Chapter One

After reading the first chapter, there are some things I agree with that I think are very evident in our culture. The first being on pg. 3, "Some of our most powerful, most intensely emotional, and most important moments are intircately bound up with the media." This is true and Grossberg, Wartella, Whitney, and Wise give excamples of things that has happened in and to this country that has largely effected people because of the media. The most recent is the death of Michael Jackson. I was working a Pre-College Camp and we were on a skating field trip when someone recieved a video text message of a news station reporting that Jackson was admitted into the hospital. The owner of the rink, turned on a television inside of the rink's office and some of the staff including myself gathered around the t.v. for the latest news on Jackson's condition. I instantly began to cry when they announced him dead. If not for the text message, I wouldn't have found out about Jackson's death probably until I got home.

On pg. 6 it says there's a difference between media coverage and actual events. Grossberg and the 3 W's gives a good example of this by using the Setember 11th event. A more personal and evident example of this would a news coverage that was done in Milwaukee, WI by Channel 12 News about the a large fight that occured between my high school and another one downtown. The News Coverage reproted that the fight was started by my school and only showed footage of students from my school being arrested. When actually, students from the other school came on our buses picking fights with selective students and more students from the other school was arrested. But due to the covergae, everyone believed that my school started the fight and we lost some of our bus priveliges provided by the city transportation.

Another thing with all this popualr use of technologies, the media use all kinds of channels to spread their news. CNN has a Facebook, Twitter, and a few others, I believe. These internet sites are being used to communicate and reach an audience that has adapted to a new source of attaining information. On pg. 10 it says, "New media technology threatens other, more traditional, forms of popular culture." These traditional technology includes television, magazines, and newspapers, especially, due to the internet. It's becoming a cultural norm to be an active internet user. If you don't believe me, tell someone that you don't have a MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or that you don't watch YouTube; you will get a facial expression of disbelief. That's how largely the technology game has changed and the media has to go with the flow.