Question 2a: the one that won't go away

My attitude toward the media coverage of government before taking this course was curiosity. I had just taken Media and Government last spring and so this class was very much in keeping with many of the themes from last semester. I enjoyed both of these classes very much because of the open dialogue that we always shared in the classroom and the opportunity to look at things from new and different perspectives. Having watched the primaries play out last spring and discussing many of the media issues in regards to that, I was curious and excited to take this class and interested in seeing the election, and it’s coverage, play out in real time. I feel that I am a much more concerned and aware citizen than I was prior to these courses and that learning about politics in this type of forum has helped me to become far more knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the world around me.

One of the things that I will take away from this class and found so valuable was the websites and articles we viewed. I now have an RSS feed to many of these websites on my Google homepage so that I can access the information anytime I want. I feel it is important to be up to date on current events including politics and that due to the varying opinions in the world you have to seek out multiple sources of information and draw your own conclusions.

There is not anything that I wanted to learn and didn’t. I enjoyed this class very much and felt very fulfilled by the structure and dialogue.

Let me entertain you...

It seems that a lot of the election news (and politics/Govt news in general) has been packaged as entertainment. Instead of the issues being the most important, a middle name, a flag pin, lipstick on a pig, or the dollar amount of a campaign wardrobe are the latest buzz, comparable to Brittney Spears latest DUI or Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab. The campaigns themselves are discussed as horse races (sporting entertainment events), and politicians (with the help of the mainstream media of course) have even used their family members to create more limelight for themselves.

I feel that the reason for this is cyclical and the politicians, media and viewers are all to blame. The campaign is to blame for perpetuating the negative campaign ads and counter attacks on their running mates that the media picked up and ran with, the media is to blame for choosing to highlight the mindless drivel more so than the real news and we, the citizens, are to blame for being more interested in that sort of information than the important stuff like education reform and foreign policy.

I feel we are very much deprived of a coherent contextual understanding of the world. When we aren't provided with all the information, the media has failed and we have lost. Our right to make educated and informed decisions has all but been ripped from our hands because those responsible for providing said information are not fulfilling the responsibilities of their jobs.

Is that a bum rap? ie)

Did the wisdom of crowds work in this election?

To blog or not to blog...that is the question

Globalization is an integral part to the new millennium and the availability of information a dominant trait in global media. The Internet not only gives us an endless supply of information right at our fingertips, but also gives us the availability to create our own blogs and respond to print journalists opinion pieces in real time. As much as I believe in free speech and the idea that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, more often than not, find these blogs to be very immature, uneducated and negatively charged. Journalists are supposed to hold themselves to a higher standard, research information and verify facts before their news ever makes it to print. They have a Code of Ethics and they are responsible for whatever they attach their name to. This is not the case with bloggers and those that respond to opinion pieces in the open forums allowed on the Web. The Average Joe can make claims that are unfounded and say slanderous and libelous things without any consequence whatsoever. These blogs lack the integrity and moral standards that journalism is supposed to stand for.

What is postmodernism?

Postmodernism is the belief that direction, evolution and progression have ended in social history, and society is based instead upon the decline of absolute truths, and the rise of relativity. To me this means that for every positive action there is inevitablly a negative or adverse reaction and therefore postive progress in it's purest form has ceased. For example, progress can be considered curing illness and disease, but a drawback to this progress is overpopulation and all of the negative ramifications that come along with it.