"Look at Ron Paul, he doesn't even look like he would last 4 years!"

Should politicians with graying hair dye it to

achieve the 'Presidential look?'

This comment made by my mother while watching the GOP debate reminded me of the idea of 'posing for presidency'. As mentioned on page 199 of the Graber text, columnist Marquis Child noted that, “candidates no longer ‘run’ for office, they ‘pose’ for office. The term “television-age recruits” is referring to the fact that in the television age, the most important factor for candidates is to look presidential. This has paved the way for many television actors and media friendly individuals, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin, to assume office. The obvious problem with this is that this is the worst factor on which to base the selection of a president. The media campaign strategies of today are structured around the ability to generate and regulate extensive positive media coverage. Everything candidates do is timed to garner the most media attention possible. Vying for coverage has also become the main part of a media campaign because the amount of media attention usually dictates the amount of votes.

What would you classify as the presidential look?

For women:

White men: have to look young and competent.

Black men: have to look nonthreatening and some would say they have to look Caucasian.

LOVE YOU RON PAUL!!!

Freedom of speech... well not really

In the latest media feeding frenzy, high school senior Emma Sullivan is fighting for basic first amendment rights after tweeting: “Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”

This article further clarify's that, "In reality, she made no such comment. But in the brave new world of instantaneous electronic communication, that doesn’t matter. The tweet itself was reality enough for Brownback’s staff, which -- like most political protectors -- routinely monitors the social media whirl."

I think that this is a great example of how the traditional media is slowly loosing power to bloggers and social media users. This is a clear example of how the press focuses on who is on top and who is not, rather than educating the press and perpetuating the win/loss situations and feeding frenzies.

I don't think that this girl owe's anyone anything! Rather, she should be awarded for having the courage to speak her mind, but also to hold her ground. As there is no criminal offense here, I think that this will all blow over after her 5 minutes are over.

First article Literature Review draft

· Hayes and Tantleff-Dunn

o In their study of 121 girl’s age 3-6 years old, Hayes and Tantleff-Dunn found that appearance related media did not affect the girl’s body image in appearance related play. They state that this suggests that media exposure does not affect body image in young girls. I feel that these results actually just show desensitization to the media that the girls have already been exposed to, especially since the self-reported data showed that half of the 3-6 year olds thought they were fat. I don’t feel that this early body dysmorphia came from anywhere else other than the appearance-related media that the girls had been exposed to leading up to this study.

o In the Hayes and Tantleff-Dunn study, the researchers measured difference of the video stimuli in appearance-related clips versus neutral clips, immediate behaviors resulting from the viewing clips, qualitative reactions through interviews, and the level of body dissatisfaction among the girls.

o The video stimuli measure categorized the video clips into 2 groups based on whether or not there was appearance related material in the clip. In an example on page 416, the researchers note an example that they use in the study from Beauty and the Beast where “Gaston comments that Belle is ‘the most beautiful girl in town and that makes her the best.’” Other appearance related clips in movies such as Anastasia, Cinderella and, Sleeping Beauty showed characters participating in appearance enhancing acts like changing clothes to become more beautiful. . The control group was shown neutral clips from shows like Dragon Tales, Clifford, and Lilo & Stich with only cartoon humans.

o The behavioral rating sale was used to catalogue appearance-related behavior in the children after they were shown the clips. The researchers used two assistants to code and time a finite amount of appearance related activities, like playing dress-up, vs. the non-appearance related activities like Legos.

References

Hayes, S., & TantIeff-Dunn, S. (2010). Am I too fat to be a princess? Examining the effects of popular children's media on young girls' body image. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 413-426.

While finishing up my readings for this week's class, I had an ADD moment that led to looking up the old schoolhouse rock "Just a Bill" song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TBxxPPhzj8

Notice that there really isn't any partisan bias in this video and that it remains completely educational and objective. The race and gender bias is a conversation for another class, but this did make me think about what changes would be made if this were redone today.

It seems as if this very informative video was highly educational for most of us growing up.

I will admit that everything in this video summarizes the extent of my knowledge of how bills become law.

(Future Vice President and President, in that order)

Since I have a unique opportunity to discuss this among future lawmakers, I ask:

If it were done today, would you change anything (I realize that lawmaking policies haven't changed in the past few decades)? What would you add personally to make this more useful for the child audience? What would you change for an adult audience? Is there any other legal information would you consider important for children to know?

As far as edutainment goes, this is truly the finest and the golden standard in my book, I love Schoolhouse Rock!

Uses and Effects in class assignment

Ariana Wharton

Tiffany Lempeesis

Masiah Mitchell

Valerie Carr

· What do you do online

o Pay bills

o Check accounts

o Open business

o Play games

o Talk to friends

o Face- stalk

o Get news

o Play on pinterest.com and stumbleupon.com

o Waste time

o Wikipedia

o Reading books

o Watch TV shows and movies

o Download music

o Create presentations

o Create portfolios

o Create websites

o Advertising for business

· Second life

o We don’t believe second life is relevant anymore because it doesn’t seem to have a point or advantage to other games. We don’t know anyone on the website, and we think that World of Warcraft is a more prominent RPG gaming experience.

· Mass communication is defined as transmitting messages to people by mass media. This definition has not really changed but just evolved to include new emerging media technologies.

· Perpetual Linkage is the emerging trend to be continually connected through some type of technology.

o The impact of this on young people is that they may develop problems of being alone and codependency issues in the future. This may also lead to a tendency to alienate people in real life and be less outgoing in interpersonal relationships. Anxiety may develop if your perpetual linkage is broken or interrupted.

o This has changed relationships because people are completely connected at all times and is easier to keep in contact with your significant other. It also makes it easier if a spouse has to work far away.

· The Carnegie Melon Study revealed what might be termed an “activity displacement effect”

o Activity displacement effect- there is a limited time in a given day to engage in activities. when the internet is added into the mix. the potential to “spend more time in isolation from others” is likely to occur when people turn to the internet for entertainment and web surfing. Displacing strong social ties- people go online and talk to folks in chat rooms, making new “friends” there is a tendency for these new friendships to be superficial and characteristically weaker than face-to-face born friendships. The main reason for rejecting the activity displacement effect is because the “data showed that some many people in their sample used the internet for social purposes.” If it really caused “isolation and loneliness” then the internet use would have decreased, but the data does not reflect that. It shows that internet use remained the same, therefore it stands to reason the research is incomplete or infactual.

o Yes. The authors believe that in order to form a deep social connection there needs to a sense of “involvement and mutual service” that dating online lacks. Simply chatting online is not sufficient to get to know someone well enough.

o The study is relevant. Even with online dating sites like eharmony, nothing can take the place of face-to-face interaction. While the Internet has changed and is now considered 2.0 over the web 1.0 that the researchers of this particular study were basing their research off of, the research they collected is still useful in the context of forming friendships online.

1) Social Augmentation Hypothesis- People who use the internet to communicate with others should expand their social networks, thus permitting them to derive many of the relational benefits that come with being more connected to other people.

2) Social Displacement Hypothesis- Every minute spent on the internet is a minute that one cannot use to engage in social relationships with family and friends. Consequently, heavy use of the internet should cause one to communicate less with the people immediately around them and this leads to the loss of the positive benefits that those social networks provide.

3) Social Compensation Hypothesis- The effects of the internet on social and psychological are positive, but only for certain individuals. Individual differences posit that the internet may be beneficial for some and not so good for others when it comes to forming and maintaining social relationships.

4) Out of the three hypotheses I would “buy” the Social Compensation Hypothesis. I think everything in life has the potential to be good for some people while it may be not as good for some others. The Internet can be used by a person to help create and maintain social relationships but at least some of those social relationships should be a part of that person’s “real life.” But if a person spends all their time on the Internet and doesn’t bother with social relationships in real life then the Internet turns into something that is bad.

· Reeves and Nass theorized that our brains are made to believe that things we see are perceived as real. Because of this, new media has tricked us into believing that the things we see are real and the interactions we have are real. We do agree with Reeves and Nass because one cannot help but be scared by scary images in a movie or even scary pictures. Humans are emotional creatures and therefore develop emotional attachments to the things they see whether it is real or on television. Because of these attachments emotional reactions are elicited from whatever image is displayed. This can be seen when people talk to the television screen when watching a scary movie or an intense sporting game.

Social Media Film

Parents have always had to fight to keep their children safe from the evils of society; however, with the introduction of the internet, children are more vulnerable than ever to terrible predators who want to harm them. I was personally shocked by a lot of what they showed because I have a sister who is 13 years old and I couldn’t imagine my sister saying anything like what those kids were saying. The kids in the beginning were saying that they would cry if they were a parent and saw what was on their kids pages. I was that way when I was young and on the internet, but my younger sister and her friends are very tame and juvenile in their use of social media now. That may be because of early socialization on social media sites for kids that their generation has been exposed to. There was a guy who said that his younger brother was getting an early lesson in web socialization on club penguin. My sister did the same thing and now she is using media to create videos and is considering being a director. This is one of the positive outcomes of children using the internet and social media at a young age; they can learn skills that may prove to be invaluable to them in the future.

The problem with the amount of media today that I see in children like my sister and people my own age, they have no break from media, they are texting constantly. I have friends from high school and from long ago that I can’t even go out to eat with because they will text so much that they will not even make eye contact. Also, the 14 year old taking pictures in lingerie fishing for compliments by taking her clothes off really worried me. She was really just looking for people who wouldn’t make fun of her and would tell her she was beautiful; the problem is that she felt she had to be half naked to achieve that. I couldn’t imagine being her parent and finding that out about my 14 year old child. I also couldn’t imagine being that 14 year old kid and having my father know that about me!

The kids say that parents don’t realize that they have been online since they were young and they know what to avoid on the internet, which is true. But predators are tricky, and if they want something they can find something in the picture or in the background that the kids don’t even realize. It’s a risk that is not worth taking! Predators and pedophiles are what parents and their children are mostly concerned about. There are many other new and secret threats in the internet as well like cyber bulling. This is becoming an increasingly popular way for high school students to taunt one another because you can do things to someone online that you wouldn’t do to someone in person.

Fortunately, as I was looking on my sisters Facebook today, I noticed one of her friends experimenting with being 'sexy,' but it seems they know how to protect themselves for the most part...

Even so, we have to continuously remind ourselves and children that there are dangers out there, and the internet has many of the dangers of the world in one place.

Face-ism in the media

Face-ism, or facial prominence, is the tendency of the media to show the face of men and the body of women in still or moving photographic portrayals. Our textbook defines face-ism as “the tendency to represent people in terms of their face or head as opposed to their body.” The researchers who have conducted research in this field have found that the higher the facial prominence, or the more the face is focused on, the more positive the perceptions of the person in photo are.

I agree with the text that this may be because photos with high facial prominence focus on the head, where the brain is, which makes people believe that the individual is more intelligent. I think this may also be due to the fact that women’s bodies have always been the focus in advertising in the media, causing the perception of the full body photo to change.

Obviously, the groups that have the lowest facial prominence are African Americans and other minorities including women. This is documented in art, photographs, moving pictures, and even postage stamps. Women and Blacks are more often depicted with less facial prominence, i.e. more of their body is shown. Research has indicated that the photos with higher facial prominence signify more dominance. This means that in a very subconscious and sneaky way, the media is telling us who is dominant and who to like more by simply deciding how much of a person’s body to show.

What consequences that could result from using this technique in political advertising? What about in advertising different medical treatment options, or even in choosing a doctor? Without being aware of the ways in which media is used to manipulate society, then we have no way to protect ourselves from that exploitation.

Below are photographic examples of face-ism in the media.

Head to hips Hayden

Magazine cover 1947 (Full body woman)

Current magazine ad (Head to thigh photo)

Another head to thigh shot

Retro women's fashion ad (full body)

MEN'S PHOTOS

Head shots of men like Andy here illustrate the intelligence and prominence of the man pictured. I just so happen to love all of Andy Samberg, not just his lovely noggin.

Current men's fashion ad (head only)Retro men's ad (head only)

Examine the difference in this men's cover and the women's covers from earlier.

Even in this Calvin Klein ad that was shot around the same time in the early 90s shows signs of face-ism even though the photos are almost identical. Kate brings her foot into frame, exposing more of her body, while at the same time Marky Mark's head is about twice the size of her's. This is a minor alteration that helps to maintain the prejudices set forth in the face-ism theory.

Mmmmm, Marky Mark....

Mass Media Case Study 2

Video

http://youtu.be/Ec7b7Wwe4kA

Swiffer's interpretation of a "Film Star"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_HGWwYL-Ww&feature=related

Swiffer - Girls looking for love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQlpPUELtw&feature=related

Swiffer- A piece of dirt looking for love

When thinking about media that strikes emotions I am reminded of many images from my childhood from my favorite television show, "Are you Afraid of the Dark?" This television was obviously supposed to give kids a sense of suspense and fear and since I was left feeling terrified, this effect was exaggerated for me.

Thinking back, I can see that the show used excitation transfer from one suspenseful event to another to keep kids engaged and on the edge of their seat. There would be an eerie sense from the beginning of the episode as the kids were sitting around the campfire. There would then be a scary event at the beginning of the episode with subsequent events feeding the adrenaline from the initial event.

The show was also playing off the curiosity and the sensation seeking desire of children. The shock of the images have stuck with me to adulthood. This shows that the images that the media use to evoke emotions, especially from children, has the potential to stay for longer than intended. Children today see much more violence and horror in television and in video games than ever before. Here is a website that article that discusses the reason why children are less affected by horror shows than they were before. The writer cites Dr. Aviva Briefel who likens the desensitization of kids to media violence to a vaccine. This is because they are slowly introduced to an increasing number of scary images so that eventually they are not affected by those images. I can agree that they are less sensitive to these images that my generation was, however I can't agree that these kids aren't affected by the images they see.

The intersection of Media and Politics

One interesting example of the intersection between politics and the media is an ongoing event that is called Occupy Wall Street. This movement started on September 17th, according to a report by NPR, and the protest plans to march on Wall Street and camp out all week. There is no official leader of the movement, they simply operate on the principle that, "the one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%." The one percent that they mention also happens to include several media moguls who own news media outlets. Since the group also pushes for the end of big bonuses for executives and an increase in labor, many outlets have yet to take the movement seriously. This event receives a lot of criticism in the news and rarely is discussed with a serious tone.

This is an example of how the media can frame issues in the media to alter public perception of the issue. Talking about the event as a joke makes people take the event as a joke rather than a serious movement. The difference with this event is that the issue of the down turning economy is a highly prevalent issue that is difficult for the public to take as a joke. This is seen through the tremendous growth of this event.

This event also lends itself to the DailyKos article that we read about Millenials and Activism. This movement affirms Logothetis claim that our generation does meet the “activism standard of the previous generation.” It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the media since it is something that they are trying to shrug off as it gains support from citizens. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141073203

Sex in Media

The effect of media violence and sexualized content is an prevailing issue with media content. Since I was young, I feel like this is a debate that has been on going and pervasive throughout American society. Many times, people argue that in other countries, sexualized content is normal on television. So what is the issue in America? In the video that we watched in class, we were able to examine the use of sexual content to attract viewers. I feel that most of us already know and understand this concept. What was new however, was the real world effects that these now mainstream images have on real world events.

The problem with these sexual images is that they are typically from the eyes of a male dominated media culture. Women are reduced to their body parts and become ‘sex objects,’ rather than having an opportunity to present themselves as an entire person with thoughts and feelings.

I can’t see what real value these images have to us as a society as a whole. We have taken something as natural as our own naked body, and turned it into something taboo and something to hunger for. I think that these sexual images have more of a triggering effect rather than the safety valve effect discussed in the book.

The Puerto Rican Pride Parade in 2000 was an atrocious example of this. Many of the obscene actions these men took on the women in the crowd were seen as perfectly fine in the men’s eyes. An 18-year-old who was arrested for violating women at the parade maintains that he was just “having fun.” This is not surprising when one thinks about the kind of messages that music videos and television portray.

In music videos and sexualized television content, women are objectified and are seen to have one purpose- entertaining the men. The men demean the women in any way possible, throwing money or drinks on them, ripping off their clothes, even when the women protest they are shown as secretly ‘wanting it.’

Since much of what we learn about how to conduct ourselves in polite society comes from what we see on television, why then are we surprised when young men see no problem dousing women on the street with drinks and tearing their clothes off? As the Social Learning Theory (SLT) states, having this male fantasy played out so frequently in videos can have a disturbing effect on the psyche.

We are sexual beings by nature, and it is natural to see some level of sexual content in life as well as in media. However, when the media perpetuates the same misconstrued ideals, our sexuality becomes something unnatural. In this article, they highlight the ‘hottest’ music videos. They are filled with the sexual exploitation of women and all kinds of disturbing things. Try to listen to them on mute so that you aren’t distracted by the music (which is how these images are so invasive). I also found a interesting study on the effects of sex in the media.

Becoming a more observant media consumer relies on critical examinations of media and society like this. If we don’t examine our actions and the motives behind them we cannot progress and grow.

Infotainment...is this REALLY news?!

Lets face it, most people would rather read the National Enquirer than the NY Times. Soft news sells better than controversial or influential stories. When Beyonce Knowles became pregnant with her first child, it was, and continues to be, the talk of the town.

Not to say that I don't care about Beyonce's baby-- wait... I don't. With all of the social issues facing us today, I understand the need for a break from stories about corrupt politicians, robberies and murders; but at some we have to say enough is enough. If people had given half of the energy to actual social issues that they give to celebrities, we could actually make social change and progress.

This decline in news quality content is attributed to the concentration of media ownership in a select few hands. In an attempt to attract more news media consumers, advertising rates are distorted which effectively forces smaller outlets to either cease programming or assimilate their format to a more profitable one resulting in less diversity in programming. Also, there is a less critical coverage of the media industry because of the interests of maintaining a corporate image and in favor of self-promotion and because reporting the news has ceased to be a public service and has become another product that brings in profits. On page 240, Bennett notes that, “news content shifts to infotainment formats,” because of the economic effectiveness of soft news.

While the merging of news corporations diluted the news, Bennett points out on page 229 that the merging of entertainment and news has brought key issues to groups that are otherwise closed off to politics and news. Unfortunately, the information may be so fragmented that it is difficult to understand in terms of the big picture.

So go ahead and indulge in trivial mindless 'news' drivel, just make sure to read some hard news as well. :)

Journalistic Bias effecting News Content

In chapter 4 of our text by Lance Bennett, NEWS Politics of Illusion, he discusses 4 very important biases that effect the way in which our news content is delivered to us. He notes that the news is no longer about providing an important pubic service; rather it has become a packaged consumer product. Because of this, the quality of the news that we receive is has been reduced to what is commonly referred to as infotainment.

Next, he explains the preference to dramatize events and, “emphasize crisis over continuity… downplay complex policy information, the workings of government institutions, and the bases of power behind the central characters.” This is mainly seen in local news like many of these stories from the AJC. Rather than focusing on the quality of life and how to improve it, the media looks for every tear jerking, heart wrenching story that ensures you will pay to find out more.

The most harmful bias is what Bennett refers to on page 45 as the personalization bias. He notes that there is a tendency to downplay the big picture of an event to focus on the human trials and tragedies. The reason is because human interest pieces are easier to sell than hard news that analyzes the political system and potentially alienates people.

Media also has a tendency to take stories out of context so that the big picture is hard to see. This is what Bennett refers to as fragmentation on page 47. For example, in the two articles that are linked in the previous paragraph, rather than focusing on the social issues that are causing the ever increasing robberies, we look at fragmented events (and are shocked every time it happens!).

On the same page, he also remarks that there is an obsession with “authority disorder.” That is to say, the news is preoccupied with order and whether or not authorities can restore or establish it.

To become a more observant media consumer, rather than another mindless drone, it is important to be aware of the biases in the news media. Unlike most consumer products, our choices don't drastically effect our quality of life and that of our nation. Since this is the case with the news media, it is imperative to be aware of the ways in which we are manipulated by the news media.

Do you think that the news media's many biases have a negative effect on people, or is this all malarkey?

Media Deprivation = FAIL

So I really tried to avoid the use of media as much as possible, however, it wasn't even an hour after I woke up that I was checking Facebook and Gmail. Literally purely as a reflex, the first thing I did upon opening my laptop was check social networking. I have noticed that many times when I want to check my email or visit some other site, I instinctively start typing in Facebook, without thinking.

After class, I would normally troll the web or watch Netflix to relax before getting ready for work, so I tried to avoid this by occupying my time at the DDS. Without a book or anything to entertain me (except watching all the miserable people), I sat in the DDS for an hour and a half before getting my license. Sometimes I like to drive with no music, today I was more ADD than normal, and found it necessary to chat on the phone (rather than to myself) the entire trip there and to work.

At work while answering calls, it was difficult to pass the time without Wikipeding or Googling something my whole shift (my job is less work and more thumb twiddling). On the way home, I called my beau and made dinner plans so that I wouldn't sit at home on the computer. Since it was late, we ended up at Taco Mac with 50 TV's surrounding us the entire time. It was to chilly to eat outside, so there were times my eyes wandered to the screen, especially when Nick went to the bathroom. I couldn't resist looking at the televisions when there was no one to talk with. It almost felt as if I were being attacked by all of the televisions surrounding me. I guess the reason I gave in was because I needed to look occupied or just have something to do while I was waiting. When we got back, I realized what a bust this plan was, and in seeking entertainment and something to zone out to, we threw on Netflix and I hopped on Blogger to post.

Experimentation!

Some of us remember doing experiments in school, but if you're anything like me, everything you learned about science came from this guy:

Bill Nye used countless experiments to show many scientific principles at work. In studying media effects, we can also use experiments to prove or disprove theories.

Experiments are very helpful for media effects research because they give us an opportunity to gather data that is relevant to our research under controlled conditions. In content analysis, researchers can only describe media content, and in using a survey you are simply asking people to recall past experiences which is as flawed as a person's memory.

Most often when examining the effects of the media, we seek to find an identifiable variable in the media that has a cause on the dependent variable (usually people's actions, thoughts and behaviors). Since one can measure an infinite number of variables with experiments, it is a great tool to eliminate extra variables that might also be responsible for the relationship. In a causal relationship like this, experiments are the best to observe the presence of a relationship.

Bill Nye influenced me in my love of science and even my vegetarianism! Love him!!

Social Media: Motivator or Distraction

In this article from the New York Times, author Noam Choen reviews an interesting thesis conducted by a Yale graduate student that provides an interesting viewpoint on the effects of social media that I feel relates to the DailyKos article in an interesting way. In his thesis, Media Disruption Exacerbates Revolutionary Unrest, Navid Hassanpour examines the effects of President Hosni Mubarak's decision to cut off Internet and cellphone service in the middle of the Tahrir Square riots. He concludes that this was a poor decision because it involved citizens who did not previously hold a political opinion about the situation, it prompted more face-to-face activism, and it decentralized the rebellion thus making it more difficult to control.

I would have to agree that while social media sites are great for people to come together and discuss like interests, I have not seen much actual activism influenced by these means. Everyone is more than happy to post status updates about whatever cause interests them that day, but anymore than that would require a major catalyst for change. In this case, the incitation needed to move the opposition from a virtual world to the real world was provided by the government when they removed these avenues of communication.

I feel that this relates to the DailyKos article because it provides a current example that validates the claims that Friedman and Kohn make about social media hindering the face-to-face activism of yore. Due to the fact that the government restricted the use of the Internet, the activists had to find another way to vent their feelings. Since they couldn't do it from the comfort of home, many went to the streets. This illustrates many of the concerns that Friedman and Kohn have about social media.

This also validates many of Logothetis's claims as well. Without the social media, these people would have never assembled together in the first place. But that is not enough to incite the kind of change that the protests accomplished.

All in all, I feel that social media is a powerful tool for this, but we also gotta get off our butts from time to time and get the word out.

Political Role of Mass Media

John Stewart on crossfire.

This clip officially made John Stewart my favorite television personality and ended a very long tie for first place with Bill Maher. What I like most about the clip is that he goes onto the show because he is promoting a book, and he ends up denouncing the entire news media.

When I look at America and wonder why the majority of the population ignorant and out of touch with the politics that affect them, I realize that I have to take into account all of the manipulation done by the news media.

The discord occurs because Americans believe that the news media actually wants to help us. As a country, we have a flawed belief that everyone has our best interests in mind. The media, the government, the USDA, the church, they all have their own agenda. Usually their agenda revolves around the acquisition of money, and they use us to attain that money. We assume that the media has our interests in mind and that they would let us know any and all important information. The reality, however, is that they have their own best interests in mind and will go so far as to omit entire viewpoints to protect those interests.

The media makes its money and gains its power thorough ratings and having a large fan base; politics works in a similar fashion. With that being said, it seems like they would be natural soul-mates. Since the news media has no moral obligation to its public, besides a self-imposed one, entire media entities have been set up with solely political basis.

Is this bad or wrong?

Not really since there is enough information available that people should do their own research and come to their own conclusions rather than sitting around waiting for someone else to tell them what to think. Unfortunately, this is America.

Characteristics of Social Science

When reviewing Mass Media effects, it is important to note some of the distinguishing factors of social science research.

Social Science Research is:

Logical

Deterministic

General

Simple(Parsimonious)

Specific

Testable

Intersubjective

Malleable

As I am a big fan of mnemonic devices, I have assembled the following saying from the list as a study aid:

Listen dude, go study stupid then imagine matriculating!

I like to create my own sayings, because in thinking up a good substitute for the first letter, somehow the word I am trying to remember gets visually etched in my memory!

~Here's to graduating soon!!