Week 8: Blog Post #11 When do we choose to be sympathetic?

It has been a very disappointing year to be on the Planet Earth. With all these terrorist attacks that have occurred in late 2015 to present day, you have to question humanity. Not only is it disgusting that these horrible attacks happen on a regular occurrence, it is a shame that we as civilization are selective when to be sympathetic to those who have suffered. Attention was worldwide when the Paris Attacks happened in 2015 however earlier that year Kenya suffered an equally horrifying attack which gained less coverage. If I am being perfectly honest that is unacceptable, it asks the question to the media outlets what makes one attack different from the other? Both events had tragic lives lost but yet the Paris attack is more attentive. This may be due to the fact that there is conventionally more attention to the so called ‘Western’ nations hence why there is less consideration for the smaller nations. Facebook allowed users to have the France flag as their profile picture to show their support and sympathy towards the broken nation. However this was not to be seen during the Kenyan attacks. In fact it was one user rather than hundreds of French mourners who posted about Kenya. Agenda Setting, where mass media dictates what the audience believes in, is the reason. I felt as if I was obliged to share my sympathy towards the French although I had no relation to them. That isn’t to say that they don’t deserve sympathy because everyone who is suffering deserves attention such as today’s issues in Pakistan and Yemen. 

This could lead to consequences because we let the media dictate whom we show sympathy towards. Everyone should be treated equally regardless of where they’re from. People will be ignorant to the attacks which don’t gain attention because it doesn’t gain media coverage when it should be. It is sad that an attack could be more brutal than the other but yet depends on the nation that has suffered. That said, every country deserves equal converge. BUT it would be great that we don’t talk about it as a whole, humanity needs to be repaired.   

Week 7: Blog Post #10: Good Night & Good Luck

If America needed an eye-opener about their use of the media they certainly got it 58 years ago to this day. In 1958, American broadcast journalist, Ed Murrow, read a speech which intended to leave Americans to reconsider their approach to media. Television in particular can be a positive such as ‘inspiring’ the audience to fulfil ones potential. However Murrow explains how the ‘mass media reflects’ the audience which is a worry as they can depict what the audience believes in. 

As a result of the advertising revenue, CBS practice in self-regulation and censorship that Murrow mentions. The fact that censorship occurs limits to what the audience can see and media are picking and choosing what they air. Whilst they decide what they air this is what the audience sees as the denotation. Murrow wants the audience to look beyond this, as the co-dependence of news and TV as a whole link to provide viewings which could be seen as entertainment rather than informative. 

In today’s day and age these constraints are still here as they were in the past. Viewers are like customers to these news outlets, they only show what makes them run. The demand and what earns them views and of course finance is what new corporations look upon. An example is this year’s elections. Of course the news should show everything about the Elections however I believe they are focusing more on Donald Trump than any of the other candidates running for President. During the Primaries it was either Trump vs Rubio or Trump vs Cruz etc. and now that they have ended they are now focusing upon Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump makes controversial comments but it earns views for the news outlets which is financially motivational. As disappointing as it is, that is how the media works.