Posted on May 4, 2018
Interspersing Journalism to Fit Within Pop Culture
Why is Puerto Rico still without power? Why does Flint still not have clean water? Why is climate change still seen as a hoax? A better question would be as to why I know more about a grade-B Hollywood star’s life more than I know about what is happening in my own country. What – or who – is to blame for my lack of knowledge and resources? Surely it can’t be myself when I have infinite ways to type into a search engine and find current events. What’s lacking in these global, sensational news sites that offer me summaries loaded with exaggerations and comedic opinions that don’t really reflect the current standpoint and truth of my country? A glance at any ‘news’ site or a flip through any magazine will give you front to back coverage of who wore that outfit and why. But where is the ten-page report on the damage Hurricane Irma caused and how it’s still affecting our people? Why did we all stop looking for updates?
As the internet has grown in size the requests for celebrity news has increased exponentially while the real world topics are thrown into the background. It has become a huge problem in the journalism community that sensationalized news has become the easiest way to get “clicks” and gather ad revenue. Pop culture dominants our opinions and adjusts our way of believing how the world operates. Our global attitudes represent how we perceive news outlets. We give those who write about Hollywood engagements more attention than the nationally acclaimed journalists who are passionate about covering significant, real-world news. These journalists should be holding more power, earning more recognition and receiving more revenue and opportunities. From a general standpoint, America truly didn’t listen to the potential risks of us all being bombed by North Korea’s nuclear threats. We were more interested in the Royal Wedding and their newborn baby; a couple that isn’t even living in (or relevant to) our country. According to Google Scholar, there are over 6.4 million released articles about the Royal Wedding, compared to a small 915,000 released articles about the North Korea bombing threats.
Image via Gallup
America’s trust in mass media is at all time low, but yet we still tune-in to every pop culture event on TV. The demand for real news isn’t out there because celebrities overpower journalism. Journalists make money from ad revenue (how many of us use ad-blockers?). While journalists still write for newspapers, the amount of money they make from those who buy and read newspapers is low. It ranges around the median amount for all journalists in all aspects of writing (broadcast news reporting, online article assessments, etc.) The views for television news has remained steady for the past six years, although from a larger, longer view, TV-viewing has declined drastically. Television’s biggest competitor? The internet.
Images via Gallup
It is never easy to name any single event in a particular year as the year’s preeminent pop culture moment. “Television has made celebrities both prevalent and ubiquitous, and with the rise of television came a whole new branch of the public relations industry. Public relations once focused on preparing accomplished individuals for the interest and scrutiny that had come to them. Now it involves manufacturing celebrities to meet the culture’s seemingly insatiable desire for them” (CQ Press).
With focus on one of the biggest events in our recent history, the Flint water crisis, it’s known that hundreds of journalists were laid off and fired during the storm of protests happening surrounding Flint’s status. Those who were covering the mayhem were not being paid to do their job. “Residents of Flint were searching for information about their water before the government recognized the contamination and before local and regional news media coverage intensified” (Pew Research). As the crisis developed – for better or for worse – over the first two years, it became a nationally recognized event and for the first two years the globe was listening. Now, almost four years later, you’re lucky if you can find someone to recognize the world ‘Flint’. Perhaps that’s a little exuberant, but the point being is that Flint, Michigan still does have clean drinking water, and there aren’t any media outlets that surveillance this anymore.
All search categories from 2014 – 2015 saw tremendous out-pours of searches through all social media platforms except one: our government. Most of this attention came from Michigan and inside Flint itself. In the later half of 2015, search criteria from the entire country aspect were completely gone. Politicians in Flint and our government hadn’t even mentioned Michigan until it became an online phenomena. Any actual help wasn’t given to Flint until the beginning of the following year, when in January 2016 former President Obama declared Flint, Michigan a state of emergency, thus lending a hand and giving aid to the people who had been affected.
The elimination of jobs to cover the ‘behind-the-scenes’ coverage of Flint, as well as the people who have to survive without clean water devastated our outlook on the condition they were facing.
The performance of American media in covering the run-ups to Flint, and now the casualties that have happened after in terms of water quality, amount of deaths, and how little these people truly have to drink has the journalistic public full of scathing criticism. From the study conducted from Pew Research Center of Study, proxy search engines revealed that the general public tend to go for uncorroborated news sources such as Fox and CNN for the ‘latest’ and ‘breaking news’ stories.
“Many scholars find it useful to distinguish between fame and celebrity, connecting fame to the kind of renown people achieve for extraordinary talents or achievements, and celebrity for the kind of meretricious notoriety that is so prevalent today and so frequently criticized — the state of being known for being known” (CQ Researcher). CQ goes on to say that the smaller room for important news, the less likely for us to sit down and find out about it. The biggest challenge journalists have is combating celebrity news in a way to make their news mesmerizing and the important stories more important. There are hundreds of theories and researches conducted that conclude that us humans are compelled to the lives of those who are placed on a pedestal, and that the only reason these celebrities have our attention is because each story creates a widespread ripple affect.
So, why not a story about our futures gaining the ripple affect? Why do these not matter as much as a diamond-encrusted gown worn for a publicity event that has nothing to do with our communities? Democracy doesn’t work perfectly. But without informed citizens, it can’t possibly work at all.
Footnotes:
Posted on April 1, 2018
Eleven Years Forward
Posted on May 10, 2017
Final Blog Entry
Finding people with similar interests, let alone a similar major or area of study was difficult for me. I recently changed my major to Asian Studies, which is a small field in itself. I did my own research and stumbled upon a website called CIEE, Council on International Educational Exchange, which offers internships and careers abroad. I am interested in studying abroad, and hopefully one day venturing out into a career field to pursue a job I love, like teaching. I talked to a few people from this organization to speak about what they offer and how I can join and how I can adjust to their style. They told me, as Howard had told us, that pursuing a career you’re interested in is the best path for anyone to take. I spoke to them about how being an English teacher is my main goal, but switching to Asian Studies isn’t a setback. Learning about culture in an area that truly inspires and interests me is a great start onto the path of my goal. The CIEE offers students like myself to intern as an English teacher for young students in Asian countries, specifically Korea and China. I learned that it doesn’t even require a teaching degree, although I hope to one day achieve degree in teaching. Not only is there teaching for an Asian Studies major, but also academic research, Foreign Services, Ethnic and culture jobs.
(https://www.ciee.org/teach/south-korea/abroad/)
As for transitioning to Main Campus, I am completely thrilled and eager to start a new journey. I am excited to experience all the different opportunities. I have had the greatest time on UD’s Wilmington’s campus, and am thankful to have had a chance to settle into college life in an easier way. I made friendships that will hopefully transition with me onto Main Campus, and I can’t wait to broaden my friendships, education, and experiences when I start in the fall. Having a dorm will give me much more freedom, which I am both nervous and excited for. Although my parents want me to come home on weekends to visit! I will miss the Wilmington campus, as well as a few of my professors who have been some of the best teachers I have ever had. And of course, you, Howard, who has helped every student, including myself, along the way! 🙂
Posted on March 15, 2017
My Dream Job
For a while, I envisioned my dream job to consist of three elements; a classroom, students, and a textbook.
Secondary Education has always been my strongest interest. I loved the idea of being a teacher, being someone that kids can look to for advice, answers, and help. In high school, I admired each and every one of my teachers, because they all gave me something the other didn’t. They all inspired me to reach farther, dream bigger, and achieve more, which are traits I always try to pass on. I’ve always been told that teachers change the world, that they give so much to those who have so little, and that’s how it becomes their passion.
But I came to the harsh conclusion that maybe teaching in a traditional classroom setting isn’t exactly what I want out of life. It never really occurred to me that there are millions of ways to “teach”. And it occurred to me that I have strong interests in so many other things, like culture and history. So I’ve been frantically searching for ways to put all my strong interests into one big dream job.
And that’s when Asian Studies popped up. I’m a big ‘culture freak’, I love learning about other religions, other countries, and all their holiday’s and customs, you name it. Asia has always been my go-to, my favorite to learn about. So I figured I should do some research, and look at degrees and fields I could jump into for this type of major. And it turns out, there’s a lot this can offer me, and it’s doable. There are endless possibilities of still teaching others while including something I’m passionate about, and it doesn’t have to be in a school, in a classroom, somewhere where not everyone is interested. I am able to teach and reflect on others with something they want to know about, something they want to hear. Whereas in a classroom filled with students who may not care for English, or care for history, this is a path I am more willingly to grow and aspire from.
Of course, there is a lot more to learn and understand. Learning other cultures from other countries like China, Japan, and Korea is going to be a difficult task, but it’s something I want to learn about. Unlike if I chose English Education, I really don’t believe reading textual analysis’ and writing essays constantly are what I’m into. And this was hard to convince myself, because for so long I truly believed that was all I wanted to do.
Combining subjects and ideas that I love, and using them to teach others is something I have chased after for a long time. And while it may be a tougher experience, in the long run at least I know I’ll be passionate about it for the entirety of my career, whether that be in classroom or a different path.
Posted on February 22, 2017
First Blog Post
I have always believed it is better to pursue a career you love, rather than something that will bring you money. Whether or not you believe money is materialistic, if you are unhappy with your job, it will ultimately affect your life in all other areas. There are infinite jobs available to everyone, even if it’s something basic like something in the food services or retail. I am currently working as a supervisor at Food Lion, and I really enjoy what I do. Of course this isn’t my career, but it’s where I work before I get my degree.
I have always thought that love beats the odds of everything else. If you truly love what you do, the rest of the success and rewards will follow. And typically, with most jobs, there are raises and promotions, which is precisely how I maintained my supervisor position. And it would work the same way with a career after college. The longer you stay, the more work you put in, and the better you become, will all lead to higher positions as well as more money and rewards.
Following your gut-instinct is always the best option, and going for what you love rather than something you don’t necessarily understand (or love) will bring curve balls and barriers your way. But, there are always those people who find careers that they love and bring a large amount of money with it. It all depends on what you believe you are capable of, and what you believe is your best option.