Fake News! Is There Anything we can Believe?

Please Read:

Editor and Publisher Smears Iwo Jima Picture, Compares to Staged Lebanon Pictures

By Greg Sheffield (Bio | Archive)

August 21, 2006 - 13:10 ET

Editor and Publisher magazine sees one of its duties as protecting the reputation of the journalism profession, even if it means bringing up flimsy evidence against the famous WWII Iwo Jima flag-raising picture, saying that photo faced "the same charges heard today, concerning 'staging.'"

But the E&P staff admits that the evidence is "flimsy" and mere "speculation." So why bring up such charges against one the most memorable events from the war? To score a point: "But as with most of the allegations today, the theories about the Rosenthal photo were based on flimsy evidence or speculation."

In other words: Conservatives, don't attack our industry's photographers, because your treasured war photo could be accused of the same thing.

The phenomenon of questioning war photos that seem too good to be true goes back long before the birth of blogs and the current controversy over pictures from Lebanon. It has even swirled around one of the most famous and honored war photos ever: the flag-raising at Iwo Jima during World War II captured by The Associated Press's Joe Rosenthal, who died yesterday.

Every few years, until recently, reports and rumors appeared that questioned the photo with some of the same charges heard today, concerning "staging." It was fueled by the fact that a smaller flag had been raised nearby earlier that day on Iwo Jima. But as with most of the allegations today, the theories about the Rosenthal photo were based on flimsy evidence or speculation.

This news article is a prime example of false news information and how journalists sometimes change stories around to raise debate. Of course this is the article that goes against the original one and proves that the original photo was taken by Joe Rosenthal and is the real photo that was not staged. The article, which was published in the Editor and Publisher magazine basically, stated that the Joe Rosenthal picture was staged and was not captured in real time, but as you read the article you will find out that it is all just speculation. The original Joe Rosenthal photo has claimed the title as one of the most famous WWII photos of all time.

I believe that this is why there is constant aggression towards this photo, and a journalist knows that a controversial story about American war history should cause quite a stir. Editor and Publisher magazine is a fairly large company with the ability to publish such a story. I believe that major magazine companies or any other media source use controversy to sell. They do this because they know what people like. People like to question things and companies know that, which is why it is consider a selling point. It is somewhat sad that in order to make money one must desecrate an honored war photo. I am no considerable fan of the United States but that photo is a piece of history and I believe it should be just left alone. Staged or not staged.

The funny thing is, is that The Editor & Publisher Magazine is a USA print media business news magazine, which basically means that an American wrote the article against the historical photo.

What is this world coming to?

Works Cited

Sheffield, Greg. "Editor and Publisher Smears Iwo Jima Picture, Compares to Staged Lebanon Pictures." Editor and Publisher magazine August 21,2006: n. pag. Web. 9 Oct 2009. <http://newsbusters.org/node/7097>

Ideologies on the Media

Marshall McLuhan is a scholar of the 1900s. He wrote several books in his time and is known for much of his works. I of course did not even know he existed until my first year of university. I never learned of him during high school, but I am glad I have learned about him now. I am guessing that he was never a topic in high school because there were not many media courses at my school. Marshal McLuhan wrote about more than just the media, but that was how I was introduced to him. I believe that his ideologies are correct about media, because they do make a lot of sense. For example Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man is a famous book written by McLuhan that discusses how the media works and its impact on us.

McLuhan states in his book that "the medium is the message". What he means by “Medium” is that it refers to the mass media of communications. For example the radio, television, the press, the Internet, newspapers, magazines and other forms of media that revolve around us. I believe what McLuhan is trying to say is that all of these media forms are what bring us together. I also see it as a massive library filled with information where we can interpret that information in our own ways. Being an advertisement on television or an article in a magazine there is a message within those mediums, and I believe that this is what McLuhan means.

The title of the book also has meaning. The title once again is Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. McLuhan uses the term “extension” but what does he mean by this? I was told by my professor that McLuhan means that the media is our extension. He uses extension because he is speaking about the extension of our eyes and ears. If you think about this it actually makes a lot of sense. With the media we know almost everything that is going on around us, but if the media were not available then we would not know what was happening across the world almost instantly. This is how our eyes and ears extend how we can see and hear things now that we could never see and hear before. For example “culture” we can see all kinds of different cultures and learn about them just by turning on the television or going onto the Internet. This is what McLuhan means by his ideologies, and I do agree with them because they do make absolute sense in my opinion. I also think that McLuhan was quick on noticing how the media will affect us. McLuhan’s book was published in 1964 and the Ideologies in his book still have a significant influence in today’s society more that 40 years later.

A quote from his book: Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

"In a culture like ours, long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology." (McLuhan 7)

Works Cited

Federman, Mark. "What is the Meaning of The Medium is the Message?." individual.utoronto.ca. Web. 8 Oct 2009. <http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm>.

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw Hill, 1964. Print.

Decoding/Deconstructing Advertising - Funny ads Rule!

Before I start to discuss this ad I would like if it was watched first, just so that all the laugher inside could be released from the body. This advertisement is probably the best and the most funniest one I have ever seen. From the moment I first saw this ad I was in tears of laughter!

Enjoy!

http://www.admad.tv/view/11/funny-ad-cleaning-products/

So clearly after viewing the commercial there must have been some sort of comical reaction from it. As we can see from the advertisement, Vim the cleaning product has some rather intelligent marketing people working for them. The ad gives off this really serous kind of feeling which entices the viewer to really watch and find out what happens next. What we see from the advertisement is a mother and a child both getting emotional because they cannot be with each other. The ad gives off the idea that the mother is in jail and has been for quite a while. The daughter is really missing her mom and wants her back. They both share a loving embrace, and then the mother gets back to work. When we see her getting back to work we see her stuck in a bathtub cleaning. This is the point in which the whole commercial changes. It goes from a serious level to a comedy one.

After viewing the commercial we can see that the massage is pretty obvious. “Buy Vim so your cleaning can be done fast and with little effort” the commercial even states “Don’t spend your life cleaning, Vim cleans the tough stuff. Easily” the commercial is easily understood and straight to the point, which makes it easy for consumers. This is what we see from the commercial and how is it understood.

Here is a quote that was taken from the New York Times Business section. The article is titled: THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; In Defense of Comical Commercials. This is the quote, which was said within the article.

“People respond to comedy!’’

In my opinion this is true because I believe that there is not one person who does not like to laugh and laughing is a positive thing so if advertisements are funny they give off a positive feel making the consumer feel good. Therefore, having an impact on their next purchase, what ever it may be.

Works Cited

Rothenberg , Randall. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; In Defense Of Comical Commercials." New York Times: Business Monday, July 3, 1989: n. pag. Web. 10 Oct 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/03/business/the-media-business-advertising-in-defense-of-comical-commercials.html>.

Mass Media... What is it?....Well this is what i think...

The term mass media is very bold. When hearing this term and then being asked to define it, one would say several of these words: books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and the Internet. These are all apart of mass media because they are all ways of getting information. The mass media could also be seen as an information source for the world. It is how we live and how we stay connected with the rest of the world. Mass media also depends on business because it is businesses, in most cases that feed these media sources. Our world today has become very connected. In Marshall McLuhan's book called Understanding Media, published in 1964, he talks about the world being a “Global Village” because of all the technological advancement, which take place. Benjamin Symes from Aberystwyth University does an analysis on McLuhan’s book and says this about McLuhan’s thoughts on the “Global Village”:

“The basic precepts of his view are that the rapidity of communication through electric media echoes the speed of the senses. Through media such as the telephone, television and more recently the personal computer and the 'Internet', we are increasingly linked together across the globe and this has enabled us to connect with people at the other side of the world as quickly as it takes us to contact and converse with those who inhabit the same physical space (i.e the people that live in the same village).”

I believe that the term “Global Village” best relates to the mass media because we are a large village completely connected with one another. I think that McLuhan is 100% correct when he talks about how quick information travels from one part of the world to the other. Also through the mass media our eyes and ears have been extended to see and hear things that we could not get without the mediums of the media. Mass media is what makes our world stayed connected and without it we are lost. We are lost because we are so connected to it and we don’t know life without it. McLuhan is very right. All of these technologies have become one with us, and it is hard for us to live without them. We have become dependant on our so-called “Global Village.”

Works Cited

Symes, Benjamin. "Marshall McLuhan's 'Global Village'." (26th May 1995): n. pag. Web. 4 Oct 2009. <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/bas9401.html>.

The Cultural Impact of the Cell Phone in our Modern World

Ever since 1996 when the cell phone was released into the world everything had changed. Now people could pick up their phones from where ever they are and send a message to another wirelessly. This had major cities going crazy! News was travelling faster than ever. Business was booming, and before we knew it these cell phones were becoming more and more advanced, from cameras, emails, texting, and video calling all on one small hand-held device. The western civilization has become very dependant on these devices for everything. I have even referred to my phone as my life! Which in my opinion, is quite sad.

I think we are so dependant on them because we feel that we must always be in contact with someone and we cannot be on our own. Also, modern day phones have a ton of applications on them from games, T.V, GPS; Mp3 players and some even have the Internet. The so-called smart phones are basically mini-computers in the palm of your hand. With these phones you can link everything from your home or business computer to it.

The more advanced cell phones become, the more dependent we become upon them, causing us to have them by our side at all times. Our culture has changed from this technological invention and it is inventible that it will keep on changing. Day by day technology will keep on improving until all culture is lost. The booming ways of the western world are constantly increasing and it is being felt all around. Us humans are extremely dependant on technology and without it some of us are lost.

This is just a little section from the online newspaper call The Current that is written by university students in St. Louis. The article is titled “Cell phone culture.”:

“Public restroom stalls are supposed to be, in my mind anyway, a place of solace and minimal conversation. This quiet place has been violated by people who feel the need to do business while they do business.”

This goes to show how we, as humans cannot go one second without the need to be on our cell phones. We are dependant! There is nothing else to it…sadly.

Works Cited

Drolet, Kate. "The Current Online.com." Cell phone culture (9/7/04): pg.1. Web. 4 Oct 2009. <http://media.www.thecurrentonline.com/media/storage/paper304/news/2004/09/07/Opinions/Cell-Phone.Culture-711821.shtml>.

Academic Blogging

I am not much of a blogger but when it was announced that I had to create a blog for my mass communications class I was a little bit eager to get it started. I have had some experience with blogging because in high school my politics class had to blog as one of our assignments. We had to set up a blog spot account and basically blog on topics that the teacher gave to us similar to this Mass Communications course.

I enjoyed that experience because it was different then typing up an essay or doing a class presentation. It was different because you could write about your own thoughts and concerns and you do not have to follow any specific writing guidelines. I like to call it “free for all writing”. Because you can write what you want, how you want, when you want. Blogging is also a great way to let your voice be heard. The Internet is this giant place with tones of possibilities. Why not use some of them to your advantage, and let your ideologies be known to others. It is also great because others can converse with you and share their ideologies as well. Blogging is fun and I am extremely happy that it will play a large role in my class and learning experience at school.