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CMAT 102 . Who do the media think they are anyway?. But first, a test. No, it’s not graded. But you’ll want to grab something to write with and something write on. Directions: Number the paper from 1-20 and try to identify the following newsmakers. Ready? No? Well, we’re going anyway.
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CMAT 102 Who do the media think they are anyway?
But first, a test • No, it’s not graded. • But you’ll want to grab something to write with and something write on. • Directions: Number the paper from 1-20 and try to identify the following newsmakers. Ready? • No? Well, we’re going anyway.
How did you do? • Results • The categories were: sports figures, entertainers, political leaders, and villains (media figures) • What do these answers say about our media? • And what do they say about us?
More, please! • The media say, “We’re just giving you what you want.” • And they know what you want because they do lots of research to find out via focus groups, viewership/listenership ratings, record sales/song downloads, circulation figures, Web traffic.
Sorry to say, but... • “We get the media we deserve.” — Brooke Gladstone, host of NPR’s “On the Media.” • You are the media. The media are you. • When people say the media are conservative. Or that they’re liberal. I say, “You’re both right.” • Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ekpKsKWpk
Breaking free from the machine • By understanding how the media works, why it works the way it does and how it got that way, we will cast off the influencing machine. • I argue that while “media” is a plural term, it fails to properly convey what — and who — the media actually are. “Media” suggests a monolith, when in fact it is as varied and weird and insipid and occasionally brilliant as we are.