Media Blog, Maxwell class

Emotional appeal in media Some jobs require certain attributes, such as creativity or friendliness, whereas the military doesn't. It requires people who are dedicated. So, the ads to recruit people to join the military appeal to people's emotions. They appeal to people's emotional sense of duty and attachment to the country, and then say that joining the military is the ultimate expression of love of your country. Similarly, AARP ads that claim, "you covered us, now we'll cover you," appeal to people's sense that they accomplished something in their life. They appeal to people's sentimental feelings about their youth, and their emotions about how they helped to build the world today.

Persuasion People are always wanting a life that's better than the one they have. Even a rich person always wants to be better off. Advertisers use this feature of human nature to sell us things. They feature things they are selling as part of a lifestyle that people will see as better than the lifestyle they have. In fact, what they are selling is not the thing but the idea that a person's life can be better if they buy that thing. Advertisers persuade us with images of a fantasy lifestyle, so that people start to crave the fantasy lifestyle. It's a little like showing candy to a child, and after a little while, the child starts to crave the candy. Advertisers also use glamorous people, even famous people, to persuade us that if we buy certain things we can be like those people.

One news story, two outlets The coverage of Joe Biden's announcement that he'll run for president was covered in slightly different ways by two different media outlets: Fox news and NBC news. I read coverage of the event from both outlets and I noticed some slight differences in language that made the Fox news article appear to be slightly more critical of Joe Biden. For example, in describing Joe Biden's background, Fox news describes his two unsuccessful runs for president, whereas the NBC News article describes Joe Biden's current campaign simply as his "third bid for the presidency." Both articles mention Joe Biden's video announcement and his campaign themes of fighting for the soul of the nation. Both view points also mention President Trump's reaction to the announcement and his name-calling of Biden as "Sleepy Joe,". However, the Fox News article mentions Trump's reaction much earlier in its article than NBC News. The NBC News a...

Politics and the English language Over time, we have used certain words to distinguish good from bad. Certain words carry very strong connotations associated with evil. For example, the word "terrorist" describes the worst kind of person, motivated by hate and evil. When this term is used in the media it usually describes someone who is Muslim and intends to kill Westerners. Yet, there are lots of people who fit this description who are not labelled as terrorists by the media. For example, the recent shooting at a synagogue in San Diego was carried out by someone who was motivated by hate and evil. Like many terrorists, he intended on killing many innocent people. Yet, the media did not label him a terrorist. He was called "the shooter" by the media. Why?  Is it because he was not Muslim and not from another country? Similarly, the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, were motivated by hate and destruction, yet they were not labelled as ter...

Relationship with the Media The relationship between the media and people in my generation is one of dependence and also distrust. From the time most people wake up in the morning to the time just before they go to bed, they have access to the latest news whenever they look at their phone. We are all constantly bombarded with information and news. We are so used to this constant stream of information that we expect it and depend on it. If something important happens, we expect to learn about it within minutes, and we usually do. One important story is quickly displaced by another important story, and we don't have time to learn more about the first event. In short, we are consumed by a never-ending stream of pieces of information. Because most people get this information from their phone, and because there is so much of it, most people don't have the time to read more than a sentence or two about an event. They don't have the time to learn in-depth about anything. At the ...

   One of my favorite shows, Killing Eve, just came out with season two. Based around a spy expelling of horrible people from the world, or simply killing people who step into her path, the excitement around it all is what connects people to the story. What really drew me in and what I'm assuming brought others in as well was the fact of how in reality there are many terrible people that a lot wish to get rid of, especially head leaders of countries. So as the main character Villanelle, kills infamous people with a dark crime it allows us to go into this fantasy world which at some point in time we wish similar events like in the show happened in real life. I also believe what gets people so interested in it is how Villanelle can snap in any moment, which leaves us as the viewer with suspense at the ending of every scene or episode. Suspense is portrayed in a lot of movies and tv shows as it makes you interested in wanting more and more, almost as if it is never going to en...