip, info, and amusement. The amount of authority varies on the obtainability of media. All of the customary mass media partake excessive impact throughout our existence. For example the 20th century port...
The evolution of media, from old media to new media, has transformed the way we understand the world around us. New media is interactive and is user-generated while old media is a more traditional way of communicating through television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, etc (Lecture Notes. January 12, 2011). New media gives us a new perspective by allowing us to interact with one another through the Internet. Media has become much more personal and diverse as user-generated content becomes more prominent in our lives (Lecture Notes. January 24, 2011). We are exposed to various viewpoints shape our understanding and knowledge of the social world, but does the form of media actually affect the way we understand the content which is presented to us? For my paper, I will determine whether or not the medium is the message by analyzing two different types of media sources and how they affect our understanding of the content. For my old media source I have chosen a news clip from the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric that deals with the ongoing Egyptian uprising. For my new media source I have chosen a video blog, or ‘vlog’, by an Egyptian man named Omar who discusses the crisis in Egypt from a personal point of view. Both media sources deal with the same topic, but result in different understandings of the crisis.