Media Racism

Although not obvious in the media, media racism, defined as the act subconciously promoting racism, is used all the time in news in many places of the world. In the article I am about to use titled “North Korea threatens retaliation for U.S. aid clawback,” already portays a sense of racism by highlighting a negative aspect of the Korean population. The article begins by indirectly attacking North Korea by claiming that they accused the U.S. Of hostility for sunsoending an agreement to provide food aid. Already the media is indirectly portraying Koreans as bad, violent people although it is the United States that were in the wrong. The authour continues and list weapons and acts of distruction that Korea has done. Although the fired rocket failed to launch over the Yellow Sea, the authour fails to write that in his article and only mentions it in the caption below the picture. Defending both the U.S. And the UN, the UN Security Council condemned the rocket laugh as a violation of resolutions prohibiting North Korea from ballistic missile and nuclear activity, and directed its sanctions committee to strengthen penalties against the country. Futhur media racism is seen when the article highlights North Korea’s response of accusing the U.S. Of leading a campaign to deny its right to develop its defence and civilian space programs, portraying Korea’s of their stereotype of rulebreakers, difficult and more or less, arrogant. In the sentence,“”Peace is very dear for us but the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty of the country are dearer for us,” the statement said, without specifying what countermeasures North Korea might take,” the authour adds the end words to negatively promote racism of the Korean race by displaying and leaving readers with the question of the countermeasures that they will take. Weeks later, North Korea conducted a nuclear test, its second, and revealed it had a uranium enrichment program that could give scientists a second source for building atomic weapons. It is clear that there is media racism in this article where Korea, as a population, are indirectly being pointed out based on their violence and stubborn personalities in which they are identified.

Commodification

Commodification is seen in this article regauding eight underage girls from British Columbia who were taken south of the border and married to American polygamists. Commodification is defined as: a belief that all entities have or should have material value and should be judged based upon this. Although, essentially the polygamists, Jeff to be specific, did not gain anything such a gold or money or anything of expense, their intentions was to gain material value in the way of a young wife. The records found outlined in the documents involved girls aged 12 to 18, where two 12 year olds and one 13-year-old were married to a jail polygamous leader, while the other 16-year-old girl was married to a Bountiful man where she gave birth to her first child at 17. As messed up perverted as the situation the men, subconsciously or not, had a sense of belief of needing to acquire a material value and did so at any possible means that they could. In previous investigations, a young woman at the age of 13 married Jeff “for time and all eternity.” This statement itself shows the need, the want, the desire to withhold such a material thing, such as a young girl, to be judged in a positive way – in his perception. Polygamy itself, the concept, shows trafficking and in so many ways – are commodity in their society. The polygamists consider young girls as a good, compared to others don’t or wouldn’t find it normal. The men in this article consider abuse, rape and trafficking is normal and a commodity. The police and judges on the other hand, do not find this behaviour as normal or a commodity. As well as mainstream Mormon Churches do not practice polygamy. Because further hard evidence is gathered the trial is a continuous one due to the large amount of young girls involved in the polygamy cases.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/02/25/bc-polygamy-trial.html

Agenda Setting – Crude Oil

A facinating topic that I care to explore is Agenda Setting. Agenda-setting theory is known as the medias ability to popularize a certain news issue with frequent and prominent coverage to regard a certain issue as most imporant. Evidently there are a lot of politics in the news, much of it involving the US President, Barack Obama. In this article, specifically, the authour talks about Obama’s plans involving the oil market. It explores what seems to be a esentially very important focus in the media which is politics, congress and the President. This article was on the front page of CBC business story meaning that it is Agenda-setted by the Media because of the hammering of oil prices and previous policies on Obama. This term is used widely, everywhere in the media – more than just in the aspects of politics and business ventures of course, but the interesting thing is that it is very hard to catch the media when they prominantly focus their attention on a topic which seems so normal. The topic of crude oil is widespread in many places of the world, however; it seems the spotlight is greatly place on the President. For reasons known, the President is always in the news, for he is responsible for both indirectly and purposely effecting many other places in the world. It is clear that agenda-setting is very much used in the media, and is evident in the case of Obama and crude oil.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/04/17/obama-crude-oil.html

Protestors Claim Police Brutality

Protestors Claim Police Brutality

For my first illustration, I choose to write about representation of police officers in the mainstream media. I found an article titled “Protestors claim police brutality,” in the Montreal News about University protestors outside of their school, where a police officer unnecessarily used force on the students.  In television media, we always see police officers as a power, a symbol of righteousness and justice in order for the status quo to be kept. This article, however, shows the exact opposite of the commonly represented civilians and the police officers. Where as ideology is used to withhold the power to the elites and disempower the working class, this written media shows the exact opposite. It gives power to the working class, while portraying the police, whom people see as protecting their people, actually harming them. Through representation of mass media of current events the truth is always filtered to portray the police  (the higher power) to a certain  social credibility, which, evidently they do not always hold.

By: Leeanza Fee

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/What+pretty+simple+Montreal+protesters+claim+police+brutality/6106537/story.html