Class Response: Radio's Relationship with Music

Radio, though thoroughly demassified, is still very much a presence in today's society. What do most people listen to radio for? For the music. Though there are those who listen to news or political/sports commentary, music is very popular. In all, it was a very wise decision for radio to focus on music. Radio provides a free and easy way to listen to all of your favorite songs. Of course, radio music has also been demassified. Each specific station has one specific genre that it focuses on. Though music within radio has been demassified it was also what keeps a radio in every car and keeps them around at all.  

Class Response: TV, Too Much Influence?

Television had an overwhelming influence on the masses, as we discussed in class. When you see someone wearing an outfit on TV, you instantly accept at as an ordinary part of the fashion world. Someone watches a story on increasing crime in the neighborhood, then that person might begin to lock their doors at night. The question is whether this influence is a good thing or a bad thing. The answer to that question is a very complex and difficult one. It's the same as asking whether or not propaganda is a good thing. I think that it's really all in the way you use it. Obviously influencing the fashion world doesn't seem to be too harmful unless, of course, it becomes a TV trend for characters to wear a Swastika pins. It's all in the way TVs influence is used.

Class Response: The Importance of Zenger

John Peter Zenger published a reputation-destroying, career-hurting, and totally true article about a governor. He was then sued for his totally true report. You would think that the power governor would have won against the lowly reporter, but he didn't. This is the first sign of America's potential for total freedom of speech (assuming it's not liable). Not only did this case pave the way for freedom of speech, but it's also what pushed journalist to become government watchdogs too. Before this case, a journalist had to live in fear of publishing an article about the misuse of power. No matter how true, the article would be thought as as an "act against god". But after the Zenger Case, this was not longer an issue because not the truth was the ultimate defense against a slander charge. This case is what made journalism what it is today.

Class Response: Melding the Models

We discussed in class about how the different binary models are staring to become obsolete because of things like conglomerates and infotainment. One model that cant be combined is the "Hot-Cold" model. How can something that is intense and takes all of your concentration be background sound as well? On further examination, I decided that there are a few gray areas. Magazines, for example. A magazine could take all of your time and attention if you choose to sit and read every single word, but what about if you skim the headlines and chat with your friend beside you. This is one of the rare items which you can allow to take up different amounts of your concentration.

Class Response: The Important Principle

Journalism encompasses such a wide scope of ideas that I find it hard to imagine nine principles, much less a single one can truly explain everything about it. But after reading the nine principles and seven yardsticks, I felt differently. I began to realize that maybe their was one principle that outweighed the others in importance. I decided that "truth" is the most important. If people can't even believe what you say then there isn't even a point to the rest of the principles. First and foremost, an article must be truthful to the world as a whole. 

To prove what I said, think of all of the principles and yardsticks and think of a time when it has been violated. When someone fabricates stories, it is much more harmful for the audience than when a news outlet doesn't cover a story they probably should have. Though all of the yardsticks and principles are undoubtedly important, truth is among the most important.  

Class Response: The Printing Press

I got to thinking after the class took the One Question Quiz on what the world would be like without the movable-type printing press. I wondered about what events could have been avoided if humanity had had the printing press long before it was actually invented. My first thought was of the Crusades and the horrible bloodshed caused on religions behalf, mainly by illiterate farmers who decided to march for a place in heaven. But where does it say that in the Bible? This is exactly what we talked about in class earlier today. The more knowledgable the people got, the more they began to question religion. 

Just think of how illiterates would just march off to do whatever the Church told them to do. If the movable-type printing press had been invented sooner, then the Church never would've been to able to amass the power that it did and perhaps Christianity would not be as widespread as it currently is (not that wide-spread Christianity is a bad thing). The religions of the world might also be vastly different because of the ability to record the religions text, word for word. The inventing of the printing press changed humanity in a way nothing else could; it enlightened the masses on things that really effected how they lived.