Media Theories

I feel like I could go on for hours on some of the theories covered in today's class. More specifically, the Hypodermic Needle Model, Gatekeeping, 2 Step Flow, Agenda Setting, Cultivation, and Media Ownership. For the sake of time and keeping myself from rambling on incoherently, I'll try to keep everything short and concise.

The Hypodermic Needle Model is a theory that I feel a great connection with. Not in the sense that I feel that I have been directly effected, but rather the total opposite. I have grown up playing video games that many would consider extremely violent. I have always watched violent movies. I have even listened to music that many people have considered "bad for kids." With all of this evidence stacked against me, I have SOMEHOW managed to keep myself from committing random acts of violence. It's crazy, I know. I think this notion is completely backwards. I don't think violent media tends to cause people to become violent, I think that violent people tend to enjoy violent media.

Gatekeeping is something we see constantly on the major television news networks. The 2 Step Flow and Agenda Setting are also parts of that. Do we really expect people like Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann to not try to influence their viewers with their own ideas? People like this are on television solely to express their opinion, despite the fact that they're on news networks. I'm not necessarily complaining about this, but that's because I have the mental capacity to distinguish unbiased news from pundits and their opinions. The bad part is that there are some people that can't do that, and will take in whatever they're told, as long as it fits conveniently with what they want to believe.

Cultivation is something that I find myself thinking about often. I am very intrigued by people who live their lives emulating what they see on television. I don't mean that there are people out there trying to solve murder cases in similar ways that the detectives on CSI do it, I mean more along the lines of people mimicking people throughout pop culture. It's always interested to see what new (and often strange) things will show up in music videos and concerts, and then to see the huge amounts of people in the public swallowing it all and looking exactly the same within days. I like to think that I have somehow avoided this, but who knows? Maybe I'm not as "free" as I think I am, or as I would like to be. After all, I'm not the only 23 year old kid out there today wearing black jeans, black shirt, black shoes.

Media Ownership. I only have one thing to say, and it's VERY opinionated as well as very short. F*** Rupert Murdoch. Seriously, that guy sucks.