Sunday, November 30, 2014

I QUIT




We all remember early this semester the reporter who on live television quit her job to be an advocate for legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. She is known for the F*** It, I Quit. Well Huffington Post  says she is under campaign finance investigation.  The funds raised are believed to be by crowdsourcing per Alaska Public Office Commission. They want to believe that the funds were used as an initiative to legalize marijuana. "I guess they can't find out if she has broken the law unless the APOC break the law themselves by violating her privacy rights."
Alaska and Oregon this month joined Washington and Colorado as states approving legal pot. 



Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Say Something

Today's media is putting pressure on the justice system. 
General news about crime and the work of the justice system is very important in creating images of the value of public justice.  Corruption and integrity news receives more than any other topic of news. Ferguson and just recently in Cleveland, Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy was carrying a fake gun and he was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer. 






The nature of crime news coverage and its occurrence in the media, mostly on television has long been a matter of concern to public officials and the public. I believe that current coverage practices deflect attention from the causes of crime and the guidelines needed to control it.



Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Media Coverage Feeds Into Negativity



Media Coverage Feeds Into  Negativity and Then Feeds It To The World
Many say we are what we eat and many eat anything that the MEDIA feed you.
I previously blogging about how media influences behavior. I just wanted to touch on something similar....especially since the decision has been made not to indict the police officer who shoot and killed Mike Brown. 





 America was on pause on Monday November 24, 2014 at 9:24 ET t when the Grand Jury in Ferguson when Robert McCulloch read the decision not to indict any charges on the officer in the Mike Brown shoot. The news was devasting to many and they mass media knew how to get others to act on the what they were seeing for themselves. CNN, MSNBC, FOX and other state local news anchors  broadcasting the news were getting footage of  Monday night and just showing the negative side, at every angle they possible could. From the riot to the fires all negative media was being shown on all the news networks.


Violence erupted in the St. Louis area overnight, leading to more than 80 arrests, as protesters fired more than 100 gunshots and burned and looted as many as 25 buildings and vandalized police cars in Ferguson, Mo. The violence was broadcast on all levels of mass media. The negativity was watched across the United States.


St. Louis County police released records early Tuesday showing 61 people were arrested in Ferguson on charges including burglary and trespassing. And St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said 21 people were arrested in the city.


 Media did not show one piece of the peaceful protesters or anything positive. For example  Boston, Sanford, Louisville and more cities had peaceful demonstrations but media still feed into the negativity. 


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Decisions, Decisions, DECISIONS!!!





As I wrote this blog I didn't go to much in detail. I started to get upset at the fact that in America if you shoot someone you go to jail..BUT IF YOU ARE AN OFFICER and you shoot someone you don't. When Did this rule change???? Inquiring Minds Wants to know!!!! ....but that's only an opinion, everyone has one, and you know what people can do with them.
Top officials asked for the news media's help to appeal for calm. They are worry about public's reaction. 
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        Today's Media is waiting for the Grand Jury decision on whether or not to indict the officer the shot and killed Mike Brown. News media has been asked to inform the people to peaceful protest. Getting the streets ready for whatever verdict is read. Meaning that everyone is watching, and waiting to here what the decision will be. 
“If Darren Wilson walks, America must be brought to a halt,” said Lou Downey, a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a group that advocates for a turbulent version of nonviolence and civil disobedience in Ferguson. “That means no business as usual. It means blocking streets and walking out of schools. It means we refuse to accept this.”

“People are getting anxious, and this doesn’t help that,” said Tony Rice, a frequent protester who helps coordinate the ongoing but small demonstrations outside the Ferguson Police Department. 

“I bought into the hype of it being this weekend, even though I knew better.”

Many store owners, community groups, and residents are preparing for the worst but still hoping for the best. 




















Monday, October 27, 2014

Media Influence on Behavior

Today's Media does influence human behavior. A few questions still remain unanswered such as "Do media stories really shape the thinking and behavior patterns of countless Americans?" and Do desirable and undesirable behaviors in television fiction and news programs produce imitations in real life?   

ATLANTA TOOK IT TO THE STREETS
Photo By Sheleby Messing 

The Ferguson shooting of Mike Brown is still pressed in the mind of many individuals both young and old. Atlanta protesters took to the streets blocking the most busy interstates (I-75) Northbound near Freedom Parkway. Although the protest was part of the National Week of Resistance this protest also connected to the shooting Ferguson.  

The widespread of involved also trigger a new hashtag on twitter #BlackLivesMatter.  AA few tweets from ongoing supporter via twitter were

“Shut down NOW! I75/85 Atlanta s/b cuz #blacklivesmatter!!! #o22 o22walkout #ferguson #mikebrown,” wrote @PremTod.

“Folks in downtown Atlanta not playing abt Ferguson” tweeted @DecorusDea1.

In today's media people learn about political norms, rules, values, events, and behaviors largely from fictional and factual mass media stories. People's opinions, feelings, and evaluations about the political system may spring from their own thinking about facts supplied by the media. When  individuals have their own experiences to guide them they tend to already have formed an opinion that is grounded to their own personal values. 


Monday, September 29, 2014

Journalistic Bias

Life is like a box of Bias .. you never know what you are going to get!
 

No matter how much we may try to ignore it, human communication always has an opinion during standard individuals and groups. These groups have been positioned historically, politically, economically, and socially. The state of affairs is neither bad nor good. It simply is, what it is. Bias is a small word that identifies the collective influences of the entire context of a message.
Politicians are certainly biased and overtly so. They belong to parties and support policies and ideologies. While they may think their own ideologies are simply common sense, they sometime forget that they speak from political positions.

Journalists, too, speak from political positions but usually not overtly so. Journalistic ethics are objectively and fairly strong influences in their line of business. But journalistic impartiality is not to spot neutrality of viewpoint. Instead, a journalist attempts to be objective by two methods. One method is fairness to those concerned with the news and the second method is a professional process of information gathering that seeks fairness, completeness, and accuracy. As we all know, the ethical heights the media set for themselves are not always reached. But, all in all, like politics, it is an honorable profession practiced, for the most part, by people trying to do the right thing.


The press is often thought of as a unified voice with a distinct bias. I believe journalism often do what they do without reflecting upon the meaning of the premises and assumptions that support their practice. I think they need to begin reflecting upon journalistic practice by noticing that the press applies a narrative structure to unclear events in order to create a rational and causal logic of events.




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