Chapter 11

   Not only has advertising changed over the years, but online advertising has been changing a lot over the years as well. Online advertising is well established with its banner ads, pop up ads, and pop-under ads. Online advertising has recently moved onto more proactive types of advertising such as "paid search advertising" (358). "Paid search advertising has become the dominant format of Web advertising" (358). Basically paid search advertising is google, msn, and Yahoo's way of making a boat load of money. They sell ad space and information to companies who are looking for what we, as consumers, are looking for. Whenever I am on Facebook, I see ads like "Do you like baseball?" or "Create your teams jerseys here!". Everything has its own page or website nowadays too. Every movie, TV show, and sports team allows you to follow along online.
   There are many different strategies when it comes to advertising.  Some companies go out and get a huge superstar to promote their products, while others use more creative approaches. The best example I can think of for a superstar promoting products is Tiger Woods promoting Nike products. Yes he still is sponsored Nike, through all the controversy. Tiger Woods is such a big name not only in Golf but throughout professional sports it is known how much of a great athlete he truly is. Have you ever seen those commercials that are super annoying? You know the one where you go "ugh, this commercial again?". Well thats actually a companies goal is to annoy you. "Used more in local TV and radio campaigns than in national ones...irritation advertising: creating product-name recognition by being annoying or obnoxious" (360). The best example for all of you living in the Buffalo area is the Airport Plaza Jewelers commercial with the big chicken that says "I buy it!". Very annoying, but it gets you to remember that Airport Plaza Jewelers will buy all of your unwanted gold. Also, those Dos Equis beer commercials where "the most interesting man in the world" tells you to "stay thirsty", that is a type of approach called snob-appeal. This is when a company tries to seem better than all the rest of the competition. These are just a few of the many strategies that companies have for advertising.
   Advertising campaigns can influence a large amount of people. That being said, if they wrong message is being advertised, then it could be very dangerous to the public. For example, if a certain medicine says it will help you sleep, and it actually keeps you awake all night. Or if an ad says that cigarettes are healthy for your lungs, when they are actually not. One of the biggest issues regarding false advertisement is ads directed at children. The group, Action for Children's Television (ACT) was created to combat this issue. "In the 1980's, ACT fought particularly hard to curb program-length commercials: thirty minute cartoon programs...developed for television syndication primarily to promote a line of toys" (368). Shows like G.I. Joe, My Little Pony and Friends, and The Care Bear Family, were created just so that kids would see these toys and ask their parents to buy them. Another a big problem with advertising aimed at kids was of course Joe the Camel from the cigarette commercials. Joe the Camel was forced to be taken off the air because his cartoon like figure was seen as a tool to get kids to think that smoking was cool. It just goes to show that some companies will stop at nothing to get their name out there.

Chapter 10

   With the rise of TV and movies in the 1950's and 60's, people began to think that the book industry was going to take a large hit. However, they were wrong.  "In 1950, more than 11,000 new book titles were introduced, and by 2007 publishers were producing over fifteen times that number" (315). The book industry flourished and overcame its challenges, and it continues to do well today. Books serve a different purpose to people than movies do. They allow people's minds to wander, anything is possible with a book in your hand. When I am reading a book I can imagine what characters look like, what their surroundings look like, and wonder about the plot all at the same time. Movies and television shows have restrictions, they only allow you to see what is in front of you. With a book, its much more. One persons interpretation can be completely different than someone else's.
   I've said it for just about every type of media, and it's no different for books, the digital age is going to change the way we read books. Older books are starting to be digitized so that the information inside of them is not lost throughout the years. That's not the only thing that is changing though. In the not too distant future you may be reading and flipping through a book, without any paper. A book without paper? I know crazy right? However, Amazon introduced a new e-book reader...The Kindle is a lightweight, think reader with an easy-on-the-eyes electronic paper display" (329). With this new technology, people can download books from Amazon.com straight onto their Kindle and read full length books. Personally, I would love to read books on the kindle. I hate having to hold a bulky book in my hand and turn the pages just to have the book fold up on itself. It also eliminates the need to carry around a number of books. With a Kindle that's all you need, and you can read as much and as often as you like. On the contrary, I know some people like to actually physically have the book itself in their hands at times. I guess they will just have to either deal with the bulky book or adapt to new technology.
   Coming across the paragraph about banned books had me thinking about one book in particular, The Catcher in the Rye. This book is one of the most challenged books I know of and is said to have many underlying themes, that are seen by some but not all. I read this book in my junior year, and honestly I was confused as to why this book was so controversial. I read a book about a whiny kid who wouldn't stop talking about how phony everyone was, when all the while he seems like a phony. You have probably heard all about how the book is what prompted the shooting of John Lennon. The shooter was arrested with a copy of the book in his hand. However, my favorite look at the book was the South Park episode where the kids of South Park are assigned this book and told that it is very controversial. They all speed through the book reading it cover to cover only to realize that the book is not as controversial as they thought. I love it so much because I felt the same exact way as they did. I got through the entire book and thought "I just read a book". Then one of the boys, "Butters", finishes the book and says to himself "kill John Lennon". Only to find out from his dad that John Lennon is already dead. It is a funny take on the book and I easily connected with it.

Chapter 9

   It is hard to imagine magazines as "general interest" but they were. "After the war and through the 1950's, general interest magazines were the most prominent publications, offering occasional investigative articles but also covering a wide variety of topics aimed at a broad national audience" (289). If magazines were like this today, they would be out of business. Nowadays, people can get their general interest news instantly from TV, the internet, and daily in newspapers. If they had to wait for a magazine to come out, they would probably cease to function. I know that whenever I hear someone talking about a story that I don't know about I feel so out of the loop and sometimes even dumb. Maybe that is the problem with news now, there is so much of it that we have trouble sorting out the important news, from the ridiculous stories. Just the other day I say a story from ESPN saying that Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber would be letting his dreadlocks hang out of his helmet this upcoming week. REALLY? Is that honestly newsworthy? However, if they don't report it then someone else will. Which begs the question, How much news is too much news?
   With the internet, newspapers, and round the clock TV news, magazines have had to adapt many times throughout the years. They have now become the most specialized form of print to date. With many different categories ranging from consumer magazines to farm magazines. Personally, I enjoy reading magazines like Sports Illustrated. It features a number of different sports articles and they always have the best pictures in them as well. Being specialized, magazines were able to go where TV and newspapers wouldn't go. For example "Playboy, started in 1953 by Hugh Hefner, was the first magazine to do this by undermining the conventional values of pre-World War II America and emphasizing previously taboo subject matter" (296). Playboy magazine focuses on more adult subject matter, and of course features pictures of beautiful naked women. It reached a certain niche audience that TV simply couldn't reach. That is why it was so successful.
   With all the capabilities and the wide reach of the internet, it is only a matter of time before all magazines have at least some online articles. It is already starting, there are full online magazines such as Salon and Slate, and also print magazines with online articles such as Time and Entertainment Weekly. The media convergence doesn't stop there. It is also seen in the opposite direction, like "cable network ESPN started ESPN The Magazine" (302). Whenever I go onto espn.com I always see links to ESPN The Magazine writers, articles, and covers. The website and the cable channel alike are great advertisers for their magazine. People who just can't get enough ESPN can now see it everywhere. Also, "Oprah Winfrey's O: The Oprah Magazine, and Reader's Digest's launch of Everyday with Rachael Ray" take advantage of the popularity of TV shows (303). Media convergence is everywhere, you just have to look.

Chapter 8

   The biggest thing that has made newspapers important over the years is their nack for investigative journalism. This all started with yellow journalism in the 1800's. This idea of "exciting human-interest stories, crime news, [and] large headlines" is still in high demand today (254). We always see stories about gang violence, what elected officials are doing with our money, and much more. The most recent story that I can think of is the controversy with former Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer had paid for a prostitute and was eventually forced out of office. These investigative reports and stories are followed closely by all. Why? Because we are nosy. Because we want to know what's going on with people's lives. So authors write about it and we read it. This is how yellow journalism became so popular, and still is alive today.
   The two types of newspapers that started to emerge in the 1800's, that would pave the way for future newspapers, were the story driven model and the "just the facts" model. To me "just the facts" seems a little on the boring side. Even as a writer that would not be a fun paper to write for. Instead of creating an article you are simply copying down facts that are given to you. Where's the fun in that? With all the newspapers using this style and just simply telling the people what the government wanted to tell them, when World War I broke out everyone was in a panic. As one scholar described it ""the American people were utterly amazed when war broke out in August 1914, as they had no understanding of the foeign scene to perpare them for it" (258). This is why it is important to be subjective. It is our right to say what we want, when we want to. Some may argue that it is our duty to keep officials in check through criticism. Walter Lippman explains what the press should do by saying "(1) 'to make a current record'; (2) 'to make a running analysis of it'; and (3) 'on the basis of both, to suggest plans'" (258).
   Newspapers today are definitely losing their edge. With the internet at everybody's fingertips and the news on cable channels like CNN and ESPN, newspapers are the last thing on a teenagers mind nowadays. I know that I am more prone to look to the internet for news instead hunting through the Buffalo News. So to stay afloat newspapers are starting to go digital. While it may seem that newspapers are losing steam, don't count them out just yet. This idea is highlighted in our book: "While some observers think newspapers are on the verge of extincion as the digital age eclipese the print era, the industry is no dinosaur...the history of communication demonstartes that older mass media have always adapted" (274). It may be a tall order, but if history repeats itself, our children just may be reading newspapers after all.

Chapter 7

   So here's a shock: Guess who was the first to come up with the idea of television? If you read the first sentence under "The Development of Film" you already know, but for those of you didn't, "The concept of film goes back as early as Leonardo DaVinci, who theorized in the late 1400's about creating a device that would reproduce reality" (213). What didn't this guy theorize?
   Movies were probably very exciting to people even when there was no sound, however, I am most interested in what people must of thought about the introduction of sound into movies. I couldn't imagine nowadays watching a film and not hearing the actors talk. Even just not being able to hear the music that films use to set the mood. You know, like in a horror movie when the music gets louder and louder and then the killer shows up and everyone screams. "Boosted by the innovation of sound, annual movie attendance in the United States rose from sixty million a week in 1927 to ninety million a week in 1929" (223). With stattistics like that, it's safe to say that implementing sound into movies was a change for the better.
   Whenever you go out to watch a movie, the first thing most people say is "well what are you in the mood for?" Movies come in all different types of genres, comedies like Step Brothers, Happy Gilmore, and The Hangover; Action movies like Die Hard, Kill Bill, and Indiana Jones; and Horror movies like The Ring, Frankenstein, and Nightmare on Elm Street. If you want to see it, Hollywood's got it. All genres have their own underlying themes. Whether it be good vs. evil or rags to riches, the themes usually have just a small difference from each other, but are different none the less. "A western typically features 'good' cowboys battling 'evil' bad guys...Romances present conflicts that are mediated by the ideal of love...Mystery/suspense, usually casts 'the city' as a corrupting place that needs to be covercome by the moral courage of a heroic detective" (225).
   The movie industry is trying its best to stay current, and more importantly, to not end up like the music industry. They know that the music industry was ruined by the internet, so they are trying their best to stay ahead of illegal downloaders. "After witnessing the difficulties illegal file sharing brought on the music labels, the movie industry has more quickly embraced the Internet" (241). With movies being offered through services such as iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, I feel there is no reason to download movies illegally. If I don't buy or rent the movie I want from the store, then I will just flip to my on demand channels and access movies that way. The movie industry has done a great job of staying ahead. With iTunes unleashing the capability to rent movies for a low price, and Netflix allowing users to instantly watch movies, the movie industry shouldn't have much to worry about. They adapted very well to new technology.

Chapter 5

  Isn't it amazing how far we've come? Among other things, over the last 50 years television has carved its way into our everyday lives. It's amazing to think that with how TV is today, that its only been 40 years since color TV's were becoming a regular in households. "NBC began broadcasting a few shows in color in the mid-1950's, it wasnt until 1966, when the consumer market for color sets had taken off" (150). 1966 was when color TV sets were making their way into homes. Now 44  years later, if you don't have a high definition, 50 inch TV in your house, then your missing out. In my house we have 3 HD televisions, one in the living room, one in my parent's room and one in the basement, which conveniently is where I sleep. Anyway, all I'm saying is if we've done this in 44 years, what else could we do in another 44 years? It's crazy to think about.
  While reading this chapter I found that television programming is a lot more complicated than it seems. We all know that there are basic categories for shows, like comedies, dramas, game shows, and other series. What I did not know was all the different subcategories that those can be grouped in with. I found myself looking through finding a subcategory and playing a classic game of 'guess what show is under this subcategory'. Let me give you an example: When I read through the sketch comedy section, the only thing I could think of was Saturday Night Live. It got a little harder though, like domestic comedy and anthology drama. It seemed kind of dumb to me at first to have to group shows like this, they are just entertaining shows for god's sake, but maybe I was wrong. Different audiences like different programs. So you can't just show programs like Saturday Night Live over and over just because they make some people laugh. It may not appeal to other comedy watchers, so you throw in domestic comedies like The Office or Two and a Half Men. It works out the same way with all other categories as well.
  This chapter also opened my eyes to the behind the scenes kind of stuff. We all know that prime time programming differs from network to network, but this chapter allows us to see that those networks buy their programming from other companies. "Companies, such as Carsey-Werner, license, or "rent," each episode to a network for two broadcasts, one in the fall or winter and one in the spring or summer" (172). I did know that the networks didn't just come up with these ideas completely on their own, but I thought there were writers for that kind of thing. I also learned a bit about this in Broadcasting. There are a number of different writers that come to networks with shows, similar to an audition for a play. They basically present what they have, who their program will reach, and other information similar to that. The company mentioned in the book, Carsey-Werner, wrote shows such as "the Cosby Show, Roseanne, Third Rock from the Sun, and That '70's Show" (171).

Chapter 4

The book points out a recurring theme about mass media: "Older media forms do not generally disappear when confronted by newer forms. Instead, they adapt" (124). We see it all the time, from recorded music to radio, radio to TV, and on and on. Radio is now even taking a big hit from iPods, and satellite stations. So, how do they adapt? They come up with things such as HD radio. High definition radios that allow you to not only hear your favorite stations more clearly, but also allow you to find stations you never could. This is how the world is, when we are faced with diversity we adapt and live on. Even though radio can annoy me sometimes with commercials, there is really no substitute to listening to radio. Music just sounds better on the radio in my opinion, plus it plays everything, and new music that I don't have yet as well.

          With radio being one of the most used mass media, it attracts a lot of interest from many different groups. “…advertisers, who want to reach people in and out of their homes; for record labels, who want their songs played; and for radio station owners, who want to create large radio groups to dominate multiple markets” (136). I’ve noticed that lately ads have been more and more creative. They have to be because with listeners having more and more options, such as iPods and satellite radio. Instead of just a regular old ad about satisfied customers it’s more fun. I can remember one when a mom is stuck in traffic and her kid is in the back seat acting like a GPS telling her to go to a water park. It uses great imagery and a bit of comedy, everything that Americans love.  is also the problem with payola. Record companies will give money or other gifts to record companies to play their music. Payola is unfair to independent or small record companies because they cannot pay like bigger companies can. Thus it is illegal, and it should be.

It’s interesting to read about the Golden Age of Radio and see what people used to do instead of watch the programs we watch today. It was actually quite similar if you think about it. On page 121, where it talks about early radio programming, it notes shows like Amos n Andy, and The Lone Ranger. What interests me more is the quiz shows that were on in the 1930’s. Those kind of shows are prime time shows nowadays. You see shows like Deal or No Deal, 1 vs. 100 and Minute to Win It. They say that culture is cyclical, and now that you see these shows coming back maybe “they” are right.