Classmate Blog

My classmate Sam, had a great recap on our recordings lecture. This was one of the lectures I didn't understand (for whatever reason) as much as I did the other ones. Sam's summary really helped refresh my memory on the importance that recordings have on our life today, and what setbacks we would be bothered with if we didn't have recordings. He also had a valid point about recording's effects on music. Music is very influential in this day and age and without recordings, it probably would not be such a large part of our culture.

http://samwinreallife.blogspot.com/2013/09/response-to-recordings-lecture.html

Classmate Blog

I was reading over Ginny's short and sweet article about the newspaper The Courier Journal and I thought she had a nice double view of the newspaper. I don't read the paper personally so it was nice to see unbiased thoughts about it. It never would have occurred to me that the CJ was having a growing section of fluff. But I do agree that it is certainly better than TV news to get information. I think that it is important to see what the CJ mostly reports on (like politics and war/diplomacy like she said) because now I know where to go for that type of information. Her post was very informative and I appreciated her accuracy.

http://ginnycon12.blogspot.com

Abandon Ship!

CBS reported on a woman on the Hawaii cruise ship The Grand Princess from Princess Cruises. As you read through the article it seems like a standard sort of story, a woman "intentionally" throws herself off a cruise ship and the cruise ship notified the coast guard. There was a bit of drama about the estimated time it took the coast guard to get there and the amount of time they said it would take (a two hour difference), but that is not my point. During this article they speak to a spokesperson from Princess Cruises and Coast Guard officials... Something missing? Oh yeah, that's right! Let's just leave out the woman who plummeted off of 17 deck ship, off of the list of people to talk to. I understand that she might want to keep her identity secret, but that doesn't mean CBS shouldn't have even tried to contact her. Especially since the cruise liner says that the woman was 54-years-old and the Coast Guard reported that the woman's age was 30. I believe that this article is breaking the Fairness yardstick of Journalism for not getting the victim's side of this issue.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57612292/coast-guard-joins-search-for-passenger-overboard-from-cruise-liner-off-hawaii/

Classmate Blog

Kaylee from http://rnandarinoranges.blogspot.com did a really great post on our lecture about TV. Considering I just posted one myself, I thought it was interesting to read her's. I talked more about how TV demassified other types of media, but Kaylee wrote about another part of TV. Her topic was how TV effected us, the viewers. Her little comments made her writing seem like you were talking to her. Her points about today's kids and the "sooo cool" TV shows that effect their fashion and the way the act, but as well as how TV politic campaigns effect our country. Because a good advertisement team can basically make anything look good.

http://rnandarinoranges.blogspot.com

Class Response: That one time when TV changed everything...

When the TV was created in 1927, it would then go on to effect all sorts of other types of medias as well as popular culture.

Radio
As TV became more popular it took radio's audience but the major effect was that TV took radio's talent. During that time, there were serials or stories on the radio and when the world was transitioning to TV, radio talent decided that their careers could be more successful on TV. Not to mention, I'm sure the talent was offered more money than what they were making on the radio as well.

Movies
Movies weren't as greatly effected as other types of media but they still felt TV's wrath. TV gave you the same thing movie theaters did, but in your own home. But of course people still went to the movies for other reasons like the atmosphere or the social aspect.

Newspaper
TV basically turned into a quicker newspaper. The news could be reported on more quickly and broadcasted with extreme efficiency. Of course this took some of the viewers but the main blow was that TV took newspaper's advertisers. With TV becoming so popular, advertisers could pay less or the same amount of money to reach a larger audience so it seemed obvious to advertise on TV versus newspapers.

WAVE3 News, sometimes you erk me.

Now I would like to start this post by saying, I have nothing against local news and I don't have some deep, long term issue with WAVE3 but sometimes they just grind my gears. 

I go to the WAVE3 website and the first thing I see is a story about a woman who was caught eating stolen groceries. Yes. Stolen groceries. This was considered one of their most important stories, so important that it was on the homepage. And if you aren't already shaking because of this horrific event, a whopping $2.87 was reported as the total loss *insert dramatic gasp*

Come on WAVE3 I know for a fact, without any research that something could have been happening, actually anything could have been happening that was more important than "woman caught eating groceries after being banned from store". It's so not important, you didn't even capitalize your title. This is breaking the Newsworthy yardstick of journalism. Generally I would go into a rant about how this is not a core topic (such as  politics, natural disasters e.c.t) and that it is a peripheral topic (like celebrity news or gossip) but honestly it's really neither. It's not a core topic for obvious reasons but I can't put this into peripheral topic either because peripheral topics are things that people want to read about. I can't think of a single person in any circumstance that would want to read this or would be effected by this. So I will create my own category, it shall be called "WEIT topic" or "What Even Is This Topic" 

So WAVE3 News, congratulations. You have helped revolutionize WEIT topics, and to thank you, this story will be the first of the WEIT kind.

http://www.wave3.com/story/23958752/woman-caught-eating-stolen-groceries-after-being-banned-from-store

Classmate Blog

One of my classmates, Stephanie, literally makes me feel like my journalism is a four year old's attempt. I read several of her class responses and media critiques and they are, for lack of a better term, freaking amazing. She has a serious gift in the journalism field, her words are very concise and get right to the point but there is always a hint of humor or sarcasm that makes me laugh. She also has really great visual aid to go along with her posts, which I never considered doing until now. Her post on magazines was witty and informative but it also gave you a piece of Stephanie's personality which I think was a nice touch. 

http://crushthe-patriarchy.blogspot.com

I seriously suggest checking her blog out!

Classmate Blog

Camille from www.snazzysnazzgs.blogspot.com had a really great post about the internet. She did a great job of recapping the basics that she learned during the internet lecture. But the best part of the post was that it was funny, she made it amusing to read and her choice of words made you feel like she was talking to you on a personal level. She does an amazing job of writing how she would actually talk in real life and I think that helped me understand the topic a bit better because she put it into "teenager language" if you will.I also like her perspective on how rapidly the internet grew and how nobody is really private these days and I think that is interesting coming from a teenager, because generally you wouldn't think one would be cautious about it. But I completely agree with her, the internet is so open and nothing can ever be truly deleted. She has a great point and her writing technique really helps her connect with her audience.

http://snazzysnazzgs.blogspot.com/2013/10/internet-j1-2.html

Mass Communication

As the Red classes prepare for our test tomorrow, I thought I would post about one of the most important topic that we went over so far this year.  Mass Communication. Mass communication requires technology so it has the potential for everyone on Earth to see the post/song/video at any point in space and time.

There are Five Steps of Mass Communication
1. Stimulus- Thinking and coming up with an idea
2. Encoding- Projecting the idea you were thinking
3. Transmission- The idea traveling through space and time
4. Decoding- The idea being processed (ex. decoding literacy in a book or picking up a frequency on the radio)
5. Internalization- Retaining or understanding the idea

There are also things that can get in the way of this five step process.
Filters (interference with decoding)
-physical: Not being able to read a book because you are blind
-informational: Not being able to understand a song sung in French
-physiological: Not wanting to understand the information given

Impediments (interference with encoding)
-sematic noise: Not being able to hear a song because of a jackhammer outside your window
-channel noise: Losing wifi in the middle of reading an article
-environmental Noise: a little sibling standing in front of the tv

Hope I helped some of my classmates with this overview of Mass Communication.

Binary Models Lecture: Hot-Cold Models

As I pour over my notes for our upcoming test, I was reminded of my favorite lecture we have had this year. The lecture on Binary Models. Now I know that this topic seems kind of boring, but it just really clicks with me. But out of all of them, the hot and cold entertainment was the hardest for me to remember (yet I have no idea why), so I thought I would post about it to jog my memory.

Hot entertainment requires your full attention. Like a book. You can't read, watch TV, and listen to the radio at the same time. But if you can, I would love to see it sometime. Even if you told me you could do it, I would be highly surprised if you could really take it what you were reading, follow a plot line, and sing the same verses constantly.

 Cool entertainment, you don't have to be focused on that single thing to fully understand it. Like TV, you don't need to watch the news all day long to get your information. You can check in periodically, because chances are they are just saying the same thing over and over again. 

Now there are  exceptions to these rules, especially in cool entertainment. Some TV shows or movies, really do need your full attention. For example, if you were watching Cloud Atlas and you decided to leave the room for five minutes, when you came back you would be at an utter loss. Cloud Atlas has so many different points of view that you could get confused even if you didn't leave the room.

Classmate Blog

One of my classmates, Alyssa had a very interesting post on an important subject in one of our lectures: Conglomeration. I thought it was intriguing to see that she was sort of split down the middle, not being able to decide if conglomeration is good or bad. She showed both sides of whether it was good or bad, so potentially the reader could decide what they thought on the issue. I also really liked how she summed up our lecture very nicely. It was helpful for me because as I study for our upcoming test, I could see an abbreviated version of conglomeration, which will help me remember.

http://fhblove.blogspot.com --Take a look!

Classmate Blog

Anyone who actually reads my blog, should seriously visit the link below. The author, Lauren, just posted a really well rounded media critique. It talks about the banning of children under 16 to enter beauty pageants in France and it being on the website of an American site. Her argument is very valid and I agree with her all the way! It seems like an newsworthy(ish) event if you lived France, but when you live in Louisville, Kentucky this piece of news really is not going to effect you. She made good reference to the Seven Basic Yardsticks of Journalism and has an interesting perspective.
Check it out-- http://laurenrose01.blogspot.com

Media Critique 1

Over the weekend there was an odd and intriguing headline on Fox New’s home webpage. The article was titled “Florida boy, 7, finds ancient canoe while scuba diving”. The article was about a boy who was scuba diving with his grandfather and together, over the course of several days,  were able to uncover this canoe and bring it to the surface. Many scientific officials and archaeologists went to see the canoe at Owen Lake. They determined that the canoe dated back to prehistoric times and Julia Byrd, one of the senior archaeologists, noted that these types of discoveries are the kinds they can really learn from.

Though one can appreciate the interesting historical aspect of this article, it seems to break one of the Seven Basic Yardsticks of Journalism: Actually being newsworthy. This story is considered a peripheral or a human interest topic, so why would it be on the homepage of an international news corporation? With all the things going on in the world, why was this particular story chosen over say, the molasses spill in Hawaii. The spill in Hawaii is going to affect the environment and people there, in possibly major ways, over a long period of time. Meanwhile, the story about this prehistoric canoe may only affect a few scientists. Now there could be some ground breaking information that they could take away from analyzing this canoe, but what are really the chances of that? This story will not have a stretched out and direct effect over the course of the next six months, the canoe itself may be sitting in a museum warehouse, as you read this, just gathering dust. The actual impact is very little, and one could go as far as saying it has no impact at all. It appears that Fox News was the only national/international news corporation that reported on this event. There are a few local news companies in Florida that had information on it, but even then, they were not on the homepage.

It is obvious to see that this story is like many, where it is only for fluff and filler. I understand that any and every news company is going to have some fluff, but does it really have to be on the front page?

Music Lecture

So on Friday in class, was I the only one who just loved the lecture? I'm a huge lover of music, but there was a lot about that lecture I had never heard before. Like that news used to be spread in song that travelled from town to town. And I thought it was really cool to hear about the progression of music as technology became more advanced. In the early days of music, there probably wasn't a ton of variety, you just listen to what was there. But after there could be recordings of music, things got more diverse. I really like how Miller can associate things that happened then, to things that are happening now. Sometimes I think certain people get really bored by sitting and listening, but it is probably my favorite class. He actually tells us information worth knowing and that we will actually use outside of school. I'm just already having a ton of fun in J+C!