Is There a Future for Newspapers?

As you know we recently received the pleasure of having Bob Wigginton, a former deputy city editor for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in our classroom. I really believe that having an individual with 20 plus years of experience in the field of journalism can be extremely beneficial to us. He knows his stuff and he has had the first hand insight that we should all appreciate and be eager to learn more about.

One of the topics for concern during our class discussion was the question of what the future holds for newspapers. I believe that our generation, gen y and gen z holds the future for print media in our hands, for some people that can be a very scary thing and to some extent I have to agree. It’s not that I don’t believe we are capable of rising up to the challenge, because I do, as a matter of fact I think that we are a lot more competent than we are perceived to be. I just don’t know if this print media is what we want anymore! Technology has evolved so much and with the touch of a key or the click of a mouse we can receive all the news we could ever want. This could be one of the most terrifying things for those people who have worked so hard in the past to keep print news alive. I think that this should also mean something to us as well. We need to consider what effect losing print news will have on the entertainment and digital forms of media we can obtain our news from today. As we all learned newspapers do in fact lead the news process, so if one day that no longer exists, then where will get our news from? I think the last thing we want then, is to let all forms of newspapers disappear, right? I believe that as a whole gen y is already so uneducated on what issues and history are forming in our media every day. In class hardly any of us raised our hands when we were asked about various issues that have taken place in the news. That’s sad! I think that by losing newspapers we will only become more unaware of the issues taking place in our society.

Another issue we discussed that I think concerns us directly is the censorship concern regarding the Legacy, Lindenwood’s newspaper. In class today was the first time I have heard about the threat that happened on campus. I believe that for the safety and well being of Lindenwood students, the Administration should allow the Legacy to state the names of the students involved. I guess it shows us who their really concerned about, and it’s not looking like it’s us! Considering we help pay for the school to operate, I think it’s the least they can do for us.

I guess the only way to solve the many issues that hover over the future of the newspaper industry is to rise up to the occasion and take them on first hand!

Where Do We Draw The Line?

Television and its affects on children have been alarming parents since the 1950s. I think that it’s safe to say that most parents still like to have some control over what it is that their children are watching. In today’s society, not only do parents have to worry about monitoring the television shows that consume most of their children’s time, with the exception of sleep. Now they also have to worry about what affects other technological advancements like video games have on their kids. Are the issues American children face going to cause parents to have to put an end to television all together?

I don’t think that myself or anyone else will ever encounter an individual that has not watched TV before. I myself love television, I know exactly when it is that my favorite shows are playing and I make sure that if I don’t get to watch a show during its scheduled air time I record it and watch it later. I have never thought of television affecting my life directly, but I’m sure I could name a thousand reasons why parents have always been alarmed. I find it astounding that children at the age of 12 are watching up to four hours of television! When I was young I remember being outside most of the afternoon, after being in school all day the last thing I wanted to do was be indoors.

The media has put a spotlight on some of the negative affect technological advancements have had on this generation’s youth. I’m sure that most people are aware that America is one, if not the most obese country in the world. Why is that? I feel that a major contribution could be all of the play stations and game boys that encourage children to just sit in front of the television rather than be active and play outside. According to the website, Obesity in America, “Over the past 20 years, the proportion of overweight children ages six through 11 has more than doubled and the rate for adolescents ages 12 through 19 has tripled.” Ironically those numbers aren’t shocking, look at all of the ways fast food restaurants gear their ads on TV commercials toward children. Whether it be McDonalds with the characters or Dairy Queen with the funny lips, I think that it has become second nature for Americans to opt for fast food. Maybe it’s simply because fast food is easier, or maybe the amount of time we spend in front of the TV watching those ads over and over again real us in.

I think that another issue that television can expose children to is the concept of modeling in terms of violence. There are a lot of great movies and shows on TV that are fine for adults to watch, but not necessarily children. Take the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight” for example. It was a great movie, but maybe not for a 13-year-old child. Some of the scenes even made me a little uneasy. Another classic example is the video game, Grand Theft Auto. Definitely too violent for children, my nephew has unfortunately gotten to play it before and now all he wants to do is shoot everyone.

I think that we will encounter problems like this one for many years to come, the question is, where do we draw the line?

A Media Circus

Who would have thought that it was possible to learn so much about another country in just one simple interview, with one person? Well need less to say, you can learn a lot. I had the pleasure of interviewing Adrian, an international student from Spain. Adrian, you is currently injured, is normally running around like a mad man representing the Lindenwood Soccer team. I was fortunate enough to grab him while he had a second to spare!

Adrian, like I said is from Spain and says that although they have free press, it wasn’t always like this. In the Franco era censorship was the rule of Spain. All of that changed with the launching of a new national daily, El País, in 1976. Adrian said that now the press is free, Spain still does not have the luxury of variety in their types of media like we do in the United States. He says that the biggest difference is most likely the amount of money and resources that US media have the right to use. I definitely agree with him, I think that we tend to take advantage of all the resources and money that our media sources have access to.

Since being in the United States, Adrian says that while in US he uses the Internet mostly, this way he can still have access to the Spanish newspapers. I asked him which type of media he enjoyed the most and not to my surprise he loves television and radio. Adrian is very knowledgeable about the media in Spain and informed me that in 1975 there were only two television channels, I can’t even imagine! He was very quick to add that today there are satellite servers and cable networks in Spain. Most cities and towns have access to more than 700 local channels.

I then started to become interested if whether or not Adrian has been following the US Presidential campaign and what his thoughts were on it. He had a very interesting view of the “circus” as he called it. Adrian said, “In US, the money for the campaign is private, so it creates many differences between candidates.” Which is very true, both Adrian and I saw eye to eye on how funny it is that American politicians spend so much money on their campaigns and yet there are still millions of Americans that go hungry and without health insurance everyday! The campaigns in Spain are very different, not only are they more serious Adrian says, but the Parties have money to spend on their political campaign depending on the votes they received in the previous elections. Another difference is that in Spain the media respects the privacy of the candidates, instead of focusing on their family members, he pointed out Sarah Palin’s daughter. “The media is so concerned about exploiting Sarah’s eldest daughter, I don’t even remember any of what Sarah is focusing on.”

I found that stepping in the shoes of another individual, especially one who is so different from myself could turn out to be extraordinarily enlightening. I am very pleased with having done this type of assignment and I think that it has taught me a lot.