In a series of field projects for COMM 100, The Mass Media and Society, students were expected to apply the concepts learned in class to their own media consumption. The two featured here hint at my early interest in the intersection of communication and political participation and marginalization by examining how major media networks shape the discourse of citizens. The first, “Controversy with Consequences,” reflects on the consequences of sensationalist journalism following the Jyllands-Posten’s decision to print cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. The other, “The Evening News,” explores the common themes embedded in the evening headlines. Both hint at the potential outcomes as media outlets compete for the attention of consumers in a crowded marketplace.
Controversy with Consequences
April 10, 2009
On 30 September 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published several cartoons of the Islamic prophet Mohammad, initiating a controversy with consequences reaching far beyond the tiny paper’s audience. It remains difficult to gauge the full impact of the controversy. The BBC attributed a loss of 134 million Euros due to the ensuing Muslim boycott of Danish goods (9 Sept 06). Conversely, exports to Western societies increased as consumers purchased Danish goods as a show of solidarity…
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The Evening News
April 17, 2009
A sampling of the evening news as depicted by CNN’s 24-hour Headline News (HLN) network revealed a number of themes. While the topics ranged from international relations to economic affairs to domestic policy, they frequently portrayed a narrow scope of basic ideological tenets, those traits that define and unite “us” as “Americans.” Most prevalent among these was the ethnocentric lens, describing international problems in the language of costs and consequences to the United States, tempered with the rugged individualism synonymous with the “American way”…
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