Response Week3

To begin, I have no idea why my last question was cut off. I think I wanted to ask what methods the researchers for those studies were using. I am presuming that they used surveys or interviews. However, I am concerned about the phrasing of the questions put towards the participants. It is possible that these questions would be a good example of agenda setting in the media, or in this case media research. Actually, this example works in the media too. After all, many news organizations do polls on and off and I am sure other media researchers try to collect data that reflects what they want to reflect. I would actually like to see in class some examples of studies done on the diction utilized in various stories or across news stations like what we did in class today.

Speaking of which, there was something I wanted to say in class regarding the NyTimes headline G.O.P. Insurgents. Everyone was focusing on the work insurgents. However, the article calls the Tea Party G.O.P. Insurgents. Therefore, perhaps what they were trying to get at was that the Tea Party is like the Iraqi insurgents in that they are a more extremist portion of the larger group. After all, Tea Party candidates ran on the G.O.P primary ticket and the major news organization like to talk about the Tea Party and G.O.P. within the context of each other.

Perhaps it is just another form of propaganda. Of course to call it propaganda files under the agenda setting theory as well as this underlying notion by the dominant paradigm that the mass media has a major effect on society. Although, it is not just the dominant paradigm, but also the alternative paradigm that notes the wrongs in mass media. This leads me to ask the question again, “why does propaganda have to be negative and hold its negative connotation?” I suppose it is because the purpose of propaganda is to persuade people. However, what does that say about public service announcements? The purpose of those are to encourage “appropriate” behavior which classifies them as propaganda.

Enough about propaganda for now though. For now the argument will just circle around until something happens to break it. At this point I would like to address the last question I had at the beginning of the week. This question was about media dependency and how the more we use it the more dependent we become on it. I am a fan of various medias, but I find it hard to argue that media dependency is not a current or future problem. Now that I think about it though, arguing about media dependency is pointless. Just think about every technological innovation that has happened since humans were around. We have become so dependent on these innovations that media dependency is just our newest one. After all, imagine trying to live without electricity or fire. At this point we probably cannot.