Race, Gender, Media

1.Who determines the news or sets the agenda?-The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the government body that sets the rules for media. This, as stated in the video, is not necessarily the best representation of what America looks like or stands for.

2.Why do we need a media that specifically represents difference interests of people of color? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests? What can be done to increase the mainstream media’s interest in other topics and concerns? Aren’t those interests everyone’s interests?
-As with anything, in order to represent a diverse group of people you need exactly that, a diverse group of people. You can not expect people to understand how all people, regardless of race and gender, truly feel or live or even portray those emotions through the media. How can explain something you do not know? To argue that the interest of people of color is the same as the “majority” is hard to say because like I’ve said before, how can you truly have an interest in something you know absolutely nothing about. Most people do not walk around wondering how they can fix other people’s problems. In order to change this, you need diversity everywhere. In the newsrooms, on the radio, on the television, there needs to be an effort on everyone’s part (mainly minorities) to take initiative and say that this has to change.

3.How did the media initially report the war?-“If there was a war on terrorism it started with an attack on the world trade centers”. This statement makes it sound like the United States was obligated to fight this war even though we initially went to war with a country that did not attack us. The idea that if you are not for the war simply meant that you were not patriotic which may very well not be the case at all. However, when you have millions of people who have lost loved ones and the media, who in turn can manipulate the actions of the September 11th event, patriotism is the key role in decision making. People felt the need, after seeing images in the media, to prove their patriotism.

4.How has the media covered recent social protests? Jenna Six – Proposition Eight
-The story first got a lot of attention from Louisiana's media, and from bloggers around the area. From there, it became a national issue that involved people from all over the world to go to Jena, Louisiana and protest what was going on at Jena High School.

5.Was the media beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement? -I would have to say that the media was beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement. However, with everything, there is always a downfall some where. Without the media, I really do not think that people would have truly understood what was going or how severe racism really was. Just look at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas and the Little Rock Nine. Without the media, do you really think the President Eisenhower would have sent out the members of the 101st US-Airbone Division of the United States Army to protect those students against the students, citizens, Governor Faubus or the Arkansas National Guard? Do you think during the late 1950s people really understood, or cared for that matter, about another African American child being killed for using inappropriate language or whistling at a white woman? No, it was not until the magazines started to publish pictures of Emmett Till’s body after he had been brutally murdered that sparked an uproar and just so happens to be one of the many events that led up to the Civil Rights Movement.

6.Please list your thoughts and reflections on setting the news agenda, minority media and the media and reporting the war.
-I wish that we heard more about things like this. Unfortunately, shows like this do not receive the air play they deserve. While I was around family and friends I was watching the blogs and a lot of them stopped and asked what I was watching. Some even asked me to forward them the videos. I think society believes that some people do not care about educating themselves on these topics but I also believe that they also find it easier just to “push it under the rug” and act as if it never existed.

20 Years:
In twenty years I will be 41 which is crazy to even imagine! By this time, I will have become a successful film and television producer. I will have worked on various projects including: my own sitcom, a couple of featured films, doing voice over’s for animated films and will have received at least two Grammy awards for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (yes that is the actual long drawn out title). Also by this time, I will be in the middle of creating my own publishing company. I love to travel so I will have at least one place to call home out of the country and at least two others in the United States.

10 Years:
Ten years from now I will have started to work on my own projects instead of working for someone else. I will have became well-known in the entertainment industry and people will contact me to make there ideas come to life on the big screen. Hopefully, I will have started a family but I can wait until the fifteen mark if I have to. Working with a music label is something I have always wanted to do. I am not sure how this will come into play, but hopefully around this time I know something!

5 Years:
Five years from now I will be a rising star. Successfully, I will have received my Bachelor’s degree in Film and Video Studies with an emphasis in Mass Media and a minor in History, and my Master’s degree in Mass Communication. More than likely I will live on the east coast but will be doing a lot of traveling in order to work on several projects.

6 Months:
Six months from now will be the beginning of my Senior year at the University of Oklahoma which will be one of my biggest accomplishments considering I never thought I would make it this far. It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to something. I will have added on to my resume since I plan on doing some film work, photography, and what ever else I can get my hands on.

FVS 1013, 02-25-09
OU Union Meacham Hall 6:00 W
Classroom experience Professor Boyd
Film Screening: Singing in the Rain
Gender stereotype

AFAM 4233, 02-25-09
Bizzell Library 102
Classroom experience Professor Butler-King
Film screening: Boyz In The Hood
The whole movie
Racial stereotype

02-23-09, 10:00PM
Personal conversation with Zak B.
University Greens
Conversation about the characteristics of minority women
Racial & Gender stereotype

02-24-09, 5:05PM
Magazine Ad
Men’s Fitness Magazine, March 2009
Men’s fitness magazine with a picture of a very fit, well-known actor next to the words “Great Sex: How to Make Her Want More”.
Gender Stereotype

02-24-09, 5:13PM
Magazine Cover
Sports Illustrated
Picture of a woman with a bikini resembling a globe painted on her body with the caption, “Brooklyn Decker shows you the world”.
Gender stereotype


02-26-09 VH1 Network, 10:17PM
Television
I Love Money Commercial
Both men and woman half dressed doing inappropriate things in order to win a completion
Racial and gender stereotypes


02-26-09, 11:45PM
Personal conversation with Shar C.
Via Phone
Conversation about how some people justify not being racist because they have friend(s) of different ethnicities

02-27-09 10:00AM
Bumper Sticker
Obama Biden campaign sticker had been changed to Osama Bin Ladin
Racial stereotype

Reflection:
Honestly, I was not surprised with the amount of stereotyping that exists. I was more so surprised with the location of where I could find the location of the material. There were a lot of things that I saw in Seventeen magazine that really shocked me. The idea of seeing a 15 or 16 year old girl in her underwear riding a bicycle suggesting that girls should do their suggested workouts on the following page to get legs like the model was appalling. During my freshman year of college, I took a Philosophy class and we had an assignment similar to this one. There were a few ads we looked at that really disturb me as well. One the ads featured three middle school aged kids at a science fair. Each one was representing first, second and, third place. All three consequently, were of three different ethnicity groups: first place going to the Caucasian female, second place to the Asian female and third place to the African-American girl. Another ad was of an African-American male barbecuing in his backyard with no shoes on and an apron that read “Kiss the Chef” with a monkey logo on it. I am sure that you can see the “hidden” meaning behind both of these ads. As a minority, dealing with stereotypes in personal and/or social experiences is something that I have learned to deal with. However with that said, it is not something you get use to. It’s annoying to constantly be viewed as the “loud, ghetto, and obnoxious” woman just because that is what the media portrays of the women who look like me. Or my favorite saying when you don’t fit the stereotype of a black person, “they aren’t black enough”. Unfortunately, the media plays an important role in everyday life. What is on the television, magazines, billboards, internet, radio, et cetera is what we, the American people, pay attention to the most. Although it is not always accurate, it is a teaching mechanism. It will be up to a new generation of people who are willing to not only change the type of television shows, and other forms of mass media, and educate there viewers on all aspects of culture. Not just the defaming characters that help create these stereotypes we place on other people. We need to place images on the big screen that not only instill positivity, but educate people and make them more aware of what a person can be rather then how they are limited by the color of their skin.