Persuasion In The Media

 The first message I saw was an Internet ad that used motion to grab my attention. In it, motorcycles zoomed off one by one. The ad was attempting to persuade me that a fast bike such as the one advertised would enhance me personally. The second ad I saw was on a billboard. It used large text to catch my eye. It was asking if the reader had been injured in a car accident, the ad was for legal assistance. The ad was strategically placed alongside a busy road. While this ad was not trying to make me feel a certain way, it was trying to persuade me (provided I’d been in a crash) to choose their legal counsel.

The third ad I encountered was on Youtube. It came on right before a video. The ad showed a man plagued by an upset stomach. Then the medicine, Alka-Seltzer was introduced. As soon as he took it he felt better. Here the ad was using a specific situation to get me to use their product. Now if I have an upset stomach that ad will be in the back of my mind, which is what they want.

I did not find the first ad to be effective. I say this because it was rather bland. All it showed were motorcycles on a white background with nifty looking text. Had I been inclined to buy a motorcycle I would not have purchased one from them just based on the ad. The other two ads I found to be effective. The billboard got straight to the point with their slogan guarantee “You don’t pay a dime unless we win your case.” The medicine ad featured a common situation and the promise of fast relief so I would also deem it effective.

Ethics In Journalism

Being ethical means, essentially, doing the right thing. An ethical person abides by a code, which he has set down for himself, founded on his own beliefs. Ethics can be very diverse, what is morally wrong or right from one person’s point of view can be completely different from another’s. Ethics are self-motivated ways of regulating one’s behavior. Behaving ethically often incarnates as being truthful in what you do or say.

Ethics can apply to journalism in many different ways. Keeping a rigid code is very important if you are to be received well by the public. I think that the news watching audience typically likes to see a news entity following with what is morally accepted by the masses. When watching presented news I don’t want to see reporters trash talking subject A or lying about what happened to subject B.

If a news corporation or even citizen blogger does not behave ethically not only will the lose viewers but also credibility. Other viewers can always replace lost viewers, however, if you are not regarded as credible and ethical no new viewers will come. Often news companies might be placed in a situation where they can both be ethical in their behavior and hurt their business or they can do the wrong thing and remain unscathed. Such a dilemma often comes up when displaying controversial news; this is when a code of ethics comes in handy.

Different News Sources In Today's Society

In today’s world there are many different ways of obtaining news. They can come from a wide variety of places on a broad range of subjects. Most methods of getting news updates have similarities and differences. It is important that everyone understands these individual traits and how to select a news media appropriate for their present situation. For instance, someone driving a car would benefit from a television broadcast or Internet blog; they would want something like a radio report.

Newspaper, radio, television and the Internet all have a few things in common. On the broadest spectrum, they all deliver the news to the public. The Internet can have various means of relaying news stories. There can be streams, blogs, or even live footage coverage of a story. For this reason, I will say that all afore mentioned news medias have people reporting through either voice or sound. Then, there is also spectrum. All these medias can either deliver local, national, or international news.

Newspaper, radio, television and the Internet also have numerous differences. One huge difference is the “reaction time” they each have. Newspapers are published daily so you won’t see news in the paper that is breaking. Television, radio and the Internet do not have to deal with a printing press; because of this they can all deliver breaking news. Television and the Internet have the ability to display images and video as well as sound, the radio can only broadcast sound and newspapers, still images.

I don’t have a preference for one news media that is so strong it overwhelms the others. I tend to get my news from an evenly distributed base. Usually, in the morning I will read the local news in the paper. From then until the afternoon I have the potential to obtain Internet based news because I’m already on it doing schoolwork. In the evening I like to tune into a Baltimore based radio stream, WTMD. This is mainly a music station but they do sometimes provide news updates. At night, I sometimes watch news on TV such as CNN. I like the way I get the news because each media is convenient for wherever I am at a certain time.

As you can see, news can come from so many places. Hopefully, it is now easy for you to discern between different types of news media. This is an important skill for anyone interested in keeping current on the news. Right now it seems like we are living in the pinnacle of mass newsgathering. The more people who know how to best use different media the better.

News Programming Report

I watched news channel 25 which is a local based news station dealing with a varying spectrum of news coverage. They broadcast local, national and international news. I was watching the 11:00 news, basically an overview of the day’s events. It was slightly perplexing to watch because they told you about a number of stories crammed into a small time space.

I did not see any opinions being expressed during the broadcast. The announcers spoke in a fairly monotone voice. They did not get emotionally involved in any of the stories nor did they openly express their opinion. While this is good for getting an unprejudiced view of the news, a little inflection at least makes it interesting.

I would say that no, they did not do a good job of informing me on the news stories. They gave barely more than a sentence worth of information on each story. In fact, the only segment they dwelled on at all was the weather. I definitely can think of a few things they could be doing better. I would start by getting you more information on each story. You don’t even have to take longer. Just get more info across without using up your entire time saying, “Coming up next is such and such.”All in all, the experience was so so at best.

How do most newspapers make money?

Newspapers have been around for centuries in this country. They seem to have always been here, there is not a human alive who can remember a time with no newspapers. How have they managed to endure the test of time? Why is it that newspapers don’t go out of business? The answer to both of these questions is, advertising. There are other ways too for papers to make money like a paid subscription, but one of the largest sources of income is advertisement.

Companies want people to buy their products. People read newspapers. It’s that simple, there is a sort of mutualism (minus the animals) that exists between businesses and newspapers. The newspapers allow businesses to put ads in their papers for a fee. Most papers have a set advertising rate, which says how much a potential advertiser must pay for his ad to be seen in the paper.

The amount of money an ad spot costs can vary. Big and long ads might cost more whereas a small ad would cost less. An example of an ad in a newspaper is the classified section. People who are selling something pay a price to have their ad in the classified. It is a win-win situation because the business or person gets attention, which creates revenue, and the newspaper gets money from the advertiser. Through this cycle newspapers are supplied with money to help them keep bringing news to the population.

Quirk, C. 2012, Hearst Communications Inc. How Do Free Community Papers Make Money? 2/26/2012 http://smallbusiness.chron.com/community-papers-make-money-15160.html

What Is The News?

What is the news? If you asked this question of 15 people you would probably get 15 different answers. The news is a strange creature, abstract and tangible at the same time. The news is also extremely diverse. Able to cover a number of topics through a number of media forms in just one of its traits. I suppose that if I had to describe it I would say that, “The news is information which gets relayed between people.” I feel that the reason news is so hard to define is that it’s versatile. News can be obtained in different ways and news covers many topics.

Obtaining the news is an action which the human race has taken part in for centuries. Over time many different methods of doing so have developed. The oldest method is probably word of mouth, a simple yet sometimes unreliable way of uncovering current events. Then you have written word, like in a newspaper or magazine. In the earlier half of the 20^th century radio also became a news carrier. Even today people tune in to radio stations to hear what’s going on. Television is definitely one of the larger news vehicles; stations like CNN who run news continuously reach a wide audience. In the last decade Internet news has become prominent as well. Blogs, videos, feeds and pod casts are now all commonplace methods of obtaining the news.

News is highly versatile, this allows for a wide audience. News can encompass entertainment like celebrity marriages, sports like last nights football game, news such as the upcoming presidential election, or even weather like hurricanes and tornadoes. The other factor that makes for versatility in the news is size. You can have a local newspaper reporting on who was elected town mayor or you could be watching a report on national television about who has been elected president. So many variable make news something that is hard to pin down.

Evolution Of American Journalism

Looking back on early American journalism one who is not accustomed to the ways of the past might be shocked. Journalism has evolved over the years to become a thriving business, which is present in every corner of the country. It all started in 1690 when the first American newspaper was published (flvs.net 2010). This enterprising and innovative move ended in the arrest of the publisher! Obviously the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of the Rights had been penned yet. Even though it occurred some 320 years ago, the arrest of the publisher in 1690 is a prime example of the dangers which people in the business of reporting news would be faced with if it weren’t for the Bill of Rights.

The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights grants something called Freedom of the Press. This just means that people have the right to report on the news, everything from politics to sports, to fashion trends. The Bill of Rights says that Congress is not allowed to pass a law that inhibits the freedom of the press. Just imagine if freedom of the press had been left out of the First Amendment. Imagine a country where if someone with power, for instance, a government official, did not like something that was written in the paper and had the ability arrest the publisher and do away with the paper. This means that over time, people would grow to fear speaking their minds and sharing their views. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution protect no other private businesses except for journalists/the press (flvs.net 2010).

 The 1700’s were still lacking as far as newspapers were concerned. Benjamin Franklin in 1729 did however circulate a newspaper that was extremely popular among the colonies (flvs.net 2010). Then in 1776 there occurred what I believe to be a huge landmark in the evolution of journalism in America. I am talking about when the Declaration of Independence was ran in the papers so that even the most common citizen could know what it entailed. This was one of the first instances of the press reacting, commenting and informing the people on the actions of their government. By the 1830’s things like sports columns started to appear in newspapers. The mid 1800’s also brought new developments to the world of media. The use of telegraph systems and railroads enabled reporters and newspaper officials to get the news around faster. The 1920’s brought radio and the 40’s brought Irene Dunn and Cary Grant, oops, I mean television. Pretty much after that Journalism continued on a steady course. There was a big incident in the early 70’s, which demonstrated why it is important to have freedom of the press. The Nixon Watergate Scandal was heavily reported on and there survives plenty of interviews and footage to document the role of the press. “Rupert Murdoch began to build his media empire in 1973” (flvs.net 2010). Then in the 80’s computers replaced typewriters. Enter modern journalism, an edge cutting, envelope pushing business. With the fairly new developments such as search engines and blogs anyone can report and share their views, now you’re sources of news are broader than just television, radio and the paper.

 Citations

Flvs.net 2010, Evolution of American Journalism 1/23/12

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