Student Respose

After reading Royal's response to WDRB's international story coverage, I completely agree with him. WDRB's around the world in 60 seconds is a great way to quickly inform the viewer of what is going on around the world. Although local news stations should make local stories their main focus, have some kind of international news coverage is vital to keep a viewer engaged in their broadcast. This was a very good bit of information that the group found by watching the news, and let the whole class know how WDRB goes out of their way for something that be might not have understood before hand.

Radio Lecture

Hearing about the history of the radio and why it became so successful was very interesting. Also, one thing that really perplexed me was the fact that there are cable laying on the bottom of the sea, connecting one continent to another! I know this is silly that it interests me, but it is something that I just was informed of. Anyways, the main reason why the radio was so successful was because it was the first live medium that could be heard. Which means that one could now hear the latest news immediately. For this time (1922+), this really was a mindbogglingly invention. Unfortunately, the radio industry started to demassify as the television were invented. However, the genre of music, rock & roll was the savior of the music industry, as well as the fact that radio channels began forming niche audiences based on the genre of music they played.

Student Response

http://quintinbynum.blogspot.com/2013/11/wave-3-southern-drawl-article.html

     Quintin critiqued a story from wave 3's website. The story was written about a poll on which accent was most attractive. Quintin responded that it broke the yardstick of newsworthiness. I totally agree with him because this story does not affect a large audience, it is entertaining, but not necessarily newsworthy. Also, if one was to classify this story under a type of topic, core or peripheral it would be impossible, this does not meet the criteria of any topic, another reason why this story is not newsworthy.

Student Response

http://ikonxx.blogspot.com/2013/11/media-critique.html

     Kitty did a great job of explaining why this story break the yardstick, newsworthiness. She said that this story does not affect a large group of people, which is the main reason why it isn't newsworthy. In this case however, the author could have made it more newsworthy if they had explained how it affected the people in the area. If the pipe break does not affect anybody at all, then there is absolutely no reason that this should be on the news, there is nothing special, this could happen to anybody and most likely wouldn't be on the news.

Movies(and television) Lecture Response

     I really enjoyed this lecture Mr. Miller presented to the class. The lecture covered the history of television and why movies are a success and also demassified. The main topic that I enjoyed was the movie theater portion. It was interesting to now why the movie theaters are so successful, because it was something that I previously never understood. The first reason is that movie theater is so successful is because of the social experience, in this time and day, it is bold to go to see a movie alone. So when teenagers go to see a movie, they usually go in groups, which is a great reason why movies are so successful. Also, for some teens, it is important that they are among the first to see a movie, so the movie theater is where to go. The next reason why they are so successful are because of the overwhelming experience that a movie theater produces. Especially in a action or thriller, the booming surround sound and the enormous movie screen adds an effect that you can't get anywhere else. The last reason is because it is content exclusive.When you go to a movie theater, there is a large variety of movies that television can't portray. For the demassification of movie theaters, there are four reasons, adult content, tech innovations, money, and spectacle. These are all for the most part, self explanatory. 

Student Response

http://kelseywunderlich.blogspot.com/2013/11/wdrb-story-bourbon-sold-to-raise-money.html

I definitely agree with Kelsey. It is very important to honor those that fallen in service, but when it comes to newsworthiness, this doesn't exactly meet the criteria. Unfortunately, it was the author of this story that made the mistake, she should of stressed, the last portion of the story more. As Kelsey stated, the end of the story is where the important information appears. The main purpose of this story is to acknowledge the fact that a criminal has killed a police officer, and has not been brought to custody, therefore still looming around the city, causing a possible threat to the public. When it comes to mentioning the fallen servicemen, the author should have left a link to the obituary of the officer.

News Media Critique

http://www.wave3.com/story/23961581/cards-coach-buys-beers-for-2500-fans

      While scrolling through the local news section of WAVE 3's website, I was stopped by a rather disappointing story. "Card's coach buys beers for 2,500 fans" written by Sarah Eisenmenger, breaks one of the seven yardsticks of journalism, newsworthiness. Although the story could be classified under sports, which after all is a peripheral topic, is the true meaning of the story about sports? Absolutely not, the meaning is how the University of Louisville's basketball coach is handing out beer to the fans that go to the game. He claim it is his way of saying thank you to his loyal fans, in my opinion there are more beneficial means of rewarding the fans for loyalty. Anyways, to clearly understand that this is un-newsworthy, do not consider the fact that "cards coach" is stated, then read the rest of the sentence. It has nothing to do with sports what so ever. An example of a newsworthy sports story is the following: http://www.wave3.com/story/23936494/uofls-behanan-will-be-back-in-uniform-tuesday-night. This story is describing that a key player of U of L's basketball team will be back in action soon, which for most of Louisville, is exciting. That is something that people want to know following up the previous news about this player. To conclude all of this, if a local TV news station is going to portray a sports story, is must be strictly about sports.

Newspaper Lecture

     Although it was a while back, I really enjoyed the newspaper lecture. It was very interesting to know that despite the technology innovations, newspapers are still able to survive. A reason that was explained in class is that they are very affordable, which means that a very high percentage of the population is able to purchase one on a daily basis. The second reason that people still read newspapers are that they contain diverse content, in other words, there is something for everyone to read. Another reason that was included in the class lecture is that they are lo-tech, meaning they aren't complicated and there isn't any error that can occur once the newspaper is obtained. The next reason is similar to the previous one, which is being physical. Again, being physical, it removes the technical difficulty. Another reason is because they are non-linear. This means that the reader doesn't have to read the newspaper from front to beginning in its correct order, they can pick and choose exactly what they want to read, unlike TV news and radio. The last reason is that it is culturally traditional. For some, it has been an American tradition to read the Sunday paper with a cup of coffee, and it isn't exactly the same with e-readers or tablets.
    This lecture was very eye-opening for me, it informed me that newspapers will never go extinct. They are many reasons why people still read newspapers despite all of the technology innovations.

Internet Lecture Response

On Friday, Mr. Miller gave a lecture about the Internet, and I really learned a lot from it. The first thing I learned was the history and how it came about. I was surprised to learn that the Internet was only born in 1969, which is not that long ago compared to the other forms of media we have learned about in the past. Along with the history of the internet, I also learned how the internet effects other forms of media. The record industry for example, why buy a whole album of the shelf while you could get that one song that you want, for a extremely affordable price? You could even download that one song for free of the internet if you knew how! These examples really have effected the record industry over the years. Along with the record industry, retail stores are also suffering from retail stores. This is caused the second option that the internet allows for customers, which is internet shopping. Why drive to a retail store and risk the chance for not finding what you want when you could find it online and have it shipped to your door? The internet is such a great source of communication, but could it actually be hurting local economies? This is the only question I have from this in-class discussion. I was never aware the effects of the internet, but now I am more aware and informed.

Newspaper Lecture Response(1st six weeks)

      Due to Mr. Miller's lecture covering newspapers, I now know how newspapers came about, why we actually read them, and the parts and pieces of them. He explained to us about the man, John Peter Zenger, the man who wrote freely and openly about the British rule of young America, and fought in court for the 1st amendment, or freedom of the press. Without him, our system of communication would be vastly different and probably delayed by decades. He also talked about the inverted pyramid style of reading, which is placing your most important information at the top of your article, in case you article were to get cut short. Along with this, is the reasons on why we still read them, which are: being affordable, diverse content, lo-tech, physical, non-linear, and traditional. Honestly, before this specific discussion, I could not come up with one reason why somebody would read a newspaper in the 20th century, however now, I understand multiple reasons and I agree completely. Maybe I'll consider reading the paper more often now!

Models of Mass Communications Lecture

During Mr. Miller's Lecture about the Models of Mass Communication, I learned about binary models, business models, and conglomeration and demassification for the first time. Because this information was something completely new to me it took some time to latch on to the idea that he was going for, but eventually I got the idea. Out of the all the binary models that we discussed (Hot-Cool, Informational-Entertainment, Elitist-Populist, and Content-Distribution) I think that Hot-Cool was both the most interesting and the most agreeable model to me. First of all, I believe that the name given to the model itself is perfectly fitting for its meaning, 100% attention --- multi-taskable. It just makes complete sense to me. Second of all, I agree that the amount of attention given to a communicational activity is quite relevant and can make a difference when debating on which style of communication is best for your business. Thanks to this lecture, I will be able to understand what the backbone of mass communication is. 

Printing Press and Books Lecture

     One of our first lectures was on the creation of the printing press and books, and I enjoyed it very much. One of the main in reasons why I enjoyed it is because I got to understand the history behind the books that we read and how much it affected the world. There was so many effects of the creation of books and the printing press that I hadn't known about before the lecture, such as increased literacy, knowledge of history, Protestant reformation spread of ideas, democracy, inventions/science, dictionaries, and maps. One of the effects of the printing press that I wasn't too sure of was Protestant reformation, I don't feel like we went over that one enough in class and I wish there was more explanation of that one. However, I agree with everything that was mentioned in class, and thoroughly enjoyed the topic and anticipate it appear in my future. 

Student Response

http://ikonxx.blogspot.com

     Kitty's response to the video we watched in class almost two weeks ago was spot-on. She covered why the photographers played such a role in capture those tragic moments for future generations to see, and why we should consider these people heroes. I just have one thing to add, is that the photographers didn't do this because they had to, or because they thought it would be a great business opportunity, they shot these pictures, risking their lives, because they knew that this was history that needed to be documented for future generations to remember. They knew that if they didn't do it, they were risking the chance that they would never be able to thoroughly remember this event visually. And after all, seeing pictures of this creates a much more emotional reaction than just reading about it. 

Student response

http://graysonsmit.blogspot.com 

Well said Ambrose!

      I agree with Grayson, his critique explains how Fox News covered something that wasn't relevant to the public. Something like this should appear on Tosh.0 or even local news on a boring day. When you turn on the TV to watch the news, you want to learn about something that affects you and the people that live amongst you, this simply, just a waste of the viewers time. Fox News undoubtedly didn't consider newsworthiness or local relevance, as Grayson said. 

Music Lecture Response

     Before Mr. Miller's lecture, I never really understood that there was another purpose of music besides just entertaining people. Now I understand that it contains more purposes than entertainment, which is to spread information and teach languages.  An example of spreading information is bards, which in the olden days, went from town from town, reciting verses from songs. And in these songs, they usually contained information of landscape, cultures, or events from the past. So, the people that were listening to the bard would most likely learn something that they didn't know. Now, there are also songs that can teach children the alphabet, in a more entertaining than just memorization, such as the ABC song that is made from the English alphabet. Now every time I listen to the radio, i'll take every lyric from a song into consideration, and try to learn something from it. 

media critique

     If you checked the news tonight you would have easily been informed of the "Mall Massacre" in Nairobi, Kenya. It was all over both CNN and Fox news, however it was quite obvious that CNN had a more in-depth coverage of the event. CNN got the big picture, including how it affects us, while Fox just included the basics of the event, things that were pretty much common knowledge. Fox failed to meet the yardstick, Explanation, which means they did not get the big picture, only basic facts without much explanation. Typically, you hear about a story through the radio or just by word of mouth, and you turn to the television news for the details, and on Fox it either stated the obvious, or what CNN shared 30 minutes before them. So next time a major event such as this occurs, CNN is where you should head to.