Do Media Represent Realistic Images of Arabs?

Whenever we deal with issues of stereotypes and whether they do or do not influence our perceptions of people in society, we broach the uncomfortable area of human biases and prejudice. Questioning the images we see in media is one of the most important features of understanding media's relationship to society. There is evidence that U.S. media have improved in terms of portrayals of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians, and images of gays and lesbians are starting to improve; but as these selections show, accurate representations of Arabs in the mainstream media still have a long way to go.

Journalist Gal Beckerman discusses how Arab bloggers from the Middle East are challenging popular stereotypes of Arab and Middle Eastern culture. Because these bloggers are writing about their lives, the global public can read about their situations and understand them as individuals, rather than racial or ethnic group members. In contrast, Jack Shaheen discusses how Arabs have been the most maligned stereotype in popular culture, and how the images, post 9/11, that conflate "Arab" and "Muslim," have fueled misperceptions about victims and combatants while we are engaged in the war in Iraq. He discusses how Hollywood's images influence politicians and citizens and contribute to public opinion.

It has been said that despite recent sensitivity to multiculturalism and a growing call for respect for people of other races and ethnicity's, the image of the Arab still represents evil. But the conflation of the people of the Middle East with "the enemy" is an example of how powerful stereotypes can be.

This issue brings up more than the question of the power of stereotyping in the media; it makes us ask whether the images in media really matter to us, and whether different types of media can communicate more effectively than others, depending on the content. Anytime we are challenged to question our own beliefs, and how those beliefs may be influenced by the media, we get one step closer to understanding the complexity of media images, media forms, and how we, individually and collectively, understand our place and role in society.

I personally think that the media does not represent a realistic view of Arabs. Arabs remain the most negative and harmful group in our U.S. history. 9/11 was such a devastating event  that will never be forgotten. I think that no matter what the media or Arabs themselves has to say, Americans will never be able to forgive or forget that time in history. There were so many personal and emotional feelings attached to that devastation that will never be able to escape.

City Weighs Medical Pot Ban

This article was posted in The Daily Journal. Medical marijuana businesses could be banned permanently in Redwood city if the Planning Commission agrees with city staff that enforcement will be costly and time consuming, crime could escalate and ongoing conflicts between state and federal policies make regulations challenging. 

City staff has looked at the legal and safety issues of regulating medical marijuana and how other cities have dealt with the issue. San Carlos, San Mateo and San Mateo County permit the facilities while Colma, San Bruno, South San Francisco, Millbrae, Brisbane, East Palo Alto, and Half Moon Bay do not. 

California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act, in 1996, allowing sick patients to either grow their own marijuana or have a primary caregiver grow it got them. In Augusr 2011, the Legislature passed another bill giving local government more power to regulate marijuana districution facilities through enforcement of zoning regulations. 

It sounds to me that redwood city is skeptical of opening more facilities within the city. It seems as if they want to see how it goes with other cities having medical marihuana facilities before Redwood city makes their decision. Redwood city is worried that we will have more crime. The reason why we would have more crime is because teenagers, even though they don't have a medical condition, get these cards to purchase marijuana illegally. There are doctors that will just write up prescriptions for a card, for only $100. If more and more people start getting these cards, there will be more selling and dealing of marijuana on the streets, and isn't that considered illegal?

I don't understand why they are looking to have medical marijuana facilities in cities so close together. If they are going to do it at all, I think that they should spread the facilities out within a certain amount of miles. I feel like the more facilities, especially in close proximities, the more the crime rate and expenses there would be. 

Do Media Cause Individuals to Develop Negative Body Images?

Over the weekend we were assigned, as a class, Issue 4, regarding if media causes individuals to develop negative body images.

I strongly agree with this issue. Media is often accused of representing images that result in people's negative behaviors. Although the media is constantly in our face, we as the viewers, have the choice to let it influence us or not. We know that media have some influence over the way some people construct their ideas of reality, but the most difficult considerations have to do with who is affected, and under what conditions.

Fat has become something to be feared, and grooming  practices and fashion are "sold" as imperatives for both men and women. Maintaining a fit body is no longer viewed as a personal choice, but as an obligation to the public good and a requirement for good citizenry. Rarely ever do we see more realistic but still presumably healthy bodies in the media. My big question is, what is so wrong with women who have a shapely body? Advertisements are also going so far as to not only feature slim models, but they are now using airbrush, and photoshop, to make the subject have an hourglass body.

Men are given the status of subjects while women are objects. Both women and girls come to experience themselves as if someone were looking at them as an object and evaluating themselves based on appearance and their successful presentation of self as an object.

Does fake news mislead the public?

Over the past weekend we were assigned a reading on an issue questioning whether or not fake news misleads the public. Julia R. Fox, Glory Koloen, and Volkan Sahin examined the political coverage of the first presidential debate and the political convention on The Daily Show and on network nightly newscasts. Their study found that the two newscasts either has more hype or humor than the substance. To compare to that study, Barry Hollander examined the learning from comedy and late-night programs. He used a national survey to examine whether exposure to comedy and late-night programs actually inform viewers, focusing on recall and recognition. Some support is found for the prediction that the consumption of such programs is more associated with recognition of information.

I found this issue so interesting in the sense that in this age of the internet, the simple descriptions of news are no longer accurate. The shifting trends in media usage see young voters turning to comedic sources for information, rather than traditional media. This new age of the internet has completely changed our society, in terms of the way we view things, the information we receive, etc.

I personally am torn between fake news misleading the public and not. I think it is important that the younger generations have found an interest in some form of media to gather information. Although, there are studies on fake news having more hype, it at least keeps the viewers entertained, and wanted to keep watching for more information.
But on the other hand, traditional newscasts are more straight and to the point, unlike fake news. Instead of focusing on the important message and information, fake news manipulates and dumbfounds the point of discussion.

INTRODUCTORY VIDEO!

Are American Values Shaped by the Mass Media?

YES (Schiller):
-  Schiller argues that mass media institutions are key elements of the modern capitalistic world order
-  Media produces economic profit and the ideology necessary to sustain a world system of exploitative divisions of social and financial resources

NO (Carey):
-  Communication is not simply a process of sending messages as the transmission model would suggest
-  Communication is a symbolic process which is inherently linked to culture and our lives

-  The critical/cultural perspective is advocated by Schiller, the ritual view of communication by Carey
-  Schiller outlines the five myths that structure media content and manipulate consciousness
      -  These myths function to produce the status quo and maintain existing social power structures
-  Mass communication scholars are concerned that the power of the media to shape attitude and opinions, paired with inevitably result in a recreation of current power structures, which inequitably divide social resources
-  Carey defines communication as a "symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed"
      -  Ritual models see communication a directed toward the maintenance of society in time and the representation of shared beliefs

-  Many people do not consider the media as having an observable impact on them or on those around them

-  Schiller was a powerful proponent of the theory that media is structured by the economic conditions under which it operates
-  Carey argues that commitment to the transmission model of communication has inevitably focused our attention on issues of power, administration, and control
-  The ritual view of communication turns our attention to aesthetics, religion, values, and intellect