I’m Back

Hello blogging world, it is Jacob here for another term of blogging as an assignment for one of my classes. Last term I was assigned to blog almost every other week on various topics from the election to obscene images in the media and various ways media influnences us, for my Mass Media and Soceity class at the University of Oregon. Well now I’m back using the blog I created for that class and using it to complete my “Project 2″ for Computer Science 110 class this term. This class is just about the basics of Computer Science and a prerequsite for some classes I want to take for my Multimedia minor. So because this is just a project I don’t need to right about anything in particular which is cool so enough with this, let’s start blogging!! Haha.

So, what should I talk about? I think I’m just going to talk about life, kinda boring, but it will get me the points I need for this assignment so what the heck. So the last blog post I had on here was posted two days before I left for the most valuable and rewarding three weeks of my life. I went back to good old California for Chrsitmas Break! Three weeks with the people and in the places I wanted to be most! It was so nice to just be home and relax and not worry about school and just Live it Up! That is one of many mottos I live by so if I refer to it a lot, sorry. Haha. But going home for Christmas break was also extremely difficult and not like anything I expected. My family had gotten used to me not being there and I had to, that when our two new worlds met, they collided with force. There was arguing, tension, and hardship, if that is even the right word, for some of my time home. My parents wanted to give the independence I wanted and needed but at the same time didn’t know how to do that. I can understand that. There were a few times where I just broke down and felt like I was in a different world than what I had left just ten weeks earlier. It was a weird feeling. But by the end of the break I knew that this was the best thing that ever happened to me. My parents and I had figured it out. I’ll just leave it at that. We have an understanding of each other. My parents are two of my best friends and I love them more than anything, along with my brothers and sisters. I am just so happy we did what we did and made it work. I felt extremely close to my parents before I came home from school and after I left in the beginning of January after break I feel like extremely close does not even describe it. So now that we have done the emotional parts, the fun parts of Christmas break. Well, I spent most of my time with my best friends, hanging out watching movies, going dancing at some country bar in our Old Town(it was kinda fun actually), enjoying New Years(maybe a little too much), and just being a kid again. I loved every moment of Christmas break and did not want it to end! I wish I could go back home right now and do that for the rest of my life. Be a kid. Well we all know that’s not going to happen but we can dream thats how life was meant to be, eventhough we very well know that it is not. Don’t get me wrong I want to grow up, I just loved being 16,17, and 18, I want to live in those years forever!!

So Christmas break was great and when I came back to school it was great too. It was so nice to come back and see everyone and start over fresh. It was tough at first just getting readjusted to school and all but it was great to have to readjust. It was also nice how I felt like I had never left and all my friends and I just were like it was old times and we had never left. Classes started well and are continuing to go well. I’m so glad I go to the this school and love ever minute of it. I’m having so much fun and love it here! California will always be my home but right now I’m happy to be and forever be a Duck!!

Teri and Ian: The Amazing Race stereotype breakers.

So here it is, my final blog post of my first college journalism class. Our final assignment is to examine how a type of person in portrayed in the media. We can choose to analyze media including, television shows, a single television episode, or a movie. For this assignment I chose to analyze, season 3 of the CBS show, “The Amazing Race.” For my analysis, I have chosen to qualify it the way that Bonnie Dow (1996) chooses to qualify her arguments in the book “Prime-Time Feminism: Television, Media Culture, and the Women’s Movement Since 1970.” In my opinion, season 3 of “The Amazing Race” is a positive influence on society because it breaks the stereotype that people ages 50 to 60 are physically weak. It does this by featuring middle age characters that can run around the world: They have the stamina and strength to compete.

            “The Amazing Race” demonstrates that middle-aged characters are not physically weak. Their age has nothing to do with their ability to perform or capability to be as good as younger aged individuals.

            The two characters, from season 3, that shows this breaking of stereotypes are married coupe Teri and Ian. At the beginning of the race, Teri and Ian never seemed like front-runners or threats to the other competitors. Throughout the race they proved the audience and their competitors wrong. They competed in challenges including, in episode 2, swimming with a family of dolphins and trying to find their next clue at the bottom of a lagoon in Mexico, in episode 3 riding six miles on a bike though the United Kingdom, in episode 5 repelling 300 feet down a cliff in Portugal and again in episode 11 transporting their partners on bike, through a marked path. Through all of this Teri and Ian prevailed each time, avoiding elimination each time. They even first place three times, once in episode 6, receiving the Fast Forward clue and then again, in episodes 11 and 12, this time doing all on their own with their own strength and stamina. All together Teri and Ian created some records on “The Amazing Race,” becoming the oldest team to make it past episode 6, the oldest team to make into the final 3, the oldest team to come in first place three times, and the oldest team to eventually come in second place.

            The fact that Teri and Ian beat out nine other teams on “The Amazing Race” is a feat all in itself. They showed that age is not an issue and that anyone can compete in this race around the world. By them biking six miles through England and repelling down a 300 foot cliff shows their stamina and strength. Both of these tasks require great stamina, so by Teri and Ian completing their task, their characters are seen as strong and able. Even just completing a entire race around the world, running, competing, doing various challenges everyday shows their stamina to keep up and to keep going everyday. Throughout season 3, Teri and Ian looked like strong competitors, regardless of age.

            Some might say that because Teri and Ian came in second and did not win the stereotype here is not broken. I personally do not think you have to win to prove someone wrong. If they came in third or fourth, the impact of them competing in the race and the stereotypes they would have broken would still be there. They opened the door to many more middle aged individuals and created a positive influence and stereotype for them.     

References

Doganieri, Elise. (2002). The Amazing Race: Season 3. Hollywood: Columbia Broadcasting System. 

Dow, B. (1996). Prime-time feminism: Television, media culture, and the women’s movement since 1970. Philadelphia: University Press.

 

Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins

This week in my Journalism class we learned all about copyrights and trademarks and how they affect companies and the way people are allowed to do thing and use trademarked or copy written pieces.  As we discussed these topics, the idea of censorship came into the discussion.  Censorship is a way in which a group of people attempt to censor a certain piece of media that seems obscene or offensive or that goes against the groups morals.  My blog post this week is to give an example of attempted censorship and give my opinion on it.  So here we go.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono released the album, “Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins” in 1968.  The front of the album cover showed a completely nude John Lennon alongside a completely nude Yoko Ono and the back showed both nude from the back.  When the album was released people were outraged that an album cover like this would be able to be sold in the public market.  Distributers were forced to cover all the albums with brown paper, showing only Lennon’s and Ono’s faces.  Some of the albums were even impounded as being obscene.  Over 30,000 in New Jersey alone were taken away from stores and impounded.  

There was an attempt here to censor this album just because of the the explicit nudity on the entire album cover.  Nudity especially back in the sixties was still considered somewhat sacred and so this was a huge shock for everyone who saw the cover.  John Lennon was the first male celebrity to expose himself like this in any form and so some people probably didn’t like seeing a famous male “role model” naked.  Just the idea for anyone of showing their naked body, even though we all have one, to the entire world people are uncomfortable with.  Parents don’t want to have their children exposed and they don’t want to have to look at two naked people every time they want to listen to music.  Nudity all together is a very iffy subject and something that most people are not to comfortable with.  

My personal belief on this issue of censorship is that this album cover kinda pushed the limit a little.  Nudity doesn’t bother me at all and neither does the cover, but I kinda don’t understand why Lennon and Ono wanted to do this for one and why they thought it would be okay to put this in the public eye. Another pose where they were still nude but covered up might I have been a better option and not had as much controversy?  Nudity is a very iffy subject in today’s and the 1960s society and this photo and album cover seemed a little inappropriate for the public view.  Both Lennon and Ono we not mindful of other people’s opinions and paid the price.  Normally something would be opposed by at least one person but this because of its obscene nature, most everyone found it offensive. I can see how they thought of it as art, which it is, but by putting in the public eye it was went from art to obscene.  It was was just not a good idea on their part and censoring it was the best idea for it.

This type of media would never be published in today’s society, except for private use only.  Censorship is responsible for that and in that way it is a good thing!

Clostridium difficile

 For my blog post this week, our task is to analyze a health or science article from an online mainstream newspaper.  In our class on Thursday we discussed how health and science articles influence decisions we make and what types of ploys the authors use to makes the reader believe what they are saying about the subject is credible.

            I decided for this assignment that I would choose The New York Times as my online mainstream newspaper.  For my article I chose one entitled, “Test Drug Does Well Against Hospital Infection”, written by Andrew Pollack.  This article was about a new drug developed to help treat an intestinal superbug that spreads through hospitals and makes patients very ill and sometimes can even lead to death.  This new antibiotic helps treat a bacterium, Clostridium difficile, which can cause severe diarrhea and even in some cases removal of the colon.  Thousands of Americans are killed every year by this bacterium, but more violent strains have been found and doctors fear the bacterium will continue to spread and kill more people. 

            In the clinical trial of this new drug, ninety percent of the patients were successful cleared of the infection, but the other ten had relapses of the infection and required more medical attention.  There were two drugs used in this clinical trial, Vancocin, an approved drug, and an unnamed drug produced by Optimer Pharmaceuticals that is not approved yet, but approval would be based on the clinical trial.  The clinical trial seemed to favor the Optimer drug, having more success rates in curing the infection and a lesser rate of relapse.  The Vancocin is already on the market and had recorded sales of $182.3 million dollars in the first nine months of 2008.  The Optimer drug still has one more Phase of clinical trials to go through before applying for approval for sale by the Food and Drug Administration.  The final trial is set to be complete at the end of 2009. 

            The reporter of this article I felt did a good job at answering the questions, anyone or myself would have.  The only questions that were not answered that I thought needed to be were; what do the drugs that fight that bacterium actually do? Are there any side effects to the drug? Are these drugs for hospital use only or are they over the counter?  These were just some questions I had but overall I felt that the author wrote the article very well, just those couple of questions I believe should have been answered but even without them the article made sense.

            The article did contain some sources, a doctor, a representative from the Optimer Pharmaceutical company and the University of Massachusetts.  I felt like the sources used were credible.  The doctor seemed to have some insight into the bacterium and what it does and Optimer representative didn’t have much to say but her title, senior director for biology, made me believe that what she was saying was credible.  The University of Massachusetts seemed the least credible with no actual quotes from a representative, but the little bit about the subject the university presented seemed to be good information.  Overall the sources seemed credible but more probably could have been used.  The article did seem to lack expert opinions and ideas but the sources quoted appeared to be credible.

            This article had just enough information and sources to get the point across.  It was informative and taught me something new.  I hope that these drugs stop this bacterium and it will not become a hospital epidemic.

 

Milk is Milk

So this week in my Mass Media and Society class we have participation blog post, which we don’t get graded on but a blog that we can have a little fun with.  Our assignment is to explore an online branded community.  An online branded community, is a website devoted to one particular subject.  For my community I chose the website, whitegoldiswhitegold.com.  This online branded community, is for everyones favorite drink, milk.

When I first went onto the website, I was a little confused as to what I would be encountering.  The opening page seems more like a rock band website than a community about milk.  But then I came to realize that the way, milk, has branded itself was as a rock star.  This also was interesting to me because I began to wonder why.  As a thought about the question I continued to look around the website.  On the main page, the feeling was very serene and calm, which I thought was a little weird.  Only in the sense that it really had nothing to do with a rock band.  As I clicked on icons and other links through out the website I found that it had games and videos and other information but nothing about the product it was trying to sell or get people to drink.  There was little to no information on milk.  The whole reason this online branded community was created.  I found the games and videos a little cheesy and not very interesting.  The website as a whole did not impress me.

I have to say that I was a little engaged by the website that the beginning but after I explored it further I did not understand why a company would created a website like this.  I think the company’s marketing, with using a rock star, was really good and will get more kids to listen, but it just wasn’t a good branded community for me.  

I love milk and grew up on it, so this website does not change my feelings toward the product.  This website is just another way for more people to drink milk, as a healthy alternative to soda or juice, but it would not let anyone know that.  It is just another website full of cheesy games and videos that have little or nothing to do with the product they are trying sell or promote.  

I feel like there are better online branded communities out there that promote their product better than whitegoldiswhitegold.com does.  This website, yes engaging at first, does not make me or most other people want to go out and buy or drink it.  That is only my opinion, but I guess that it is working for the company because White Gold is all over the TV and now the internet!

Media Effects

For my assignment this week, my task was to look at a mass medium, television, movies, music, etc. that could send messages that were unfavorable, cruel or offensive.  For my medium I chose look at rap music and how it portrays women, both negatively and positively.

After review three secondary articles, I have come to the belief that rap music portrays women in a negative way that is degrading towards them.

I looked at three secondary articles that all had the same message in regards to women and rap music. 

My first article described rap music as, making women sexual objects.  Because black males perform most rap music, the females described in the music are black females.  These females are seen as being Eurocentric, with thinner noses and lips, as well as longer, thinner hair.  These characteristics are not typical black female characteristics and the article claims that is a form of degrading from the artists.  Finally the article states that, even female rap artists, like Lil’ Kim, portray themselves as sexual objects and makes themselves in role of submissiveness and again as a sexual object (Conrad et. al.).

The second article read, continued that the art of rapping is sexist.  It states that rapping is a paradigm, which Cary Greenwood told us was a set of rules and regulations that establishes boundaries.  The article says, in simpler terms, that in order for rap artists to be successful they must follow the rules of rapping, set forth by previous rappers.  The rule set, in the case of women is that, the women always needs to look submissive and never as strong as the man.  But this rule also needs to be used in a tasteful manner, which some contributors to this article are saying is not happening (Dixon, Linz).

The final article used, was a study conducted where the participants watched rap music videos and asked about their sexual attitudes towards the music and video itself.  Most of males questioned were most of the music and videos, while most of the females saw the videos as degrading towards women.  Some of the females thought that the women in the music and videos were acting and being treated like sex toys and every man’s sexual dream.  Some of the participants, male or female, did not see any gender separation between males and females in these songs or videos and thought that the roles were correct for the each sex (Arganbright,Lee).

My grounds are relevant to my claim because I found three secondary journal articles that all deal with this degrading of women in rap music.  Each article contains various facts and opinions that support my claim.

Some readers might argue that rap music is an art form that only enhances the human spirit and gives meaning to gender roles.  Also, the idea of free speech can be argued here.  That rap is a form of free speech and what is said is not always meant literally.  However, I believe that no one, male or female, should be degraded and but down for the purpose of entertainment.    

I listen to rap music quite often and I see this idea of degrading and unfavorable behavior to women in it all the time.  I am not one however to stop someone from doing what they love to do based on what they perceive others to be.  As we have found out, most rap stars see women as sex toys, but that is only their opinion.  But my findings matter on in the sense to show that this is a real problem., that the female gender is being put down for entertainment.  I choose not to question why this happens, but only bring awareness to it.

Sources:

Arganbright, Michelle, and Moon Lee. “Effects of Hip-Hop Music Video Exposure on the Sexual Attitudes of Young Adults.” Conference Papers — International Communication Association (2007).

Conrad, Katie, Travis Dixon, and Yuanyuan Zhang. “Current Images in Rap Music: A Content Analysis.” Onference Papers — International Communication Association (2007).

Dixon, Travis L., and Daniel G. Linz. “Obscenity law and sexually explicit rap music: Understanding the effects of sex, attitudes, and beliefs.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 25.

Mainstream and Alternative Media

For this week’s blog post, I was asked to monitor both mainstream and alternative media sources and describe the difference of each.  So you might ask yourself, what are mainstream and alternative media sources?  Well to tell you the truth, I had no idea either until I looked them up.  I happened to out of town on the day these two topics were discussed, but with the magic of the internet I came up with two definitions.  First, mainstream media; the large media sources that look at their audience as consumers and finds ways to maximize their profit, instead of just giving the news.  Alternative media, on the other hand, focuses on the individual.  Although it is less popular, it is more informative and is not trying to make a profit from the work it is doing. So as part of my assignment I looked at two media sources, a mainstream, CNN, and an alternative, Democracy Now!  I chose to look at the print media of each media source.

The mainstream media source, CNN, covered many different stories.  Most of the stories covered had to do with the election and getting ready for Election Day.  Other topics discussed included the economy and job cuts, the war, some entertainment and health news, a wide variety of topics.  There seemed to be just on side of each story and not much opinion.  The stories purpose was to just get the news across and be more informative.  In most of the stories expert interviews were used to add an appeal for authority to for the news the writer was trying convey.  The mainstream media source seemed very straight forward and almost boring to me.  It was just the news and nothing else.

The alternative media source, Democracy Now!, dealt with complete governmental issues.  The print media in this source consisted of many articles regarding the election and it almost followed each candidates every move.  A lot of the articles covered were on issues involving Obama and McCain and how each of them was running their campaign in the final weeks.  There were even some articles that seemed very personal regarding the election.  One in particular was on how an Obama volunteer was harassed while at a rally in Wisconsin.  This was more than just news it was a real life event that only alternative media sources would publish.  There did not seem to be too much opinion in the articles.  The articles were easier to read and definitely would appeal to more people.  Again, there were expert interviews that added more substance to the articles and the sources seemed to come from each election campaign or even from the mainstream media.  On this site, in particular, these stories could also be read in Spanish.  

I learned after comparing these two media sources that, if you want the news, go mainstream, and if you want news that will make sense, go alternative.  Both sources, were great sources for information, but each had completely different ways of creating the story.  The alternative sources seemed to go a little more in depth into the topics, while the mainstream sources, just seemed to skim the top.  

This assignment has opened my eyes to alternative media sources and as I look for news I might now have to take a look at them to understand and get more out of the news and the stories of the world.

Election 2008 – In the Media

For my second blog and assignment this week, I was asked to to monitor three days of election coverage from a media source.  This source could have been a newspaper, twenty-four hour news station, or a news radio station.  Tiffany, my professor, asked us to look at the roles the media created in these different sources, based on the book, “The Press Effect,” written by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Paul Waldman.  I also have used Toulmin’s model to format my argument.

For my media source, I decided to use a newspaper.  I love reading the newspaper, whenever I can get my hands on one so I thought this would be a good source to cover.  I didn’t want to do a newspaper that everyone was familiar with, so I decided to use my local hometown newspaper, The Californian.  I read the online version of the paper, from Saturday, October 11, 2008 through Monday, October 13, 2008.  When I was back home, there were always a lot of stories on politics and the election, in the paper but it almost seems that the newspaper has lost interest in the election.

I believe that The Californian, did a terrible job of covering the election over the past three days.  There is serious need for improvement and more concern for this magnitude of this election.

The only articles I was able to find in this newspaper, the past three days, were letters written by others regarding the candidates or issues that had something to do with the election itself.  By only having letters that covered the election, The Californian was playing the “press as storyteller,” role.  The newspaper allowed others to tell their opinions and give there own stories on the candidates and the election in general.  On Saturday, October 11, for example, the main topic of the letters or articles was Sarah Palin.  Almost ever letter written was on how the Vice Presidential nominee was not qualified for the vice presidency or how she was just like one of us.  No where in the paper or letters did the words, Barack Obama or John McCain, come up.  On Sunday, October 12, the letters got a little bit better.  There continued to be comments against Sarah Palin and how unqualified she was, but also came in the remarks against John McCain.  Some letters stated how McCain will only continue President Bush’s presidency and how we need to “clean the mud off the White House.”  Other anti-McCain, Obama supporters, stated that both McCain and Palin were distorting the truth about Obama and not believe a word they were saying.  On the subject of Barack Obama, only two negative letters came from this day.  One letter stated, how Obama’s economic policy would hurt our economy even more and did not help the country at all.  The second letter questioned Obama’s influences.  The author of this letter questioned how the media was portraying Obama and wanted the media to expose his “radical past and abnormal attraction to extremists.”  They were worried about Obama’s hidden agenda for America.  On the final day of looking at my source, Monday, October 13, once again the main topic was Mrs. Sarah Palin herself.  Letters regarding how she was not ready, along with John McCain, to run the country.  One letter even described all the tactics the Republicans are using to get out of the low polls and position they are in.  The author asked the readers, “Are those the type of people we want running our country?”  One letter also asked the question, who is more uready, Obama or Palin?  The author encouraged voters to vote for the candidate that has more experience all together.  His answer, Sarah Palin, because of John McCain.  The final election related letter came from a author who just urged everyone to vote.  Put all of our differences aside and just get there and do what is right for the country.  All of these letters/articles seemed to be very well written and each had a very interesting points, opinions, and facts to back up those points.

Because my media source, The Californian, did not even have an article covering the election, over the past three days, I cannot give a very good answer regarding what step in Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Paul Waldman book “The Press Effect,” is the most effective.  From experience though, I can say that “press as custodian,” is the most important role.  It brings in the reader and allows them to feel like they know all the information, even if they have never heard that word or phrase before.  It provides and insight into the history of the topic and explores what that topic is about and relevant to.  It is the only role that engages the reader and keeps them wanted to read the article.

The media, newspaper, radio, television, plays a huge role in this election.  It is the way to communicate to the country and the world all the issues and things you should know about the candidate and the election itself.  I do wish that the newspaper I chose created a little more emphasis on the election, but as I looked at the major news stories happening in Southern California, the election was not as important, these past three days.  The media has played a huge role in my views of the candidates and even effected my opinions on certain issues.  It is a strong influence on everyone who uses some part of it in their daily lives.

Welcome!

Welcome one, welcome all, to my first ever blog post.  

These past few weeks have been full of new experiences for me.  I began a new chapter in my life; moved away from the only state I’ve ever known, began a long four year journey and became independent.  I walked into a world of people I have never seen before in my life and had to adapt, both mentally and emotionally.  Got any guesses on what my journey might be?  If you guessed going on a mission trip to Africa, your wrong.  Actually, I entered what is known as college.  

The University of Oregon is my home now for the next four years.  I don’t think I have ever had so many new experiences in my life.  First, I moved away from my home state of California.  I left good old, pleasantville USA, Temecula and headed up to one of the most liberal states and cities in the nation, good old Eugene, Oregon.  I left warm, sunny, Southern California for cold, rainy, Oregon.  Yeah my friends thought I was crazy too!!  I had to force myself to meet new people.  I had to initiate conversation and create relationships with people I had never seen in my life before! In high school I was always the nice guy who everyone loved to be around and who liked getting to know new people.  Now that I was in a place where no one new me, I didn’t know them, I felt like a lost that confidence I had in high school.  But that is where I had to learn to become independent.  I had to create an impression on these people. I had to make sure that they wanted to get to know and that I was that god guy everyone seemed to like. I grew up faster in two weeks than I did in two years in high school. I am still learning all about this great new adventure of mine and I am excited to continue the journey.

The last part of my new journey, is just this, writing this blog.  I normally am the type of person to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself, or tell them to a certain group of people I can trust.  I never would have thought I would eventually put my opinions on the internet for all to read!! But that is something I am learning on this journey.  Sometime we have to do things, even if we wouldn’t normally do them.  So normally I wouldn’t do this, but the whole reason I am blogging is for my Mass Media and Society class at the University of Oregon.  J201 is a Pre-Journalism and a required course for all students wanting to pursue at degree in journalism.  In this class we must keep a blog and write our assignments on the blog.  So instead of writing a long, 5 page essay, or orally giving a presentation, or taking a final exam, we just get to blog about it! We will be blogging about various issues and topics facing the mass media and society.  Out first assignment has to do with the media and their portrayal of the 2008 Presidential Elections, so look out for another post from me in the coming days.  Like I said I would not normally blog, but I think this will be fun! It will keep the class interesting and be a nice change from typical college assignments.

So enough about my new experiences, you probably want to know a little about me. Briefly, my name is Jacob Rahn. I’m from Southern California, a freshman at the University of Oregon studying Journalism, I was very involved in high school; varsity mascot, Editor-in-Chief Yearbook, Student Government, just to name a few.  I chose the U of O for there Journalism department and I absolutely love this area.  I have a wonderful family, very typical American family, at least I think so and awesome friends! My motto in life is LIVE IN THE MOMENT, and I live my life everyday following that.  I am excited for what the future holds and even more excited that now I can share my future with all of you that have actually read this far! 

Like I always say, this is going to a crazy ride, so just hold on tight!!