Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture - Assignment Example

Section/# Questions and Response Although the premise of the particular subsection of the text resonated with this student, what remains to be seen is the degree to which the upsurge in consumer sentiment will survive the ongoing trend that has proven to the death bell for so many newspapers around the country and around the world. The fact of the matter is that print journalism, although quaint and easily identifiable as something highly local, suffers from the ability to engage a new audience that has become increasingly dependent upon newer means of extracting pertinent news. With regards to the hometown paper that I have grown up with, it has not been the pillar of the community that has been described within the text. Rather, the paper has been often ridiculed as representing the interests of a few shareholders and outright ignoring almost any and all other activities, circumstances, or news that affected those outside of this small subset. Obviously, with such a negative view of the hometown paper, it would not be expected that this student would go to a great length to attempt to save something that has provided so little net benefit to the community as a whole. With regards to the question concerning what life would be like with no newspapers whatsoever, the student can provide a less biased and/or strident response (Baran 100). Due to the fact that many newspapers around the country have the unique ability to speak affectively to the needs of their readership and provide a useful and fundamental cornerstone of the American experience, it is the belief of this student that the fabric of society and the way in which communities were able to interact with one another would be unalterably changed. With regards to “aggressive advertising” or “interruptive ads” as discussed within the text, there is no doubt that they both distract the reader as well as take away from the merit and integrity of the text in question. Regardless of the subject matter, if the reader is distracted by interruptive ads in or around non-traditional areas for such ads to be displayed, the level of distraction may well translate into an overall lack of credulity surrounding the piece. In this way, the reader may come to assume that any legitimate piece of journalism would not employ such a tactic as a means of intriguing the viewer with such contect. As a function of this particular personal approach, this student is in full agreement with the ways in which the ASME has handled the situation and the guidelines that have been lain out with regards to the way in which such ads can and should be presented (Acquisti et al 231). With respect to the argument that states that the industry must incorporate such ads as a means to attract investors and generate income in a market that is already heavily troubled by the economic concerns of our times, the fact of the matter is that by incorporating such ads into a variety of print journalism, it is likely that the readership will become frustrated by such a bold-faced policy of advertising and the end result will be even more financially damaging to such firms that they will of course wish they never implimented such a plan in the first place. With regards to the movie industry, the most pertinent question that the analysis raised is what key factor is contributing to the decline in overall theather attendence. One school of thought puts forward that it is the drop in the overall quality of films that Hollywood has been able to produce within the past several years. Another school of thought states that the issue has only been further compounded due to key societal changes with regards to the quality of home cinema systems, the invention and wild success of movie kiosks, NetFlix and a host of other factors. However, with respect to the extent to which changing technologies are encouraging would-be movie attendees to to change their habits, it is the belief of this author that the effects of such technologies on movie attendence is in fact quite limited. Rather, the overall quality of film has so substantially degenerated in recent years that few die-hard movie patrons are willing to expend the time or the money to see but another unimaginative and/or recycled plotline regurtitated ad-infinitum onto the silver screen. Such an explanation is actually quite simple for the movie producers and directors to attempt to understand; produce superior quality work, receive profits and a winning growth mechanism. With regards to the music industry and the unique and different ways in which artists are now seeking to sell their music directly to their fan base, outside of the bounds of traditional music labels and CD sales, it is the belief of this author that the music industry is currently in a period of flux and transition and as such, none of the current models will survive intact from this period of change. However, what is important to note is the fact that a host of the different ideas that have been presented as a result of the inability of the traditional record sales to generate income is the litany of different ways in which the artists are engaging with their target audience to sell their work. Moreover, the development that is being presented will no doubt continue as it is doubtless that the state of flux the industry is currently in will remain at least until a better alternative is realized. Speaking from the perspective of the musician, the alternatives that have presented themselves within the past several years offer a widely more attractive prospect than did the traditional means of music distribution that had existed among record companies for decades previously. Due to the fact that the individual musician can now seek to cut the record company’s choking profit margin out of their bottom line and engage the listener directly (via means of the internet), the way in which music is sold has fundamentally been altered. As such, it is the belief of this author that such represents a net positive for the equitable nature of the industry and the future of music sales in general. With regards to the extent that the government should seek to stay out of regulating the internet, this particular student is torn between the best way to handle such an issue. On the one side, heavier government regulation necessarily restricts freedom; even if the freedom that is being restricted is the right of certain key companies to control the internet in a given way. In such an aspect, a greater level of government control could be viewed as a net positive. However, on the flip side, the student is fundamentally opposed to government having any more ability to regulate or sensor what information is available to the end user once the lines to the internet are assured free of monopolistic competition. In other words, although this student does not have an issue with the government regulating what companies can control what percentage of the market, I very much do have an issue with the government having any larger role to play in what information is made available to the end user once he or she is on the internet. The revolutions that have taken place over the Middle East in the past few years have illustrated just how important internet connectivity is in spreading the very ideas of liberty and freedom that the nation itself is supposedly founded upon. As such, it is in the best interests of freedom and democracy for government, with the exception of ensuring fair access to the internet for consumers, to stay far away from involvement in regulating the internet. What is interesting and unique about the Revolution of the Griefers is the fact that the original intention of the Second Life(SL) was to create an online realm that closely mirrored the real world but provided the ability of the user to actively engage their avatar in ways that they could not engage their own lives. As a result, the game became a type of alternative outlet and/or universe for avatars to live out an alter ego separate from the realities that constrained the user. What strikes this student as curious regarding their revolt against corporatism within their realm is the fact that this is just one component of life within the real world and as such should not only be welcomed but celebrated by these users as a further evidence that the world has graduated to yet a higher level of detail. Moreover, rather than representing that there is something fundamentally different between regular online game players and those that play MMOs(Massively Multiplayer Online games), the article fails to make the very important distinction that although certain percentages of members support this revolt, the majority of users do not. As such, attempting to classify and categorize the petulant actions of a few maladjusted gamers by attributing this action to the whole is shortsighted and incorrect due to the fact that on the whole most users could care less about such frivolities. With respect to Wikileaks and the government’s ability to keep its secrets, it is the belief of this student that the government should better expend its energy on ensuring that it secrets are well kept in the first place rather than seeking to silence any journalists who have found otherwise secret communiqués. Although the level of embarrassment and national security damage that may be done could foreseeably be great, the fact of the matter is that the government has no fundamental right to silence the press; especially that press which is founded and supported by the First Amendment to the US Constitution (Adler 1). The repercussions to the freedom of the press that would be felt by pursuing Julian Assange or other similar characters would be disastrous to the faith and precedent that has been almost immutably etched in the nation’s journalists and media for over 200 years. Works Cited Acquisti, Alessandro, and Sarah Spiekermann. "Do Interruptions Pay Off? Effects Of Interruptive Ads On Consumers Willingness To Pay." Journal Of Interactive Marketing (Mergent, Inc.) 25.4 (2011): 226-240. Business Source Premier. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. Adler, Ben. "Why Journalists Arent Standing Up for WikiLeaks." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 04 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2012. Baran, Stanley. Introduction to mass communication : media literacy and culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Read More