Recommended Media Blogs

     I strongly recommend anna’s blog “The Media and Islam“   http://media4islam.wordpress.com. from the video clips of women with hijab, to the core of the issue how islam is interpreted by the western media with the ten commandments of bashy quraishy whcih criticizes western media of being bias and its racist and discriminatory content toward the islamic world.

     Another excellent blog is that of zhazira  This blog is concerned with the ever changing and and current issues of media streaming and copyright issues and controversial issues of how certain sites such as google ich focuses on “Media and Eating Disorders” http://zhazira.wordpress.com. which focuses on how the media influences and dictates what is beautiful as skinny models which sets a high bar for women in society who try to emulate what they see magazines and movies.the blog provides contreversial picturesof beyond skinny women as models for designer brands,videos advocating against anorexia whereby young women are shown refusing to eat food as fear of gaining weight.

     Another excellent blog is that of lukas’s “Sex in Advertising“   http://sexinads.wordpress.com. which shows how much sex is really in our media especially through advertisements, substantial research to back up the facts and some steamy pictures to really give you a better understanding om the topic.

     This blog deals with  music subcultures and the interpretation by the media and how certain unknown and underground cultures such as the emo and punk and ultimately hip hop is getting mis represented by the media and in the process losing their values and ideologies they once had, as a result becoming mainstream.Elmira’s “Music Subcultures and Society” http://subculturalcosmopolite.wordpress.com. 

     Finally this next blog looks at the ever changing media streaming and copyright infringement dealing with controversial issues of how sites like google and youtube  this blogs have over sites like tv-links.ethan senn’s Media  File Sharing/Copyright Infringement  http://ethanasenn.blogspot.com/.

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The Corruption of Media in Todays Democracy

     Todays media is so powerful and influential thats its hard not to see its charcterisitcs as being almost uncontrollable since poular media isnt owned by anybody but by corporations and its members are not elected by the people yet it influences the society as a whole since it dictates public opinion. the most popular of this media being television and the emergence of new media,the internet which is most powerful of all mediums as. What gets broadcasted and what becomes headlines is dictated by media editors and producers which follow criterias which is why the biggest headlines depend on how much human intrest is involved and how news wothy and sensational it is. Today media is loosing crdibility as the media public opinion is different from that of majority of people and even though it is still influential, it is losing crdibility over time as in the 60′s media houses were owned by 61 owned establishment in 1491 cities and now its owned by 12 major institutions in every major city in the united states.  I will discuss how the media influences how we think,and how it affects our everyday life .

     The agenda setting theory simply means that news media doesnt tell you what to think but is highly influential and sucessful at telling you what to think about. This theory was introduced in 1968 by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw in which a 100 undecided voters during the 1968 presidential elections were what they issues they considered important  and this was checked with what current issues in the media at that point, the result was they were both identical (McCombs and Shaw). As a result of today’s ever popular agenda setting by the media, it is logical to say that the audience attitude about certain issues can change behaviour and as a result, there is a thin divide between what the media is making us think about and what the media is actually making us think and believe. Since media has the power to influence the public, the way the story is broadcasted or printed can greatly influence how it would be interpreted by the general audience. This is called framing,  whereby media content is packaged in a way as to influence a certain interpretation by means of selection, emphasis, exclusion and elaboration.For example during the near impeachment of bill clinton because of his relationship with monica lewinsky, his character was being potrayed as being  favourable but not seen as doing a good job in office.

     With media setting the public opinion in the society, the majority of people will remain silent even when they dont agree with the popular media because thay believe thats the thought of the rest of the public and wouldnt want to stand out or be in the minority, when in fact they are the majority as most people in the society feel the same way. This is known as spiral of silence. A good example of this is the current war on terror in afghanistan and iraq in which the media’s view of going to war was so influential that it led the president of the united states  to formulate propaganda of weapons of mass destruction iraq possessed and with popular media riding the bandwagon, it seemed public opinion was in favour of going to war, when infact it was the total opposite.

     Media’s corruptable influence on  democracy can also be seen through the way popular media tries to assert certain emotional attachments in todays politics. For example the recent TV Ads for republican  Huckabee by Chuck Norris shows TV image is more influential than a candidates campaign agenda. As this has created in a surge of support towards Governor Huckabee. This clearly shows the power of Tv as a media clearly capable of influening  potential voters by and as media is owned by corporations which in turn endorse and become contributors in presidential elections raising the question whether or not democracy is free and fair anymore.

     In conclusion, the media by means of agenda setting influences what people think about and with continual framing of media reports, the media doesnt just influence what we think, but what we think about and a s a result what we think about forms the basis of public opinion. So people with contrasting ideas feel they are the minority as a result of this illusion of public opinion, when in fact they make up the majority of  real public opinion but because of their silence, the majority remains a minority. Popular media preception of a politcal debator is a great asset in electoral campaigns as it provides an opportunity to influence voters and as a result campaign messages and plans for the country are overshadowed.all these together contribute to the corruption of todays democracy where free and fair elections are put into question and the bias of media bodies in influencing the society’s public opinion.

works cited :
Maxwell McCombs,Donald Shaw, (1972),pages 176-187, “The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media”; public opinion quarterly,vol 36, number 2.

Recommended Web Pages

http://heartheissues.com/ 

     This is an excellent blog /web site as it exclusively focuses on political articles and commentry,media and television related postings. a lot of research materials can be found here  such as this intresting research on politcis and television http://www.heartheissues.com/politicsoftelevision.html , latest results in the ongoing 2008 elections,political issues from crime,immigration issues, laws etc to the media aspect which features the history,its misconception, politics and the media, television networks, radio and so on.

 http://www.prwatch.org :

     This is a non profit center for media and democracy which aims to strenthen aims to strenten participatory democraticy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda with current news updates and numerous blogs related to the topic to choose from and extensive list of topics discussed from politics to media to enviromental issues, ethics and a list of dozen topics to choose from.

another good site is the center for digital democracy (cdd). http://www.democraticmedia.org

     This is a non profit group which serves public intrest in the digital landscape. from free to low cost internet oppoertunites with aims to diversify ownership of new media outlets and ensuring the safeguard of privacy through an outreach through the press, policy makers and blogs to foster change.

The Media’s handling of The September 11th Terrorist Attacks

Media Coverage After the Attack:
Reason and Deliberative Democracy Put to the Test

http://csicop.org/genx/terrorattack/

    This article examines how news media covered the september 11th terroist attacks. initial respond was showing shock by world leaders and speculation of possible actions by presdient George Bush and of new york city’s mayor Rudy Gulliani. The next day the attack was being tagged as “new face of war” to “day of infamy” to “act of war’ and “its war”. “The news media’s overwhelming obsession with,scandal,sex and celebrity has failed to provide the American public with the necessary international context and understanding that might help people cope with the terrorist attack, and enable the public to apply some level of differentiated knowledge in the assessment of an impending american military response”.

     This can be called the spiral of silence as the media continued to tag the attacks as  war and therby fueling public opinion as that of retaliation and pressure  the government to respond. the minortiy of the population would have not agreed to the U.S millitary occupation of afghanistan and iraq, but with the media’s coverage of the event was so powerful and its solid opinion as potraying what happened as war, as a result most people kept their opinion to themselves because they thought they were in the minority and dint want to oppose the majority view when in fact the minorities are the majority.

     As a result we all know what happened next…

Agenda Setting by The Media

     After viewing this video it can be clearly seen how the media and the so called pundits or professional political observers try to pass their opinions as public opinion even though the rest of the general public feels the other way around,thus agenda setting . This arose during this 2007/2008 CNN- youtube presidential debate in which  question was asked if as president in their first year in office, they would be willing to meet seperately without pre condition with leaders from iran, syria, cuba or north korea. senator Barack Obama was quick to answer he would while senator Hillary Clinton said she wouldnt promise that.The real public opinion of the people showed favourable reaction when they heard Obama say he would visit leaders of rogue states, while Hillary Clinton answer dint agree with what the people felt. On the other hand the pundits saw hillary as having the upper hand over obama as she exhibited some form of experience in handling that question. This was the opinion the major media outlets gave nationwide which was based on opinions of a few who view themselves as experts against the ideas of the people. When a poll was conducted asking whether or not the next presdent should meet with leaders of rogue states without pre condition, 42% said yes, 34% said no, and 24% isnt sure.

     This is a clear cut case of agenda setting, The media isnt just telling you what to think about but it is starting to tell you what to think. Since the media is capable of dictating to our society what to think about, after watching such news media and seeing all media sources saying the same thing that hillary clinton is right and that obama is wrong and thereby influencing me to possibly change my electoral vote even though i share the  attitude that is contradictory to popular media.

The Media vs Democracy

     The link to this article can be found at the bottom of the page. this article titled ”media vs democracy”, talks about the how even “with the oucome of the U.S presidential election still unclear,mainstream media are emphasizing electoral closure over the question of who actually won the election. As a result  Al Gore secretly  conceeded the presidency to Bush and when the votes were all tallyed in, it was too close to mention a definitive winner and a result a recount could be set in motion,but with the media already speculating about the results and Gore’s concession coming to the public it was already to late to undo what was already done. As a result the supreme court voted in favour Bush as the next president of the united states.

     It could also be argued that other reasons Gore was presured not to go intorecounts even if it wasnt overturned by the supreme court would be that it could take possibly weeks to months and so as not to destabilize the government it was better to step down and conceed defeat even when a public poll taken showed that ” 75% of respondents preferred reasonable doubt about the florida votes rather than getting it resolved as soon as possible”.

http://www.fair.org/articles/media-vs-democracy.html

Democratic Elections as Product Advertisements

    

     At first i thought it was a joke, but its not,  martial artist/ movie star Chuck Norris has recenly endorsed republican mike huckabee for president. As this could be added to chucks facts as: the american people dont choose presidents,chuck norris does.

     As a result of this sucessful Ad campaign,  huckabee a relatively unknown candidate has sprung in to lead and won the iowa caucus for the republicans as a result of this celebrity surge. this was not as result of his politcal views or his agenda in his campaign but just a single act of  a faded star celebrity when this is the time for real change and searching for real solutions to real problems. Is this what todays democracy has turned into?

     What does this all mean you may ask. It can clearly be seen that the media played a huge role in huckabees popularity and eventual iowa primary win. From the sudden surge by bloggers intrest and increased media attention, support for huckabee began to rise. It can then be said that the image potrayed by the media is essentially crucial for a political debater as it has more influence on voters than the agenda and what the debator has to say.  

     This Huckabee campaign Ad is a typical of example of election campaigns competing as product advertisements and not as candidiates who want to represent the people. Prospective presdential candidates keep talking about what they have done in the past and what they are going to do when they  get into power instead of talking about how they are going to bring effective change and why we are in problems we are in now.  Why is this trend of endorsement dictating the  who gets nominated for which political party and who ends up president? isnt this corrupting the democratic process as the elected representatives get into power they would serve thee intrests of those who endoorsed them in the first place.

The media is corrupting today’s democratic process and political discourse to banal superficialities

     The aim of this blog is to look at the role of the media in todays politics from its influence on todays democratic process by new media such as blogs and podcasts, the decline of newspapers, the increasing trend of elction campaigns competing as product advertisements and the  ever influential popular media owned by corporations who face little or no checks as to what is being broadcasted. The blog will focus on how the media dictates what should be thought about, how public opinions are formed and what actions are taken as a result.

     I believe the relationship between the media and politics is an important one as it should be for everyone else because it affects our daily lives both individually and a society as a whole. Since the media has the power to influence society  both positively and negatively, by raising awareness to issues such as violence and crime, poverty, economic problems and moral values. It is only logical that the role of media in our society be closly examined as popular media is a profit making institution only focusing on entertainment and serving their own intrests. 

This is a threat to our democracy.

   

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