Research Essay Topic

Here’s a fun little idea I’ve been toying with, representation in the media. However, I’m not going to make the focus nearly so broad. I’m basically going to try to find if the “average joe” has enough of a say in major media broadcasts. By now we’ve figured out that the media holds influence, so is there truly an equal opportunity to gain some of that influential power. Depending on what I find in my research, my thesis will either be:
1. The media neglects granting everyone an equal opportunity to display their beliefs because the media is too focused on the all-important ratings. …or…
2. The media only takes the opinions of so-called “experts” seriously and is so biased towards average citizens that when their stories are presented, they are portrayed as unintelligent and therefore a waste of an interview.

Reality TV (the second prompt)

Reality TV targets anyone who is not satisfied enough with their own lives, and therefore feel they need to fill the void with anything they can find from television programs. What I mean by this is that if one particular viewer is unsatisfied with his or her life, once he or she watches someone else screw up their own life on television, the viewer's personal problems do not seem so terrible. Or, on the other hand, one can watch a program that tracks personal details about successful or famous people's lives, and almost feel like a part of that success. Another case is the documentary/informational programs, which satisfy those who feel that they do not possess enough knowledge of all random facts in the world. The last scenario includes people who just enjoy watching others' lives progress. I don't really have anything to say to that, but I know such people exist. Writers of reality TV concentrate their efforts on attracting people who are share common interests with themselves. Some writers do in fact design their programs to deliver a message. Documentaries and informational programs are perfect examples, but other primetime programs also show some hints towards an important argument. For example, some can argue that the wife switching show teaches us not to take our families for granted. In contrast, Flavor Flav's show, if it even still exists, was simply created to give him more publicity. Shows like his do attract the larger crowd and see large ratings increases, forcing other reality TV programs to find ways to boost their ratings to keep up. If they can't do that, they can no longer continue broadcasting. Because of this, they must sometimes sacrifice some of their original intentions to include more popular, yet less enlightening ideas, which is what gives reality TV a bad reputation.

Ideas for "Take Charge" Assignment

Part 1:

I guess this part won't be very long since there is no multi-part question to answer or anything. I suppose the main point I want to get out before I start discussing the topic I'd like to research is that even though I may not have found any specific sources as examples of my topic that were to my liking, I know that they will be easy to find. In fact, some sources ideally could be as simple as a consumer report that we could examine for loaded language or signs of an aggressive argument towards one end concerning a product or action.



Part 2:

I would like to look into how media sources blow certain issues of health and personal lifestyles out of proportion in an attempt to force a change on the public. I have noticed in many reports of some new discovery concerning food or other consumer products that the form of media presenting the report tends to treat the news as either a critical health risk or the exact opposite, even if such results occur under the most ideal conditions. Furthermore, the media presents the notion that the newfound practices or products, whether beneficial or detrimental, should be immediately adopted or rejected by the public as if it were not just the best, but the only option. In the cases of food that may cause harm to certain parts of the body or a consumer product that causes damage to the user or another object, somewhere someone forgot to mention that those problems occur with overuse or over-exposure. The beneficial services, such as weight loss programs, present a more convenient way to achieve desired results, not the only way. The media also attacks lifestyles, such as people who play too many computer games. The media treats it like an epidemic, but the truth is that there will always be a small group of the planet's population who choose to live in such a way, and that lifestyle will not consume the entire population.

Response to the article "Transparency Begets Trust..."

Part 1:
J.D. Lasica does a good job of explaining and validating the truths about blogging. I do agree with Lasica's assumption that "typical" journalists bind themselves to the traditional methods and laws of broadcasting that they can no longer appeal to an adapting public. Bloggers are now more trusted now for two reasons: they can be as open and upfront about any topic they wish to discuss without pressure from an employer or sponsor, and their broadcasts are in real-time, so they have the opportunity to change anything as soon as possible. Lasica's original text, along with the examples from other educated journalists, eliminate almost all stereotypes of blogs.

Part 2:
Lasica observes that weblogs have grown in popularity and reliability in the public’s opinion. Based on this observation, Lasica claims that blogs may replace other forms of media as the primary resource for general information gathering. To support this prediction, Lasica included a survey which already shows certain news sources falling below blogs in status. The fact that tens of thousands of new blogs arise every day, leaving a broad spectrum of topics to research through blogs alone, helps to gain public favor for blogs. Mentioning the opinions and discoveries of the owners of blog monitoring companies helped greatly to support Lasica’s argument, because who better to find reliable information on the truth on blogs from than someone who works with them every day and has essentially become an expert. Actually, expertise in a subject is something Lasica addresses concerning blogs. Most people, who may have no experience with blogs at all, assume that bloggers do not possess enough knowledge on the topics they address to be considered worthy of viewing. In fact, Lasica found that most bloggers possess more expertise on their designated topics than most other journalists who cover a wide variety of subjects during the course of their careers. Of course, the occasional blogger who simply wants to have his name known by the world may publish uneducated drivel on a subject, as very few restrictions exist on the blog sites. Lasica’s writing implies, although never clearly states, that most viewers with any common sense can and should discern news from garbage.

this is just a test page.