Sunday, September 26, 2010

Blog Post 3 - Commercial Interests


Commercial interests’ quick pickup of radio has had lasting effects on the format of radio and the media that has followed it. During the 1920’s, advertisers realized that the radio was an extremely efficient method of advertisement. They established a format for advertising that involved providing entertainment interspersed with product placement to listeners.
A result of this use of the radio was a homogenization of American culture. The radio increased national identities at the cost of regional identities. The widespread broadcasting of the same radio shows throughout the United States contributed heavily to cultural socialization and hegemony. Radio set the stage for the willing accommodation of television into American homes when the technology became available.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Blog Post 2 - Cultivation


The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign states on their website thatteen attitudes about risky behaviors can be influenced by media messages and consumption” This quote was referring to the positive effects of anti drug campaigns, but unfortunately the converse is true as well. Cultivation theory suggests that frequent exposure to certain elements of media molds viewers’ perception of reality, and can lead to the belief that these events are more prevalent than they actually are. In psychology, this is known as the availability heuristic.
Data from a 2002 study shows that only 23% of college students are frequent high-risk drinkers. This number is much lower than many would tend to think. I believe that this disparity is the result of movies and TV shows which consistently depict college students as heavy drinkers. This over expectation of drinking actually generates more drinking, creating a vicious cycle revolving around misperceptions of social norms. Anti-drug campaigns like Above the Influence work hard to offset this misperception that their counterparts help to create.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Framing and the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

As an American Jew and a supporter of Israel, though not always her policies, I find framing to be a particularly interesting concept in regard to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and its portrayal in the Media. Framing is the way in which an idea is presented. It tells us how to think of an issue or person, and what is associated with it or them. An important part of framing is word choice. Words possess connotations that subtly (or sometimes not so subtly) color media with bias. Biased framing is not necessarily intentional, but is nonetheless a part of the audience’s interpretation of media.
American newspaper headlines tend to be written in a style that places more weight on Israeli actions than those of Palestinians. In a survey of 205 New York Times articles from July 2007 to June 2008, HonestReporting found that “82 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Israeli military operations were written in a direct style in which the words "Israel" or "Israeli Forces" (or a similar phrase) were the subject… Only 20 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Palestinian attacks named the group responsible”. The headline “Israeli Forces Kill 9 In Gaza” places emphasis on the subject, whereas the headline “Rocket Fired from Gaza Kills Woman in Southern Israel" is written in a passive style that emphasizes an inanimate object, the rocket, as the subject.
The disproportionate use of framing headlines in passive and direct styles contributes to the anti-Israel bias in the media.

To learn more, go to http://www.honestreporting.com/

First Blog Post

This is the first blog I've ever written! I've never really read blogs online either, so I'm looking forward starting that too.

My friend sent me a link to a fashion blog that I thought was really cool. It's called New dress a day. http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/