The Roles of Media

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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Media has played a big part in the spread of news ever since it was invented. Newspaper, radio, television, all these are great forms of media that impact the spread of news around the world. The media has not always been as advanced as it is now or with the amount of variety but everything has a start. The oldest form of media is the newspaper. Newspapers are not the best for spreading news over larger areas, but they are good at spreading news over small towns. The best form of media at the time was radio. Radios are better at spreading news over larger areas but not too large.

Media coverage played a big part because it allowed information about the events that were happening at the time to be spread throughout the community. The use of media allowed everyone to be aware of what was happening and be able to react to things accordingly. Media coverage back then was limited and not as advanced but radios did a great job of reporting on what went on in the community. The events that this book portrays are devastating events that played a big part in history and led to the lives African Americans live today. If we did not have media then the events would not have received the attention they deserved and the world we live in may have been different.

The fear of not knowing what is happening is sometimes worse than knowing what goes on. Things happen in the world every day and it will always be important for everyone around to be aware. The media spreads news around the world no matter how big or small the issue may be. The media can be used in many ways to influence how people view different issues in the world. Sometimes the media is used for good and other times it may be bad. I use media as just a way to share pictures of my life and things of that nature. If it came down to me advocating for or against something I would not be afraid to use the platforms that I have to voice my opinion and fight for what is right. The media is there for many reasons so why not use it for good?

 
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the helpfulness of media during a protest

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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One of the biggest impacts of media is how it can shine a light for everyone to see. Obviously, not everyone supported equal rights but the more people saw how many marched in support and the unfair ways protesters were attacked, and the horrible portrayal of African Americans in society. This would cause those who had even the bare minimum of morals to stand up and do what they could to help. It didn’t just help the civil rights movement, during wartime the media is able to help show the horrific details of war and if there is a crisis.
Media presence has really helped promote all kinds of protests today. Nowadays the media covers all kinds of protests. They show worker conditions strikes, BLM protests, and gender protests. This really helps spread the message and get more of the population involved. Even if you don’t support a cause you must admit the media helps create more support when a protest begins.
Another impactful form of media is social media, but how well does it help? From what I’ve seen I don’t think it helps too much. Many people who try to use social media to gain support on an issue end up not doing much and a lot of the time hurt their chances of gaining support. A lot of what people post on social media is either exaggerated or just false and it happens for almost every cause. Whether it’s right-wing or left-wing, protest, or just trying to bring awareness a lot of posts, especially on Instagram are false. That is why I do NOT post stuff like that on my social media because I know most likely it’s not real information. I do think eventually social media will be helpful but it will be after we are better at analyzing and figuring out what is real and what is fake.

 
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Media, It’s Importance.

Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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When it comes to the media, it has always been the best way to spread information. During the Civil Rights movement, the media did not cover the things it should have. Although during the event of “Bloody Sunday”, which happened on March 7, 1965, the news somehow caught the action on camera. After the incident, ABC news center broadcasted the video during the middle of a movie that was playing. The whole nation was baffled by what they had saw, African Americans getting beaten, and struggling their way through tear gas, trying to continue their march onto the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The bridge had been blocked off causing all the protestors to get caught and abused. The media finally used themselves for good during this time, having the entire nation finally see what was really happening and how bad it really was. Over the years many things have been documented on the news, from war to political discussions. In todays time the media has grown in several ways, social media, television, cell phones, and an ever-growing amount of things are available to spread all of todays current events. Social media is a great way for individuals to grow their topics or ideas and to post as they wish within moderation. I use social media in my everyday life, yet I do not use it to its full potential as I probably should. Many famous activist have found ways to use the platforms they have to spread large amounts of positivity, change, and to motivate others to do the same. Media can be great for spreading amazing things, but also it can be the perfect place to spread false information or to start rumors. Over the decades of having the internet and media many famous individuals have had horrible rumors spread or even some having their careers come to an end or near. For example, in the time that Donald Trump was in office, there was a fake news spread that he had sent his own plane to transport 200 stranded marines. This information was falsely spread by a media show host, but was believed by many. Things like that can cause lots of rumble that is not needed. In modern day we have a lot of positive and negative ways, but when it comes to the impact for change in todays time I feel the media is sort of a great thing for that. As always with things of this sort, there can be negative things to happen but overall, I feel the media is a good way to impact change and hopefully in the future more change can be made with our use of media.

 

Medias influence

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

Media coverage allowed for the the message of the freedom fighters to reach so many more than just writing a letter it was the ability to have people hear the determination and see the effort the people were putting in to fight along with finally being able to see the damage the police brutality was doing. Thus finally the point of the protesters was to reach the people that support their cause or wanted to join like a wave of support was gathered from a broadcast. 

 The media we have today it is I would say more invasive but somehow at the same time impersonal never before has the world been able to access what we have and see so much into the life’s of others on a regular basis. As for how I use social media I have never really been one to use it intact. I have less than ten followers on all of my platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Tiktok. I only use social media to interact with my very small group of close friends and family. I could however be using it to network and actually talk to people, meet people and engage in platforms that would improve my social skills and experience more things doing what I like with a community of people who also enjoy what I do, I could be using it to stand up and support those who need it or finding people for them to reach out to in order to get what they need. Basically socializing or helping. 

Leading into the negatives why media has lost its way of helping. One most apps have algorithms to show you what will keep on instead of what is better understanding, in order to stay in favor of the public people may be known to put on a facade but then there is the protection that people can get from the media allowing them to spread hate and not be found. The internet and social media can also be in vice versa very invasive to privacy.

 

 

 
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Media’s turning point: Change in the Civil Rights

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

For most of the Civil Rights Movement media had brought shame to black people. However on this day when media took a 15 minute clip of the incident it all changed. On a certain Sunday in America Civil Rights leader John Lewis had led a march into Montgomery, Alabama. However this would be cut short as a militia had blocked the other side of a bridge they needed to cross. The Militia had yelled at them to leave but they did not they wanted to speak to the leader. The Leader told them to leave or else they would make them leave. After waiting there for two minutes John Lewis and the other people of the march were massacred. This incident was called Bloody Sunday. This made it onto national news and the people of America were shocked. They could not believe that this bruteness was happening in their own country. people started to rise up and this all led to a march on Washington where they gained millions of followers. The media covered that as well and this helped the movement tremendously. To the point of finally integrating society as one.

The media today has expanded tremendously with social media, TV news coverage, and more. The people of my generation including me primarily use social media. We can see what is going on in the world from a first hand perspective. I personally use Instagram,Tiktok,and Twitter. there are multiple ways to use it from new trends all the way to massacre’s like Bloody Sunday. I also believe that there are positive and negative ways to use social media. Pistive ways being: helping nature or donating to charities. While negative ways being to harm someone or counter a movement with hate. For example cuber bullying is a real problem into today’s world and it has driven people I know to suicide. People hide behind their screens and pick on one another without consequence. Believe that is the wrong use for social media. We Should use it to bring each other up and hopefully soon it will be that way.

#Insta #CivilRights

 

Media, What Role Did It Play and How Can You Harness It Today

Engl 165-16 Fall '22

In the final reading from March, Book 3, we learn of the importance of media in the fight for rights by African Americans. If you don’t remember, go back and review pages 186 to 247. First, discuss WHY the media coverage had the impact that it did, and then think about media/social media today. How do you use it? How do you think you COULD use it? How has the media/social media had a negative impact in today’s fight for justice (be sure to give examples).

 

Divisions by Race or Class?

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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I think that in the United States at the time of the civil rights movement race was probably a cause for more divisions than class due to things like Jim Crow laws. However, I believe that over time Americans have progressively gotten seen less divides in race and ethnicity. I believe this because many groups that were once subjected to racism are no longer subjected to really any. A good example of these groups include the Irish, Germans, and Italians. Furthermore, I can confidently say that racism in general between all groups is nowhere as bad as it once was.

When it comes to class, I don’t see that many divisions caused by it today when compared to how it was in the past. However, I think nowadays class issues cause more division. I think this because of the rise of socialist groups in the U.S. I really don’t care about class, and I don’t see it as a big deal as life in America is without a doubt better than it was a century ago and many people in foreign countries that have low standards of living would probably do anything to trade spots with homeless people in America. I think that because in other countries things like starvation are still prevalent, in America it’s just about nonexistent.

However, what I just said doesn’t apply in many other countries. In places such as the Balkans, Nigeria, and places that are very racially heterogeneous (with the exception of countries in the Americas) race is a much larger cause for division than class. However, racially homogeneous countries typically have massive problems with class. These places include Russia and the PRC which are both practically corporatist and have horrendous economies. Class divisions are prevalent there as everyone who wasn’t in the upper class got messed up by inflation and economic crashes while the upper class remained largely untouched due to things like party membership.

 

How Social Status Affects…

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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I believe history has shown that past government officials time after time set up loopholes for racial inequality. In the 1800s when states were in between being slave states or not, the states that decided not to make laws still shows actions of racism. Free black people pushed for voting rights within the state that they were owed. But, government officials took advantage of their power to create laws such as only allowing men with land or no criminal records the right to vote. Even though they didn’t directly pass laws labeled “Black men can’t vote”, at the time at least, they knew that free black men didn’t have enough money to own land, and they were unable to attain jobs that would grant them high pay. In addition to that, many black men were arrested for petty crimes. The government officials made it impossible for black men to have power. 

In the present day, inequality is present in early childhood opportunities that can pave the road to success. Schooling in low-income communities, communities mainly made up of people of color, offer poor quality education in comparison to schools in high-income areas. 

The article, An End to the Class vs. Race Debate, by Ralph Richard Banks stresses the idea of “ racial disparities in social mobility is economic inequalities in disguise”. The article goes on to explain the economic outcomes of black people in these communities, comparing boys and girls, then comparing them to white people in high-income communities. Putting into perspective the challenges of socio-economics. 

From the 1800s to now, the social status of an individual made up a lot in paving the path for an individual. I do not believe that the communities or families an individual is born into solely determine their future but being born into a community with low-income status bring in many more obstacles to fight through than being born into a community that works in your favor. 

Article link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/opinion/class-race-social-mobility.html

 

 

A vicious cycle of inequality

Engl 165-04 Fall '22, Engl 165-16 Fall '22

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The question remains: Is the root of problems in America based on race or class? During the civil rights movement, the huge issue was race. Blacks had little to no rights compared to whites in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then there was such a division between races. The whites despised the blacks because they didn’t look like them and the blacks despised the whites because of the way they treated them. They had separate drinking fountains, separate bathrooms, and even separate restaurants. Social class wasn’t the biggest issue because whites were wealthier than blacks anyways because of how unequal it was. After the civil rights movement and years later, blacks and whites now have the same rights. Blacks now have the right to vote, the right to go and live anywhere they want, the right to have whatever job they want, and even the right to be a President as Barack Obama did.

Nowadays we don’t see as much of a divide in race but rather in social class. Social class is a separation in a society based on economic and social standing. We usually separate people into the upper class, middle class, and lower class meaning the upper class is wealthier and the lower class is poorer. There tends to be unfairness seen in society nowadays based on social class. One example being education. People who are wealthier tend to have higher education than people who are poorer. The New York Time reported “In 1970, the race gap in achievement was more than one and a half times higher than the class gap. Since then, says Stanford University’s Sean Reardon, the class gap has grown by 30 to 40 percent, and become the most potent predictor of school success”. With that being said, today in the 21st century I believe that class has been more of a problem in America than race. We were able to fix the race problem and I sure hope we can fix the class problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/01/28/racial-reparations-and-the-limits-of-economic-policy/class-is-now-a-stronger-predictor-of-well-being-than-race#:~:text=That’s%20a%20big%20change%20from,potent%20predictor%20of%20school%20success.

 
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Race vs Class

Engl 165-16 Fall '22, March Blog Prompt

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I think that the issues then were heavily influenced by race. That is not to say that class had no influence on everything that was happening but white people would not look down on another white person because of their class as heavily as they looked down on a black person just because of their race. I think that both play big roles but during March race would always outshine class because of how strong white people’s hatred of black people was. Even if a black family was in the same class as a white family the white family would still see them as less than others because of their race. I think that in today’s society race vs class can change in importance depending on where you look at. Just last week the blog prompt was about the KKK. How they are still a very active hate group who have the same ideals as they have always held even if they do not kill people anymore. This shows how big race is still playing a part in everyday life. Yet people will make fun of other people for what social class they fall under. People will get made fun of if they struggle to make ends meet. If someone has an old phone they will get made fun of for it. Both race and class are still causing divisions today because people still hold very shallow-minded views about other people. Some people will just look down on anyone they deem “less than” which can be related to either race or class or it can be a combination of both. Class causes divisions because it will change how a person goes through their life and what measures they will take to make sure they or their family is comfortable and not struggling as much. 

 
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