Enlightened in the Dark of a Theatre - a Response to the class discussion - 'Why do People Still Go to Movie Theatres?'

The primary reason that I attend a movie is for the immersive experience. I quite enjoy sitting in the dark, surrounded by expensive speakers, staring at an abnormally large screen with minimal distraction. Film is a popular activity in our modern culture and most people believe one deserves to be seen under these conditions. In the past I was not able to articulate the reason I enjoyed the theatre so much. After our class discussion with Mr. Miller I can do so easily. I believe that film is one of the most effective, if not the most effective, ways to express yourself. Creating or telling a story for the public to see with their eyes is very insightful. People tend to understand something better when they can both see and hear it. It makes sense that our population would want to see something like this in an immersive environment such as a movie theatre.

 I mentioned above that film is a popular activity in our culture. Many people go to a movie, regardless of their interest in the film simply because it is a social event. I can honestly say I have never actually done this. I will attend a movie as a social event, but I will never see a movie I have no interest in. People also attend movies for their cultural significance. I definitely believe this to be true. I have seen movies on their first night in theatres only to see someone dressed in costume. I find it incredible that a screenwriter can create something so spectacular that on opening night they have fans willing to dress up as the characters they have created.

-Guinn

Using Your Voice - a Response to the Class Disscussion- 'What is Communicated Through Music?'

Many things can be conveyed through a single song lyric. I, however. never took the time to think about this until recently. I've always known that emotions, stories, and social/cultural messages can be told through a song, but I guess I held the fact that this is simply not all a song can hold in my subconscious. Political, religious, educational, and historical messages, and messages about sports, news or defiance are all messages and themes that a song may contain whether we realize it or not. 

A song holding an underlying touch of defiance seems very intriguing. It is incredible that someone can convey a need for unity, or exploit a horrible truth by simply putting their message on paper (or any other medium) and publishing it so that it is available to the public. I believe that now more than ever artists need to convey messages they feel strongly about through their lyrics. It is one of the best ways a person in a position of power can bring our country together. I believe it is essential to use your voice if you have one.

-Guinn

An Internetless Existence - a Response to Emily McCurry's Blog Entry, "The Evolution of Entertainment: What Life Would be like Without Music and Movies"

In Emily Mccurry's entry she mentions how very difficult and different life would be without music and movies. I very much relate to the article she has written. I feel that my entire existence revolves around these two things. I have yet to go through a day without so much as seeing a clip from a movie or hearing a popular song lyric. The entire human race very much relies on technology in order to function, but I feel that I would be lost without the two things McCurry mentions in her blog. 

Movies and music are a large part of who I am. I not only enjoy them, but I very much want to work in the music or film industries when I am older. I love these two expressive arts for that reason exactly. They are a way to express yourself when simple verbal or nonverbal responses fail you. I, however, also depend on the people I surround myself with (mainly my family) to keep busy. Even though I cannot imagine life without the internet, if I was forced to live without it I would still have ways to express and entertain myself.

-Guinn

Just Enough, or a Little Too Much? - a Response to Emma Hayes's Blog Entry, "WHAS11 Reported Kroger Shooting Well"

Emma's article, "WHAS11 reported Kroger shooting well," mentions their accuracy of informing the public about the recent and random shooting. I also watched this channel at this time and I too completely agree with the fact that they gave the public this information with surprising accuracy, not leaving a single detail out. 

However, did they give just enough information, or a little too much? Well, technically when it comes to informing the public you cannot exactly provide too much information, but when there are almost no news stories other than this it seems that there should be a limit. I can honestly say that there is no possible way that there was almost only a single news story to report. 

While the Kroger shooting was extremely important breaking news, it may not have been necessary to make eleven of the total fifteen stories included in the broadcast about this particular situation. I am not saying that the story did not deserve attention, but it almost seemed as if the story was smothered on the 5:00 PM broadcast.

-Guinn

Do They Have a Choice? - a Response to Morgan David's Blog Entry, "Missing Girl or Missing News?"

In David's article, "Missing Girl or Missing News?," she mentions Jayme Closs (a missing girl). She talks about how when a news organization (WHAS11 in particular) runs out of relevant stories they report fluff. I agree and understand what she is saying. 

However, if there are no longer any locally relevant stories to report they may not have any other options. The best they can do is report a legitimate news story regardless of its relevance. I record notes on WHAS11 at 5:00 P.M. as well, and I can honestly agree with Morgan. Local News organizations report nothing short of fluff when they run out of stories containing relevance, but do they alway have a choice? Click here for a link to her full article.

-Guinn

All That Is Available - a Response to Christeen Florence's Blog Entry, "Been There, Read That"

"Been There, Read That"  is the title of an article that can be found on Christeen Florence's blog. In her blog entry she talks about how as she perused through local news websites she realized that they all contained the same story on their front pages. She understood that this was because the story was breaking news, but feels that they could have given different approaches. I both agree and disagree with her take on this. Occasionally news organizations can definitely dig a little deeper and provide the public with new and other information, they can provide their information in a different way, or they can provide different sources or witnesses. 

However, sometimes you literally cannot tell a story differently because of a limited number of sources, leads, and information. Sometimes when a news story is really fresh the news organization simply wants to make the basic structure of the story available to the public because that is all that is currently available to them. The news organization will wait to tell their story fully until they have received as many details as possible. Christeen's take on the ways in which local news organizations seems to me mostly accurate and very interesting. Click here for a link to Christeen Florence's full article.

-Guinn

Where to Put Our Trust - a Media Critique

When a news organization quotes only one source in an article you naturally question the truth. Often when only one source is present the truth is distorted in some way. On October 26, 2018 Lauren Adams published a news story on WLKY titled, 'Police: Shoplifters become physical, pull a gun on security officer.' The article mentions several quotes coming from the police department, but does not include anything from the witnesses. 

The story is not able to be denied, but if the police are the only source provided in an article you can definitely question a story's validity and verification. The article does not mention or provide surveillance footage regardless of its possible existence. If there is in fact surveillance footage it should have been provided, or at the very least mentioned in the article. The public deserves the full truth and that can only be given with multiple sources. Below I have provided a link to the article.

https://www.wlky.com/article/police-shoplifters-become-physical-pull-gun-on-security-officer/24294936

-Guinn

An Intriguing Lack of Importance - a Media Critique

One obligation a journalist has is to make the important interesting. Not only was this story interesting, but it was not exactly relevant or important to the public. The story is titled 'Trial of Jeffersonville Man Accused of Killing His Father Continues.' While this may be a source of intrigue it is not necessarily important and that is exactly the opposite of a journalists obligations. First of all, the news story directly affects a small number of people. It essentially only affects those in the story: Darren Cave, Earl Cave (his father), his mother, and his sisters. 

Because the story does not affect a large number of people for a large amount of time it shows evidence of its lack of importance. Earl Cave was murdered by his son on October 8, 2015, but the article was published on October 26, 2018. Darren Cave has a trial this coming Monday at nine a.m. and a couple of other testimonies on other days. Even though these trials will take place soon the actual crime took place over three years ago. If the story was neither relevant or important to the public then, it is most likely neither of those things today. Below I have included a direct link to the article.

http://www.wave3.com/2018/10/26/trial-jeffersonville-man-accused-killing-his-father-continues/

-Guinn

Media Critique - Woman who flipped off Trump motorcade is now running for office in Virginia

On September 12, 2018, WHAS11 published a news story titled: Woman who flipped off Trump motorcade is now running for office in Virginia. This is a violation of two of the Seven Yardsticks of Journalism: Local Relevance and Newsworthiness. 

WHAS11, a local news organization, published a story that originates in Virginia. Because of this, local relevance is violated. This story may sound very interesting to the public, or maybe it is seeminly insignificant and irrelevant. Regardless of the views of the public, this story is not nessecary news. This article is likely newsworthy in Leesburg, Virgina, however, WHAS11 publishes news in and directed towards the local area of Louisville, Kentucky. Just as this story is not locally relevant, it is lacking in newsworthiness. This directly ties into its lack of local relevance. Because it is not locally relevant, it is not newsworthy. 

This does not mean that the story itself does not include these two yardsticks. If this story was published in a local newspaper in Virginia it would definitely include these yardsticks, but it was not published with relevance on WHAS11. To prevent the violation of the ten elements of journalism, or seven yardsticks, the organiztion could simply prevent publishing such stories. "She's hoping others in her district are as angry as she is with the Trump administration and will vote for a finger flipping Democrat." This comes directly from the article and proves that a story can be just as irrelevant as it is intriguing. This is when caution needs to take place. The national public could focus more on relevancies in local news organizations for national improvement in them. Acknowledgement and use of the elements and yardsticks is important.

-Guinn

Response to the 10 Elements of Good Journalism - A Response to Liz Klein's Blog

Liz mentions in her blog (https://elizabethklein01.blogspot.com/) that making the important interesting seems like the most familiar element to her personally. I understand what she means, that this element in particular can be a good guideline to give yourself in your writing. I also believe that this is a goal that journalists work hard for and don't always meet. Occasionally there is an article providing an unrelenting chain of words that doesn't seem to have any relevance to you whatsoever. Journalists do their best to convey stories the public must know in a way that will intrigue the readers.

There are also articles that seem to have no purpose or relevance in your life, but you can not seem to tear your eyes away from the page. When journalists make these mistakes you are able to see that even professionals can occasionally make the mistake of neglecting to follow these expectations. It is very important for journalists to make the important stories interesting, and to spend less time on news stories of little relevance.

-Guinn

Local Relavance: Class Discussion - A Reponse to Evie Reed's Blog

"Out of the seven yardsticks that we talked about, local relevance really stood out to me." This comes directly from Evie Reed's blog (https://eviereedjournalism1.blogspot.com/) and is something that I can relate to. 

Evie mentions how local news stations often present stories of irrelevance in our lives. This fact did not occur to me previously, but is a very true statement. 

If a local news station puts forth an article about a child who has been assaulted in Charleston, West Virginia, people outside of the city do not necessarily need to know about it. If the person who committed the crime was doing similar things all around the country and the news story is expressed through warning the story would definitely be relevant to not only the people in Louisville, but to the national public. 

I believe, as Evie expressed in her blog, that local news organizations often present these unsuitable news stories and need to put more focus onto newsworthiness.

-Guinn

Response to Communication Discussion

I never actually payed attention to the fact that communication comes in different forms. I never really took the time to think about the fact that not all communication is between two individuals. There are three different categories of communication: mass, group, and individual. When I hear the word communication my immediate thought is that between individuals in relationships. In a way the only category, or form of communicating, that I have ever taken the time to appreciate and process is individual communication. This might reign true for others as well. However, our class discussion a few days ago made me realize that there is more to this process than I might have thought. Often things are more interesting, detailed, and complicated than we give them credit for.

I have never really thought about how mass communication (has the potential to reach a mass audience, message travels through time and space, and there is no immediate feedback) is a form of communication. For example, books are words written onto pages and we have the capability to pick them up and read the contents. In the past I did not see this as as form of communication, but I was wrong. This is a form of mass communication; although it has the ability to reach a mass audience, it is still the thoughts and ideas of an individual or individuals being conveyed to the public. In Mr. Miller's class I learned that communication is not always an individual conversation, but that there is more behind the concept.

-Guinn

Response to Binary Models Discussion

Mass comunication can be divided into binary models. One example is hot and cool. When you divide different forms of communication into hot and cool binary models you are able to see which forms of communication demand your full attention and which do not. For example, books will always demand your full attention, so they are a hot binary model. You can do other things while watching television, making it a cool binary model.

However, you can give any of  the cool binary models your full attention. For example, if you had an obsession with Seinfeld you would give it your full attention while you are watching it. In my opinion, this is why it is very difficult to categorize hot and cool binary models.

You can give any of the binary models your full attention which makes it difficult for me to differentiate between the two, however this is also why I enjoy discussing the matter. The difference between the two is very obvious, but at the same time it is difficult to see. We divide communication into three different things: mass, idividual, and group. I think it is intriguing that we can divide each one further.

-Guinn

Response to 10 Elements of Journalism Discussion

The majority of journalists strongly believe in the ten elements of journalism and follow through with them, or they at least strive towards these expectations. Disregard for their importance is, believe it or not, dangerous. Truth, loyalty, verification, independence, watchdog, forum, make the important interesting, inclusive, room for dissent, and analyzation are the ten elements that in the opinion of many are of utmost importance. It is dangerous when these are not given attention because of the inevitable consequences. For example, if journalists were not independent, or separate from certain groups, we would have biased news outlets. If we did not have verification, or multiple sources/witnesses and objective methods, we would not be able to trust our news outlets. If we did not have the truth, well I think it is obvious what would happen in that situation. My point is that lack of participation in each and every one of these elements would be consequential. A large amount of the American public will not question the validity of the news making them oblvious to bias and lack of truth. I am not saying that our country is plagued with dishonesty. In fact this is a bold, biased, false, and an uneducated statement, but I am saying that if a single news story has a lack of sources and witnesses, or an article has one unchecked fact we are not being loyal to our public. Fox News is most often told from a conservative viewpoint and this fact is widely acknowledged, however I don't believe there should be any left or right wing news outlets. If all of our news outlets were unbiased the public would have no choice but to make up their own opinion. In my opinion the greatest resposibility of a journalist is to present citizens with independent and truthful news so that they can come up with their own independent, ideas, thought processes, and opinions. 

-Guinn

Response to Conglomeration Discussion

Disney is something I am personally passionate about. I personally like how each of its subsets are synergized. However, that does not mean every little corner and crevice of the company is as bright and shiny as it is made out to be. The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest conglomerates in America, but what exactly is a conglomerate? Mr. Miller’s journalism class taught me that a conglomerate is when one company (usually an already successful company) essentially absorbs another company, or buys another company.

I guarantee you Disney owns a company you might think of as independent. This exponentially successful company owns Touchstone Pictures (Dead Poets Society, The Waterboy, etc.) , ABC, Marvel, Lucasfilm (Star Wars), Pixar, Hollywood Records, eighty percent of ESPN, fifty percent of The History Channel, etc. This bit of information sounds overwhelming.

You might think that Disney sounds like some sort of monopoly. You are not wrong. Disney is a vertical monopoly. However, this is legal in the United States. This means that Disney owns something in each part of the communication process. While to some this may sound slightly frightening. I personally do not have much of a problem with it. In my opinion, Disney strives for purely good intentions, and is simply extremely successful. Everything they do is to benefit the people, and make money in the process. However, to make money they have to please the people in some way, meaning that this is most likely their primary goal.

Other companies similar to Disney, such as Microsoft, strive for similar goals. In fact I believe most companies begin with good intentions. It is when the sole power source is corrupted, that the companies’ ideals become warped with twisted premeditation. To contradict what I have previously said, you cannot necessarily judge a business without thorough investigation, whether you judge something lightly or harshly. You can, however, merely have an opinion on a matter.

-Guinn