INTRODUCTION A decade into the 21st century and the United States is still plagued with the prejudice, oppression, and discrimination that have dominated since its founding. Despite the advances in technology and education, there remains an archaic practice of communication and interpersonal relationships. In fact, the prejudice, oppression, and discrimination practiced today is far worse than that of years past because of the advances in technology and education. People have learned to camouflage their notions with plausible excuses, infusing these ideals into news, film, music, and publications. These negative ideas fester like a wound serving as a catalyst for the injustices perpetuated against the diverse members of United States culture. TELEVISION Never before has society been so “connected” and over loaded with information. At any hour of the day, there is access to what is happening across the United States or on the other side of the world. There are six major media (General Electric, Walt Disney, News Corp., TimeWarner, VIACOM, and CBS) conglomerates in the United States that own 90+ percent of the television and radio broadcast and programming; entertainment movie studios; publishing companies, integrated telecommunications; and online holdings, thus controlling most of the information we receive. (Free Press Action Fund) According to Nielsen, the average American spends 20 percent of their day watching television and nearly a third of their time online. (The Nielsen Company) (The Nielsen Company, 2010) Whether voluntary or involuntary, many of the messages are an extension of hatred and the desire for uniformity. Television is by far one of the most influential forms of media due to its availability and the combi... ... middle of paper ... ...nership/chart/main Krajicek, D. (n.d.). America's Missing: 2,300 a Day. Retrieved January 31, 2012, from trutv.com: http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/forensics/americas_missing/2.html Osunsami, S. (2012, January 18). Getting More People to Care About Missing Black Women. Retrieved January 31, 2012, from abcnews.go.com: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/getting-more-to-care-about-missing-black-women/ The Nielsen Company. (n.d.). Television Measurement. Retrieved February 5, 2012, from nielsen.com: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/measurement/television-measurement.html The Nielsen Company. (2010, August 2). What Americans Do Online: Social Media and Games Dominate Activity. Retrieved January 20, 2012, from blog.nielsen.com: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/
When watching a movie such as “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,”it is easy to assume we have transcend above malicious acts towards minority groups. We are often unable to see trends of one hundred years ago and apply these same behaviors to those in place today. Although some examples may not be as severe as those in 1910, we can still find behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate ideals of discrimination, racism, sexism, and stereotypes today. Not only do these negative behaviors affect the victims of this, but we also see a trend of passing these ideals on to the next generation. Until we can recognize our short-comings and admit when we as a society have continued these ideals of discrimination, we will continue to be in the endless cycle of discriminating acts and passing these teachings to the next generation.
In the United States, racial discrimination has a lengthy history, dating back to the biblical period. Racial discrimination is a term used to characterize disruptive or discriminatory behaviors afflicted on a person because of his or her ethnic background. In other words, every t...
The media play an indispensable role in modern life, and are considered amongst the most powerful and inaccurate sources of social information, education and entertainment. Our mass media is an electronic (TV, film, video, videogames, internet) visually dominated media with print (newspaper, magazine)...
The United States is the biggest economical power in the world today, and consequently has also the strongest and largest media industry. Therefore, it is essential to take a look at the crucial relationship between the media and the popular culture within the social context of the United States for a better understanding of the issue. For a simpler analysis of the subject we shall divide the media industry into three main branches: Entertainment, News and Commercials (which is the essential device for the survival of the industry, and shall be considered in integration with Entertainment). Researches have shown that the most popular reason behind TV viewing is relaxation and emptying the mind.
In The Marrow of Tradition, author Charles W. Chesnutt illustrates examples that signify the thoughts that whites had of and used against blacks, which are still very much prevalent in public opinion and contemporary media. Chesnutt writes, “Confine the negro to that inferior condition for which nature had evidently designed for him (Chesnutt, 533).” Although significant strides have been made toward equality, the media, in many instances, continues to project blacks as inferior to whites through examples observed in television shows, music videos, films and newscasts.
A root problem in society is that Americans often seem to struggle to see the ways that racial historical legacy continues to influence life today. Most Americans remain blind to the interminable cycle of racial prejudices that affect nearly seventy percent of the nation’s population. It’s no secret that the underlying factor in slavery was race, or that thousands of immigrants were treated unfairly in the workforce during the Industrial Revolution because of nativist views. Discrimination is widely prevalent in the United States today, and the culture continues to perpetuate racial stereotypes in various forms. Take for example recent issues of racial profiling in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island. Ultimately, the resolve to create some universal truth from these racial biases is pivotal.
“Nowadays in the modern world, society if affected by more things we can think of. Society is affected by movies, TV shows, TV reality shows, magazines, and books. A report was recorded over a six-month period about Television shows and daily news broadcasts. From September 1, 1999 through February 29, 2000; The Grand Rapid Institute recorded and viewed a few programs and at the end of the month the Institute tallied up the number of letters sent after a recorded program and it showed how unfair the programs were and how people became a democracy to let them know” (TV News 1).
Television has given each of us a podium to voice our ideas on all sorts of social and political issues and share information with one another. It has brought out stress-free ways of communication and provided us with simply accessible means to reach out to people in numerous parts of the world. Thanks to technological development, we have been capable to achieve a podium that allows us to present ourselves to the rest of the world. The negative influences of television that are a result of an overexposure to it, are most often talked about. It is accurate to a certain degree that television has affected the society in a negative manner. But, unquestionably, television has proved being an enjoyment.
In the United States, it is apparent that there is a struggle over the matters of race and equality. The evidence lays in the forms of police brutality, religious freedom laws, and how certain races are treated. In today’s society, discrimination1 is a huge problem that affects everyone on a personal level. Andrew Cuomo once said “I believe that discrimination still exists in society and we must fight it in every form.” Those words speak volumes and should be engraved into the heads of those who have the audacity to say that discrimination is not an issue today. The intolerance in America is projected by media and affects everyone: by race, religion, age, gender, wealth, and much more.
Mass Mmedia is made up of several communications systems that reach millions of people every day. But who owns the media? Actually, through the long history of mergers and acquisitions, few big companies have been controlling what we see, hear, and read by maintaining the ownership of mass media. However, the issue of media conglomeration has produced a significant amount of controversy. Since the media’s power and the control of the communications system have been dominated by a few corporations, media conglomeration has been viewed as an obstruction and limitations ?? of diversified contents. While opponents believe there is a crisis impending due to the perception of increased concentrated ownership and convergence of the media industry that interfere with message pluralism, supporters argue the media system has increased diversity more than before and large companies offer advantages that a small company can never afford . This paper examines the history of media ownership and the current FCC regulations, and discusses the effects of media conglomeration on our society.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, however what is considered beautiful by some is not considered as beauty when discussing diversity within the media. Society is based on criticism of judging one’s characters body, shape and or race/ethnics background. In the media the society only sees one type that is only focused on perfection to the mind; however within the United States, it is very typical in that the media lacks ethnic representation, cultural identity and gender inequalities. There are no ethnic representation when it comes to the media world and that the media has been trained to believe that the ethnic groups are not valuable. African Americans and Hispanics writers are the minority group when it comes to a social group. According to journalist Prince and Television critic Deggans “CNN , let go one of its most high-profile anchor of color, Soledad O’Brien, replaced her with a white man, Chris Cuomo. Wolf Blitzer gave up one of his hours to another white man, Tapper. Though Zucker met with both National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalist to try and address their concerns, there has been no overt sign from CNN that it is bringing on any more anchors of color, ”(Mirkinson p.1).
Americans were used to gathering their media via newspaper and television sets that were encased in stylish wood. Information had to be filtered through a gatekeeper who usually had an agenda for what could be released to the general public. Now, unfiltered information can be consumed in multiple ways across mobile devices. Some people are worried about the amount of information that is available and the messages that is being conveyed from them. Campbell, Martin, and Fabos (2015) said “Too many talk shows exploit personal problems for commercial gain, reality shows often glamorize outlandish behavior and sometimes dangerous stunts, and television research continues to document a connection between aggression in children and violent entertainment programs or video games”. Over 80 percent of Americans utilize electronics to view media. Media across the internet is unfiltered and no longer requires a gatekeeper. There is no agenda and there is misleading and inaccurate information everywhere. The American culture has experienced pros and cons to the developments in the twentieth century. The pros can include the freedom of accessing information from anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds but this also falls in the cons as some of that information can be unreliable and untrustworthy. Once of the pros of the major developments is that it is also unfiltered. Television and newspaper continues to be filtered by a gatekeeper and therefor, important information is not released to the general public. Some of this information can only be found through the internet being shared by conspiracy theorists who search for real and trustworthy information about current
Film and television have become a major medium for information distribution across the world. According to Berger (2008), “Images generally are visual, often are mediated—carried by the mass media—and are connected to information, values, beliefs, attitudes, and ideas people have” (Seeing Is Believing, p. 61). Although film and television are in themselves separate mediums, they correlate with each other and have many similarities
Mass media is a growing business, normally controlled by giant corporations. In fact majority of national news in only covered by few sources known as “Big Media” consisting of ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and United Press International. (Mary 6). Because the media is so big often the corporations determine what is to be given national attention such as the presidential elections. Leaving the opinions of others to change american politics. Mass media has shaped the political system by using the method “Share This” a social media tactic, televising campaign ads or other political views, and by integrating “Live Media Debates”.
Since its introduction in 1946, television has been one of the most important sources of information for mankind. After its debut, television rapidly spread throughout the country and for many it became the gathering point around which the family would meet to talk about the latest news. In the many years since its introduction, television has gradually developed to the one we enjoy today but at the same time this development brought some major changes to its quality. As a matter of fact, I believe that television today is very different to the television I used to watch when I was younger.