Viacom Making All the Money???

Viacom has released that they've had a 37% increase in revenue this quarter, a surprised especially compared to last quarters profits. Well apparently Viacom owns more companies than I actually knew, ie: MTV, VH1, and Paramount Pictures. They said that their increase came from television channels and returning advertisements. They did have a 19% decrease in film revenue because of a decrease in dvd sales. They said that they plan to make this up by releasing "branded" and "franchise" pictures, which are pictures that made good revenue previously. Movies on this list are "Shrek Forever After" and "Iron Man 2". They did say that MTV didn't have great viewings, therefore they will reevaluate their program listings.
My question is, is this too much power? Will we soon go back to old media where it is ran really by one mass media institution. We really have no control. Then there is only one person in control of all of our different aspects of entertainment, Sumner M. Redstone. Will other try to take over different ownership of companies that Viacom owns?

"Born Free" Ban....

M.I.A.'s recent video, "Born Free", has been banned from U.S. and UK YouTube. The video depicts military/police violence against a targeted group, redheaded people. The video is extremely violent and is almost 9 minutes long. Was there a message behind it? I watched the video and I did receive a message from it. I took that the United States has hatred against people and will do almost anything to keep them excluded from our world, almost like the Holocaust. Why redheaded people? I think it was just a symbolization of "stupid" reasoning behind racism, sexism, homophobia, and alot of other -isms and phobias that people have. I think that was supposed to also symbolize that things that are uncontrollable, such as redhair, are reasons why people are hated. Hated for merely being themselves. YouTube hasn't released reasons why the video was removed but it can still be found in various ways on the site but under age regulations. This was a shock to me because when we discuss YouTube we talk about the freedom of what people are allowed to upload and that there aren't strict regulations. Maybe this means that there was an extreme problem with this video or does it just depict the message behind the video and song even more, that we aren't really born free in America? If you're interested in viewing the video you can find it at http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/mia-born-free-video/ and also see what Mashable writers had to say about it. I would say "Discretion".

Sex on Craig's List...

It has been a known advertisement on Craigslist, sex. Women and girls have been trafficked on this site more and more each year. These ads aren't in disguise, they are blunt and frank. A recent article showed that these ads brought their revenue up 22% and is projected to make them $36 million this year. The Federal Business Bureau of Investigation arrest 14 members of the Gambino crime family for selling sexual services online of girls of 15 - 19 years old. The executives of Craigslist have been quoted not agreeing with the misuse of their site but if that is true why is this taking place? More importantly, how is this taking place? Why aren't the advertisements being screened and if they display misuse, being deleted. I personally think that executives are dragging the cases further along to make more profit. This definately needs to stop before more girls become victims.

New Media Sites Rule The World!!!

A recent article released on Mashable compared Facebook to, it's direct rival, Twitter. The article showed how Facebook was visibly beating Twitter. They compared numbers. Twitter's 100 million users not touching Facebook's 400 million users. The article also compared user activeness with "buttons". Twitter's "retweet" button wasn't comparing to Facebook's "like" button. The article also said that Facebook is compatible for every mobile phone, whereas Twitter has to make special applications for different mobile devices, instead of making a master application model. Facebook is also winning with applications. With looking at what users like and what makes money and build a social media site, a question can be asked. Why can't I create a social media? I know what users like because I'm a user of both. It's easy to find out what brings in money from websites. I'm going to think more about this. How can I create the next social media??

Phone App Helps Africa?

Farmers in Africa had been getting cheated out of money from cow sells. People would come by their cows to sell them to dairy farms but the farmers didn't know how much to charge for them. The farmers would end up selling their cows alot cheaper than what the others were going to sell them for. Leaving the farmers cheating out of product and the amount of work went into raising it.

Now an application has been created for phones that will help farmers in Africa solve this problem. One of Kenya's own, Amos Gichamba, created the application. It was created so that when the farmers have questions about what to charge they can send a text asking their question and it will be answered according to the market at the time. Gichamba said that Africa was taking their problems into their hands and solving them.

Is technology on the path to change the world and through text messages at that? Read more ... http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/12/africa.apps/index.html

Why You Can't Stay Away

They try to keep us from it. Browsing, searching, tweeting, uploading pictures, and watching videos. We do it through out the hours of the day at home, at school, and at work but are they trying to change that? Some schools are banning access to the web in classrooms or during lectures but all we do is use the web on our phones. They ban certain sites at work but workers find loopholes around those bans and even go to "not so safe" sites for work. Even some countries tried to ban their internet access but the citizens just crack their firewall. Why do people try so hard to get through these bans? Is it because the internet is addictive or just because we always want what we can't have? Want to read more about this... visit http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/social-media-ban-backfire/.

How Many Plan To Make $$ of the IPad

When I first heard of the IPad, I didn't understand what's purpose was. There are so many things that you can't do on it, and if you buy it, why not just buy and IPad? Those were my thoughts. They also said that the new addition to technology would save Journalism, I didn't understand that either. I understand that even though there are still alot of book readers, if they want it, why wouldn't they just buy the hard copy. I just couldn't wrap my mind around how it was a good investment, nor how they would make money off of this product. So I searched the web for some answers.

Magazines are making their issues available to purchase for the IPad. These issues would be more user friendly for their readers. They could bookmark, fileshare, and even create virual libraries of their magazines. This is the same trend that newspapers and books will follow as well. Some websites and companies plan to sell applications that promote new products and other updates for their companies. I guess this can work but it's also scary. Will we get to the point where we won't have hard copies of newspapers, magazines, and books faster than we thought??

Time Saver or Distraction??

While watching Digital Nation, it brought up a main question or whether technology is being a distraction or really an act of multitasking/ time saver. The times for students are different from students in the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s. We have so much technology at hand, that it has become naturally a BIG part of everyday life. Everyone of the "multitaskers" felt that they were excillent at it and that they would be wasting time by doing just one thing. But studies in the video actually showed that they are doing the multiple tasks slower than they do on one.

As not only students, but people, we have become reliant on the latest technology to keep us interested and stimulated about simple tasks at work and in class. We read books and check email accounts. We listen to lectures and we're emailing another professor. We are chatting with one friend and instant messaging another. We get bored with just one thing. This is happening with all age groups. Being online is being compared to drinking and driving with risk, as well as video games when it comes to be additive. When we will we be able to do one task at a time so that we can focus on accuracy and clarity more? Will we ever? I don't think so. I even found myself watching this video, typing this blog, and checking my Facebook at the same time. I think everyone needs to monitor their internet usage instead of trying to pause or slowly eliminate it, like I felt the video was suggesting. Want to watch the video? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Famous Youtubers!

Is youtube sending out the wrong message to it's users? Some people post videos for entertainment but others post videos to be embarrassing and offensive to other people/ and or groups of people. What could youtube being doing about videos posted with children cursing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhlUbF7opHw or a video with teenage girls fighting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85EUIA-ngWc. What should be done about this or should something be done? There have been lawsuits regarding the fighting videos and some have requested for the cursing to be removed as well. In my opinion, Youtube should be used for the purpose of new media; to communicate, inform, entertain, and for news. Therefore, Youtube should better censor their post. There have been good results from some postings such as parents making money after posting a video after he left the dentist http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/18/david.after.dentist.video/index.html. Positive tales such as this are rare but they shouldn't be. We should work together to change this sad media posts.

Facebook or Career??

Facebook has over 400 million users and majority of them people use this new media to keep in touch with old and new friends. The upload pictures, videos, and write blogs; just like I'm doing now but can some of those items they post affect their career?

Many high school students have been told to be careful about what they put on their facebook page because colleges would research them. They could be rejected admission to a school, if they found their page offensive or inappropriate. Now employers are also checking on not only their current employees but applicants as well. Employers are giving their employees the ultimatum to either censor their facebook or not connect their job with their facebook. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/29/facebook.job-seekers/index.html They are even rejecting some applicants because of what is on their facebooks. So is this wrong? Does an employer have the right to reject an employee?

Yes. If that student or applicant wouldn't accurately represent their school or company. If they have pictures of drinking alcohol or indecently exposed, then yes they have the right but I do feel if that person is 21 or older, then they have a legal right to drink. It can also be argued that facebooks are social and not professional sites and shouldn't be judged. So facebook or career.

"To Converge or to not Converge"

As the proposal is still in the air about whether or not Butler University should create an official School of Communications, my position is pretty clear. I think that this creation will make our Journalism program more attractive to prospective students. The school will also create more well-rounded Journalism for an era that is requesting more than one concentration or specialty. When you look at the top schools for communications http://www.collegecrunch.org/rankings/the-20-best-schools-for-communications-majors-in-2009/ in the nation the main words used to describe them are contemporary, interdisciplinary, and for advancement. Meaning that they are new, updated to today's fields of communications current state, and are all intertwined with one another. This is what Butler's LAS should be aiming for.

As I talked with a journalism prospective that was shadowing me last week and whom also had the opportunity to sit in on this meeting, she expressed that the College of Communications would be a good thing. She expressed how she was torn between Butler and another university. The other university offered it all within Journalism, whereas Butler was seperate. I feel that this is the opinion of many prospectives and could be a reason why we didn't have that many incoming Journalism majors with my class, accompanied by the fact that the economy is affecting our field.

As a print major, I love what we stand for and why we write for communities but that isn't my only desire. I would like to be a broadcast journalist, my minor, as well and ultimately write for a magazine as I've expressed in previous blogs. Okay, that's easy because those are my major and minor. What if I become interested in producing or any other behind the scenes media job? I could take classes for that but it would be time consuming and extremely hard to balance between my major and minor required courses. I've been told that it would be smart to know how to do it all because that's employers are looking for. Therefore if you're reading this and your votes count, I can't tell you what to do but if you vote for the creation of School of Communications than you're voting for the future Journalist of our generation.

Where am I going???

As I learn more and more about Journalism, Media, and Broadcast, I think more and more about where I see myself in the next 5 years. I realize that I'm only a college freshman, soon to be sophomore. As a college "rookie" we are always unsure. As I talked with underclassmen, it would be okay to be unsure then as well, especially in this field. I've always just wanted to be a writer, nothing more. Then I thought questions like, "What if I get tired of newspaper?" or "What if there isn't a such thing as newspaper by the time I graduate?"


So then I thought about writing for a magazine such as Essence or Jet. But besides writing, I have another more seasoned love, acting.I am a 8 year trained, professional actress. Even though that's not currently my major, I still love to do it. That's what made me look into broadcast as an anchor. To me, it is all acting while reading and semi-memorizing a script. On Thursday I took a tour of WTHR News station. I got to see all of the different departments behind the scenes and what their jobs consist of. I also got to watch the 5 o'clock news forecast. It was great! I sat quietly watching the way the team interacted with one another. I watch them joke around in between stories but as soon as the camera turned on they were back in character. It was a verification of the "acting factor". I realized that I'd actually like to do that. I could even see myself being somewhat of a Babara Walters type. I even flirted with the idea of doing radios. As you can see I'm very unsure of where exactly I'll be in 5 years. You do see that I'll want a job and want to be an all around Journalist. I know I'll be in one, if not all of these fields of Journalism.

They let me sit on the set!!!

Reputations of Blogs

When I think of Blogging, I remember in high school when I would surf the Internet for online sources for research papers and all I could find were blogs. Did all of these people have P.H.D.s in the subject I was researching or experts with creditability? No. Therefore, I was not able to use any of these blogs as sources no matter how persuasive or effective they are opinions were. Maybe their credibility would have increased if they had a more appropriate user names on their blog account. They also could have earned more credibility if they had more writing etiquette or didn't display biased views. Now a days, when most people hear the word "blog" they immediately think of facebook. Is that fact dampering the reputation and privilege of citizen-journalism?

Yes. Many people do not hold any responsibility or real ethical morals behind what they say in blogs by blogging anonymously or making them viewable only to certain readers. That should automatically show that their might not be truth, balance, or fairness behind their views and that is why they are protecting their reputation. Therefore we should all monitor what we say on the world wide web that is so easy to access by millions or they should take responsibility for their opinions.

Out of Fox...Out of a Job???

As I watched the film, Out of Fox, I was surprised by the information I was digesting. In my home, Fox was one of the main stations we relied on for truth and real Journalism but as I watched I learned differently. Fox News is conservative? Their anchors have no control over what they report? and they blackmail and blackball their employees if they quit? I would've never guessed any of this. I was never into nor did I possess knowledge about certain networks being left or right. I actually just learned what that meant in my New Media Class. Therefore me coming from a blind perspective, was assuming that Fox was the way to report news but just more entertaining and "contemporary" if you will.
I even second guessed the film. "Maybe who ever produced this movie is just very persuasive with their information or the way that they produce," I thought. But not at all. The video had real anchors and other employees that worked for Fox News telling inside information. They all expressed how they weren't able to report the stories they felt was "real news" and that the stories they were given, they were told what and how to say all of it. Is that Freedom of the Press? NO. Is that freedom period? NO. I would feel like a prisoner behind my own desk.
This scares me. As a budding Journalist, there's enough stress of worrying what networks and newspapers will exist by graduation but now you have to worry about your well being at that job and whether it'll break you, not because of creativity but instead because of possession and fear of broken confidentiality. There are only a few owners to the millions of stations and networks, so how would you know who to work for? How do we know who's to the right or left if there isn't a movie such as Out of Fox, unless we live it ourselves? We won't. When will Journalism get back to the News and the people? Only time will tell.

Future Journalists and New Media

New Media, Communications, and future Journalists of today. What do they all have in common? Bankruptcy, cut back, lay offs, convergence, and Internet are common terms within the current Journalism community. Convergences have been coming around for years now but now more than ever Journalists are writing online because that's the fastest, cheapest, and most popular way to receive news today. Not only that, with this current economy it is making a lot of major magazines, but mostly newspapers, fold or cutback on staff. Therefore, who get the jobs? Those Journalists that are versatile. That do print, online, and broadcast all very well. That makes them transferable rather than firing them because there's no where else to put them in the company. It's going to become about who's doing the most and if they're the best at it all. That's why this class is so beneficial to me. I'm learning the beginning, present, and future of new media. I know that writing will not be enough to get me in or through an affective or beneficial career. So I'm going to continue to learn the ends and outs of the business I love and plan to help evolve.