Chapter Thirteen

1.     Do you read international news? Why or why not?

If I would have answered this question six months ago my answer would have been no. However, since then I have taken a Global Education class that required me to select a news story (such as a national disaster or political issue) and find a newspaper online from three different countries and blog about the differences and similarities. I really enjoyed this project and it really opened my eyes up to the different news sources and the different biases of different countries. I think that to be truly educated, you should get your news from a variety of news sources, internationally, to be well rounded and to avoid getting a bias of news and misinformation.

2.     What steps can reporters and editors take to cover media ownership issues in a better way?

I think that it is really important that reporters and editors make sure that within their own organization (such as The Hickory Daily Record) that reporters and editors are assigned to a broad variety of topics, and that the reporters take turns reporting on different issues. I also think that everyone should focus more on the news being reported than who owns the media.  Responsible reporting is also a very important part of media ownership. When reporters are reporting on this issue, it is important to remain unbiased as well as to remain dignified even if they don’t agree with the opinions that they’re reporting on.

3.     Is there such a thing as a global village? What does this concept mean to you?

I think that the global village does exist, and to me, this concept is the global community that we create when we combine the different media sources, internationally and nationally, to create one pot of information that anyone can gather their opinions and news sources from. I think that most people are familiar with the phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child” and I think this also applies to a global village raising a child of the earth. It takes more than just one country’s news source or one city’s news source to make a person well educated and well rounded.

Chapter Sixteen

1. What do you think of current movie rating system? should it be changed? why or why not?
I think it's an awesome system! We discussed in class how young children are wanting to watch more and more movies that are being released and it's important for parents to be able to monitor what our children see. Likewise, as a Christian, I like to know if what I am about to watch is contradictory to my beliefs. If it's pornographic or violent, then I want to know so that I can make plans to either not watch it or to watch something else. I think that the movie rating system is fair and is good way to "check and balance" the freedom of speech/expression that movie writers/producers exercise.

2. Should the fairness doctrine be revived?
I think that we live in a society that offers a fair representation of all views as it is. While each individual news station might not give equal air time to all sides of a story, there are so many ways of obtaining news that one can simply change the channel and find the opposing view. If there were limited news sources, I would agree that it's important to have a doctrine such as the Fairness Doctrine,  but i think that there are enough options to where this is no longer necessary in today's society. Also, there are so many news stations, radio stations and websites that this would be very hard to monitor.

3. Should the united states have a federal shield law to protect reporters?
I would bet more people would want to be reporters if they felt protected and watched over, but I also feel like reporters put themselves out there on the line when choosing the profession so they are in charge of their own protection. To an extent, it would be nice to offer a law to federally protect reporters but I also thing that reporters have a responsibility when covering the news and finding things out that means they might have to divulge certain information if it means keeping people safe. Burning a source is a deadly sin in reporting, but it's also one that could save lives and reporters should understand that going into their work.

Chapter Fifteen

1.  1. What are your main concerns or criticisms about the state of media studies at your college or university?

I feel that Lenoir-Rhyne University does  great job at advertising The Rhynean and that the radio station also gets a lot of attention, but other than that, communications at LR seems rather dead. As a comm. major it worries me because I feel that more students would get involved/carte about the program if it were advertised more and if there was more activity. I didn’t even know we had a communications club until I saw it on facebook. I think that with more knowledge about things like that, people would be more eager to participate in the program and get involved on campus.

2.  2. One charge that has been leveled against a lot of media research—both the effects and the cultural models—is that it has very little impact on changing out media institutions. Do you agree or disagree, and why?

I think that people have a very set way of doing things and that, in every aspect of life, it’s hard to make people change even when there is concrete proof that change needs to occur. Having said that, I feel that when research happens concerning the effects and cultural models of media, the media institutions try to adapt as best they can to the evolution of those producing and receiving the media. While it doesn’t always happen quickly, I do feel that it happens and that it is progressing more rapidly now than it ever has before in the past. I think younger generations are participating in media, which is refreshing for both consumers and producers. Younger people often produce change faster than those who are stuck in tradition which often comes with their age.

3. 3.Can you think of an issue that media industry and academic researchers could study together? Explain.

Absolutely. When it comes to the drinking age, the media industry and academic researchers could study this (and have studied this) extensively. On an academic level, the effects of alcohol, young drinkers and the legal aspect can be studied and analyzed while on the media industry end, the desire and appeal of alcohol and the awareness and can be researched and analyzed. On a further note, I think it is essential that these two mediums come together to work and research because without the other, the accurate information obtained by research can’t be released to the masses through media effectively.