2nd 6 weeks: Vocabulary Response

The other day Mr. Miller taught us about the terminology used in newscasts. It was really interesting because I knew what each one was, I just never knew the name for it. 

The most interesting thing to me was the VNR, or Video News Release. I had never heard of this or noticed one on television news, but I am sure I have seen it before without noticing. Learning about how to spot a VNR has made me more aware of when they're shown so know I can recognize them on TV. Since we have to watch the news each night for our project, I decided I am going to look for VNRs and try to point them out. 

I wished we could have spent more time on VNRs and watched more examples. I want to be able to notice them whenever I watch the news and I think more examples would help with that. The example we did watch however was very helpful and helped me understand VNRs more. 

Even though this was not really a lecture I really enjoyed learning all of the words that newscasters use and their terminology. 

2nd 6 Weeks: Response to Radio Lecture

Our recent class lecture on radio's was one of my favorites. During this lecture I really made the connection between all of the different kinds of mass communication and that they all follow the same pattern. Like all other forms of mass communication, radios gradually grew in popularity and then reached a peak where they were extremely popular everywhere. But, after television was invented, radios began to decline and demassify, going for niche audiences. This is the pattern followed by most forms of mass communication.

Until the FCC regulated which stations played on which channels, radio stations would try and broadcast through the same channel. Because of this, you could hear part of one station and part of the other. The FCC regulated which stations broadcasted though each channel, but its different for each city. Because of this, you can be driving somewhere and for a brief time period, you hear two stations at once. That's because they run through the same channel. I thought this was relatable because this happens to us a lot when my family goes on road trips. 

Another thing that was really interesting was that rock and roll music saved radios from dying out. Radios were saved by rock and roll because teens began to use the radio to listen to music, which kept them popular. I can relate to this because I usually listen to music on the radio in the car and in my room. 

Overall, I personally use radios a lot and I know most people my age do as well. I really understand why radios are still around today, because I am a part of the niche audience. I was really fascinated by the history of radios and I wished we had more time to talk about them during the World War II time period.

2nd 6 Weeks- Response to Class Lecture on Movies

One of our class lectures was on movies. It was very interesting learning the history of movies and how they were very popular around the same time radios reached their peak. One thing I did not know before the lecture was that movies did not have flexible film until 1891. Before that, the film was solid, so you could not bend it at all.

We talked about how movie theaters reached a peak of 90 million tickets per week in 1946. Now, theaters sell about 23 million tickets per week. I thought that was amazing because when I'm at the movies,  they are always crowded, but its less than one third of the amount of people that used to go.

We learned why movie theaters are still popular even though we have things like Netflix and cable. Movies theaters have what is called an immersive experience, which is the large screen, dark environment, no commercials, and the sophisticated sound system. I knew all of these things made going to the theater a unique experience, but now I know the actual name for it.

One thing that I could really connect to was the social aspects that keep theaters in business. I go to the movies with my friends, because its a lot more fun that just watching a movie at home with them. I learned in this lecture that this is one of the things that has kept theaters in business after the internet and television were invented. Also, being able to go to premiers of movies at the theaters has kept theaters popular because people want to be the first to see certain movies. I could also relate to that, because I know the feeling of disappointment when your mom won't let you go to the premier and all of your friends saw The Hunger Games before you.

The most interesting thing about this lecture that I wished we had talked more about were the trends set by certain movies. Mr. Miller talked some about how a guy in a popular movie wore a white t-shirt and everybody began to wear white t-shirts. I thought it was really interesting to learn about how old popular movies that we've never even heard of have affected the way we dress today. I wish we could have spent more time talking about that, but overall it was a very interesting lecture.

Media Critique on Fox News

Two articles about European migrant crisis were published today. Both articles focus of the recent news that many migrants are pouring into Croatia to escape the violence in their homeland. The first article, from Fox News, was very informative, but failed to meet one of Ten Elements of Journalism that the other article, from CNN, did meet. The Fox News article did not make the important interesting.

The article from Fox, entitled "Thousands of refugees rush into Croatia to find new route to Western Europe", was filled with informative facts that really explained the crisis in Croatia. However, when it is compared it to the article from CNN, it was clearly missing something. 

The difference between the two articles was the way they were explained. The superior article entitled "Migrant Crisis: Thousands overwhelm Croatia" from CNN used very intriguing phrases that really grabbed your attention and described the situation much better. For example, the CNN article says, "Women were wailing and police tried to help children as masses of people pushed their way out of the holding area set up for processing," this is just one example of this article using extreme details and vivid adjectives to grab your attention.

The Fox News article had no details of a first person account, only facts about what happened. In this article, two paragraphs start with phrases such as "Authorities said," or "Croatian police said," rather than explaining the horror that the migrants were facing. Fox should have written about first person accounts of the crisis, in order to make the article more interesting. 

Another way that the Fox article failed to meet this element of journalism, was failure to use visual aids. Visual aids such as videos or pictures incorporated with the article really help make it an interesting piece of news. While the CNN article used many pictures and a video, the Fox article used one picture at the beginning of their short article. If Fox had used more visual aids, it may have made their article more interesting and may have brought them closer to meeting this specific element of journalism.

Under the element "Make the Important Interesting", it says, "Part of the journalist's responsibility is providing information in such a way people will be inclined to listen." Overall, this article written by Fox News failed to do so. Therefore, it does not meet all ten elements of journalism.

Read both articles here:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/09/17/thousands-migrants-rush-into-croatia-in-new-route-to-western-europe/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/world/europe-migrant-crisis/index.html 

Response to Binary models lecture

Everyday I listen to music while I do my schoolwork. What I never thought about was how I can listen to music and still really focus on my task. During the lecture on binary models I learned about hot and cool mediums. Music is a cool medium. This means that you don't have to fully engage with it when listening to it. Other things, like books are hot mediums, meaning you have to give it your full attention.

Another binary model is information and entertainment. Information's job is to tell us things while entertainment is not meant to inform. But one thing that is happening is those two are combining and forming infotainment. One example of infotainment is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It is meant to inform you about the current events, but also entertain you. This is due to conglomeration. When one company owns a bunch of smaller companies, it's called conglomeration. This is leading to the merging of this binary model. This can be related to my life because my parents watch NBC news shows, which has no entertainment factor, but also shows like the Colbert Report that have the comedy incooperated into the news.

Commincation lecture response

Communication is something we do everyday. Whether it's talking, texting, or giving someone a high five, we are communicating with people all around us all of the time. Prior to the lecture on communication, I never really thought about the different ways we communcate. It turns out there are three types of communication. Individual, between two people. Group communication would be a small group of people like a family meeting or sermon. The last and the biggest form of communication is mass communication. This is the type of communication that has the potential to reach a mass audience.

I never understood how much mass communication our generation uses. Every tweet we post, every video game we play is mass communication. I knew my Instagram was a private account, but after the lecture I learned that my pictures could become mass communication. People could screenshot and share with others, giving it the potential to reach a mass audience. I thought this lecture was very interesting.

Response to Wesley's Post

Recently, I read Wesley's repsonse to the magazine lecture. She talked about how people don't really read magazines anymore and that people just watch TV or read on their phones. I disagree with that. I think people do read magazines still, but just not as much. Magazines remain around for a long time, I think, because it's not all current events that you must read that day. Magazines don't come out daily, so the articles in them can be kept around and read at different times.

For example, some magazines have recipes or articles on how to get fit. You don't necessarily have to read that right away and then throw it away. Also, you could share the magazine with your friends. That is one thing that Mr. Miller mentioned when talking about magazines and newspapers. There is not just one copy per person. It's usually several people per copy. So you could subscribe to a magazine and then give it to your neighbors to read, which is what my neighbors do.  So, magazines may be less popular, but people still definitely read them. They have many advantages over electronic articles and Internet magazines.

Read Wesley's blog at http://wesizzle.blogspot.com/2015/09/magazines.html?m=1