Ok, so this is spurred on by the fact that our cable on campus has just changed. We went from something like 50 good, quality-signal channels to a little over 100 not-so-good quality channels. But it's free! you say. Yeah, free and horrible quality. Every other channel, most of those the ones I watch, give static audio along with the actual audio to the point where I just can't watch. What's up with that? I'd rather have less channels, better quality. Especially since we now have something like 20 sports channels.
I'm in class (sorry, Professor), and we are talking about six companies that own many, many media outlets. Basically, these six companies own all the major news outlets. What does this mean? They can limit what news is aired, how much time it is given, everything. It limits free speech because, really, that means there are only 6 major opinions spread out over the networks. The audience may not get the entire story if it is just these 6 companies. It's flawed, for sure. We may not get the full story, assuming we get the story at all, or it might be misinformation. Then again, with the whole Swine Flu thing that the media blew WAY out of proportion, milking a disease for ratings...I dunno. If it bleeds, it leads, as we journalists say. Oh, and the whole ZOMG PEOPLE DYING IN MEXICO DUE TO FLU! thing? Yeah, well, how good of medical care does Mexico have? Exactly. What does Mexican water make you do? Exactly. It's no wonder people are dying from a simple flu. It's nothing to go GLOBAL PANDEMIC SWEET MOTHER OF GOD on.
Anyway, that's it for now. Gonna watch a movie in class! Woo! Media!
Can't stop the signal, Mal (prize for someone who can name the quote by next week!)
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As for the meat of your classroom blog, I agree that so many of these companies go with what sells. Look at the five minutes that (I think it was MSNBC) devoted to Obama going to a burger joint when, in the crawler as it happened, it discussed an invasion in Turkey. Priorities can be skewed when profits and popularity are introduced, but we are as much to blame for this as the companies. Think about it this way, tey wouldnt be pitching it if they didnt know we'd watch.
ReplyDeleteTake care Mr. Universe