A Chat with Bob Wigginton

So lately in our media class we have been talking about newspaper as a type of media. So on Monday, we had a guest speaker come to our class and tell us what he thought about it. Bob Wigginton, used to work for a newspaper in Little Rock, Arkansas, and now happens to be a professor at our school. He came to Lindenwood to inspire us students to keep the newspaper industry going. Because of the news we already get from the television or the internet, we hardly pick up a paper and read it anymore.

I guess since he has been to Afghanistan and has reported on the things he saw, along with things he probably shouldn’t have seen, he would come to Lindenwood. He would come here and work through the battle of students being connected to the internet 24/7 and the television and try and turn them towards the hardcopy of news, which would be the newspaper. The first thing that Mr. Wigginton noticed when he came to Lindenwood was that all the students weren’t carrying newspapers but rather laptops, and now days that isn’t that uncommon. Most people cannot live without their phone or their computer, I know I can’t.

One comment he made about the newspaper is how lately newspapers are almost overwhelming to read. On the front page, it’s not so easy to figure out what the lead story is anymore. The front pages of newspapers are flooded with visuals and not words. Personally, the pictures are the things that get me interested. For me it’s easier to look at a picture, and if it gets my attention then I want to read the story. If not, then I may bypass the whole thing all together.

Besides all that, another main point that Mr. Wigginton talk about was the diversity in the news room. How many people don’t get a job because of their race and sometimes by their sex. Granted, I know this happens in every work place but I don’t think its right. I think that everyone should have to go through the same interviewing process and who ever seems like they fit the job better, job performance wise, should get the job. I agreed with Bob when he said that diversity in the newsroom was a good thing. When there is diversity, then there is a little bit of something for everyone. When Bob worked for the newspaper in Little Rock, I was surprised to find out that the majority of people were women and that they were white.

The last thing we talked about with Mr. Wigginton was censorship. I both agree and disagree with it. I think that for the most part people have a right to know what’s going on and who’s involved and so forth. But on the other hand, if I were the person in the news, I’m not so sure I would want people to know every little detail about what was going on in my life. What if it was something tragic and didn’t really involve anyone else, I would want time to grieve, not read it over and over again in the newspaper.

Kids and Media

In today’s world we see different types of media everywhere and in everything we do. We see media all the time and most of the time we don’t even realize it. Media today consists of the cell phones we use everyday and computers we check our emails on. Media also consists of the TV shows we watch, the music we listen to and the magazines we read.

Does all the media we consume really impact our lives and makes us who we are today? For the most part, I think the answer to this question is yes. It’s kind of sad if you think about it. For example, kids remodels these days aren’t their parents or other older people they look up to, but rather Hannah Montana and other television characters. Teenage girls are getting the impression that they are supposed to look like the celebrities that they see on TV or magazines.
Reality check….the celebrities that we see on television are most of the time fake. What do I mean by fake? I mean that celebrities are supposed to look flawless and perfect and that’s all due to makeup artist and airbrushing. Yes most of us adults know that it’s all fake, but for the most part children don’t. I’m not saying that this is all necessarily bad. I just think that parents and adults have to do a lot more explaining on what is right and wrong. Teach kids what real and what’s not.

Teaching children what’s right and wrong is especially important when it comes to the internet. Or should I say what’s safe and unsafe. I think it’s great that kids are becoming more involved in computers and the internet. Our world today is becoming so technologically oriented, but I think that it’s making a predator’s next victim a little more convenient. It is so easy for people to act like someone they really aren’t. Predators know what to say to children to make them trust them and want to meet them. And for the most part, kids don’t know any better.

Not only can children run into predators on the internet but they can also see things and get information they really don’t need to know at such a young age. I think finding information on the internet has gotten a lot better since I had to do research papers in high school but it’s still not perfect. I remember having to do a report on the White house and boy did I get a lot of information. Let me just say it wasn’t all on the White House I was thinking about. I’m not saying that kids should never get on the computer and explore, I just think that parents should try to monitor the best they can on what their child gets into.

When it comes to media and kids there is so much to talk about and so little time. Just remember that kids pick up things quick, both good and bad, so just try to teach them what is important and what’s not. I’m not just talking about the media that comes on the television but also the internet, music and video games. No we aren’t going to be able to protect kids from everything, especially when it’s hard for us as adults to not be influenced, but we can sure try.

Meida in India

International Student Interview

Have you ever realized that here in the United States, we rarely see any kind of advertisements or entertainment from other countries? If you think about it, how often do we see commercials with famous foreign people, or hear new song from hit artists in places like India. We may have a channel here or there that is relevant towards Latin people who only speak Spanish, but other than that we hardly see any kind of commercials or ads from other countries. Because of this I would have never guessed that in some countries, United States media had such an impact on them. In some countries, they may see more U.S. media than media from their own country.
The other day I was able to interview an international student who was from New Delhi, India. Her name was Sakshi and she is 20 years old and she came to the United States in February 2007. While interviewing her, my main goal was to find out how much media her country was getting from the United States, how it was impacting the younger people and what the older generation thought about all of the messages it was sending.

While interviewing Sakshi, I have learned that the people in the part of her country where she is from, they are very accustomed to the media we send over there. Media sources ranging from our television shows, top artists and their new hit songs, radio, commercials and their advertisements, to the biggest sources of media, such as, ipods, phones and the internet. To her and the other people in her country the media we have here in the United States is pretty normal to them. Since U.S media was so common there, I wanted to know what did they think about it and how was it impacting their lives and beliefs. I wanted to know, was the media affecting them the same way it was affecting us here in the United States? Surprisingly her response wasn’t a surprise.

Basically, people in her country thought it was both good and bad. Of course, the older generations, who are more old fashion and are very conservative, look down on all the media that the U.S. is sending over there. They think that it has a negative impact on the younger generations, making them greedy and spoiled. Not only is it the materialistic things that are an issue, but also all the violence and nudity that the younger generations are being exposed to. The older generations think that everything is so open now and that there isn’t anything that is private. The younger generation, on the other hand, love the media they are getting from us. They have grown so accustom to it that they don’t even realize the impact that it’s having on them. Just like for the people here in the United States, it’s hard for them to distinguish from their needs and their wants. Not every part of India has the luxury of living like Sakshi did when she lived there. In my opinion the people who didn’t live in New Delhi, know the difference between the things they want and need. They haven’t been influenced yet by what the U.S. has to offer them.

Since doing this interview, I have been able to get a general idea of how much of our media is being shown and advertised in other countries, such as India. I have also, realized that the United States media doesn’t only affect us here in the states, but also those in other countries.

Millennials

In today's society anyone who is born between 1980-and the present are known as the "Millennials." This generation, which would be the one I fall under, seems to rely on solely computer technology. When I say this I'm not referring to just the old fashion computers that our parents and grandparents grew up with, but everything else including ipods, phones and internet just to name a few. Until taking this class I never really knew that we were classified like the baby boomers were. While watching the 60 min clips Part 1 and Part 2, I never would have believed that people my age act like this towards working. Yeah it sounds nice to go in at 9, or whenever you may happen to roll out of bed, and then get a "nap break" at work, and happy hour at 4 or 5, but all that sounds so unreal to me. Yes I play it safe, I'm 24 years old and still living at home with mom and dad, but compared to the "Traditional" millennials, I have always had at least 2 jobs ever since I was 15. I would never think about telling my boss what I would and wouldn't do or argue about taking a "nap break." I work at Quik Trip and we are lucky if we even get a (one break) for the sometimes over 8 hours a day we work there. My opinion, most of us are middle class people who do what our bosses tell us, come in and leave work when we are scheduled to and take breaks when and if we get them.
Maybe I'm not a normal millennial, I watched a clip on youtube and I felt like I related with a little of both my generation and past generations. I agree that most people my age are heavy into technology and wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t have it. I think the only few ways I am the same is that, I wouldn’t know what to do with out my phone or a computer from time to time, and I love getting on myspace.
Even though there are a few ways I may fall into this category, I think I may be a minor example of a millennial. I don’t have an Ipod or want an Iphone. I have never blogged until I had to for this class and may never again when this class is over with. Blogging is just not my thing. I don’t rely on text messaging and email to have conversations with people. I would never expect to get paid more for hardly doing any work, it’s sounds nice, but to me is unrealistic. And even though I may still live at my parents house, I plan to move out really soon.