Food art at Cal's dining hall
The Charles
The Prudential
Hanging out at the reflection poolIn my political science class, we're discussing the media, its role and functions, its motives, and success or failure in shaping public opinion. We are currently reading The Problem of the Media by Robert McChesney. Here's a quote that I want to hear opinions on:
"Once media industries become concentrated in the hands of a small number of enormous firms, the political and economic barriers to reforming the system are immense. It is like getting toothpaste back into the tube."
Most media is controlled by five corporations with questionable reporting of information. Frankly, turning news into entertainment is their biggest success. What do you think? Have you heard of this issue before? If not, can you think of why?
I've heard of it! Only because we're going over than in my sociology class right now. The news has to focus on entertainment because their tv ratings have to reach a certain level or they risk being cut. It's a flawed system. We read something like since 1993 violent crime has gone down 51% but amount of violent crime report has significantly risen since 1993. Basically people would rather hear about a crazy shooting, although they are so rare, than about shoplifters. It's call "The Culture of Fear" if you want to look some stuff up about it.
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