Post class post for 4/1/10 Herman and Chomski

After reading chomski and herman there are several things that can be said, first of all I am really interested at how Murdock and News Corp were not mentioned more often. We continually spoke of them in CMC 100 and then again in CMC 200 and i felt that it would have been a wonderful example of the first filter being size and ownership. it was mentioned that the amount of media that a single entity could own was a bit of a filter that allowed the public to still maintain some form of control over the media, but at the same time the Clinton era definitely relaxed some of the FCC rules and regulations as well as the amount of media a person could own. This really isnt surprising considering the amount of economic prosperity at the given time. it always seems that during some time of economic boom that rules and regulations are often let go for a little while and then as soon as the boom is truly realized they are once again enforced. the second filter was one of the most interesting in my mind. I really had no idea that advertising was that big of a lobby and influence on the media. I had heard once about the prices that existed during an event such as superbowl sunday or something of the such, but at the same time it truly seems to be the advertising companies that are controlling the media and not the corporations, it is interesting to me that the public has not gotten to these advertising companies and basically said that if there was not more public ownership of the media they would stop supporting their products. I know this is a very large claim to make but at the same time it just seems that if a few giants such as coca cola and disney and AT&T were told that a good deal of their profits were going to dissapear unless they got behind some good ideas that they would. Well someone can dream...Movie recommendation to supplement this reading would be either War Inc, or WALL-E...both will give you a good idea of what a commercial entity or advertising can do.

VAGABOND, Herman and Chomsky

It is important to remember when doing the rest of the readings for this semester that we are focusing on concepts which we refer to as Ideotexts and Politexts. So what's the greater narrative that Chomsky and Herman argue?

Well, I'm unsure if I even know what is going on. I mean, WOW! this is one of those readings that burst your "I think I'm ready to face the evils of the world" bubble because you aren't. I honestly thought I already understand what is happening to our world, modern or post-modern. I mean, after all, the media merely sends “messages and symbols to the general populace…to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society” (257) right?

Apparently not so... My awareness regarding (post)modern society revolves around money, and when I mean revolve it is more like orbiting. I try to grasp the concept of real and virtual - yes, I understand the notion of video games but what about the stock market? All these huge figures of numbers are discussed and civilians who invest fret over this, however, what is supposed to be backed up by a stable currency (gold) is not even with us in reality. So, does this boil down to how the stock market, as in our economy, is an illusion because it is a mere concept???

So, everyday, we live our lives worrying about bills - or uh, the thing we use to exchange for more things...they're just mere ideas for more ideas? I mean, if you think about it, what is money but a face and some numbers printed on paper? Why do we toy with this notion of the real and the unreal or surreal?

Billboard Music

In class on Tuesday DC asked how billboard top 100 music is post modern. My explanation for this phenomena is how we need approval for things(trends) which fit into ideology. By having a rating and top 100 songs we are defining ideology and remaining in it. I asked myself then who rates the songs and how is it decided what songs are popular. I found this statement in tiny print on the Billboard Top 100 Hits website:

"This weeks most popular songs across all genres, ranked by radio airplay audience Impressions as measured by Neilsen BDS, sales data as compiled by Neilsen SoundScan and streaming activity data provided by online music sources"

So this basically is decided by the radio. As we had discussed earlier the radio is a tool for ideology. The people can not choose what is on the radio and therefore we are subject to ideology no matter what. This list is only popular because of the radio and some online websites.

Pre-Class Herman and Chomsky

Herman and Chomsky’s article on America’s own model of propaganda is perhaps one of the most intelligent, well-put together and well-support essays on this topic I have ever read. As an educated American citizen, I think this piece should be read by anyone and everyone that has ever tuned into an American source for the news, whether it be the local newspaper or the national nightly broadcasts, these authors’ articulation of this cyclical business between the media, its ownership, and their bounded relationship to the government is nothing short of scary. It is absolutely unbelievable to grasp the highly politicized and profit-minded system that structures these relationships, and how their interests are overriding and are the ultimate decider of what is “important”, what is “worthy”, and what is “fact”. The amount of examples that are provided throughout this article are truly eye-opening in that they reveal exactly how these government and corporate relationships are able to manipulate media outlets into only broadcasting what lies in their interest, and consequently, only releases to the American public a very one-dimensional, one-sided view to a much large and complex interest: and this view is mostly, if not always, conservative, “Anti-Communist,” big-business, “mainstream”-minded.

Their explanation of the five filters that go into manipulating what we see on television and read in the newspaper was particular insightful for me as well, because although I had always recognized these “filters” as being in existence and of powerful constraint, I never realized to what extent they all functioned together in harmonious concert. The most interesting “filter” for me was that of the “flak machine” in which “centers” and “institutions” have been created for the sheer purpose of monitoring anti-business and thus supposedly “anti-American” propensities of the mass media. The media is than harassed by these groups until they decide to either abolish or provide counter-opinions to their “unconventional” arguments, which almost always end up with the media again giving more than adequate weight to the big business and government-sided point of view. Likewise, “although the flak machines steadily attack the mass media, the media treat them well. They receive respectful attention, and their propagandistic role and links to a large corporate program are rarely mentioned or analyzed” (277). I think the most alarming part is that it is our own government, a government that prides itself on a democratic society with freedom for every citizen, that is the major producer of this filth they call flak…

Post Class, Andrew Wells

In class on Monday we were ask the question on why music top 100 is so popular. My only guess would be that people are inclined to enjoy a certain style to a song. Once enough people enjoy that style, others will mostly tend to enjoy the song just because they want to be apart of the style liking. I think that even at times people force themselves to like a song because others are listening to it. If you're the one that doesn't like the song, you're considered to be an outsider and a "different" person. Just imagine yourself at a club with everyone dancing to a top 100 song that you don't like. You would either not dance and stand by on the side by yourself and wait to the next song or you would force your self to like the song and dance with everyone else.

For thursday assignment we were instructed to read Pierre Bourdiu on page 328. The essay "On Television" was a analysis of the tv and its effects it has on culture. It criticizes the networks for their failure of presenting the public with "stimulating, broad based programming." Better yet he says that the tv is " a threat to political life and to democracy itself". According to Bourdiu the media attention is towards spectacle, disasters, and human interest stories. The expression of "invisible censorship" is exercised on the news both directly and indirectly by the market. All the ways that the journalists impose limits on the publics vision on what is considered real life and what is not. Furthermore he argues that the television provides nothing more than the illusion of freedom. The desire to strike a larger audience has not turned into a method of attracting the short attention minded. This would include segments with shorter information and intense camera use and audio. Todays news media has turned in to a virtual Peoples magazine, filled with scandalous pop-star images and pictures of world devastation.

Pre Class 4/1 Bourdieu

On page 330 Bourdieu states, “with [journalists] permanent access to public visibility, broad circulation, and mass diffusion – an access that was completely unthinkable for any culture producer until television came into picture – these journalists can impose on the whole of society their vision of the world, their conception of problems, and their point of view.” Before reading Bourdieu I never realized what a large effect television had and its overwhelming popularity over print. It is well know that the invention of the printing press was one of the most revolutionary inventions for the media but I do not think it is as well known that television has had such a huge impact. I guess it makes sense that people in such a fast moving society would not spend the time to read the newspaper or news magazines anymore and would rather just turn on the television and watch the news while eating dinner, folding laundry, etc.. In both CMC 100 and 200 we have discussed the problems with people viewing just one form of media. The news has a bias and by just viewing one news source, such as television, people are only getting one point of view and cannot formulate their own opinions. A major problem with television news is that news programs are not interested in getting people the right information but want to get the best ratings. Unfortunately there seems to be a discrepancy between what people need to hear and what people want to hear. Bourdieu talks about how news stations that air the least offensive news stories and spend time talking about unimportant topics, such as sports and the weather, are the stations that get the best ratings. News sources such as NPR and PBS that are known to deliver the most real news and the least bias are the ones with the lowest ratings while stations such as CNN and Fox News that are known for having a strong bias have much higher ratings. Bourdieu argues that if people need to start looking at this situation more critically and not supporting the more entertaining news programs and realizing the affect television news is having on our society.

3/30 Post Class

In class on 3/30 we contemplated the question what is postmodern about the billboard charts? This goes back to our Lyotard discussion on how our culture loves to rate everything from itunes ratings to yelp and other review sites. We are always looking for the best and newest releases of pop culture. I agree with scott's post when he says that train is at a postmodern point in their career because they made their big hit with "Drops of Juptiter" and "When I look to the Sky" and now their new song gives references to many songs that we as a culture have connected to in the previous decades. Going off of this it reminds me of how after John Mayer made it big and then came back later with his song "Waiting for the World to Change" where he gave a really strong statement about the media when he says, "and when you trust your television what you get is what you got cause when they own the information, oh they can bend it all they want " which is a critical media statement but in a pop hit song from John Mayer. Since our culture has such a fascination with ratings, he used this to his advantage and he brought what was going on in the world into a song that he knew was going to be on the billboard charts and give out a message. This relates to the quote we talked about, "The defrauded masses today cling to the myth of success still more ardently than the successful." I also enjoyed in this class the connection to my History of Radio and Television class, which is very interesting and important to know how media has evolved over the years. "The radio - democratically makes everyone equally into listeners." This medium created unity and the sameness that we were talking about and how it brought everyone together into the same routine and rhythm.