Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Is Advertising Good for Society?
Before I started reading issue 7, my own opinion on this question, is advertising good for society was an absolute yes, because I believe that advertisements are like advice columns for consumers on what they should have. After reading both John Calfee and Dinyar Godrej’s opinion and answer to the question, is advertising good for society, I heard a few interesting points. Calfee’s main focus was how consumers benefit from ads and how they can learn about certain important issues. Godrej’s main point was that advertisements basically cause anxiety towards consumers because they stress on the idea that if they don’t buy the products shown in ads, they are making a huge mistake. Something that stood out after reading this issue is that Calfee had many more facts, information, and examples in why advertising is good for society and Godrej had only three main points. One of Calfee’s main ideas that I agree with is that individuals can learn about important issues in the world through ads and the example that he used repeatedly is the issue of health. Calfee stated that “advertising is a tool for communicating information,” and what better way to inform the public on a health issue then through advertisements. The example that Calfee used is how the Kellogg Corporation, a cereal brand did a campaign with the National Cancer Institute that focused on the idea that by eating Kellogg bran cereal people can prevent cancer because according to the NCI, fiber prevents cancer, and Kellogg’s cereal only has nine grams of fiber per serving. I thought this very interesting because one, this ad was done over twenty years ago and Kellogg cereal still mentions how they have less fiber then other cereal brands, and secondly, the ad showed that cancer is a serious issue in the world, and by doing so (eating fiber) people can prevent cancer. Another interesting point that Calfee mentioned was the idea of how advertisements were very persuasive and giving consumer’s reasons to make some adjustments in their lives. A specific example that Calfee used was the example of public health, such as advertisements on soap and detergents that informed the public on improving private hygiene. After reading this I researched old advertisements on hygiene and watched them and I couldn’t imagine a time when brushing your teeth when you wake up and before you go to sleep and washing your body with soap every time you shower was not done on a regular basis before. The only main point that I found interesting from Godrej’s research is the idea of how advertisements make us question our choices when buying a certain product or before making certain decisions in our lives. I thought that was interesting because when I go to the store I sometimes have a hard time choosing what brand of toothpaste is better or what department store will have quality clothing. Overall, Godjej made a good point by saying that advertisements can make consumers indecisive when buying a product, but on the other end, advertisements could also point us in the right direction in buying the right product for ourselves. A great example of that is the Pantene commercials they have and how Pantene has created certain shampoos and conditioners for curly, straight, waving, or colorful hair, making it easier for consumers to make an informed decision when buying a product. In conclusion, I learned from this reading that not all advertisements can benefit everyone, but I still stand by my opinion that advertisements are good for society because they give advice to consumers on what they should have or what products could assist them in their lives, whether it’s making sure they eat the healthiest cereal or having the right shampoo and conditioner for their hair.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Survey - Are People Better Informed in the Information Society?
Billie Hiraishi
Patricia Andrews
Media, Politics, & Society
October 23, 2010
Introduction:
In unit 6, Issue 18 from Alexander Hansos book "Taking Sides" Hanson approaches the question, "Are people better informed in the information society," having Linda Jackson answer yes and Mark Bauerlein answer no, both giving reasons to support their answers. Jacksons main point was that internet usage at home helps the academic performance of low income children. Bauerleins main focus was arguing that this generation of young Americans are poorly educated and will not succeed in work needed for the future of the United States because of the digital age. After reading both sides of this question, are people better informed in the information society, I found Jacksons reasoning more interesting because she brought up interesting facts, such as improving your visual intelligence skills by playing video games that I've never heard before. Because I found Jacksons research more interesting I've decided to come up with a hypothesis for my survey that focused more on Bauerlein's point of view to see if by conducting a survey from his perspective, I would find some interesting facts, and I have.
Hypothesis:
In my opinion, although citizens of California have complete access to information about the upcoming elections through different media outlets, they are not educating themselves and making aneffort to become informed.
Survey Method:
After coming up with my hypothesis, I strategized on finding a way to prove it was right in the end. The method I used was to target young Americans with questions that would be easy and fast for them to answer, but questions that would show how uninformed they are about the upcoming California State elections. I used a basic hard copy survey and had a few of my teamates on the NDNU men's and women's soccer team fill them out because we were traveling for games in Hawai'i and residents of Hawai'i wouldn't be as informed if informed at all about the California elections, as these student-athletes are.
Description of the Survey:
My survey consists of five questions tha include either yes or no questions, multiple choice questions, and on enumber rating question. Here is a copy of my survey questions:
1. Are you a registered voter? Yes or No
2. When reading the paper or using social networks online, such as facebook, twitter, and blogs, which name do you come across the most?
a) Jerry Brown
b) Meg Whitman
c) Taylor Swift
d) Lady Gaga
3. Do you know when Election Day is? Yes or No, if yes when is it?
4. If you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for?
a) Updates on the upcoming election (which can include news outlets)
b) Social networks (Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter)
c) Work or homework
d) You don't have internet access on your phone
5. At the end of the day, having access to all media outlets (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed are you of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 to 10?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Results Summary:
Results for survey question 1 - Are you a registered voter?
11 Student-Athletes answered YES
10 Student-Athletes answered NO
Results for survey question 2 - When reading the paper or using social networks online, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs, which name do you come across the most?
1 Student-Athlete answered Jerry Brown
1 Student-Athlete answered Meg Whitman
3 Student-Athletes answered Taylor Swift
16 Student-Athletes answered Lady Gaga
Results for survey question 3 - Do you know when Election Day is?
2 Student-Athletes answered YES
19 Student-Athletes answered NO
Results for survey question 4 - If you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for?
0 Student-Athletes answered updates on the upcoming elections
15 Student-Athletes answered social networks
1 Student-Athlete answered work and homework
5 Student-Athletes answered that they don't have access to the internet on their phone
Results for survey question 5 - At the end of the day, having access to all media (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed are you of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 to 10?
5 Student-Athletes rated 1
3 Student-Athletes rated 2
4 Student-Athletes rated 3
4 Student-Athletes rated 4
2 Student-Athletes rated 5
2 Student-Athletes rated 6
1 Student-Athletes rated 7
0 Student-Athletes rated 8
0 Student-Athletes rated 9
0 Student-Athletes rated 10
Conclusion:
After conducting my results, I came to the conclusion that majority of these Student-Athletes have access to information about the upcoming California Election through different media outlets, but theu don't take advantage of this privilege, which leaves them uninformed about the upcoming elections. I started my survey off by asking the Student-Athletes if he/she is a registered voter because that is obviously the first step towards being educated and contributing their own opinion for a better society. The results that I received from the first survey question was pretty close in numbers having 11 Student-Athletes answer yes, they are a registered voter and 10 Student-Athletes answer no they are not a registered voter. Because the numbers were extremely close and other information from another survey question supported my hypothesis, I believe that there are many citizens whi are registered voters, but do not vote. The second survey question was, when reading paper or using social networks online such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs, which name do you come across the most. The options I had were Jerry Brown (Democrat candidate) who had one Student-Athlete, Meg Whitman (Republican candidate) who also had one Student-Athlete, Taylor Swift (Country artist) who had three Student-Athletes, and Lady Gaga (Pop-Artist) who had the majority of sixteen Student-Athletes. The results for this survey question showed me that while having access to newspapers or social networks, the majority, nineteen Student-Athletes to be specific remember the names of music artist such as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, whereas only two Student-Athletes remember the names of two important candidates running for the 2010 Governor of California. An assumption that I made while looking through the answers of survey question two is that these Student-Athletes probably had such as high number for Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift because they chose to focus on the words "Social Network" instead of "Newspapers" when reading the question. The interesting thing about this is that if these Student-Athletes focused this question in a familiar name they come across in the newspapers rather than social networks, the result would be different, but its because these Student-Athletes probably use social networks more then they read the newspaper. To figure-out whether or not these Student-Althletes are informed about the upcoming elections, the third survey question I asked was if he/she knows whe Election Day is. The results for this third survey question showed that out of the twenty-one Student-Athletes, only two of them know when the correct election day is, which is November 2, 2010. These results showed me that just because you are a registered voter (taken from the first survey question) or might be a little familiar with the candidates, it doesn't matter if you do not know when the Primary Election Day is. The fourth survey question is, if you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for. The options that I gave were, updates on the upcoming election (including news outlets) which had zero Student-Athletes, social networks (Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter) which containted fifteen of our Student-Athletes, work and homework, which had only one of our Student-Athletes, and five of our Student-Athletes do not have access to the internet on their phone. Looking over the results and taking information from Bauerleins perspective, our generation now is very socially connected to eachother online and its only obvious that when using the internet, whether its on our phones or computer, young Americans, such as these Student-Athletes will always use a scoail network more then they would use news updates, such as the upcoming elections. For the last survey question I asked the Student-Athletes, at the end of the day, having access to all media (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed they are of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 o 10. From my research for this survey question I noticed that there were 18 Student-Athletes who rates were in the lower side, rating from 1 through 5 and only 3 Student-Athletes rated on the higher side from 6 through 10. Becaues this is a straightforward question asking the Student-Athletes their personal opinion on how informed they feel they are about the upcoming elections, it shows the truth on how they really feel, which majority chose uninformed by rating 1 through 5. From my research and results I've come to the conclusion that my hypothesis is right when answering the question, "Are people better informed in the information society?" My hypothesis emphasized the idea that although citizens of California have complete access to media outlets that have all the information one needs to be well informed about the upcoming elections, they do not discipline themselves good enough to be greatly educated on this election because they rather be using social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter.
Patricia Andrews
Media, Politics, & Society
October 23, 2010
Introduction:
In unit 6, Issue 18 from Alexander Hansos book "Taking Sides" Hanson approaches the question, "Are people better informed in the information society," having Linda Jackson answer yes and Mark Bauerlein answer no, both giving reasons to support their answers. Jacksons main point was that internet usage at home helps the academic performance of low income children. Bauerleins main focus was arguing that this generation of young Americans are poorly educated and will not succeed in work needed for the future of the United States because of the digital age. After reading both sides of this question, are people better informed in the information society, I found Jacksons reasoning more interesting because she brought up interesting facts, such as improving your visual intelligence skills by playing video games that I've never heard before. Because I found Jacksons research more interesting I've decided to come up with a hypothesis for my survey that focused more on Bauerlein's point of view to see if by conducting a survey from his perspective, I would find some interesting facts, and I have.
Hypothesis:
In my opinion, although citizens of California have complete access to information about the upcoming elections through different media outlets, they are not educating themselves and making aneffort to become informed.
Survey Method:
After coming up with my hypothesis, I strategized on finding a way to prove it was right in the end. The method I used was to target young Americans with questions that would be easy and fast for them to answer, but questions that would show how uninformed they are about the upcoming California State elections. I used a basic hard copy survey and had a few of my teamates on the NDNU men's and women's soccer team fill them out because we were traveling for games in Hawai'i and residents of Hawai'i wouldn't be as informed if informed at all about the California elections, as these student-athletes are.
Description of the Survey:
My survey consists of five questions tha include either yes or no questions, multiple choice questions, and on enumber rating question. Here is a copy of my survey questions:
1. Are you a registered voter? Yes or No
2. When reading the paper or using social networks online, such as facebook, twitter, and blogs, which name do you come across the most?
a) Jerry Brown
b) Meg Whitman
c) Taylor Swift
d) Lady Gaga
3. Do you know when Election Day is? Yes or No, if yes when is it?
4. If you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for?
a) Updates on the upcoming election (which can include news outlets)
b) Social networks (Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter)
c) Work or homework
d) You don't have internet access on your phone
5. At the end of the day, having access to all media outlets (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed are you of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 to 10?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Results Summary:
Results for survey question 1 - Are you a registered voter?
11 Student-Athletes answered YES
10 Student-Athletes answered NO
Results for survey question 2 - When reading the paper or using social networks online, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs, which name do you come across the most?
1 Student-Athlete answered Jerry Brown
1 Student-Athlete answered Meg Whitman
3 Student-Athletes answered Taylor Swift
16 Student-Athletes answered Lady Gaga
Results for survey question 3 - Do you know when Election Day is?
2 Student-Athletes answered YES
19 Student-Athletes answered NO
Results for survey question 4 - If you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for?
0 Student-Athletes answered updates on the upcoming elections
15 Student-Athletes answered social networks
1 Student-Athlete answered work and homework
5 Student-Athletes answered that they don't have access to the internet on their phone
Results for survey question 5 - At the end of the day, having access to all media (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed are you of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 to 10?
5 Student-Athletes rated 1
3 Student-Athletes rated 2
4 Student-Athletes rated 3
4 Student-Athletes rated 4
2 Student-Athletes rated 5
2 Student-Athletes rated 6
1 Student-Athletes rated 7
0 Student-Athletes rated 8
0 Student-Athletes rated 9
0 Student-Athletes rated 10
Conclusion:
After conducting my results, I came to the conclusion that majority of these Student-Athletes have access to information about the upcoming California Election through different media outlets, but theu don't take advantage of this privilege, which leaves them uninformed about the upcoming elections. I started my survey off by asking the Student-Athletes if he/she is a registered voter because that is obviously the first step towards being educated and contributing their own opinion for a better society. The results that I received from the first survey question was pretty close in numbers having 11 Student-Athletes answer yes, they are a registered voter and 10 Student-Athletes answer no they are not a registered voter. Because the numbers were extremely close and other information from another survey question supported my hypothesis, I believe that there are many citizens whi are registered voters, but do not vote. The second survey question was, when reading paper or using social networks online such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs, which name do you come across the most. The options I had were Jerry Brown (Democrat candidate) who had one Student-Athlete, Meg Whitman (Republican candidate) who also had one Student-Athlete, Taylor Swift (Country artist) who had three Student-Athletes, and Lady Gaga (Pop-Artist) who had the majority of sixteen Student-Athletes. The results for this survey question showed me that while having access to newspapers or social networks, the majority, nineteen Student-Athletes to be specific remember the names of music artist such as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, whereas only two Student-Athletes remember the names of two important candidates running for the 2010 Governor of California. An assumption that I made while looking through the answers of survey question two is that these Student-Athletes probably had such as high number for Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift because they chose to focus on the words "Social Network" instead of "Newspapers" when reading the question. The interesting thing about this is that if these Student-Athletes focused this question in a familiar name they come across in the newspapers rather than social networks, the result would be different, but its because these Student-Athletes probably use social networks more then they read the newspaper. To figure-out whether or not these Student-Althletes are informed about the upcoming elections, the third survey question I asked was if he/she knows whe Election Day is. The results for this third survey question showed that out of the twenty-one Student-Athletes, only two of them know when the correct election day is, which is November 2, 2010. These results showed me that just because you are a registered voter (taken from the first survey question) or might be a little familiar with the candidates, it doesn't matter if you do not know when the Primary Election Day is. The fourth survey question is, if you have access to the internet on your phone, what do you mainly use it for. The options that I gave were, updates on the upcoming election (including news outlets) which had zero Student-Athletes, social networks (Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter) which containted fifteen of our Student-Athletes, work and homework, which had only one of our Student-Athletes, and five of our Student-Athletes do not have access to the internet on their phone. Looking over the results and taking information from Bauerleins perspective, our generation now is very socially connected to eachother online and its only obvious that when using the internet, whether its on our phones or computer, young Americans, such as these Student-Athletes will always use a scoail network more then they would use news updates, such as the upcoming elections. For the last survey question I asked the Student-Athletes, at the end of the day, having access to all media (newspapers, internet, television, etc) how well informed they are of the California State Elections from a scale of 1 o 10. From my research for this survey question I noticed that there were 18 Student-Athletes who rates were in the lower side, rating from 1 through 5 and only 3 Student-Athletes rated on the higher side from 6 through 10. Becaues this is a straightforward question asking the Student-Athletes their personal opinion on how informed they feel they are about the upcoming elections, it shows the truth on how they really feel, which majority chose uninformed by rating 1 through 5. From my research and results I've come to the conclusion that my hypothesis is right when answering the question, "Are people better informed in the information society?" My hypothesis emphasized the idea that although citizens of California have complete access to media outlets that have all the information one needs to be well informed about the upcoming elections, they do not discipline themselves good enough to be greatly educated on this election because they rather be using social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Are People Better Informed in the Information Society?
After reading this issue I found it interesting that both Linda Jackson and Mark Bauerlin take a different approach towards answering this question. The main focus of Jckson and her colleague's research is that internet usage at home helps the academic performance of low income children, whereas Bauerlin uses his research to argue that this generation of young Americans are poorly educated and will not succeed in work needed for the future of the United States because of the digital age. After reading both opinions I found that using the internet has both positive and negative outcomes; some people use the internet to gather information and educate themselves on the latest news and others may use the internet in an inappropriate way. When reading this issue I found Jackson's research more interesting because I already hear a lot pf opinions and people studying the youth generation now and how their values, morals, and intellect are only getting worse because of the digital age. The first argument that I found interesting from Jackson and her colleague's study is that computer skills improves cognitive skills, mainly visual skills. The example that they used were playing computer games, such as video games that have rapid movement, imagery, intense interaction, and multiple activities occuring at the same time because it improves ones visual intelligence skills. I thought this was interesting because so many people play video games now, mainly boys, and sometimes have an obsession with them, but from this research I learned that theu are actually improvig their visual intelligence. A second argument that Jackson and her colleague's focused on a lot is the idea of using resources at home such as the compter to get better success in mathematics and science. I agree with this argument because having a computer at home gives one access to the internet and other toold such as computer games like solitaire, chess, minesweeper, etc on the computer at all times to improve mathematics and science skills. In realtion to the idea of home internet access, Jackspn and her colleagues also came up with the idea that poor children with an academic performance below average are the ones less likely to have access to internet at home. An argument that I thought was obvious that Jackson and her colleagues found was that younger children use the internet more for information gathering than theu do for communication purposes. I thought this was obvious because younger children don't use e-mail, facebook, and dating sites as much as adolescents and adults. The last argument that Jackson and her colleagues found that ws interesting to me is the cultural influence that some people have on communication preferences. The example that Jackson used is the African-American culture and how they are an "oral cilture," which means that they prefer to hold face-toface communication rather than e-mail. I thought this was very interesting because in Hawaiian culture we are the same and believe that befire technology was convinient towards education, such as e-mail, using a telephone to communicate with someone was frowned upon as a sign of laziness or disrespect when one can simply write a letter or personally find a way to speak face-to-face. In conclusion, are people better informed in the information society?Yes, I believe that although there are many inappropriate websites and resources online, the public can definetly choose whether they want to go online and research the latest news, improve their mathematic and science skills, visual intelligence skills, or take advantage of ot by chatting and spending hours on facebook.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Reading Analysis #1
Dear C-Span,
For starters, three of your channels (C-Span, C-Span 2, and C-Span 3) including your radio station and several of your websites provide uninterrupted live coverage of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, live public affairs events, archived C-Span history, events such as Presidential press conferences and speeches, other government meetings and hearings, and pentagon press conferences. Occasionally you provide international events such as the British House of Commons meetings from the United Kingdoms BBC parliament. While I was reading and reflecting on the news coverage you provided I don’t have a doubt in my mind that you have the best political coverage in the nation. While being the best political coverage “nationwide,” it amazes me that within the C-Span television channels, radio station, websites, programs such as the Washington Journal, and overall, you are able to provide a substantive amount of objectivity within your works. The general public is informed by many different media outlets nationwide, being exposed to many bias and negative opinions within politics. For example, Meg Whitman, a candidate for the Governor of California is being hassled about her past issue with finances by other media outlets such as Fox News. In contrast to these bias media resources for political coverage, I would like to thank you for providing the most unbiased political coverage in the nation. There are two main reasons why you are the best objective political media outlet. First, the Washington Journal Program that airs live every morning on C-Span shows some objectivity in its line of works. What I recognized while watching your Washington Journal anchors is that they don’t use their names when covering a story, which is something that I greatly appreciate you doing. When the media anchor doesn’t use their name and is basically not allowed to talk about themselves and their character, which happens in your Washington Journal program, it removes them (the media anchors) as characters from the news experience. What I mean by this is that news outlets such as CNN and Fox News, provides the names, physical characteristics, and overall personality of their news anchors. Knowing all of this about a news anchor gives the public an idea of whether or not to like the news anchor because of his/her personality, if he/she is very opinionated, etc, the public will always judge a news anchor based on how they present themselves. In the end, news outlets like CNN and Fox News will have the public judging their news based on how it is presented and whom it is presented by. Your Washington Journal Program is brilliant because of how the anchors provide no character to be judged by the public because presenting the news is all they want the public to hear. In conclusion to my first main reason why you are the best objective political media outlet in the nation is because of how your Washington Journal anchors don’t want to be apart of the experience of the news story, but they simply want to give the public the news so they can judge it themselves. The second main reason why you are the best objective political media outlet in the nation is because of how the Senate hearings are organized. While watching CNN and Fox News coverage on the Senate Hearings their routine is to always have a reporter outside of the Senate Chamber reporting and interpreting to the public on television what’s happening inside the Senate Chamber. What I love about C-Span is that you folks put a camera man inside the Senate Chamber and let the film roll for as along as it takes, giving the public complete access to what is actually going on inside the Senate Chamber versus listening to some reporter from CNN or Fox News interpret what they are getting from this hearing. In conclusion to my second main reason of why you are the best unbiased political media outlet is because in the Senate Chamber you have a camera man inside recording every move and every issue brought up, basically putting the information out there for the public and having the public view it on television and judge it themselves. Whereas CNN and Fox News have a reporter outside reading off notes he got from listening to the hearing; but what better resource is there for the public then their own ears and eyes? In my opinion, the objectivity maintained by C-Span has been lost to “entertainment,” (being “personalities” like the mainstream media anchors) at other news outlets. Therefore, to all C-Span affiliates thank you so much for providing the best unbiased political coverage in the nation by giving us more objectivity by not changing the news, but simply putting the news out there and having us, the public judge it ourselves.
Keep up the great objectivity C-Span!!!!!!
For starters, three of your channels (C-Span, C-Span 2, and C-Span 3) including your radio station and several of your websites provide uninterrupted live coverage of the United States House of Representatives, the United States Senate, live public affairs events, archived C-Span history, events such as Presidential press conferences and speeches, other government meetings and hearings, and pentagon press conferences. Occasionally you provide international events such as the British House of Commons meetings from the United Kingdoms BBC parliament. While I was reading and reflecting on the news coverage you provided I don’t have a doubt in my mind that you have the best political coverage in the nation. While being the best political coverage “nationwide,” it amazes me that within the C-Span television channels, radio station, websites, programs such as the Washington Journal, and overall, you are able to provide a substantive amount of objectivity within your works. The general public is informed by many different media outlets nationwide, being exposed to many bias and negative opinions within politics. For example, Meg Whitman, a candidate for the Governor of California is being hassled about her past issue with finances by other media outlets such as Fox News. In contrast to these bias media resources for political coverage, I would like to thank you for providing the most unbiased political coverage in the nation. There are two main reasons why you are the best objective political media outlet. First, the Washington Journal Program that airs live every morning on C-Span shows some objectivity in its line of works. What I recognized while watching your Washington Journal anchors is that they don’t use their names when covering a story, which is something that I greatly appreciate you doing. When the media anchor doesn’t use their name and is basically not allowed to talk about themselves and their character, which happens in your Washington Journal program, it removes them (the media anchors) as characters from the news experience. What I mean by this is that news outlets such as CNN and Fox News, provides the names, physical characteristics, and overall personality of their news anchors. Knowing all of this about a news anchor gives the public an idea of whether or not to like the news anchor because of his/her personality, if he/she is very opinionated, etc, the public will always judge a news anchor based on how they present themselves. In the end, news outlets like CNN and Fox News will have the public judging their news based on how it is presented and whom it is presented by. Your Washington Journal Program is brilliant because of how the anchors provide no character to be judged by the public because presenting the news is all they want the public to hear. In conclusion to my first main reason why you are the best objective political media outlet in the nation is because of how your Washington Journal anchors don’t want to be apart of the experience of the news story, but they simply want to give the public the news so they can judge it themselves. The second main reason why you are the best objective political media outlet in the nation is because of how the Senate hearings are organized. While watching CNN and Fox News coverage on the Senate Hearings their routine is to always have a reporter outside of the Senate Chamber reporting and interpreting to the public on television what’s happening inside the Senate Chamber. What I love about C-Span is that you folks put a camera man inside the Senate Chamber and let the film roll for as along as it takes, giving the public complete access to what is actually going on inside the Senate Chamber versus listening to some reporter from CNN or Fox News interpret what they are getting from this hearing. In conclusion to my second main reason of why you are the best unbiased political media outlet is because in the Senate Chamber you have a camera man inside recording every move and every issue brought up, basically putting the information out there for the public and having the public view it on television and judge it themselves. Whereas CNN and Fox News have a reporter outside reading off notes he got from listening to the hearing; but what better resource is there for the public then their own ears and eyes? In my opinion, the objectivity maintained by C-Span has been lost to “entertainment,” (being “personalities” like the mainstream media anchors) at other news outlets. Therefore, to all C-Span affiliates thank you so much for providing the best unbiased political coverage in the nation by giving us more objectivity by not changing the news, but simply putting the news out there and having us, the public judge it ourselves.
Keep up the great objectivity C-Span!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
International Perspectives on Local/Global Issues
One of the biggest controversial issues I’ve been watching on television and also online is the Arizona Immigration Law. Basically the Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer signed an immigration bill into law stating that immigrants in Arizona are required to carry their alien registration documents at all times and the local police are required to question people if they are suspected to be an illegal immigrant. The bill also mentioned punishment for those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or transport them while knowing they are illegal. Although this is a local issue in the United States other international press has been writing articles stating their opinion on this issue.
Starting locally, the New York Times wrote about this story right when it came out, the article entitled, “Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration.” The New York Times stated that this law is the “broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations,” mentioning that within this new law, Governor Brewer is giving the police “broad power” to detain anyone who is suspected of being in the United States illegally. Some critics have mentioned that granting the police this right is like “an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship.” An interesting point that the New York Times used was the perspective of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles on this issue and how he believes that how the authorities, such as the local police have power to demand documents is like “Nazism.” I thought this was interesting because so many places around the United States have many good and bad police officials, and if they are given a right such as demanding anyone to show them identification of citizenship some of them will probably take advantage of it.
I had a hard time trying to find an internationals press perspective on this issue because obviously it is in the United States, but I was curious of how an issue that is considered life changing locally in the United States effected others around the world. A found an article from BBC News Canada entitled, “Judge blocks Arizona’s Controversial Immigration Law.” This article starts off talking about how federal judge Susan Bolton blocked key parts of the Arizona’s immigration law hours before it took effect. Judge Bolton wrote that, “Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked.” I completely support Judge Bolton’s comments on this issue because this law is actually going against the United States Constitution by having officials question and demand information from citizens.
Those were the two main sources I could come up with in giving great detail about the issue of the Arizona Immigration Law. Another short article that I read online was on behalf of the Associated Press mentioned that Mexico along with ten other Latin America Countries wants the federal appeals court to consider looking over this new law again because they have an interest in ensuring they have reliable relations with the United States that won’t be affected by the state of Arizona. Another short article from the Associated Press that I read online was interesting to me because it was entitled, “Colorado GOP wants to copy Arizona’s immigration law.” This article basically said that Colorado Republican lawmakers sent a delegation of lawmakers to Arizona to talk about adopting a similar law in Colorado because they believe that Colorado’s economy is suffering because of illegal immigration.
In conclusion, after reading all of these articles online from local news resources to international press perspectives, I noticed that because this issue, Arizona Immigration Law is a big “local” issue not an international issue it was hard to find international press perspectives on this issue. On the other hand this issue affects people all over the world extremely because they are illegal immigrants if they try to migrate to the state of Arizona without legal identification. Therefore, I believe that different perspectives will always be printed out on all the international news resources and it’s the reader’s decision where they want to get their information from.
Starting locally, the New York Times wrote about this story right when it came out, the article entitled, “Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration.” The New York Times stated that this law is the “broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations,” mentioning that within this new law, Governor Brewer is giving the police “broad power” to detain anyone who is suspected of being in the United States illegally. Some critics have mentioned that granting the police this right is like “an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship.” An interesting point that the New York Times used was the perspective of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles on this issue and how he believes that how the authorities, such as the local police have power to demand documents is like “Nazism.” I thought this was interesting because so many places around the United States have many good and bad police officials, and if they are given a right such as demanding anyone to show them identification of citizenship some of them will probably take advantage of it.
I had a hard time trying to find an internationals press perspective on this issue because obviously it is in the United States, but I was curious of how an issue that is considered life changing locally in the United States effected others around the world. A found an article from BBC News Canada entitled, “Judge blocks Arizona’s Controversial Immigration Law.” This article starts off talking about how federal judge Susan Bolton blocked key parts of the Arizona’s immigration law hours before it took effect. Judge Bolton wrote that, “Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked.” I completely support Judge Bolton’s comments on this issue because this law is actually going against the United States Constitution by having officials question and demand information from citizens.
Those were the two main sources I could come up with in giving great detail about the issue of the Arizona Immigration Law. Another short article that I read online was on behalf of the Associated Press mentioned that Mexico along with ten other Latin America Countries wants the federal appeals court to consider looking over this new law again because they have an interest in ensuring they have reliable relations with the United States that won’t be affected by the state of Arizona. Another short article from the Associated Press that I read online was interesting to me because it was entitled, “Colorado GOP wants to copy Arizona’s immigration law.” This article basically said that Colorado Republican lawmakers sent a delegation of lawmakers to Arizona to talk about adopting a similar law in Colorado because they believe that Colorado’s economy is suffering because of illegal immigration.
In conclusion, after reading all of these articles online from local news resources to international press perspectives, I noticed that because this issue, Arizona Immigration Law is a big “local” issue not an international issue it was hard to find international press perspectives on this issue. On the other hand this issue affects people all over the world extremely because they are illegal immigrants if they try to migrate to the state of Arizona without legal identification. Therefore, I believe that different perspectives will always be printed out on all the international news resources and it’s the reader’s decision where they want to get their information from.
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