Public Broadcasting:The Non-Commercial Alternative.

Public Broadcasting: The Non-Commercial Alternative Maggie McDonald Jessica Morse Trudy Loper Corey Sherbino The Corporation of Public Broadcasting and Programming Issues Public Broadcasting is excellence in the community. It organizes volunteers to help serve their communities. Local stations reach beyond their world of regularity and programming to assist the community in addressing matters such as violence and literacy. General audience programming, rich in culture and information, help stimulate life long learning. Public broadcasters bring to their communities programs that help bridge the gap in America between different racial and ethnic groups. Founded by Congress in 1967, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private non-profit organization that promotes public telecommunications services. The mission of the CPB is to facilitate the development of and ensure universal access to non-commercial high-quality programming. The organization tries to provide programs and services that inform, enlighten and enrich the public. Another mission of the CPB is to address the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities. It does this by specifically programming and targeting certain shows towards these audiences. The CPB devotes time in more that 1,000 local radio and television stations throughout the United

  • Word count: 3178
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Advertisements are present everywhere.

Advertisements are present everywhere. They fill magazines with their attention grabbing imagery, they are splashed all over billboards in urban cities throughout the world, and they intrude our minds with vast amount of images, some making profound impacts, and others not so much. Advertisements emit images that release endless amounts of feelings and emotions. Some advertisements can make us happy, sad, or both simultaneously. Some make us think, act, or want. They are a powerful tool used by companies to inject ideas, beliefs, and possibilities into the public's minds, who in most cases, underestimate and rarely think about the significant impact it may have in their daily lives. Just as every company is different, so are their advertisements. From models to cars, clothes to anti-war images, advertisements carry symbols and meanings that define the company they are advertising for. In this paper I will be specifically targeting the clothing company, "United Colors of Benetton", and the advertisements they have been producing for over a decade that have been causing controversy and animosity from thousands of people all over the world. United Colors of Benetton have produced some extraordinary and unique advertisements. Benetton's originality in their advertisements is unlike any other clothing company. Instead of advertising their clothes on beautiful female and

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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A rhetorical look at "Television The Plug In Drug" by Marie Winn

Depner, J 1 Jerome Depner Instructor Dougherty English 090-56I 20 May 2011 Television: The Plug-In Drug The essay "Television: The Plug-In Drug" by Marie Winn describes how the first generation of television viewers imagined this new invention would revolutionize the home front. Winn moves on to emphasize how important the television has actually come to families, however not necessarily for the best. Winn continues with excerpts from mothers, teachers, professional therapists, and a host of different types of people describing how a television has become too controlling in modern families. After describing each excerpt Winn summarizes stating that television is destroying families by taking opportunities from families to interact normally. The essay uses many different devices of writing to emphasize the author's point of view, and lead the readers to believe her analysis is correct. Winn establishes ethos in the beginning of the essay by discussing the early days of television. She starts the essay by introducing facts on television and quoting well known sources like The New York Times as well as not so well known sources to ensure her readers that she in knowledgeable in the given subject. She continues to build upon her ethos with the types of people she chooses to quote. Winn is writing to an

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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With reference to several examples explain what is meant by TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM and analyse its overall importance in the development of mass media products

"With reference to several examples explain what is meant by TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM and analyse its overall importance in the development of mass media products" The term "technological determinism" was coined by Thorstein Veblen, an economist and sociologist who lived from 1857 to 1929. The most famous supporter of this position is Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan saw every medium as an extension of some human faculty. In his words, "The wheel is an extension of the foot. The book is an extension of the eye. The clothing is an extension of the skin and electric circuitry is an extension of the central nervous system"(Dovey et al 2009). Whatever predominate media will influence human beings by affecting the way they perceive the world. In a word, technological determinism means that technology is the dominant, determining factor in the process. McLuhan argued that even if technology was deterministic it cannot be dismissed as an unhealthy entity. Technological determinism can be defined as "an immensely powerful and now largely orthodox view of the nature of social change. New technologies are discovered, by an essentially internal process of research and development, which then sets the conditions for social change and progress. Progress, in particular, is the history of these inventions, which 'created the modern world'. The effects of these

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Depiction of ethnic minorities within a family context. I hope to analyse the depiction of several racial identities within a family context on two highly popular British soap operas, Eastenders on BBC1 and Coronation Street on ITV1.

The Depiction Of Ethnic Identity Within A Family Context. The importance of identifying racial depiction on television is crucial and enables society to understand the changing way we watch TV. Many recent televised programme already embrace different cultures within specific contexts, but why and when did this new trend begin? We as viewers also need to understand the way characters are portrayed to us, this serves as both a learning curb for the future generation but also the understanding of society by the show creators. I hope to analyse the depiction of several racial identities within a family context on two highly popular British soap operas, Eastenders on BBC1 and Coronation Street on ITV1. To do this I will be asking two important questions. , How are ethnic families represented in soap operas? 2, Is there a general stereotype within this representation? There are undoubtedly millions of television programmes available, each categorised into specific genres like Fantasy, Documentary, News and Reality, among these genres are soap operas, which are fictional series that span for long periods of time. The word soap opera derived from original dramatic serials that aired on radio stations, these were usually sponsored by soap manufacturers, Since then soap operas have evolved unto the television and the UK is proud to own one of the longest running soaps to date.

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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Is genre a useful way of analysing television? The norms and conventions that are found in texts that have expectations and audiences understanding are linked by theorists to genre. In this respect genre seeks to explain how audiences categorize what t

Is genre a useful way of analysing television This essay will examine genre being used as a way of analysing television. Genre is considered as a main issue before any producer constructs a television show, after deciding the genre, the entire show is formed and created around the genre. Therefore the theory is that if genre is used in direct relation to producing a television show then it would be a useful way of analysing. This essay will have the relative significant research and case studies will be analysed to support this theory and undermine the theory with the factors of culture, history, production, narrative and audience analysis of television. The research for this essay is developed from the research report on this topic, as well as many other sources being used in evidence to support the arguments made and then finally incorporating all the information to form a conclusion. "The word genre originates from a French word meaning 'type.'" (Nicholas Joe, Price John, Advanced studies in media 1998 p.8) Genres have distinctive features that can be acknowledged by the audience in which then it would be categorised or classed. Examples of genres include comedy, drama, romances, science fiction and news programming. A genre can be recognized by its own characteristic plot structure, worldview, character, patterns in premise, style and conventions. Programming to a

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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What goes on behind the scenes at a television studio is just as important as what happens in front of the camera. This engineer is responsible for getting the show on the air and out to the viewing audience.

What goes on behind the scenes at a television studio is just as important as what happens in front of the camera. This engineer is responsible for getting the show on the air and out to the viewing audience. Television Comes to America, 1947-57 James L. Baughman University of Wisconsin, Madison When television finally came to America in the late 1940s, few could disguise their fascination with what some dubbed "the home screen." Many saw their first telecasts in bars, which won or retained customers by installing sets, often tuned to an early filler of the schedule, professional wrestling. In department store appliance departments and store windows, people stared at television sets and asked about prices and installation costs. Many entrepreneurs temporarily entered TV set retailing. In some localities, sets could be bought at beauty parlors, gas stations, and dry cleaners. Television sales took off in the late 1940s following the start of individual stations in the largest cities. Only in such heavily populated places was the relatively high cost of starting and operating a station considered economically viable. TV set ownership thus initially possessed a big-city or, more accurately, metropolitan-area bias. Of the 102,000 TV sets in the United States in early 1948, two-thirds were in the New York area, from which most of the first TV stations operated. Those living

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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'Don't hate the media, become the media' Jello Biafra. Is the relationship between producers and consumers changing?

Jamie Doherty 200263915 Academic Skills and Contemporary Issues 'Don't hate the media, become the media' Jello Biafra. Is the relationship between producers and consumers changing? Jello Biafra, in his 2000 speech to the US Green party (of which he is a member) urged people "Don't hate the media, become the media" . And since then we've seen a revolution in independent media...we're almost listening to what Biafra has told us. A big catalyst in this was the formation of the Independent Media Centre in Seattle in 1999, a year prior to Biafra's speech. Finally we saw an organisation that tried to shatter the oligopoly of world-wide media that the global companies had a stranglehold on, whilst delivering impartial social and political messages to a worldwide audience. What's more, they were highly democratic and therefore appealed to the majority of left-wing consumers, a hefty proportion of the population in largely-liberal countries like Italy, Israel, and the United States. The authors of the book "Cyberactivism" describes them: 'They see themselves as activists and journalists who produce their own first-hand accounts of struggles from other sites all over the world' (1) (McCaughey and Ayers, 2003, page 60) Essentially, that is what they are, independent journalists with a view of reporting things in a democratically political style. Indeed, Italy's IMC has the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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digital media

Axis of study: How far do you agree with the following statement?: "The revolution caused by the impact of the book was for more radical than that being currently wrought by digital media" Communication is a key tool of commerce, finance and power. Ever since the beginning of life in society men have endeavored to improve the scale speed and accuracy and practicality of information (collection, storage, analysis and transfer of information). Both in history and in science every innovation related to communication is held as a milestone, if not a minor revolution in the evolution of society. Two of those innovations are the book (in technological terms, the printing press) and digital technology. In order to accurately assess and compare the impact of each one would probably need to have figures demonstrating the reach of both forms in the global society. But even thus one could then argue that digital technology is just an extension of the book, a collection of pages containing information on the form of script and images and that therefore the two can not really be compared. In order to answer the subject question of this essay I have chosen to change it slightly, I will therefore compare the impact of the printing press rather than that of the book as in truth was not quite revolution as everyone knows; of course revolutionary ideas were compiled in books but they were

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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An analysis of the Sitcom, Will and Grace.

Language and the Media: Broadcasting. An analysis of the Sitcom, Will and Grace. The television boom in the 1950's was meant to abide by the Rethian ethos to inform, educate and entertain. However, audiences claimed television was dull. To attract large audiences, especially younger viewers, ITV introduced new kinds of programming including situation comedies (sitcoms) such as Abigail and Roger in Atletico Partick (1956). However, it was the American sitcoms that proved most popular on UK television as, "American upper-class standards are seen as desirable." Scollon (1998:56). The rise of commercial television did generate criticism of what was perceived to be a lowering of cultural standards and an excessive reliance on imported American programmes. To analyse sitcoms, I adopted a qualitative approach and did a close conversational analysis (CA) and the representations of the characters in "Will and Grace." This US Emmy award winning comedy started in 1998 and quickly followed the international success of "Friends." It's about a male and female cohabitation, in an adult comedy and Will is gay. It examines the relationship between a man and a woman where sex is not a factor. In particular, I wanted to show the representations of homosexuals in sitcoms and how this issue is addressed in the dialogue. Conversational analysis is a unique form of qualitative research

  • Word count: 2208
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Media Studies
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