"Now They Tell Us" by Michael Massing

After reading this book, I have learned that even the Times is not the most reliable source of information. It is often mentioned in this book how the Times are either reporting certain issues, such as the abuses against Iraqi prisoners, days later after other publications have published them, or they often ignore the importance of the case and have them printed on the inside pages.

Not only that, Massing also mentions the portrayal of the war through the American media versus European/Arabic media, in which the American media always portray the bravery of the soldiers and the so-called success of the war, while the European and Arabic media, al-Jazeera for example, are covering the unseen/other side of the war, such as unedited tapes from Osama bin Laden or the Palestinian casualties. The problem is that the American media is showing the Americans what they want to see.

First of all, 9/11, be it a terrorist attack or a demolition job, has given Americans fear and panic. That, in return, manufactured a consent from the Americans to allow the administration to do anything that will stop terrorism and keep the country safe.

On August 6, 2002, VP Dick Cheney made a speech claiming that there is no doubt Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, and is preparing to use them against the US. With this information, the Americans are sure to support the hinted war. The problem is that there is no evidence of Cheney's claims.

Meanwhile, journalists Judith Miller and Michael Gordon are getting information from Iraqi defectors who are telling them about Saddam Hussein's investment on nuclear weapons and mysterious aluminum tubes that were imported – tubes that could be possibly used as a part of an atomic bomb. On September 8, 2002, a story was published on the Times based on this finding, written by Miller and Gordon themselves. This story was something the administration was not ready for and hence caused quite a spark that opened the doors to the possibility of a war.

Although Iraq itself had claimed that the tubes were to be used for building rockets, doubts were still raised and there was an ongoing analysis on the tubes. An article was written by Joby Warrick of the Washington Post, describing how the administration's claims about the tubes were challenged by "independent experts" who questioned the intentions of the tubes. This article was one of the first public mentions of the administration's possible misuse, but since it appeared on page A18, the story only caused little stir.

While more and more experts started to find that there are no existing nuclear sites in Iraq and the tubes were most likely intended for the rockets, the press were trying to keep these reporting on the down-low. On February 5, 2003, Colin Powell's speech at the UN on Iraq's nuclear issue and linking Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda received high approval ratings in American polls, even though most of Powell's claims were already proven to be unlikely, showing that the Americans will believe everything they saw.

Because of the journalists' tendency to not challenge the administration and try to not make the administration look bad, the false evidence in Powell's speech was not taken into importance. Since the war was launched, the press has been trying to show the "successful" side of the war, keeping stories about increasing casualties in Iraq away from the front pages and instead are published on page 10 or 12. Hopefully, the American media learns a lesson from this unnecessary war and should stop worrying about challenging the administration because clearly the intelligence unit was not doing such a good job, and instead start informing the people about the truth.

Media & Culture (Part 4)

"Democratic Expression and the Mass Media"

Chapter 14: The Culture of Journalism
There are so many types of journalism in today's world, that we can get information from the world wide web besides TV and print. Although I understand that journalists are responsible for reporting the news, I think it is unnecessary that some unimportant issues are blown out of proportion and over-analyzed, such as the Obamas' fist bump as mentioned in the chapter. This chapter also brought my attention to public journalism. As much as I support the idea of the participation of "readers" and journalists in responding to the issues that are addressed, I feel that it will skew the purpose of journalism in order to satisfy what the readers want to know about. One of the other aspects of journalism mentioned in this chapter is the ethical predicaments. I think that journalists should deploy deception only when the case is very serious and needs awareness and change, such as the Nellie Bly case. Chasing celebrities around and invading their privacy in order to get a story, or fake a story, is certainly immoral and unprofessional.

Chapter 15: Media Effects
Media effects research sounds like a mission for the government to brainwash us. Even if they confirmed that violence in the media has an effect on the aggressive behaviors, will they ban violence in the media? A line from the chapter reads:

"Because most media research operates best in examining media and individual behavior, fewer research studies explore media's impact on community and social life."

Well, I think researchers should start researching more on the different issues that effect a larger population, such as smoking and drug use in movies, which I think have a bigger effect on more people than violence does. Cultural studies research, however, might be a hopeful solution for solving issues of race, gender, class and sexuality in the American society.

Chapter 16: Legal Controls

"When students from other cultures attend school in the United States, many are astounded by the number of books, news articles, editorials, cartoons, films, TV shows, and Web sites that make fun of U.S. presidents, the military, and the police."

I was one of those students, who grew up in Malaysia. I remember walking through the city one day and seeing various political posters, one in particular saying "Impeach Bush!" with a cartoon version of Bush. I remember thinking "Wow, how dare they make fun of the president like that." It was then I realized that the American citizens have the freedom of expression.
One thing from this chapter that surprised me is when I read that the "Happy Birthday" song is owned. And copyrighted! It is such a popular song that I've never even thought about that. Although FCC is in control of the media, the internet is such an accessible medium that it has become a home for freedom of expression, just read the comments from YouTube or read a forum.

Party Crashers

White House Party Crashers Cause a Hangover

"Some media analysts blame incidents like the Salahis' apparent gate-crashing on a broader cultural shift: Americans' willingness to exploit themselves for fame and the hunger for ratings-grabbing events by cable-news shows, talk-show hosts, Web sites and magazines.

The enormous popularity of reality television also has given people the idea that being a celebrity is possible for everyone, they say."

...

"The media business is the new Ellis Island: Give me your talentless, give me your hoaxes and I will put anything on my air," said Robert Thompson, professor of television at Syracuse University.

Wall Street Journal


Although I am, and I'm sure most people are, still not sure what in the world Michaele and Tareq Salahi were doing crashing a White House state dinner, the paragraphs above show that I'm not the only one thinking the same thing. Another possible "Balloon Boy" story.
I still cannot fathom how people bear to watch reality shows. While some shows still have potentials, such as "American Idol" or "America's Next Top Model" because at least the winners can get a contract and become additional famous celebrities, most reality shows are just.... horrific? Horrendous? Terrible? Embarrassing? Just bad.

I took the courage to watch a few clips of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" the other day. After watching it, I found myself in awe of how these rich, talentless, uneducated, undisciplined, self-absorbed, famous-for-nothing people can have their own show about their dramatic boring lives. And what makes it worse is that the mom is just as clueless as her daughters.
Here are two clips, and let me just say that YOU ARE WARNED.




Watch her go to jail, Celebrity style!

Communication

Illustration by Ji Lee

The digital age has transformed the ways in which we communicate with each other. The combination of technology and power of information brings new ways on HOW, WITH WHOM and WHY we communicate. We are connected with more people than ever before. Do more options to communicate with each other connect us or alienate us more?"

Media & Culture (Part 3)

"The Business of Mass Media"

Chapter 11: Advertising
I enjoyed reading this chapter a lot because I am an Advertising major and I learned a lot more about advertising after reading this. However, I still have a love/hate relationship with Advertising. I wanted to pursue art direction as a career because I think it's exciting to make creative and clever advertisements to inform people and sell products, but advertising is such a powerful and scary form of medium that I'm hesitant to be part of this business. It is also appalling to learn about the amount of money that is put into advertising. However, without advertising, businesses wouldn't do so well and more importantly, our culture would not have been a consumer culture.

Chapter 12: Public Relations
This chapter provided me with a more negative view towards PR, especially after reading about Edward Bernays and Lucky Strikes, how he was able to deceive the public mind, women especially, that smoking is alright; while hypocritically, forbade his own wife to smoke. Sure, public relations has helped businesses and inform the public on various issues through tactics like public service announcements. Although I understand that it is important to give businesses and organizations a positive image to gain public support, I feel that it is immoral to try to cover up an organization or company's wrongdoing or distort it in some way in order to keep a positive image.

Chapter 13: Media Economics
The section on Disney being a media conglomerate is certainly mind-blowing, especially when it's not even the #1 media conglomerate. I also enjoyed reading the section about hegemony and "common sense". It just goes to show how the American culture is only run by a few giant media corporations, and furthermore, the American media is doing very well in cultural imperialism. As the chapters go on, I begin to learn that we as citizens really have not much of a choice or power but to live by what these media markets offer us. Lastly, I'd like to end this paragraph with a quote that I thought was quite funny to be found in this chapter.

"It's a small world, after all." - Theme Song, Disney Theme Parks