News and the Media

1.Who determines the news or sets the agenda?
a.FCC
b.A Handful of mega-media corporations. They determine what music you hear, stories get published and what sides of the story you hear.

2.Why do we need a media that specifically represents difference interests of people of color? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests? What can be done to increase the mainstream media’s interest in other topics and concerns? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests?
a.Chicago has one African American owned radio station (WVON). The fact that she is African America makes a difference in how listeners view the station. She wants to educate first. They cover things that you won’t hear on other stations, like stations that are focused on music to the urban community. They also focus on important issues that African Americans need to hear and that are not being spoken about on other radio stations. White America needs to pay attention to what the station is saying. The rest of America has been playing “catch up” to the station, but should be able to hear it earlier; these white stations just don’t listen. They also persuade their listeners to listen because they show different sides of a story. Like the story where white students hung nooses from trees, and got suspended. But the black students got criminal charges. The listeners who heard it were shocked because they had not heard anything about it. They tell stories that are passionate to their audiences, and most of the time it has no relation to the “white media” so they don’t show it. Also, most radio stations don’t interview African American’s and other minorities as much as whites so they miss so many opinions and perspectives. When the FCC held a conference, minorities overwhelmingly showed up to tell them that they don’t ever broadcast their voices and when they do, they get the story wrong. They are fighting for a fair and balanced media system. They are trying to make the point that their issues can be related to everyone in America, and that they are just trying to respect the fair and balanced society that supposedly exists. Also, minorities in female are very slimly represented. That’s why the WVON is so powerful. She is a strong woman that is trying to voice opposing perspectives on stories that may or may not be broadcasted in newspapers, television and radio stations. The FCC continues to ignore the problem even though several proposals have been sent to them. Not only that, but one member of the chair wants to make the big companies who own this media even bigger, which will make it even harder for minority media to survive. WVON is trying to explain that this has changed from an educational form of media to a simple business transaction. Has big media gotten to big? If they have, how can small media survive and grow to gain a good public? These radio stations that are simply trying to educate, are getting thrown under the bus because big companies are wiping them out. The FCC isn’t helping these smaller companies because they are being pressured by the big companies. Therefore, a small portion of news stories are being published and broadcasted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iEwSinozuk&feature=PlayList&p=949D3A870ED0C093&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3


3.How was the war initially reported by the media?
a.The media had a huge impact. The big stories had to do with the war and the opposition of the war.

4.What has the media covered recent social protests? Jenna Six – Proposition Eight
a.Now, there is very little broadcast on people who oppose the war. Only 2 minutes of broadcast was televised on a protest that occurred in 6 places all over the nation. 4,000 soldiers are dead, but the media doesn’t think it is important to show protests on the war. Now, you don’t hear about how many people die, where and how our soldiers across the ocean. The only thing that seems to be on TV is on Iran instead of the killings and war going on in Iraq.

5.Was the media beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement?
a.Yes, they made a huge impact on the civil rights movement because the government responded by making life changing laws. The protests that people were involved in made a huge impact on the way the government and the world saw on issues such as race and gender inequality. All of those laws were passed due to the media broadcasting those protests by the people.

6.Your thoughts and reflections on setting the news agenda, minority media and the media and reporting the war.
a.Media has made a huge impact on our society. Unfortunately, the media is not always portrayed through all points of views and not all sides of a story are heard. The news we see, read and watch are usually the ones we believe and will take away thinking that is the whole truth which is not always the case. Take the war for instance; we rarely hear about the war because the news media had made it irrelevant. But isn’t the war one of the biggest things happening in our nation? The war and the protests that went along with it used to be all the news, now we are lucky to get a few minutes dedicated to it on television. Sure newspapers make somewhat of an effort to include national and international affairs, but if you only watch television, you are losing the story entirely. Not only is the war being lost, but voices from minorities are being lost as well. These minority men are women try to make their voices hear through any media they can, but their small media outlets are being crushed by big business corporations. Their voice is being less and less heard and that is creating the “one-sided” effect. One side of the story is heard and the viewers believe only that side. Minority media outlets try to make a difference by speaking directly to that minority on issues that affect them. Media outlets are put in place to educate, but with the one sided filtering system, how much are we really learning?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxEkj40bRII&feature=related

10 things in the media

Television: Race
Grey’s Anatomy: Thursday (re-run) 2/26 8:00 P.M.
Dr. Yang is talking about how hard she has worked to become a doctor while overcoming her race and gander alike. I chose race because she is one of the only Japanese women on display in any show I have watched.

Television Movie: Gender
Flirting with forty: Monday feb 23 5:00 P.M.
This is a lifetime movie of a forty year old woman who is put down and divorced by her husband because she is looking old. Then she meets a younger man who helps her discover her inner, younger side but accepts her for her age.

Magazine: Gender
People Magazine: Octo-mom (all weekly magazines)
This is a story of a woman who is being accused of being obsessed with being pregnant and overly emotional because she is a single mom.

Televison commercial: Gender
Mr. Clean commercial’s on all the time
It says that the product is a “ladies man” and that is putting women down by saying you are the housewives.

Television: Race
Jon and Kate Plus Eight Sunday 2/22 8:00 P.M.
Kate talks about how a lot of people ask her all the time are you mad that your kids got your husbands genes and not yours? Asks her to discuss it

Film: Gender
Iron Jawed Angels Tuesday 2/23 at 6:00 P.M.
For one of my women’s studies classes I had to watch this movie and it is all about women trying to gain their rights. It portrays these women as weak and immobile, but we find out at the end just how big of an impact they make.

Experience: Race
Wednesday 2/24 at 3:00 P.M.
For my class, we are doing a survey on why African American women are at a higher risk of cancer than white women. When we gave the survey out to African American women, some of them got offended because we were trying to understand. One girl said “You wont ever understand because you are white.”

Cosmopolitan Magazine: Gender
This month (I read it on Tuesday 2/23 at around 1 p.m.
The first ad I encountered was a woman with barely any clothes on and a man standing over her looking down on her. This is a clear indication that the man is better than her and he is not just physically looking down at her.

Personal Experience: Race
Thursday 2/26 4:00 p.m.
Also for my campaigns class, we were asked to contact the president of the Pan-Hellenic society for African American women. When we contacted her, she asked us why we just wanted to survey black women? It was a shock to us that she was asking a question like that and we really didn’t know a good way to respond. There was definitely a barrier.

TV show: Wife Swap
Wednesday 2/25 6:00 pm.
There was a situation where a white women went into a black family and she had a cookie jar that was supposed to represent “mama.” The white woman mocked it because it basically represented that all she was good for was cooking. So it could be a racial or a gender issue.




After doing this assignment, I was surprised at how much stereotypes exist on all of the shows, stations and magazines that I read and watch. I was equally surprised to notice how oblivious I was to them. They are all around me and yet, I fail to notice. When I had to face that social problem from my campaigns research study, it was hard to accept that these women didn’t want to partake because they felt offended they were being asked by a white woman. It was completely shocking and awakening at the same time. I found out that people don’t always want to talk about their race because I could use it against them. These images and actions shows on TV and in magazines really are hurting our society by making it seem like these things are ok. Last time I checked women of color and not of color have the same rights and women in general have the same rights as men.


http://garethkay.typepad.com/brand_new/images/2007/08/26/mr_clean_logo.jpg
http://garethkay.typepad.com/brand_new/images/2007/08/26/mr_clean_logo.jpg

I recommend all women watch the movie Iron Jawed Angels. Its amazing!!

Extra Credit-Big 12

I wanted to look at the “Big 12” schools and see which ones have an admission policy when it comes to race. In other words, do the schools take people based on race and if so what percentile of each race.

Baylor:

The University of Baylor in Waco, Texas says that neither race nor color is a factor in the admissions process at the university. The bill passed in the administration court discussion with this statement:

“Be it resolved that neither race nor color be a factor to be considered in the admission of qualified students to Baylor University. The Board of Trustees hereby directs the president of the university to implement this policy by practical means designed to cause minimum disruption of the educational program of the university."

Oklahoma State:

Oklahoma State also has ceased to have race-based admissions and all of their policies online have followed the rulings made by the court case Smith v. University of Washington.

http://www.cir-usa.org/articles/32.html

University of Nebraska:

After speaking with a representative on the phone in the office of admissions at the University for Nebraska she told me that the school has adopted the 424 Initiative that was passed in the state. After looking up what exactly that is. I found the definition from the website; Initiative 424 is a statewide ballot initiative that will prohibit the state from granting preferential treatment based on skin color or gender in 3 specific areas: public contracting, public employment, and public education.

http://www.nebraskacri.org/

The University of Texas and A&M University:

They both showed that they also do not adhere to race-based admissions. Both of those Texas school were quick to say absolutely not when I talked to a representative and said that they base it on their qualifications and GPA.

The University of Missouri and The University of Oklahoma:

They also do not have any race-based admissions but do have many scholarships that students of different races can apply for. This has also been argued that it is not fair but so far a law has not been passed against it.

It was very interesting to research what schools have admissions based on race and even more interesting to see how many school declare right away that they do not stand by that. May law suits have been involved in cases like these and they are quick to adopt those policies so they can be looked at as a diverse university.

Tim Wise

Tim Wise gave a speech on race in America and said the reason that he could give it was the word privilege. Privilege he described give was being able to give a speech on the inequalities of speech because he was a person who wasn’t prejudiced against. He could give the speech because he is a white adult male. He is not an African America or any other race and therefore could give an honest and unbiased speech on how people of a different race especially African Americans get looked down upon. He brought to life hard issues that no one wants to talk about. He was a very dynamic speaker as well as a determined one; he used jokes, sarcasm and harsh reality to get his point across.
When we split into groups we discussed in detail what we thought of Tim’s speech. We all had very conflicting opinions about his speech. I had to agree with some people in my group that his speech was a little one sided. He talked about the inequalities that African Americans are given and in a few words blamed it on people who are white. It was interesting to hear my group’s opinions as some felt very strongly about his speech. It is a very hard video, I think, to pick a side on because you automatically feel either offended or start to understand what he is trying to say. Tim used a lot of sarcasm in his speech that made it yes funny, but I thought it was almost like he was mocking something’s that people who are white do. Isn’t that being prejudice in itself?

Over the past few days I have kept a list of privileges that I have witnessed: (these came from me and the things that I witnessed or thought about in this past week)

• I was at the hair salon and asked her if she had a wide supply of product for African American hair, and she said only a few
• I also think about being taught in history class about all the white people that created our nation and how there is a separate section about black history.
• I looked up the number of African American organizations on campus compared to others and the number is very low.
• In my sorority there is only one African American girl and most sororities are like that
• When I was in our class last Monday, I realized when we were having the talk about race that I never think about my race ever and only when I’m asked on a survey or something do I think about it.
• I starting thinking about stereotypes of people and how white people really have no stereotypes against them
• When I want something in life I go at it with full force without thinking about if my race will effect me at all
• I was thinking about how make-up has gone a long way to fit all different ethnicities but how it hasn’t always been that way
Although these are small things, they really make you think about the idea of privilege and what it means for you. I know that I will never have to worry about anything regarding my race but that others might. Tim wise gave a good perspective on what some black people may be feeling but because they are black may not be the best people to give a speech like that. He was aware of his race and was aware that he fell under the category of privilege. That’s what made the speech work and really get the point across.
At the end of the video, Tim Wise talks about that as adults we should take this information and change our behavior. But what me and my group agreed on was that since we were little, we have been taught that everyone is different but we should treat them like we would want to be treated. I never look at race as an issue in who I talk to and therefore think that I am making a difference already in the lives of people. Acceptance is one of the best assets you can attain as a person.

http://jimbuie.blogs.com/journal/2007/11/50-examples-of-.html

http://www.unh.edu/residential-life/diversity/aw_article17.pdf

Personal Blog #2

Last night as I was watching the Grammy’s I started to think about how race has impacted our society so much and how much we, as a society, have surpassed it. Music is something that speaks to people sometimes more than words. It’s a huge part of our culture as well as cultures across the nation. Music is more than just singing
or making noise, it speaks to people of all ages and ethnicities. Last night really showed me how different cultures and ethnicities speak to a prominently white society; through music. Hundreds of music artists with a different ethnicity than Caucasian have really impacted our society more than we know. Not only do they speak to people of their own ethnicity, but they speak even more to people who are not. Our country is seeing more and more artists who are of different ethnicities and these artists not only speak to people, but they introduce a little bit of their own culture into their music. Also, more than ever you are seeing artists of different ethnicities joining together to make music and perform in front off all kinds of people.
The same way of thinking goes for any kind of award show that our country has. More and more you are seeing different ethnic cultures come to life through the television or silver screen. Last week I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire. The story is about two people who overcome the obstacles of being from the slums. The main character is accused of cheating on the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire simply because he is from the slums of India. Come to find out tat he knew all the questions based on his experiences in the Slums. The moral of the story is that, you may be looked down on because of where you are from or the color of your skin, but that is what made you what you are and no one can take those experiences away from you. That way of thinking is how barriers get broken down and people start to talk about their own cultures and how it has made them who you are.
America prides itself of being the melting pot of the world. Where different races and cultures can come together and share ideas and experiences. People come here with the hope that they won’t be judged or criticized. Our culture has allowed people of all races and cultures to come together and share music, opinions and different tasks. The music and movies are all forms of entertainment, but sometimes they speak louder than someone just talking. Those are outlets that people respect and look up to, and therefore their actions effect us all the time. Kids of all ages and ethnicities look up to movie starts and singers and affiliate with those “stars.” But what the stars sometimes don’t realize is that kids think of them as good, so if they do one wrong thing they are forever changed. Those singers and actors are in the spotlight more than the average everyday and therefore have a responsibility. Different ethnicities look up to people with the same ethnicity and expect them to represent them as a whole culture. They impact the world with one song, one movie, one line.
Movies and music are the two most popular outlets for people of all cultures and the people that star in them are looked up to. It’s amazing how diverse music and movies are today and how many ethnicities they contain. They shape the way not only how American’s view our culture, but how other countries view our culture.

Music making history:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y590iE8nL4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlllR6i1KaI

Personal Blog #1

When I first enrolled into this class, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to learn. I knew because of the title that we would be discussing gender and race in the media, but I didn’t understand what exactly we would be talking about through those topics. On the first day of class our professor asked us what our definition of race was. I starting thinking about it and wanted to post my feelings on race and what it is. Race to me is simply a classification. It’s one of those questions you get on survey or the SAT that asks you other questions such as gender. It’s a classification of physically what you are, but I wonder if it is more than physical. If a part of you is where you are from or as we call it your culture, wouldn’t race be a by product of that culture? Wouldn’t the more important question be not what is your race but where did you grow up? Race has become such a huge question in our society that we only look at is as a description instead of a part of who we are and the culture we grew up in. The color of our skin has become the definition of race for many instead of the person we are inside and the culture we are surrounded by. As we elect a new President and when asked to describe him, the first word used to describe President Obama is African American. Shouldn’t our first words be things like trustworthy, change, courage instead of just African American? Although it is a part of him it is more importantly a part of his culture; the part that he wants to bring to the forefront of this country. Being white, black, yellow or green shouldn’t matter, especially in a society that calls itself the “melting pot.” What matters is the person, and that is exactly what I hope to take away from this class. Our professor on the first day of class told us that some colleges require students to take a class like this. I absolutely don’t think it should be required because I think that even if one person took the class, a change can be made. It only takes one person to make a difference, so I wonder what 60 people in a class can do and an excited to see!

I have a dream that the people in this class can make a difference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk