Fans, short for fanatic sometimes seek out other fans in person and participate in meet up groups and themed parties.  Fans sometimes attend conventions and dress up on cosplay to show their appreciation for their favorite character.  (Fandom pdf. Canvas)  Fans sometimes identify with characters, for example “trekkies” or Star Trek fans.  There are different forms and levels of Fandom (Fandom, pdf. Canvas) :

Mild: Fan clubs, autograph seeking, creating art, writing fiction or prose, making videos, etc.

Active:  Seeking other fans in person – more than simple acknowledgement, participate in meet up groups, themed parties, attending conventions, renting out hotels.  Through this, social integrative needs are fed.

Pro-Active:  Engage with producers, showrunners, actors – participate in active creation of show – determine storylines, bring back shows from cancellation. (Fandom pdf. Canvas) 

In Henry Jenkin’s On Participatory Culture, he says in a folk culture, which he compares fandom to, media is used to share with others.  Participants learn from each other and share their knowledge for something they are passionate about, such as a craft or a movie, or a book.  Fans write stories to one another in the form of video blogs, pictures, and other forms of media.  He poses the question:  What if we could get fans to geek out for democracy and society the same way they geek out over a movie or story, like Harry Potter for instance. 

“How do we grow from participating in our culture to participating in our civic structures?”

-Henry Jenkins

What does it mean to be as passionate about society as you are about anime, games, and other forms of pop culture?  He references The Harry Potter Alliance who organizes around human rights issues, founded on the premise of good vs. evil.  They are Dumbledore’s army – 100,000 young people who mobilized and work on a wide range of human rights issues.  These kids who were involved in fandom found a vehicle to think politically.  They found a way for them to be themselves; citizens in a new way.

Another great example and display of fandom culture is the fans who are really the center of the movie Galaxy Quest.  This is one of my favorite movies because it has a bit of everything in it.  In Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary, they showed how the fans are what made the movie real and mirrored that fandom in real life.  They showed a convention for the Galaxy Quest movie and the fans who were dressed up in cosplay.  I just thought this was such a fun way to appreciate the movie! 

In 1999, when Galaxy Quest was released this movie portrayed a different tone and feel compared to the usual action-filled sci-fi film.  In the documentary, they said that Dreamworks felt it was important for the film to have good special effects and costumes.  In my opinion, the effects still hold up.  The fact that they mimic the sci-fi show, Star Trek is an added bonus and adds an extra element, keeping it light and fun but also with a little bit of drama and set in the atmosphere of space.  The fans that were interviewed said that they really wouldn’t change any aspects of the movie and they thought that Tim Allen was perfect for the role of captain.  I think that Galaxy Quest is a feel good movie that incorporates a little fun, sarcasm, drama, adventure, and some life lessons.  I guess I’m a fan. 

Question: What is your favorite movie to “geek” out over?

Works Cited:

Fandom pdf. Canvas

You-Tube, 2013. Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture

Amazon, Never Surrender:  A Galaxy Quest Documentary

During our fall course of learning about the different media mediums and how they relate to American life, I took a particular interest in the week of music. We learned about how music was consumed over the years and how much of an actual business it is now. Music is very important to me and I have a very strong appreciation for the evolution of it. From strictly live music, to being on the radio, next to be recorded and put on records and cassettes, to eventually ending up on my computer on an app while I write this essay. I’m appreciative the love for music has not died out, or obviously it wouldn’t be as easy to access today. Music on apps for me, really takes away from the authenticity of raw recording. Don’t get me wrong, I love having almost everything I could ever want to listen to at my fingertips, but I kind of wish I went through the hassle of saving up change to run to a record store to get the newest album before it was sold out. I think by still having music on the radio, having records, CD’s and cassettes preserves not only the true sound of a song, but the time period it came from. It allows the listener to get the most realistic listening experience. It gives them the power to imagine more about the song and when it was made. It inspires its listeners or takes them to a feeling of deep nostalgia, if they were lucky enough to experience the music in its natural time. So, by still having the radio around, records and CD’s being produced, music from the past wouldn’t have as much of an influence on the music that is popular today. Old music would not be relevant and would be forgotten if people didn’t express a need for different mediums to consume it. 

First I’d like to say a big thank you to the Indie-Kid epidemic. To the kids that would go to the record store to take pictures and not buy anything, the people that wear band t-shirts yet know zero songs by the band/who they even are, and to the people that swear they were born in the wrong time period. As much as I despise that being a “trend” these people in my generation, along with the influence of my parents, made me get into old music. This isn’t a brag, or me trying to be one of those people, but I definitely resonate more with music from the 60s, 70s and 90s than today’s music. Of course EDM and rap are incredible and I do love both, but I find classic rock to be where it’s at. I wouldn’t be aware of the bands I love now if it wasn’t for cringey pictures on Tumblr or my sister pretending to love The Grateful Dead. People that made getting into old music a trend I think is a big reason why it’s still around today as big as ever. Our parents however, had the biggest influence on our generation to get into it. In an article written by Crystal Ligori, Jenn Chávez and Donald Orr titled “From TikTok To ’80s Rock: Teens Walk Us Through What They’re Listening To”, Maddie DeWeese said, “When I was growing up, my dad has always been super into music, and he’s always had a ton of records and CDs. They’re always playing in the background. My mom made specific CDs or playlists for car rides with the kids. My parents influence, I think, a lot of what I listen to”. I can definitely relate to this because my parents still have CD’s in their car with everything from their childhood to present. My dad has passed down his record collection filled with Bruce Springsteen, Bob Segar, The Doors, The Searchers, The Cars, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and plenty more. So I was lucky enough to have parents who passed down their passion for music to me, and I still listen to all of those records my dad gave me with my own record player. It’s a full circle, sentimental thing listening to those records because I know when my parents were listening to them, everything was different but the love for the tune stays the same. 

The passion and love for consuming music through another way like records and CDs really hasn’t gone anywhere, either. In fact, in a Business Insider article “Americans spending more on vinyl records then CDs for the first time since the 1980’s” says “LP and EP sales totalled $232.1 million in the first half of 2020 — almost 80% more than the total revenue for CD sales, which stood at $129.9 million, according to estimates from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)”. This proves that people are taking advantage of records still being produced and really capitalizing on it. However, according to the article, “The plunging popularity of CDs, rather than a surge in vinyl buying, caused the change: Revenues from record sales only increased by 3.6% over six months, but CD sales plummeted by 47.6%”. It is understandable that if CD sales went down another way of consumption, records would be increased. I do know that people  still love CD’s and use them, but it would make sense if they listened to older music or even very new music, records would be the way to do it. I don’t know that many people with a boombox still. 

Consuming older music over the radio also keeps its spirit alive. It’s nice to know people still listen to music over the radio, because what you listen to is in your control up to a certain point. Live performances used to be very popular over the radio as well. In Chapter 7: Radio of the book Understanding Media and Culture it says, “Although recording technology had also emerged several decades before radio, music played live over the radio sounded better than it did on a record played in the home. Live music performances thus became a staple of early radio”. My dad has memories of turning on the radio and listening to the live music, and I know those specific songs he listened to trigger very happy memories in him. I’m lucky enough to be able to view live performances online like MTV’s Unplugged versions. Live music does sound very different, but can be appreciated in its own way depending on how you take it in. It would’ve been very interesting listening to Nirvana’s Unplugged on a radio though. Not bad, just different. That’s why it is important to keep consuming music from not only the past but present music, through different mediums other than our phones. It keeps the spirit of the music alive, because that’s how the music came into this world. 

Sources: https://www.opb.org/artsandlife/article/music-coronavirus-quarntine-teens-listen-tiktok-playlist/

Americans-spending-vinyl-records-cds-2020-data-2020-9

7.4 Radio’s Impact on Culture

The media is so important because the only way democracy works is if the people have information. One of the best ways we spread that information through the news. The news is a place where people can go and trust that the information has been fact checked. The news also has the most up to date information. However, it has its fair share of bias. The information is only a small part of what they produce. If you watch CNN and then flip the station to FOX News the stories they choose to talk about or not talk about are different. The way that subjects are talked about are different. The “experts” they bring in to give insight on certain topics are different. 

The show “The Newsroom” tells a story of an ideal journalist team and news station that searches for the truth. They try to spread the right information. When the character McAvoy explodes at the college student who asks why America is the greatest country in the world, he gives explicit reasons why it is not. However, he has an important message, it is not, but it could be! The way he thinks it can improve is by providing better news. Making sure that the population of the United States has a place where they can get what they expect from the news: fact checked, unbiased,  important information. They provided a place for both sides to debate important issues while also exposing corrupt people. 

However, as we see play out in the beginning of this pilot episode, even News runs on money. If you are not getting the ratings, you will have no show. So, there is a constant battle between keeping people interested enough to watch your show and also making sure they are getting all necessary and correct information.

Being in the media field is one of the most stressful jobs you can have, constantley fighting with a group of people to win over someones attention who usually is famous or important in some sort. The media crews will do anything to get to the people that they need to talk to in order to keep their jobs. Lives and families depend on whether or not you can get an interview or ask a question to someone with significant value. I feel like that’s really where ethics and boundaries have to be made when in or around the press (media).

We all know the videos and run outs between very famous people and what is known as the “paparazzi”. The crazy media team with flashing cameras and recorders rolling at all times picking up every movement and sound that the celebrity makes. Yes, this really does happen to an extent. They really “boost” this in movies and TV shows but this does actually happen. There are so many positives to being a celebrity, basically having unlimited money and can have and do whatever you want, however, the media is one of the biggest negatives to being a celebrity. At first, all the attention and fans can be awesome because you finally get to feel like a pop star but I can assume it gets very old after a little while, people watching everything you do and reporting on it to the whole world is something that I’m okay living without. I’m assuming everyone has seen the video of the reporter telling Kanye West “good morning” and Kanye simply responds by telling the reporter to “Shut the ___ up”. This is one of the best examples of the media invading someone’s privacy. Kanye does have a reputation to go crazy

The media continues to get larger and larger every year as new technology comes out and social media platforms. There are so many media jobs available in that field. As annoying and abnoxious this may seem to some people, the first ammendment protects people by being able to express freedom of the press. They are annoying and like little mosquitoes nipping at you at all times, but there are careers and money and ammendments that protect that. in my opinion, the biggest media channels on TV are the source for the biggest news across the world. Most of these channels and programs are very biased when it comes to political views, views on the economy and when it comes to changes that need to be made. I think FOX is very guilty of this for being biased and I think CNN is also very guilty of this because they are very biased as well. Channels and social media pages like TMZ live for fake drama and fake news across the country. There are some really reliable pages and channels to watch but for the most part, it’s very hard to believe anything you hear when it comes to the media.

In conclusion, I think the media is a very pivotal thing for people to hear what they want to hear and to get a quick info scoop along the way, but at the same time, I think it’s very toxic and negative for the people who feed into the biased takes that people have to say when they get a platform to talk on, but we do need media in our lives.

The media is something watched excessively and under a microscope in this day and age. In our textbook, ‘Understanding Media’ chapter 14 raises the question of this being too invasive with the rise of tabloids and talk shows like TMZ. Pg. 572 states, “The U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantees Americans freedom of the press, which many would agree is important regardless in upholding democratic principles.” This allows for the public access and spread of information. “Freedom from government censorship allows the news media to keep citizens informed about the state of their society.” This freedom can become an issue when abused and can become dangerous. The case of Princess Diana being surrounded by Paparazzi before getting into the infamous car crash that killed her is a prime example of media crossing ethical boundaries to obtain information.

Director Aaron Sorkin’s American television series, ‘The Newsroom’ was shot to emulate the expectations, unrealistic pressures and relationships in a newsroom environment. While this was not my first time viewing this series, I was reminded of how well done the plot and the complexity of the characters were made.

In an interview with ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin describes his inspiration for the series as bluntly fun and creative. “This is meant to be an idealistic, romantic, swashbuckling, sometimes comedic but very optimistic, upward-looking look at a group of people who are often looked at cynically.” Perhaps the most infamous scene is when Jeff Daniels played by Will McAvoy is asked why America is the greatest country in the world by a sorority girl expecting a cliché answer. As all eyes are on him he unexpectedly says “It’s not”, citing that we’re a free country but so are 180 others including Canada, Japan, The U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Austria. He provides countless reasons why we’re nothing special, being “7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178 in infant mortality rate, 3rd in median household income number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports…” Breaking it down, we see a more human opinionated side to him that journalists so often hide in an effort for their work to appeal to a greater public. He finishes off his point by saying “We lead the world in only 3 categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries behind.” Aside from any journalistic endeavor, this shines light on so many important issues that are not talked about or swept under the rug. Talking about any number of these things in detail puts the glorified ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ valued country at risk for criticism, and takes away our dated motto of being ‘the greatest country in the world.’

Sorkin realizes the importance of transparency in television. “Ordinarily in popular culture our leaders are portrayed either as Machiavellian or dumb; I wanted to do something different and show a highly competent group of people. That’s the same juice that’s behind The Newsroom” (The Hollywood Reporter). In The Newsroom definitely projects a story of passionate driven journalists who believe in the power of the press. As a journalist myself, I appreciate how well-crafted the messages throughout the episodes are in favor of the work that goes on behind media outlets and how people’s characters feed into the work they produce- even if this is not explicitly shown. This is probably my favorite journalistic film behind ‘Spotlight’ which came out a little later in 2015.

Sources:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/newsroom-aaron-sorkin-jeff-daniels-hbo-340523

Sorkin, Aaron, creator. The Newsroom. Performance by Jeff Daniels, HBO, 2012-2014.

My questions for the class are:

Do you believe that freedom of speech should have limitations in the context of gossip magazines and talk shows like TMZ?

Did you find any particular episode of The Newsroom inspiring or have a scene that stuck out to you?

Media is something that is able to control what we see and how people think. Most people rely on sources like the news to retain their information but as the years goes on its hard to decipher what information is reliable. Due to the several sources with more and more outlets that shows news, it’s not hard to be easily manipulated on what news is real.

When it comes to News and Media most people won’t believe it unless it comes from a specific source such as ABC News or NBC News and etc. Usually when breaking news occurs sometimes on social media platforms like Facebook, they have multiple links that provides news but cannot be always trusted. The storyline or headline might be accurate but the details within it may be false or everything is just false in all.

The media has been growing larger and larger every year. Over the years there has been numerous problems that have came about. Some problems came about with the continuous growth of media that included problems with accuracy. The problem I will be talking about today though is the problem with social media platforms being biased. Over the years we have seen an increase in the amount of biased opinions in social media. This may be because of the popularity of social media or the increase in the amount of people feeling free to speak their own opinion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with speaking your own opinion but I feel like in social media or especially when on a news broadcast there needs to be a limit on what can be said or some consistency between different broadcasts. I noticed this a lot during the past election. When watching the election you would notice which broadcast was leaning towards a party more than another. Just small things you would notice such as cutting off one party during a speech and not the other or constantly talking bad about one party and praising the other. Flipping back and forth between channels you would get a totally different feel for the election process and results. I am not one to get caught up in politics because there is just too much controversy and you are constantly trying to keep everything civil between parties. Which is also strand because I never thought it was this much hatred for either party but maybe we realize this as we grow older.

The two larger broadcasting stations are FOX and CNN. Each of these keep us up to date on everything about our government and country. As you watch these station you might notice that one station prefers one party over another. CNN is felt to be more Democratic and FOX News is thought to be more Republican. Why is there a station for each side? The most common broadcasts could be portray completely different results or news. How are we suppose to know what is real and what is fluff that the broadcast in presenting to us. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when you are responsible for giving the public information on important current events there should be a line between facts and opinion that should not be crossed.

In class we watched a video of a news broadcast that was about the U.S. representative and what abruptly interrupted because of breaking news about Justin Bieber. I don’t understand how anything that is happening in Justin Bieber’s life could be “breaking news” but it can not be more important than the U.S. representative. Reporting on the things that are most important should be reported and not the stuff that is interesting or flashy especially on the celebrity side of things. News stations such as CNN and FOX should cover things about our government and nation. Leave the celebrity drama to TMZ.

This week we cover mass media ethics. Media ethics covers many media standards, such as art, controversial topics, film, news, etc. But with the ever so changing society, our view on media standards changes with it. The Freedom of the Press has been available to journalists after the trial of Peter Zenger, but this didn’t mean it was journalism’s final battle with the government. In today’s media, the government has an invisible hand on what is release out to the public. Unknowingly, media outlets must choose to stay financially on the network or tell the truth. Surprisingly many news outlets pay for their television time through rating. The higher rating studio can provide incentives for more television time, staff, stories advertisement, and sponsorship. These sponsorships can be tricky as it creates gray areas to what the masses want to hear and what’s truly important.

Given The Newsroom discusses this exact point. To start The Newsroom, a political drama was written by Aaron Sorkin and premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. This show develops on the character of Will McAvoy, who is the news anchor and managing editor of the live show News Night. Throughout this pilot episode, we learn the challenges Will undergoes to recreate reliable reporting, and journalism is the storyline of The Newsroom. 

As such, this shouldn’t be overlooked. As New station is fighting the clock to be the first to provide breaking news, it, in turn, creates shallow journalism. Simultaneously, there are more critical updates among our towns, cities, and districts that these networks weren’t covered. 

There’s plenty of time within my community that people reach out to these bring networks such as NBC, CBS, CNN, and Fox to cover news that pertains to the people. But what many of these networks are concerned with is not to create individual new but worldly information. However, many stations cover the same topic, “such as the election, America’s economy, politicians,” which goes on for hours.

This leaves me wondering how we can trust so-call reliable journalism when stations such as CNN, FOX, NBC, and many other stations are fighting the cloak to increase viewership?

 As traditional television news coverage fades away, on-demand news begins to become more prevalent. Technologies have increased inaccessibility to information within this informative era, thus shifting viewers to desire on-demand outlets. “Increasingly, audiences want news on demand; they want to get news when they want it, and they want to be able to gather it from a variety of sources. This is having a significant effect on media revenues. News aggregators, websites like Yahoo! News and Google News that compile news headlines from an array of legacy news organizations to display on their pages, have become popular information outlets.” (Understanding Mass Media). Having on-demand access, I believe, gives more diversification to the network. While television broadcasters can be tracked for their repetitive nature, it remains to be slightly more difficult. Thus, on-demand news adds more articles, stories, and content that may or may have been covered during live primetime. It also provided an essential pressure on station to create content that meets the standards of quality news, or else many of their viewers will shift to another network.

My question to the reader: Is a News station for the people for propaganda?

The news has been known to be biased based on what side you are looking from. In the U.S we like to be known of news that fits our bias and how we perceive the world around us. This means that news companies are able to bend the truths they broadcast to us based on who the audience is. This brings a question about where have the ethics and morality of news stations have gone. It seems to me that many news stations have sold out for the money instead of telling no bias news. It is also within my understanding that it is very hard to have no bias in the world we all have schemas that we call upon to give us evaluations on everything we do in life.

We saw this in the chapter with a Justin Bieber news where CNN chose to make that emergency news over a U.S representative. News stations are in a stage where they are more liable to fail if they don’t get the newest news out there in the public before others. This means they value quick and easy news coverage versus the things in the public that will actually effect us in our everyday lives.

This has become especially true in the one sector that hurts most of us the most which is death. News coverage usually reports celebrity deaths before even their families know. This happened with Kobe Bryant’s family that had to experience his first hand when the news of his death reached them after it was posted all online. This also involved Kobe’s daughter that would be described as a dark place that the news stations had fallen to when this event happened. The news station carred more about being first rather than the health and well being of the other family members that had to see this on news stations even before they were informed.

This can even be extended to other nations as well, like when Princess Diana of the British Royal Court was chased down by paparazzi that subsequently led to her death when trying to flee a situation.

Do you guys think morality has left news stations?

Will ethics ever return to the media?

This week we watched two episodes from “The Newsroom” we watched the pilot. “The Newsroom” is about a news group who endeavors to make a news show that reports the news in a moral and sensible manner. They take genuine, newsworthy situations from our reality as they’re occurring and report on them as though they were a real news station that pursued normal and good rules, in a gnawing analysis of our famous press and a cunning obscuring of craftsmanship and reality. Will McAvoy, the news anchor is wanting to carry something new to television. His producer, Mckenzie MacHale, who was once impractically engaged with the new boss wouldn’t like to have her staff think about it. The show begins with Will McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels, responding to questions at a nearby school. Furthermore, in the wake of utilizing a little humor to get passed questions he would not reply to, he at last snaps when the host requests his supposition if America is the greatest country in the world. Not only does he lash out at a college girl, but he also lashes out on the country that turns his career for the worse. Mr McAvoy is the head at Atlantis Cable News (ACN) and when he comes back to work after his lash out, he soon realizes the majority of his staff is gone from the newsroom. As he examines what occurred with the head administrator of the system, Charlie Skinnern understands that his manager contracted another official maker for the show without allowing Will to meet her. The new official maker is Mackenzie McHale, who has a had a relationship with Will in the past that turned sour. It doesn’t take Will long for him to be totally angry with the entire quandary. Yet he needs to confront realities that she will help spare his show after his outburst. The Internet has brought about profound and rapid changes in the structuring, delivery, and economics of news media.

News that is delivered immediately has become such a norm to our society. The pressure for immediate delivery increases the tension between factual accuracy and “getting there first” in news reporting. People have access to get instant news for free online, this has given people access to any news at any point in time. As stated in our book, Understanding Media, the internet has officially replaced the tv and radio as the main source for information.  When we look at instagram live streams, posts, and Twitter the news is being circulated within minutes of occurrence. In my eyes we have to be conscious of the news and media and do our own research.

Personally, I enjoy keeping up with the news. Cable news is often flawed, inaccurate, and heavily opinionated. To me the news should be more realistic and straight to the point. There is no reason for these stations to have all this arguing and sugar coating everything that is discussed. I believe staying up to date with the news is an effective and beneficial way to have lots of knowledge about things that are currently happening in our world, good or bad. We face a lot of news everyday and the news itself cannot even handle it. With everything going on with the election there is different sides of the story that you hear depending on the broadcasting station you are listening to. Normally i get most of my news on social media, especially on Twitter. Twitter has this feature where it has the top ten important things going on that day, most of the time it is on news that is happening in our world. Getting my news right from my phone has become a lot more efficient to get news out to people. I think it is ignorant for people who completely avoid the news, though I feel as citizens we should know what is going on. There is a very fine line between not wanting to know and tuning it out.

Question to the class: What online sources do you use to get you breaking news from?