News Assignment/Reflection

This assignment was very eye opening and surprising. The amount of racial slurs was surprising to me. There was also a difference in the way members of different ethnic groups referred to themselves and others, versus the way members of other groups did. For example, just like we talked about in class, the terms “African American”, and “Black” are really preferential. Another shocking thing to me was how underhandedly racist some reporters and witnesses can be. It was not in an obvious way, but more in a way that represents how commonly racist their everyday lives and communities are. It was usually not intentional, which just represents how behind the times the older generations can be and how blind they are to the racist comments and slurs they project every day.

            I am very pleased with my selections of location to watch the news. My news cast was located in a smaller suburb of Dallas, Tx, but it also covered Dallas and state wide and country wide news which gave me a variety of crimes and coverage. I got to watch coverage over smaller, non violent crimes, all the way up to major government corruptions. When covering crimes over high profile whites, by white reporters, they related to their suspects race and tended to lean more towards a reason, or at least an understanding of the crime, in order to make it seem less severe than it really is. Conversely, when a white reporter covered a crime committed by a person of a different race, they used a more condescending and judgmental tone.

            This was a very good experience for me and taught me to watch newscasts with a more critical eye. 

Fools Gold

Watching these videos was almost painful. Although I was not blind to the events of which these videos touched on, it was very eye opening to see what our country had fallen victim to.

            According to our videos, a small handful of mega corporations are the ones who determine what music we listen to, what news we watch, and whose opinions we hear. And it doesn’t take a genius to guess whose views, opinions, and news we are exposed to. And that is so wrong. We need a media that specifically represents different interests of people with different backgrounds, lifestyles, and cultures, than our own. If we are only constantly fed back what we already know, then how are we supposed to grow, learn, experience, and increase our cultural wealth as individuals and as a country? Maybe an outreach effort by the people could influence the mainstream media to change its monogamous ways. If they see that we are becoming bored with their repeated antics, then possibly we can convince them to broaden their horizons- expand their catalogue of information, news, and entertainment they are constantly bombarding us with each and every day. 

One of the most upsetting discussions I saw in the videos was that of the propaganda of the 9/11 tragedy. The scene of Bush’s scripted press conference hit me especially hard. Journalists were put in such an awful position. They wanted to provide the news, the TRUTH, to the people. But if they ever overstepped into the safety bubble blown up over our government in the time of war, they were labeled as unpatriotic and against our freedom and our government’s attempts to preserve it. Steps were even taken to dissuade images and talks of casualties from being on the front pages of newspapers and magazines. And if they were to be shown or talked about, they should be evenly balanced with reminders of 9/11. Thankfully, more articles, speeches, and videos are being made like the ones we watched for class to shed light on this terrible issue. But although discussion is now taking place, we are still not done.

            The media is taking great strides in covering recent social protests. One such protest which comes to mind is the medias coverage and objection to California’s Proposition Eight. This proposition is trying to restrict the right of legal marriage to just opposite-sex marriages. Thankfully it seems that everywhere I turn, there is another commercial, advertisement, speech, or celebrity endorsement pleading for financial and other such support to spread the word against Proposition Eight.  

Even during the Civil Rights Movement, it seems the some of the media really helped publicize the efforts of leaders such as Martin Luther King.  One such media was the radio, i.e. 1690 WVON. One of the videos we watched highlighted this particular radio station as still being a leading minority form of media, of which we are desperately in need of more. These mediums provide a vessel and a voice for minority groups that are often shut out, over looked, or drown out by the short-sightedness of mainstream media       

Reflection:

            I really enjoyed this assignment and these videos. As painful and eye-opening as they were to watch, I believe that their messages were something that should be shown in every school, business, and on every station across the country. It is sad but true that money is power in this country. It’s true what they say, “whoever has the gold makes the rules”. And it appears to be that whoever has the gold makes the media in this country.