The Great Race

I sat down a week ago to write this post but I got so riled up and excited by the campaign ads (yes, I watched all of them) that I became distracted and started texting friends to talk about politics. The Blogger tab on my browser was left lonely and abandoned for the past 7 days but now that my excitement has subsided I have returned. It may surprise you that I have never been one for politics (I'm not even registered to vote.) I didn't grow up following presidential races. I guess I always had the mind set that it didn't apply to me since I was a kid, but I guess I'm an adult now....
So, politics. Watching these campaign ads with a critical eye was very interesting. There were some obvious trends that caught my eye.  There was the use of scare tactics, especially using phrasing like 'Imperialist Presidency.' To me it seemed as though the ads in support of a candidate focused on broad topics that benefit society, while the attack ads focus on a very specific thing their opponent has done. A perfect example of this is the ad that talks about Mary Landrieu, who used tax dollars to fly private over 40 times. I think it's safe to say that the ads made in favor of candidates rely on fact, while the ads opposing on candidates rely mostly on fear. Many of the ads were funded by interest groups rather than the candidate themselves, which sometimes results in disinformation and lies. Ads created by unions carry different weight to those who understand the world of politics, but the average voter may not know the difference. The question is, which one works better, the positive or the negative? In the past we've seen that negative political ads a have proven to be effective. However, the problem with campaign ads is, unless you have absolutely no idea who the candidate is, you will already have some sort of preconceived notion about them. Campaign ads may not do anything for those who strongly lean one way of the other, but for those somewhere in the middle of the pack, it could be the deciding factor. Media has the unique ability to affecting the opinions of the masses. For someone who is Independent or has no political affiliation, seeing Obama's moving LGBT rights ad may be what gives Obama their vote. That's why campaign ads play an important role in our Democracy. They allow the opposing parties to represent themselves to the public in a a certain way, as well as expose the less than desirable things about their opponents. The downside to this is that for many voters, these ad campaigns that they see on TV are the only knowledge they have of a candidate because they don't take the time to do research or watch the debates. Having a full understanding of candidates and their policies is really important before going out to vote. You shouldn't base your opinion solely off of a commercial you saw on TV.

Not Your Typical Milk and Cookies

Cookie ˈko͝okē (COMPUTING) a packet of data sent by an Internet server to a browser, which is returned by the browser each time it subsequently accesses the same server, used to identify the user or track their access to the server.

Normally when you hear the word cookie you begin imagining the smell of baked goods fresh out of the oven. This is not quite the same thing. In the world of computers, cookies are pieces of data that track where a user goes on the Internet and what they look at. Many people are unaware of the number of cookies found on their computer or that cookies even exist in the first place. I was astounded to check my cookies. I've inserted a picture below. 

1, 158 cookies?! I immediately cleared all of my website data. Of course I quickly realized that this logged me out of all of my accounts, including  Blogger itself. I had seen advertisements for things that I had just been looking at on Amazon, and I knew that they were cookies but I never did anything about it. It had gotten to the point that it was annoyingly obvious. Right after I'd leave Amazon, the item I was looking at would appear as an ad on another website. As annoying as this is, cookies aren't always a bad thing. They're very beneficial for businesses. Cookies allow the business to see how the customer found you, how many times they've visited your site, as well as the other sites they've visited and how many times they've visited those. This may be a good thing for the business but there's always a downside. One instance that many customers may not know about is the use of cookies when booking a flight. If you use the same website for purchasing a plane ticket, the sight will read that you have been there before and raise the price over time. Another downside for internet users who block cookies is getting blocked by certain websites. I did noticed that after I switched my settings to block cookies from third parties and advertisers I was stopped every know and then by sites that required the use of cookies.
Although it may be annoying to have to log in to accounts again and occasionally getting stopped by certain websites that require cookies after clearing your cookie data, it's worth it. 

WKU "News"

The following are 12 of the most recent new stories posted by WKU News:  

• WKU RECOGNIZES TOP VOLUNTEERS, ALUMNI AT 2014 SUMMIT AWARDS
• WKU NAMED TO MILITARY FRIENDLY® SCHOOLS LIST FOR 6TH STRAIGHT YEAR
• DR. SUSAN BAUM MAKES PRESENTATION AT 2014 TWICE-EXCEPTIONAL LEARNERS SEMINAR
• PARKING/TRAFFIC INFORMATION FOR WKU VS. UTEP ON NOV. 8
• WKU GERMAN PROGRAM TO MARK 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FALL OF BERLIN WALL
• STUDENT ACTIVITIES ANNOUNCES CHAIRS FOR GREEK WEEK 2015
• PARKING/TRAFFIC INFORMATION FOR HOMECOMING 2014 EVENTS NOV. 6-8
• WKU YEARBOOK WINS PACEMAKER AWARD — 17TH OVERALL, 7TH IN A ROW
• STEAK ’N SHAKE TO HOST LAUNCH PARTY NOV. 6 AT WKU LOCATION
• WKU FORENSICS TEAM WINS LARGEST TOURNAMENT OF FALL SEMESTER
• WKU DEPARTMENT HEAD COMPLETES 8TH AROUND-THE-WORLD TOUR
• GROVES MAKES PRESENTATION AT U.N. WATER CONFERENCE IN CHINA

Out of these 12, I would say only half can remotely pass for news stories. Steak and Shake is having their grand opening? Parking and traffic information? That's some hard hitting journalism right there. Even the stories that I think could pass for news stories are soft stories. It seems as though this is a source I would go to if I wanted to know about some general campus news and events, but not for deep, interesting stories. Interestingly enough, none of these most recent WKU stories are featured in the local Bowling Green news (not even the Steak and Shake one! Shocking, right?) This is probably because someone who doesn't attend this school wouldn't care about smaller things going on around campus. I think perhaps alumni or other members of the community could be interested in the stories about Forensics Team, the Around-the-World Tour, and the U.N. Presentation, but the public most likely doesn't care about the chairs elected for Greek Week. These stories all seem like the easy catches. This probably has something to do with the size of the paper. Or maybe there is simply nothing controversial or impactful going on around campus (although I highly doubt that).  I'm sure there aren't many people relying on WKU News for their daily news and that's probably a good thing considering their seems to be no coverage of anything in the community. I know that I personally will to be using this site for my daily news. These stories may produce a nice public image for the university but it's not the whole truth if part of the picture is cropped out. 

They Say Image is Everything

If you were to look at Vogue's online magazine and solely look at the pictures, it seems as though they are promoting a high end lifestyle. The digital pages are filled with beautiful faces, some you may recognize as famous actors, artists or models. The images all seem to have a similar feel to them. Beautiful people, nicely done makeup, expensive clothing, perfectly decorated houses, story book weddings. After flipping through several articles I noticed that most of the people who appeared in the photographs were white, and every now and then I saw an African American or Asian model. I think the way Vogue makes the pictures for their publication works for them and the clientele they're trying to reach (although there could be more diversity) but it would not work for a more journalistic magazine such as National Geographic. Vogue promotes an expensive lifestyle and that is communicated quite well through their photographs. It wasn't until I actually read some of the articles that I realized that there was a bit of reporting that represented real people as well. They recently featured a story on a woman who fled Iran with her family and also a story of two woman who are standing up against sexual harassment on their college campus. But even the photos for these more serious articles are definitely stylized for Vogue. I think this loses a certain audience that they're on the verge of being able to connect with. The problem may be the image that people commonly associate with the magazine. If they're like me, they had no idea that Vogue publishes more journalistic stories and not just fashion advertisements and stories about celebrities.

At Home on Music Row

I recently did some research on local  recording studios, specifically, OmniSound Studios. OmniSound is located in Nashville, TN and has been consistently rated as one of the top recording studios in that area for the past 25 years. It doesn't come as any surprise that OmniSound is home to some of country music's biggest names, such as Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum, Trace Adkins, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, and many more. The majority of their client base appears to belong to the country genre, however there are a few outliers, most notably, Disney/Pixar, Leona Lewis, and Hot Chelle Rae. It doesn't appear they targeting a specific fan base with their clients, I believe it just happens to be the area that the studio is in because Nashville is commonly associated with country music.
Throughout the years, they have worked with many major labels, but they prefer to work with independent artists. As they put it: "Our mission is to offer everyone the opportunity to make the best possible recording–regardless of whether they are a major artist or have never recorded before." Some of the distribution services they provide are iTunes, Amazon MP3, and many more major music distributors (they did not specify if they produce hard copies but I would assume so.) They also offer video production, record packaging (designing an album cover), web design, workshops, and Electronic Press Kit. All of these services help artists to promote their music. The problem I could see a recording studio such as OmniSound facing is some artists may not be willing to pay the big bucks for the services offered by larger studios. Nowadays there are programs that make it easy for any aspiring artist to produce music for much less money. The quality will not be as good but it is still a possibility. Although this probably wouldn't affect large recording studios, it has the potential to affect smaller labels and studios in the future. 

Mickey Mouse Takes Over the World

After doing some research and scrolling through seemingly never-ending lists, I'm just going to assume that Disney actually owns Earth. Below is a list of their assets:

Film and Theater

Disneynature

Disney Theatrical Productions

Touchstone Pictures

Marvel Entertainment

LucasFilm

Walt Disney Pictures

DisneyToon Studios

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Pixar Animation Studios

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International (Distribution)

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Music

Disney Music Group

Hollywood Records

Walt Disney Records

Television

ABC-Owned Television Stations Group

WLS (Chicago, IL)

KFSN (Fresno, CA)

KTRK (Houston, TX)

KABC (Los Angeles, CA)

WABC (New York, NY)

WPVI (Philadelphia, PA)

WTVD (Raleigh-Durham, NC)

KGO (San Francisco, CA)

Disney ABC Television Group

ABC Television Network (ABC Daytime, ABC Entertainment, and ABC News)

ABC Family

ABC Studios

A&E Television Networks (50%)

The Biography Channel (50%)

Disney ABC Domestic Television

Disney ABC International Television

Disney-ABC-ESPN Television

Disney Channel Worldwide (Disney XD, Playhouse Disney, Jetix, and ABC Kids)

History (formerly The History Channel) (50%)

H2 (50%)

Hungama

Lifetime Entertainment Services (50%)

SOAPnet

Disney Junior (Flanders and the Netherlands)

ESPN, Inc. (80%)

ESPN (and ESPN.com and ESPN360.com)

ESPN2

ESPN 3D

ESPN Classic

ESPN Deportes

ESPNEWS

ESPNU

ESPN Enterprises

ESPN Interactive

ESPN International

ESPN Mobile Properties

ESPN on Demand

ESPN PPV

ESPN Regional Television

Longhorn Network

Radio

WDDY AM (Albany, NY)

WDWD AM (Atlanta, GA)

WMKI AM (Boston, MA)

WGFY AM (Charlotte, NC)

WRDZ AM (Chicago, IL)

WWMK AM (Cleveland, OH)

KMKI AM (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX)

KDDZ AM (Denver, CO)

WFDF AM (Detroit, MI)

KMIC AM (Houston, TX)

WRDZ FM (Indianapolis, IN)

KPHN AM (Kansas City, MO)

KDIS FM (Little Rock, AR)

KDIS AM (Los Angeles, CA)

WMYM AM (Miami, FL)

WKSH AM (Milwaukee, WI)

KDIZ AM (Minneapolis, MN)

WQEW AM (New York, NY)

WDYZ AM (Orlando, FL)

WWJZ AM (Philadelphia, PA)

KMIK AM (Phoenix, AZ)

KDZR AM (Portland, OR)

WDZY AM (Richmond, VA)

KIID AM (Sacramento, CA)

KWDZ AM (Salt Lake City, UT)

KRDY AM (San Antonio, TX)

KMKY AM (San Francisco, CA)

KKDZ AM (Seattle, WA)

WSDZ AM (St. Louis, MO)

WWMI AM (Tampa, FL)

ESPN Radio

WMVP (Chicago, IL)

KESN (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX)

KSPN (Los Angeles, CA)

WEPN (New York, NY)

WDDZ AM (Pittsburgh, PA)

Publishing

Hyperion Books

ABC Daytime Press

Hyperion

Jump At The Sun

Mirimax Books

Voice

Disney Publishing Worldwide

Disney Digital Books

Disney English

Disney Global Book Group

Global Children's Magazines

U.S. Magazines

ESPN The Magazine (50% with Hearst)

ESPN Books

Parks and Resorts

Adventures by Disney

Disney Cruise Line

Disneyland Resort

Disneyland Resort Paris (51%)

Disney Vacation Club

Hong Kong Disneyland (48%)

Shanghai Disney Resort (43%)

Tokyo Disney Resort (Owned and operated the Oriental Land Company)

Walt Disney Imagineering

Walt Disney World Resort

Other

The Baby Einstein Company

Club Penguin

Disney Consumer Products

The Disney Store

Disney Apparel

Disney Accessories & Footwear

Disney Fashion & Home

Disney Food

Disney Health & Beauty

Disney Stationery

Disney Toys

Disney Interactive Media Group

Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Online (Disney.com)

Disney Online Studios

Disney Mobile

El Capitan Theatre

The Muppets Studio

Playdom

Rocket Pack

UTV Software Communications

(list found at http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=disney)

I was aware that many of these are owned and operated by Disney, but seeing the full list is completely different. They are everywhere! Television, movies, books, theater, parks, radio, stores, and so many others. I think the way that they do things is very smart. Having their feet in a bunch of different areas allows them to maximize the size of any franchise they're interested in making. It could start with a movie, then they could create a TV show spin off of those characters, or a book series. Disney has a presence in media, including social media, everywhere we go, and I think they do a great job with it. The quality of media produced by Disney is good because they have the money to do so due to their high profits. The idea of large companies owning so much of our world can be scary but companies, such as Disney, manage to do it well. 

Back in my day...

Four score and five years ago, the first television broadcast was aired and forever changed how we receive news. I recently spoke with 2 people from an older generation to get their opinion of the evolution of television news, specifically, cable versus networks. Both subjects stated that they never watch local news, and only one of them watch any televised news at all. Terry only watches one news program, CNN Headline news. Why not regular CNN news or any of its cable counterparts? She said that the reason she chooses that specific show is because they mix it up. They talk about the sad or serious stories but they incorporate humorous stories as well. The reason Terry doesn't watch the local news is because she says that it is not relevant enough to her and it is too depressing, but CNN Headline news delivers in a style that isn't so heavy. She believes that the cable networks and the traditional networks are all equal in quality, but they are covered differently. To her, traditional news networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC are too serious and have lacks the entertainment factor found on other programs. Along with headline news, she reads the newspaper. What she likes about that over broadcast news is that she can select to read whatever she wants. She can skip over stories she's not interested in and read the ones that are relevant, something that just isn't an option when receiving news through television.

Brian had a slightly more opinionated take on the subject. He chooses not to watch televised news broadcasts at all. He believes that all programs on both the cable and traditional networks have a political agenda and oftentimes come off as being bias. When he was growing up, he remembers watching the news where the anchors would give you all the facts and let you decide your own opinions for yourself. He specifically recalled events such as the moon launch and landing, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and the assassination of John Lennon being delivered on the news in a much more credible and neutral way. Brian gets almost all of his news from online sources, specifically an from an app called Flipbook, which allows you to get news stories from a variety of sources all in one place. He prefers this because he can read the same story from a variety of different sources and them form his own opinions on the topic. If he's not getting news from his iPad, then he's reading the Sunday paper. He stated that unlike televised news, newspapers are a reliable, neutral source. The one downside is the timeliness of the whole process. That's where there's an obvious benefit from being available online. 

It is unlikely that television networks will go back to the way that they used to be and we'll have completely unbiased news reporting, but there are plenty of alternative news sources available to those who may be concerned about neutral reporting.