Illustration #6 – Sexuality and Politics

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/alberta-election/smith-seeks-to-dampen-outcry-over-wildrose-candidates-anti-gay-blog/article2403651/

 

Since anyone can remember there has been a contentious relationship between the political community and the gay and lesbian community. Politicians stand for pretty much everything that is in direct contradiction with homosexuality. A recent issue in the news has been the public outcry over an anti gay blog that was kept by a Pastor running for a seat in the Wildrose party. Wildrose leader, Danielle Smith, said “she won’t legislate on contentious social issues, but won’t censor religious factions in her party either.” This of course makes no sense, how can you seek to govern any body of people without being able to face contentious social issues and deal with them head on. “Political resistance to the advancement of the gay rights has been the most historic and consistent.” (Issues in Social Justice)

Illustration #5 – The Reality of Racism

http://metronews.ca/news/canada/102974/photo-of-veiled-woman-with-bra-sparks-clash/

 

In an article written for the Metro newspaper, a photograph of a Muslim woman, in a veiled headdress called the niqab, sparked controversy. The photo contains a Muslim woman in a traditional Muslim headdress with a veil covering her face, and she is holding up a flowery bra as she folds laundry. The picture caused much controversy because of its tie to a very strong religious community. Many individuals in the Muslim community spoke out against the picture, claiming that it was inappropriate and that it should be removed from display. This story brings to light the issue of minority representations in the media. This seeks to show that the “relationships between the media and minorities at the level of how minorities are visually and verbally portrayed in news casting, television programming, advertising and film making.” (Fleras, 2007) This article, and the picture that it is centered around, was only an issue because it is a Muslim women as the subject. Had the women been a Caucasian, it would have caused next to no controversy. This article clearly shows how minorities, especially minority women are treated differently by the media and because they are shown in a different light, when something such as this happens, everyone is shocked because it is so out of the ordinary. The truth of the matter is that no matter what her race, skin colour, or religion, a women should have the right to appear in whatever photograph that she wishes without sparking a widespread controversy and being the subject of much criticism.

Illustration #4 – Framing the News

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/04/16/iran-death-sentence-ghassemi-shall.html

 

In an article written for CBC News, the fate of a Iranian-Canadian citizen, who is on death row in Iran, was discussed. The man is facing a death sentence in Iran, accused of being a spy for the Canadian government. Everything about the way the article is written and the facts that are put across begs you to have sympathy for this man. The entire article is dedicated to showing how he is a dedicated family man who is not capable of the things he has been accused of and is rife with testimonials from his wife, pleading for his release. The article is framed in a manor that suggests the only possible reason for this man’s incarceration is a fault at the hands of the Iranian government; and that the possibility that this man may have actually committed the acts that he has been accused of if impossible. The term framing is used to describe the selection of “some aspect of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem…moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described.” (CBC News) This is clearly evident in this article, the author has specifically left out any counter arguments that may have been raised by the Iranian government to show the man’s guilt. The entire article focuses on his obvious innocence and the demand that he be released on Canadian soil. Framing causes many issues in the media, its ability to highlight only one side of a story means that many facts go unknown and its audiences are most often none the wiser.

Illustration #3 – Globalization

http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2012/04/15/globalization-at-risk-what-does-it-mean-for-investors/

 

In an article written for Forbes magazine, titled “Globalization at Risk, What Does it Mean for Investors?”, the author states that the expansion of trade has decreased from 13.8% in 2010 to 5% in 2011, and further still to 3.7% in 2012. A slow down in international trade could greatly affect “corporations that previously have been enjoying the benefits of globalization.” (Forbes) The term globalization has been “characterized by accelerated, intensified connections and networks in both physical and virtual senses.” (Mediated Society) It is commonly understood that globalization “consists of constant and rapid movements of all sorts across national boundaries, from the financial, cultural, and social to the exchange of information.” (Mediated Society) The article goes on to state how much globalization has profited our economies and yet now we are facing a decrease in global trade which is causing markets to decrease and causing corporation to “face unstable and unpredictable demand and business opportunities.” Many corporations are noticing that “their products quickly become commodities, leaving them little or no pricing power [which] undermines profitability.” Corporations are finding that with a decrease in trade, their ability to control the market as they once did has also decreased.

Illustration #2 – Mean World Syndrome

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/07/20/f-africa-famine-topix.html

In a recent article from CBC news, it was declared that famine has once again reached Africa. The title of the article, “Famine in Africa”, gives a first impression to the reader that the entire continent of Africa is suffering from a shortage of food. However, the article goes on to say that the presence of the “Islamist militant group al-Shabab” in the country of Somalia has caused the famine and has prevented any aid or aid workers from entering the country. We see early in the article that in fact it is specifically the country of Somalia that is affected by this famine and that the whole of Africa is not at risk of starvation. The title of this article alone increases the growing effect of the mean world syndrome of the continent of Africa. The mean world syndrome is a term used to describe the ability that the media has to show a “meaner” society/world than what it really is. The media regularly depict Africa as a starvation, diseased, poor continent. They lump every country together and fail to distinguish between the 47 countries that make up the entire continent of Africa. The majority of the news articles that are shown in the mass media portray Africa as a whole in a negative light and this only perpetuates the belief that all African countries are poor and starving. The article goes on the state that the famine has spread to five different regions of Somalia and that it has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Although this is a sad fact and could be largely prevented, there are thousands of women, children, and men who die each day of starvation, in well developed countries, and yet there are next to no news stories about these tragic circumstances. This is because the media is more easily able to display Africa in a negative light because of its already well developed background in downgrading the entire continent. Our society has gotten used to the media speaking negatively about Africa and how poor and starving the entire country is, it has become ingrained in our minds that we are better than them, because the media constantly puts them down and makes our society seem far more advanced, when the true is that our own society fails to see that we have many of the same issues an that we are also blind to the fact that the media uses their power to influence us and uses the mean world syndrome to make us believe that the world is a much nastier place than it really is.

Coolest Concept #5 – Mean World Syndrome

The mean world syndrome is a term used to describe the media’s ability to show a “meaner society/world then what it really is.” (Charles Quist-Adade) The media outlets, particularly of developed countries, routinely portray other countries in a negative light, such as how most media portrays Africa negatively. The media uses their influence to shine a light on negative issues and rarely shows the positive events that happen on a regular basis. They show these negative issues as happening more often, closer together, and to a greater extent than they truly do. This is one way that the media are able to control and construct the social reality that we live in and affect how societies view other countries and social issues even within their own community. The mean world syndrome facilitates the media in their scare tactics and is able to create a false sense of danger and violence in a community where there is little of either.

Coolest Concept #4 – Deconstruction

The term deconstruction refers to the process of “unpacking/decoding underlying assumptions, meanings and logic of a given social phenomenon or reality.” (Charles Quist-Adade) This means to say that the media embed messages into their news articles and news programs that are lying under the surface and are put in place there to control our society and construct a reality in which the media can control what information we are given and how we interpret that information. The media places hidden values into their messages, much like subliminal messaging, so that they can affect how we as a society view an issue. The role of society is to dissect, or take apart the messages that are given to us by the media and to break down the hidden meanings and to the interpret them as we see them, free of outside influence. Most individuals are not able to separate the hidden meanings in a media message but those who are able to have a high level of media literacy.

Coolest Concept #3 – Hypodermic Needle Theory

The hypodermic needle theory “suggests an intended message is directly received and completely accepted by the individual. Media injects/shoots its message straight into the passive audience and the audience is immediately affected by the message.” (Charles Quist-Adade) I found this concept interesting because of the idea that the media are able to so strongly implant any message that they want into our subconscious and control what we think or believe. This theory shines a negative light on the media, and shows what I believe to be a terrifying reality of the abilities of the media. The idea that such a powerful group of people are able to “inject” a message into its viewers and have those individuals be immediately affected by that message, whether its outrage, happiness, sadness, or in some cases encouraging those members of society to take action against an injustice, for example the shooting of Trayvon Martin in the US where thousands took it upon themselves to speak out against the injustice they had seen on the news media. This theory helps to show the abilities of the media and perhaps helps in making its audiences a little bit more aware of those abilities and making them more media literate.

Coolest Concept #2 – Agenda Setting

The term agenda setting is used to describe the “ability of the media to influence people’s perception of what is important, acceptable or desirable, by drawing attention to certain aspects of reality and away from other areas.” (Charles Quist-Adade) I found this term interesting because it helps in showing the power and influence that the media has on our society and its ability to control what we as a society see and what information we take in. It is interesting to realize that although we think that we control what information we take in, it is in fact not true, and it is the media who control what information is given to us. I think that our society as a whole simply takes what the media has to say at face value and does not look any further into it, and that we are blind to the fact that the media picks and chooses what we know and how that information will benefit them and other powerful people of influence.

Coolest Concept #1 – Hegemony

A term we discussed in class that I found interesting was the idea of hegemony. Hegemony refers to the “process of control and domination by the ruling elite through consensus of the controlled/dominated. It is the process of domination, in which the ideas of the ruling elite are inculcated into the governed through sophisticated, subtle and via multiple channels.” (Charles Quist-Adade) I found this term interesting because it shows the ability of the majority in a society to control the minority, those who are the most wealthy and those who rule the society are able to decide what happens, how it happens, and when it happens. This term helps us in understanding the media because the media is a large, dominating, and powerful part of our society and has the ability to control what we as a society see and hear and what information we take in. They are, in affect, governing us through ” sophisticated, subtle and via multiple channels.”