Bad, Bad Media

Whether we like it or not, the media shapes what we find important. As we discussed in class, the main reason people supported the Iraq war was because the media made people feel as if that war was important to our safety. The war became the most important issue to people. The media manipulates our thought process by making some things feel important than others, and we tend to put aside our needs and believe that things will be ok once the issue the media is focused on is solved. But once their story is losing steam, they jump on something else as if it is the most important thing to us. The election 08 is a good example, at some point; some people actually said that the Rev Wright issue was more important than the economy in helping them decide who to vote for. If you ask most Foxnews audience what they find important, they would most likely make you think investigating ACORN is more important than Health Care reform. As we continue to seek objectivity from the media, shouldn’t we also seek relevant stories? What is lost in the objectivity debate is the kind of stories that should be reported on. We are in two wars and amid a recession created by the financial crisis. Amazingly, you will hardly find any media sources except for the internet that is monitoring the financial institutions; neither is anyone paying attention to the wars. The media continue to say that the public is losing support for the wars, why won’t we? They continue to make those wars irrelevant by not constantly reminding Americans of why we are in those wars. Also you might even be surprised that the financial institutions are back to their old practices, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/returning-to-their-old-ha_b_216642.html) but many Americans today are outraged at government spending, taxation, ACORN and not even a bit concerned about those institutions that got us in the economic situation we are in the first place, why? Because certain media outlets have made it a habit to seek more viewers and sponsors rather than report on issues that really affect every American. If you have reporters such as Glen Beck revving up disgruntled Americans and telling them their problems is big government spending, while stoking racial rhetoric and in the process, gaining audience, why would other reporters find it in their interest to report important issues? We the people continue to allow the media to control our thinking and interests by continually paying attention to things that don’t matter. It is also worth mentioning that educative issues such as global warming, American history, and community outreach are less popular among Americans and the media, you will hardly find people to discuss relevant issues with, but many people can discuss, dancing with the stars, Flava of love and other reality shows all day.

Gadhafi.

Gadhafi's speech to the UN was long, boring and a lot of rantings. He doesn't advocate for anything, but had a million complaints. I am still not sure why the press gave him attention...even Fox carried the whole speech.
I find it amusing that he will praise Obama, seek a investigation into Kennedy's murder and then complain about jet lag. Surprisingly the press seems infatuated with him...he's almost like a hated celebrity.....and not a tyrant that he is. Gadhafi's act is similar most third world leaders, they've been blaming the West for decades, they bank in billions while their citizen's starve. It is understandable that the American press is free to do whatever they want, but should the press be free to help people like that spread propaganda's? He even suggested that Swine flu is a doing of capitalist's..so that they can sell drugs and make profits.

.....Mainstream V. Conservative media.

9/14-9/18 .
Mainstream media:

Monday - President's address to Wall street.

Tuesday - Health Reform

Wednesday - Baucus Plan/Annie Le murder

Thursday - Lab tech arrest in le's murder/Insurance malpractice/Medal of honor for fallen American Hero (you all need to check that inspiring/heroic story of Sgt. Jared Monti)

Friday - falsely accused rape victims treatment/ Swine flu vaccination/Yale suspect


Conservative media:
Monday - Acorn

Tuesday - White student beaten up on school bus/black congressman invokes kkk on Joe Wilson debate

Wednesday - Jimmy Carter claims racist tone against Obama.

Thursday - Obama's concession to Russia on missile defense/More Acorn/Iran's capability to make nuclear weapon

Friday - Michele's Healthcare pitch to Woman/Gadaffi,Ahmadinejad and Chavez visit to NY for UN conference

There is a stark difference in stories prioritized by the Conservative or the mainstream media. The conservative media put more emphasis on polarizing issues such as race, patriotism and foreign governments that are "un-American" but the mainstream media put most of their emphasis on domestic issues, mostly issues that directly affect the American people. Although the mainstream media may seem more boring, they are more objective in their news coverage. The conservative media is very passionate about their coverage....mainstream seems unorganized because they take on too many news stories at the same time.

Referenced media - Fox, Cnn, Abc, Cbs, Drudgereport, Politico and Huffingtonpost.

Tea party protest and the media.

Tens of thousands of protesters showed up to show their anger against government spending, taxes and several other concerns they have about the country’s direction. Amazingly, with that much people protesting, several media outlets paid little to almost no attention to the protesters. C-Span and Foxnews were the only media outlets, which gave some coverage to the event. CNN and MSNBC opted to show the President’s health-care rally in Minnesota. Another thing that caught my eye was the media coverage. MSNBC dismissed the protesters as right wing cronies who have been hyped up by Foxnews and conservative talk radio. A guest on MSNBC said it was a racial issue, she said those protesters are Foxnews viewers, people who did not vote for the President in the first place and folks that agreed with Glen Beck that Healthcare coverage for all is Obama’s reparations for black people. CNN had a hard time covering the event; protesters continually disrupted their coverage of the events. What was clear about the event was that majority of them are Foxnews viewers and most of their resentment has nothing to do with Healthcare, taxation or the government. Foxnews had Glen Beck on to cover the event, he described the protesters as patriotic Americans, people fed up with their government and he had everything good in this world to say about them. Liberal leaning media were more likely to look for extreme signs, diversity of the crowd and the rhetoric of the speakers but conservative leaning media drummed up criticism of the government and pointed to the protests as an indication that Americans are fed up of the government.
Although the tea party lacked a clear message, the protest was peaceful and insightful- some accused the government of spending too much, some complained about their taxes (even though people are actually paying less taxes under Obama), some complained about the health-care as government take over, some held signs mocking the president and some are just there to cheer on. Several conservative leaders attended the tea party protest.

A liberal's view of the Conservative media and Van Jones.

President Obama’s green jobs Czar, Van Jones resigned in the midst of outrage over his past inflammatory statements. He was linked to a fringe group called the ‘truthers’, which promoted a conspiracy theory that the Bush administration had prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks. The ‘truthers’ group wanted the congress to investigate that theory. He claims that he wanted it investigated, so it can put an end to the rumors going around that the Bush administration had any previous knowledge of the attack. He later apologized for his involvement.

The coverage given to Van Jones previous speeches is a perfect example of the conservative media’s obsession with a mythical liberal media. Foxnews reporter, Glen Beck gave the Van Jones story more coverage than the death of Edward Kennedy. Drudge Report complained that ABC, CBS, CNN and some other media outlets are not giving it enough coverage. The conservative media seem to be more ratings oriented; they rarely or never put any emphasis on poor Americans, problems in urban areas, people without health-care, war coverage and soldiers dying in the war. They are more likely to focus on speeches made by controversial figures, birthers, promoting racial fears, and people calling the President names such as Racist, socialist, un-American and communist.

The so-called liberal media outlets did report on the story, but in contrast to the conservative media, they did not set aside a whole segment of their news coverage towards the story. Foxnews took out snippets of the speeches and report it as news, which reminds me of their obsession over Reverend Wright. Conservative media rarely ever report news in a context, they spun the speeches of Van Jones and Wright to make it seem like they have some hidden hatred for white people, they are pro-socialist, and they are anti-Israel or basically un-American. Not long ago, one of those conservative pundits called a fist jab by the President and his wife, a terrorist fist jab. It’s sad when the only way to promote your agenda is to pick or destroy people’s character and name.

What the conservative media understands is that African Americans often have different experiences in America, experiences which give them a different point of view and outlook on life. However, they use those different points of views as a political tool to get White audiences, promote racial fears and to promote their conservative views. I know many southerners that call themselves conservatives but do not even support the ideology. The point is, conservatism as promoted by the media to often mean pro-white, maybe anti-abortion and pro-guns.

My view of the conservative media will probably be different from someone that supports their agenda, but the fact remains that conservative media make news of stories that are irrelevant to the average American. Van Jones has done more for ordinary people in his short time working for the white house that any of the Foxnews hate mongers has ever even think of doing. They bank in millions off disgruntled audiences while promoting agendas that make more and more ordinary American’s life more miserable.

Some of the statements made by Van Jones and Wright are beyond pathetic, they don’t reflect the thinking of most African Americans, and the conservative media continue to do a disservice to the people by putting so much emphasis on news like this and creating an atmosphere where race plays a dominant role in politics and issues that really matter to average Americans are put on hold.