Social Responsibility in the Media

The Three Tenets

2008-12-09T13:58:00.004-05:00

At the very beginning of this course, we learned the three tenets of Social Responsibility in the Media. The article I found for this weeks post is about Obama's plan to create jobs for Americans. He has laid out a plan that will create 2.5 million jobs by 2011. In his plan he wants to create jobs by upgrading the federal buildings to give them better heating systems.
The first tenet of Social Responsibility is "inform". This article does a good job of doing what it set out to do, inform the reader about the new plan that has been released by Obama. However, it only tells the reader what is plan is. It does not give any indication of the other options, the other sides of the issue, or any of the facts about how well it will or will not work.
The second tenet of Social Responsibility is "nurture". This article does nurture quit well. Before reading this, I did not know anything about Obama's new plan to create jobs. In the world today, I feel that it is vital to know what is happening in any form of government, especially the federal government. This plan also has an impact on everyone from the government down to any person who has been affected by the poor economy.
The third tenet of Social Responsibility is "be fair". This article is fair to the facts. It does a very good job of being fair. There is no bias within this article. It just gives the facts. The only thing that is not completely fair is that it does not give any quotes besides those from Obama. To be a truly fair article, it should include at least some kind of opinion from someone on the other side of the issue and someone who is an expert on the job market.

The Right To Know

2008-11-20T18:02:00.003-05:00

In the media, there are many different situations that have a very fine line defining what is ethically correct and what is done. Sometimes that line is not as thin. When I was looking for an article for this post, I came across a story about a woman who had shot and killed an FBI Agent. Judging by the title, it seemed to me that this woman shot an Agent but upon further reading the story is much different. The title makes this woman seem like she is guilty and that there weren't any circumstances, like there were, that could mean she was not guilty of murder. As the article continues, it explains that this woman is claiming that the FBI Agent entered her house without announcing himself and she thought she was being robbed so she shot him in self defense. She claimed that she feared for her and her children's lives. She was on the phone with a 911 operator as she was being arrested.
It seems to me that to include someone's name in a case such as this from the start is crossing the line from deserving to know the source or accused in a case. From what the story says this is an innocent woman who was protecting her children from "an intruder" but in reality it was an FBI Agent. If she truly did not know it was the FBI and she was really just shooting in self defense, this article will make her seem a terrible person in the public eye. It seems to me that because she is not a threat to anyone anymore and it is not clear the exact circumstances, destroying this woman's life and name is not what Fox News needed to do.

Photorealism and Fallout 3

2008-11-08T16:17:00.001-05:00

Klosterman dedicates chapter four to “The Illusions,” meaning the look of modern technology such as computer interfaces and video game art. Video game art is what I will be targeting in my blog this week. In The Language of New Media, Klosterman talks about the history of “photorealism” in the computer world. As early as the 1970s, people were developing such techniques as Phong shading, bump mapping, and other methods that are still used today in games like Fallout 3.
In an article I found on MSNBC.com, the author is explaining that Fallout 3 is the front-runner for game of the year. He states that a main reason for this is the design and look of the levels. As he writes in the article, “One of the greatest accomplishments in Fallout 3 is the gloriously detailed, unbelievably vast world of the Capital Wasteland.” He goes on to say that the game is full of knockout cinematic moments. Without these elements that were created a long time ago (as far as computer graphic technology is concerned) Fallout 3 would just be another Pong.
In the past couple years, most if not all games with 3D graphics have involved depth of field effects (even South Park uses this often for a great effect), linear perspective and different kinds of tonal and color range. Fallout 3 is one game that uses this tonal and color range that Klosterman mentions very well. The whole game has a dirty, rugged feel that is gained through the use of a dark green/brown filter over the whole world that gives the player a feel of something other than cleanliness.
Although there have been great leaps in the realism established in computer graphics, it is almost impossible for there to ever be a completely realistic image in a computer generated image. There will always be some level of illusion in it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27478884/

Gentleman's Agreement

2008-11-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

In journalism these days, it seems that nothing is out of bounds to cover. In the mid to late 20th century, journalists were much more likely to respect a person's personal space, even in the political world. One example is that of FDR. He was not shown below the chest whenever he was photographed or put on television because he was confined to a wheelchair and showing that would make him seem more vulnerable. Today, it is much less likely to see this kind of thing. In class, we had a discussion about the "Gentleman's Agreement" in journalism. The Gentleman's Agreement is what was being followed in the case of FDR, but today it is much more rare to see this agreement in action.
With the huge number of news outlets today, there is so much more competition to be on top of every story that the Gentleman's Agreement is not always followed. For this week's post, I found an article about Barack Obama's Aunt. His aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who is Obama's deceased father's half sister, was found to be living in the United States four years after her request for asylum had been denied.
When McCain's campaign was asked for a comment on the issue, they declined except to say that it was a "family matter." This comment makes me wonder whether they are truly trying to follow the Gentleman's Agreement or if they are using it as a tool to seem much more honest and respectful than they are. With the timing of this story's release (the day before the voting) it makes me question where the story came from and how long its release was delayed.

Facebook Music: the new Standard?

2008-10-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

In our discussion in class last week, we discussed our jobs as new media creators. Part of this job is to use pre-existing standards that exist in the media industry to make it easier for users. This is the most true and most evident on the Internet.
The article I found this week comes from MSNBC.com. According to the article, Facebook is trying to make their way into the digital music arena. It states in the first paragraph that the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg, is considering the move due to MySpace’s launch of its own “MySpace Music.” MySpace, along with many other social networking sites, has had their own music player as part of profile pages for many years now. It has become so prominent that it is now an acceptable method, if not a standard. With Facebook adding their own music player, social networking sites with music players can quickly become a standard. There are simple buttons that have been around for decades (play, pause, next, etc.). In class, we also talked about maximizing capability as new media creators. This is what Facebook is trying to do. They are maximizing what people can do on their website. Adding music give a whole new dimension to what is possible on Facebook.com.
Going back to the earlier weeks of Social Responsibility in the Media; towards the end of the article on MSNBC, the reporter states “Facebook did not immediately return calls seeking comment.” This goes back to Klosterman’s article discussing how reporters will wait for a certain amount of time before going ahead with the information that they have. This makes me wonder how long this reporter waited before going ahead with the article without all the information that was needed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27237227/

Post 4: The Interface

2008-10-14T00:03:00.000-04:00

Technology has progressed a long way in the past couple decades. These advances have affected every industry in some way. The film industry has been affected a great deal by the many advances in every aspect of the movie-making process. From cameras and film to editing methods to movie theaters. The article I found for this week’s blog is about a brand new advancement in a local movie theater near you.
The article is about 5 Hollywood studios that have agreed to help pay for a $1 billion dollar upgrade for movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada. They will be aiding the local movie theaters to pay for the new technology hook-ups to set them up to be able to play 3D movies. There has been an increase in movies that are made to be shown in a 3D format. In the next year Disney is planning to release five movies in 3D.
These advancements in technology are helping cinema break away from the “imprisonments” that Manovich mentions in his book. The movie industry and technology are seeing that you can break the ties of normal movies by adding that third dimension to a movie theater. Manovich goes on to say that the perception seen in classic cinema was taken form Western painting. Movies are now stepping up and including the same three dimensions that paintings have always had to make them more unique and interesting.
As with anything else this is simply another tactic for the movie companies to make more money in the long run. Although they are spending the money now, it will all come back to them plus a whole lot more in the future. As Michael Lewis, the chief executive for RealD (the company responsible for 97% of the 3D add-ons in movie theaters) says, “this triples our footprint, we’re trying to work with everyone to get as many RealD screens out there as fast as possible.” If they already have 97% of the market, tripling that would greatly increase their company size.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/02/digital.movies.ap/index.html

Post 3:What is New Media?

2008-10-06T16:09:00.000-04:00

In chapter 1 of Lev Manovich's book, The Language of New Media, he discusses the definition of new media as well as what makes it different from old media. He states that it is an assumption that "any form of communication requires a discrete representation." His example uses the english language and sentence structure. Each conversation is made of sentences, sentences are made of words, words are made of letters, etc. According to Manovich, photographs do not have any "units".

Digital photographs do however, have units. Each image is made up of pixels, each of which has a color and a brightness value. Digital photography is one of the newest forms of new media. In the past decade, digital imaging has made a huge impact on the world of photography. The article I found this week is about the "death" of Kodachrome. Kodachrome is a portion of Kodak Imaging, the company that makes film for photographers and videographers. They now only make film in one format. A spokesman for Kodak states in the article that the film sales are down and that they might stop making it all together.

As Manovich says, "modern media contain levels of discrete representation" but the sample is never quantified. Does this mean that digital is in some way better than film? I don't think so. Both have their own benefits and set-backs. On the surface, it can appear that new media is better simply because it is new, and old media is outdated. When you really look into it, both are valid forms of media. This makes me wonder why old media is dying out. Do people not have the respect for it that I do? As the article from CNN states, the niche of people who buy Kodachrome products is consistently shrinking and eventually the profit will not be enough to keep the production lines running.

Post 2: All I Know Is What I Read in the Papers

2008-09-28T19:35:00.000-04:00

Chuck Klosterman wrote a very interesting article concerning media and the pitfalls of working in such an industry. He starts his essay by talking about how journalists have "higher ethics and less common sense" than most other people. He feels this way because he knows that many journalists will simply wait for the first person to call them back on a story and use that one source throughout the article instead of using all sides of an argument.

When I was looking through news sites on the internet, I came across an article from Reuters. The premise of this article is that McCain and his people are "disappointed" that he was not declared the winner of the debate held in Mississippi Friday night. As I read the article, after reading Klosterman's piece, I was picturing a reporter sitting in his office working at his desk waiting for someone to call back with a quote for his article. I can see him hearing back from McCain's people, and the reporter hanging up the phone and then typing away finishing his article. The article starts with a paragraph stating the premise of the article; that McCain's camp is upset he was not declared the winner. The second paragraph is a direct quote from McCain discussing how he feels that he should have been a winner in the debate. Although there are quotes from someone in Obama's campaign, they are only quotes from a press conference which has been reported on before, and available through research.

This article is in no way biased like the last article I wrote about, but it does fully fit into what Klosterman was talking about. The reporter gathered quotes from the easiest and quickest source and used them and only them.

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/09/27/mccain-

disappointed-that-media-declared-debate-a-tie/

The 3 Tenets of Social Responsibility in the Media

2008-09-19T12:28:00.000-04:00

While I was browsing the web for an article to use for this weeks post, I came across an article on Fox News' website about the Vermont candidate for attorney general. I had not heard anything about the candidate, Charlotte Dennett. The main focus of the article is Dennett's intention, if elected, to prosecute George Bush for murder on the basis of his decisions in Iraq.
This seemed ludicrous to me at first, but as i read the article it seemed to be much more plausible. It only seemed ludicrous due to the fact that there is no precedent for this in the past, whereas there has been others like Bush before him. The article continues to discuss (using quotes) how it is not likely for Dennett to get elected from "liberal Vermont" and that she is not what the US needs as a state attorney general.
The first tenet of Social Responsibility, Inform, is found in this article. This article absolutely "informs" readers of the fact that there is a woman running for attorney general who wants to prosecute President Bush. That is where the non-bias stops. After the first few paragraphs explaining the basis of the issue, the article goes into quotes talking about how bad this candidate would be for the country and how Vermont is liberal, as well as someone from Vermont can't make it to a national stage. Overall the bias in this article, while not in the parts written by the reporter are clearly evident through the quotes picked by the writer of this article.
This article absolutely lines up with the second tenet of Social Responsibility, Nurture. My feeling is that anything that has an influence on who is elected to represent me and the state I live in is very relevant. Even if it only shows one side of the issue and is biased, it still opens my eyes to the subject and now I can go and find more information and form my own opinions.
The third tenet, be fair, is not found within this article. Fair is one of the last words I would use to describe it. It starts off with a non-biased introduction to who, what, where, and when, but goes south from there. In order to be "fair", an article must show both sides of the issue without letting in any personal opinions or slandering anyone. Granted the author didn't outright say, Dennett is an idiot, or something along those lines, but he did use quotes that are only from opposition to her thus making it a one sided article.
This article only made one of the three tenets. I have long realized Fox News' tendencies to slant one way in their reporting. This article makes me think about what they left out that could change my opinions on this issue. In some sense, I feel as though this is good. When I see an article this one sided, it makes me want to learn as much as I can about all sides of the issue. Sometimes when I read an article that is much less biased I will just accept it and move on.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/19/vermont-candidate-
wants-to-prosecute-bush-if-elected/