Goodbye 4250

I always think it is important at the end of the semester to assess what I have learned from a class. Here are a few key points I will take with me.
1) stereotyping people in the media with race, class, and gender has always been an issue, and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.
2) TV commercials are loaded with sexual innuendo, no matter what product is being marketed....and I will never be able to look at them the same after this class!
3) while we rely on the media as our most trusted news source-it is almost impossible to get an unbiased story with nothing but straight facts.
4) Most importantly-It is up to my generation to raise a media-conscious family.

I really enjoyed this class and I think that I have learned some valuable information that I can take with me into my career in the future.

Happy Holidays!

Link

Oops...Here is the link to the last post....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/10/face.book/index.html

Here's a good one

I was looking at the CNN website today, as it is a trusted news source for all Americans, generally reporting on pertinent global information, right? Well, today one of the headlining stories read "Young women drink, party, post" in reference to college girls 'gone wild' on facebook. It reports that facebook is a conglomerate of young college-age girls partying all night, then taking drunken pictures of themselves and posting them on the site. As if girls our age dont already get a bad rap for partying--let's post it on CNN!! I am no stranger to facebook, nor will I lie and say I dont have an over-abundance of 'photo albums' full of 'party pics' and witty taglines, so I really dont see the harm in posting funny pictures of you and your friends on your webpage. But after reading this article, I now realize that apparently it is funny to post pictures of girls throwing up, passing out, or urinating in public (how classy!) In the article one girl talks about the issues news coverage--she says something along the lines of-when girls party they are out of control, but when college age guys drink, well they are just being boys! This is another example of how the media uses gender and stereotyping to cover a story! Just a word to the wise-on nights of binge drinking and party-fouls, leave the cameras at home ladies!!

TV advertising

After discussing the controversy going on between Dove and Axe (even though they are owned by the same company) I started thinking more about the way women are portrayed in TV commercials. One of my favorites is the new Virgin Mobile commercial. In an effort to market low rates, loads of minutes, and unlimited text messaging, it encourages sex in the work place! The two actors use their handy virgin mobile phones to send 'meet me in the break room-15 minutes' to each other!! Classy right? Lets go back a couple years-remember the Budweiser commercials-girls mud wrestling- realistic right? How about the car (i think its Infinity?) commercial where Grey's Anatomy actress Kate Walsh is seductively driving her expensive sports car with the tag line "the question is-when you turn you car on, does it return the favor?" At least in this one she appears to be the 'powerful' female stereotype. Women are splashed all over every form of media as sex symbols-especially in TV advertising. Hott women sell products better I guess! The National Organization for Women are outraged about ads like these, especially beer ads and commercials aired during the SuperBowl- claiming these ads 'exploit, ridicule, of sideline women."

http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2003/superbowl.html

Sex and Fashion

For my final project, I decided to analyze full page fashion ads in three issues of Cosmopolitan Magazine. I guess before this class I was sort of imune to the "sex" oozing out of every major fashion. I mean, I even found a sexy Old Navy ad for crying out loud! It seems that every fashion label, whether it be haute couture or average, mass-produced brands-everyone is using sex to market their products. Who knew things like jeans and perfume could be so seductive right? Most of the ads I pulled featured a single female model, but a couple were men and women together. Nothing new-girl looking provacotively into boys eyes, boy kisses girl- blah blah blah. In every ad, even though the products being marketed are generally geared towards women, they appeal to the sexual appetite of the male audience. The model in the ad is tall, thing, attractive, partially dressed, gazing into the readers eye with that classic 'come hither' look. Same old, same old...Im bored. I would love to see some kind of ad that really grabbed my attention and made me want to buy the product!! But if there is one thing I have learned in this class: Sex sells.

Dads on TV

After checking out this website :
http://diyfather.com/content/the-21st-century-dad-no-time-for-old-stereotypes
I really started to think about dad's and how they are portrayed in TV roles on today's popular shows. The first typical "dad" stereotype that comes to mind is the silly, stupid, incompetent, lazy dad-the one who forgets everything, doesn't help with the kids, and always manages to get himself into tight (but comical) situations. Everybody Loves Raymond, According to Jim, King of Queens, Family Guy, and My Wife and Kids are a few prime time shows that fit into this generic mold. Another stereotype I can think of would be the dads that are too busy with the hustle and bustle of life, and are disinterested and disconnected from the family. Some of these dad's include Meredith Grey's dad on Grey's Anatomy, and a few of the fathers on Desperate Housewives. These are the dads that are consumed by alcohol addiction and or something else that keeps them from being attentive to their wives and children. And lastly is the "All-American Dad." He's dependable and trustworthy, and fully capable of making decisions while keeping the best interest of the family in mind. An example of this could be the dad from 7th Heaven. Sadly--that is the only "dependable dad" that came to my mind.
This is a big shift from a few decades ago when all dads were portrayed as the patriarichal leader of the family, the breadwinner, and the go-to-guy for all the tough stuff. Funny how things change.

Spike Lee's Bamboozled

While watching this film, I have to say I was a bit shocked, to say the least, but Lee's courageous approach at conquering the negative effects of race and stereotypes in the media is definately something that gets your attention.
After some google-ing, I figured out the meaning behind the main characters name-Mantan. Mantan was the name of a famous black-face character in a minstrel show in the 30's who became extremely popular. The use of this name and the other "performer" SleepN'Eat-it is unmistakable what message Lee was trying to embed in his viewers' minds. Dunwitty, the big-wig, white, TV exec and Delacroix, the prim and prober African American character are portrayed at opposite ends of the spectrum...which I think speaks for the gap in our culture. Whether you love this movie or hate it, there is no denying it's impactful message-If the American media doesnt make a change, we will never make progress in race relations and the stereotyping of other races. The way TV, film, music, etc portray blacks isnt much different today than it was almost a century ago; we have to do something now.
My favorite part of the movie that really speaks volumes about its true intention is when the two characters Mantan and Sleen'NEat are performing and one of them says: "Go to your windows and shout, Im not going to take it anymore." (or some version of that saying) To me, this is his call to action, for people to try and make a difference.
While this film is controversial, disturbing, and offensive-it definately makes a point-One that I wont forget anytime soon.

More on the Cleveland shooting...

One of my previous blogs was about the Cleveland shooting and how the media covered the story and described the shooter, Asa H. Coon, by his race- "white." I was surprised to see someone left a comment for me! (I get excited...no one ever leaves comments, much less someone famous!) It turns out, the person who left a comment was Loren Coleman, an esteemed international consultant, successful author, credited professor, and award winning researcher of the "Copycat Theory."(Imagine my excitement after I read his blog and googled his name!) According to his blog: "The copycat effect is what happens when the media makes an event into a "hot death story" and then via behavior contagion, more deaths, suicides, murders, and more occur in a regularly predictive cycle, as per the book The Copycat Effect (Paraview Pocket - Simon and Schuster)."
His work and research includes highly publicized masacres like Columbine, Virgina Tech, Heaven's Gate, Waco, and more. He also predicted an increase in school shootings after the Dawson College shooting in 2006.
Coleman blames some of the "copycat effect" on the media, for their coverage of events such as these. When the media creates stereotypes from shootings, it basically encourages the other sicko's to take notice-recreate, and out-do the last occurance. He takes a really interesting stance on the topic of race in the media, that really corelates with our class studies. Here are the links to his blog and his entry in Wikipedia.

http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loren_Coleman

So, I got "blogged" by a famous person--pretty cool.

A little off topic, but....

I am currently taking a Modern Middle East history class, and it hit me recently, how much this history class relates to the issues we study in news and media. The War in Iraq (which I have yet to choose a side yet, because I feel like one shouldn’t take sides until being as knowledgeable as possible about a subject) brings Middle Eastern citizens into the media spot light all the time, and through stereotypes and misperceptions, our media shows the public a very biased side of the story. One of the required readings in my Middle Eastern class is "Baghdad Burning" a book compiled of blog entries from a twenty-something, middle class, college-educated, English speaking Iraqi woman, who gives the reader an inside look at her daily life and the destruction of her country since U.S. occupation.
I am ashamed to say, before I read this book, I was just like most Americans, who assume Middle Easterners are backwards, turbine-wearing, camel-riding, terrorists right? How can we think differently though, if these are the images that are always portrayed in the media? Luckily, I was exposed to this book and am now slightly less-ignorant than I once was. The blogger, who goes by "Riverbend" explains that most Iraqi's enjoy many of the things we do...the internet, Ipods, cell phones. They graduate from highly accredited Iraqi universities, and take jobs as computer engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc. In her book, the author works very hard to dispel the myths and misconceptions of her people. Most of them drive nice cars (not camels) go shopping, and live in neighborhoods with real houses and apartment complexes (not tents.) Iraq is also known for some of the most astounding architecture and bridges known to the modern world. Iraqis are not all extremist Muslims either. They are Muslim, Jewish, Christians, etc- a melting pot of cultures and religions just like the Unites States. And above all, after hundreds of years of imperial occupation, the Iraqi people are still anxiously hoping for a stable government that can be run Iraqi's themselves. Iraqi citizens are now dealing with their crumbled economy and deteriorated social structure, in a time where no one feels safe. They are people struggling to survive. Security is a thing of the past. BUT, Most people do not know these things because they are not shown in images or reports in the media!
Like I said, I know this is slightly off topic, but I saw the parallel and just felt the need to blog about it! I recommend this book to anyone who is in the least bit interested in the War and current situation in the middle East. It just goes to show, once again, the media is the master of creating stereotypes when it comes to race.

Music Videos= Sex

When the video killed the radio star, it took down a lot of other things with it...including the reputations of the women who perform in these videos. Sex sells-we know this- but how far is too far? While we still get an occasional glimpse at skillfully trained dancers appearing in music videos, it seems like all that's out there are strippers trying to make a name for themselves by taking their clothes off and dancing provacatively for the camera. And these cliches that are in every video! Cant these million-dollar/award winning directors, producers, and performers come up with anything new!? The same stereotypes can be seen over and over again in every video, reguardless of the genre. Gorgeous, overtly-sexualized, half-naked women stopping at nothing to get the attention of the "star" in the video. Women portrayed as animalistic-with an unstopable sex drive-being both the center of attention while simultaniously attracting more and more viewers to add to the credit of the musician they are performing with. Men are shown as sexy, powerful, wealthy, dominant, and deserving of the non-stop attention from his female companions. Women in lingierie, drenched in water, in the bed or shower, dancing wildly at parties--these are all stereotpyes we have seen again and again in mainstream music videos. I feel like it is safe to say that this issue might be so far out of control it is almost impossible to imagine a video without these things! I believe women should be proud of their bodies and their sexuality (because those things are some of the major factors that make us female, and those things should be celebrated) but there comes a time when enough is enough. We have to think about the future of the media and its effects later down the road. If music videos are this suggestive and provacative now...what will it be like in 5, 10, 20 years?? Thats something to think about!

DMN Confession

I was very surprised after reading this article. In my opinion, it takes a lot of guts to admit your wrong, especially when you are admitting it the public. I commend Mrs. Floyd for her honesty and her ability to recognize her tendency to use stereotypes. Of course a murder like the McKinney one, is going to be sensationalized...wealthy, exciting women gets murdered in an expensive neighborhood...it must have been someone she knew; beaten, stabbed multiple times, left in the house to be found...someone must have been trying to make a statement, right? No. Not at all. It was a random act of murder, and that's all. Unfortunate, yes. But not the Hollywood drama the public was looking for. For these reasons, the media turned it into a glamorous twisted story that was filled with secrets and deception. Stories like these make me think twice...and make me hope that if I, as a journalist, am ever faced with a situation like this, I will make the right choice in my writing and not jump to conclusions just because of media standards and expectations.

Sex & the Media

Until this class, I never really noticed just how sexually-charged most ads can be. Even women's magazines use sex to sell products to other women. Between the Axe commericals, the new Heiniken ads, countless perfume promotions, and various other ads, Ive come to realize that many of these attention-grabbers are degrading to women. I am definately not getting all "feminist" and hyped up about this stuff, but it is certainly something to take notice of. Women portrayed as animals, robots, and other mindless creatures can be seen all over the media as sex-hungry and attention-deprived! However, when flipping through a magazine (Elle) I was pleasantly suprised to see an ad for the perfume Eternity, with a man and women embracing each other, looking into each other's eyes-both wearing wedding bands!! How nice!
From now on, I will definately pay more attention to ads and commericals to try and decode their true meaning, but something tells me that this sex-fueled way of advertising is not going to change anytime soon- because, after all, sex sales.

Race & News Reporting

While reading the article about the recent school shooting in Cleveland, I was surprised to see the way they described the shooter. The article reads "Coon, who is white," stood out among his peers, as 85% of the students at his school were white. Then it goes on to describe him as a gothic, Marylin Manson-worshiping freak. Im not sure how this ethnic classification can be justified, but I think the important thing that should have gotten more attention were the outward red-flag signs that Coon displayed. He wore all black, had black nails, trench coat, gloves, chains, and openly considere Marylin Manson his god...hello, can we say Columbine! Not to mention his less than clean record, family history, and mental conditions. These signs should have at least raised some eyebrows and should have been monitored more closely. His race however, in my opinion, seems irrelevant to the story.

Stereotypes

I've been thinking a lot lately about stereotypes and how they affect the media's coverage of events, especially in light of the recent murder of the UNT student. Often times, when the media is covering a story similar to this one, they always lean on stereotypes to describe the victim. Even people close to the victim are guilty of using "stock phrases" to describe the person they lost. For instance in this case, Melanie Goodwin was a sweet, loving, caring, Christian girl who never met a stranger. It is unfortunate that stereotypes can over shadow the real tragedy of this story. It probably is true that she was a wonderful, good hearted girl that attended church regularly and was nice to everyone. But, it seems to me that while these things probably are true, they get masked by these common stereotypes. Her story is horrific and terribly sad, but it makes it hard to identify her as the person she really is because it seems that every person that is involved in a tragedy like this that gets media attention, can be described this way. So, while stereotypes are meant to help their viewers "identify" with the victim and the story, they can also over shadow the severity of an event.
I think I might have just gotten on a major soapbox, but hopefully this makes sense!

Media Coverage of people with disabilities

For this week's blog, I visited the Society for Professional Journalists' website, to see how we as journalists are suposed to handle these types of situations. I learned that it is more important to use someone with a disability as a source for a story, rather than using them as the inspiration for a story. It can often be upseting to someone with a disability to be treated as a "supercrip" because the media highlights them continuing on with their everyday life as some kind of miracle. Having a diverse group of sources for a story is important, and getting an opinion or quote from someone with a disability adds to that diversity.
When covering a story about the construction of a new building, it is also important to make sure that the architecture meets federal law and is accessible to handicapped people, which account for about 20% of the American population.
I think that stereotypes about people with disabilities do come from the media. These people are always portrayed as the victim-turned-hero, just because they have the desire to carry on with life. I always find stories like this inspirational, but am now seeing the subject in a new light after reading the information on this SPJ website. More reporters and journalists should use the tips provided on the SPJ website, so that American's aren't confined to single-minded stereotypes about people with disabilities.

#1

I try to watch the news and catch up on current events as much as possible. I usually watch Good Morning Texas every morning while I am getting ready, and sometimes I switch back and forth between some national news shows. I also read occasional news stories that catch my eye on yahoo.com. And, if Im really bored, Il watch CNN at night! I also write for DMagazine, so I check their website frequently to keep up with pop-culture news in the Dallas area. I subscribe to several fashion magazines (Cosmo, Elle, Glamour), DMagazine, and all the popular gossip magazines (gotta keep tabs on those celebs!!) Im really not sure how many hours a day or week I seek the news; my schedule is so unpredictable, I just try and catch up on the news as often as I can. When I consider the media's coverage and attitudes towards race, gender, sexuality, and people with disabilities, I'm torn....Sometimes I feel like the media is becoming more modern and tolerant of people's differences, but other times I feel like people are misrepresented. It really hit me when we watched the video in class about how a news station is more likely to air a news/crime story involving African Americans, when statistics show that crime rates are higher for whites.