Examining Alex Jones's Film "The Obama Deception"

Alex Jones’s film “The Obama Deception” set out to prove that despite what we believe President Obama is no different that former President Bush. According to Jones, President Obama is just a pawn put into office by the New World Order to lead the United States and the rest of the world into a time of martial law and total chaos. Jones’s sees President Obama as more of a politically correct media poster child than as a leader who can change and save our countries future.

For me this movie was an all out assault on my brain on all three levels. The music and the voice of the narrator, Jones, created an almost doomsday feeling that lasted throughout the entire movie that left my reptilian brain and stomach unsettled. That feeling of uneasiness spread into my limbic brain as the images that streamed across the video screen were too much to process with all the different audio (narration, music, creepy use of megaphones, ect…). Emotionally this film didn’t scare me as much as it made me uneasy. I felt like the film put my whole way of life into question. I almost felt defensive while we watched the movie. I didn’t know if I should let the issues Jones’s was covering into my brain for processing or if I should block them out to preserve my sanity. The images that were most unsettling for me surrounded the idea that martial law is inevitable. The images of police wearing riot gear in a concrete and chain link city were very emotional and almost raw. This image was combined with Jones’s terrifying narration tone and creepy background music was very powerful and even thinking about it now I am getting that same feeling of looming dread. Like I said in the introduction, this film was almost too much for me to handle speaking from a neocortex standpoint. The amount of information that Jones throws at the viewer is insane. There were too many new terms, new players, conspiracy theories, and way too much bull horn for me to process through my higher levels of thinking. The only way that I would be able to clearly process this whole film through my neocortex would be in 10 minute segments. Even then I don’t know if I would be able to completely process or even wrap my head around Jones cites throughout the film.

This film used every technique of persuasion that they accused the new world order of using! I think for me the most overarching persuasive technique used in this film was fear. I was afraid throughout the whole film! The scene that I talked about above when Jones’s is talking about Obama’s plan to create government militia that will carry out the president’s order(s) once martial law in enacted. Secondly I think that the way Jones used symbols throughout the film was sneaky and in a lot of way brilliant. Through the use of over advertised symbols Jones was able to create a feeling within the viewer that made them relate advertising they saw for Pepsi to the campaign ads they saw about Obama. Jones was able to use everyday symbols to create a sense of panic about our countries future. Jones also used flattery to make his audience feel smarter than the New World Order thinks they are. I felt like this technique was apparent throughout the film, but especially at the end when Jones presented viewers with a list of things that educated/aware Americans could do in order to stop the New World Order from successfully taking over our country. This sense of flattery also fed into the technique of group dynamics when Jones said, “this is what WE must do.” “This is who WE are up against.” “We don’t have to let this go on any longer.” Jones appealed to our sense of group dynamics and our human desire to belong with phrases like this.
A lot of the questions that appealed to the group dynamic aspect of the film were rhetorical questions, “how did it get this bad so fast?” “How did this happen without anyone knowing?” that were followed directly with a perfect pause, which is all timing. Jones’s ability to perfectly time the music and the visuals on screen was one of the strongest pulls at my limbic brain throughout the film, and really made the message he was trying to convey that much more effective. Another technique that Jones combined with timing is the use of repetition. I think the scene the sticks out the most in my mind is when Jones is going though Obama’s cabinet members listing the secret, conspirator groups they belong too. Not only were the organizations’ names repeated, but the page set up that was used was repeated over and over. Personally for me I felt that the technique of persuasion that Jones’s used the least effectively were testimonials. The people who he presented as experts did not hold a lot of credibility in my eyes, and they seemed to have been chosen at random. However his choice of “experts” may have been deliberate as he tried to appeal to as many different demographics as possible.

Jones opened his film with a value message that he carried throughout the film, “in this film we are going to prove…” His entire film was centered on the idea that the American people not only wanted the truth, but they deserved it. Jones was able to use this message to make himself look like he was trying to save the public from the dishonesty surrounding us at every turn. Jones used a million production techniques to make his film more emotionally powerful. I think two of the best examples of production techniques used in the film were the use of music and the shaky camera work that Jones used while he and his team were “followed” from the Marriott in Virginia to a local strip mall. This shaky camera work made the viewer feel like they were right there with Jones in the car, and it also created a false sense of a chase. The combination of production techniques and expert pacing made this film seem ever more dramatic than it really was. The fast pace of the film made it hard to process individual concepts or ideas, making the viewer essentially passive. However the strongest parts of this film were the ones that created individual meanings for the viewers through emotional transfer. These two production techniques were used in tandem to heighten the feeling of impending doom that Jones created throughout the entire film. Jones expertly tapped into emotions, specifically fear in order to make us more receptive to his messages. Through this feeling of fear Jones was able to target each individuals own worst fears, which only made his messages more powerful.

I think this film represents a huge aesthetic shift. Twenty years ago a film as politically charged as this one wouldn’t have ever been shown outside of a shady basement party, let alone in a university setting. This film represents a huge change in what we consider private and taboo. Today politics is a huge part of polite dinner conversation and it is no longer considered taboo to talk about personal political beliefs. This film takes something that used to be very private and thrusts it into the public, easily accessible, and best of all free. This free access also shows how much of a personal shift there has been when it comes to how easy it is to download and view films such as this one. Everything is public when it hits YouTube.

The topic that I was most excited to research after watching this film was the New World Order (NOW). I was surprised at how much information is available when it comes to the NWO. Many of the websites that had information on it were run by people who seemed to share Jones’s political and social beliefs, but other sites laid out that a new world order was the idea that a singular governing body would one day rule. The information that I found on the NOW ran the spectrum from extremist to completely harmless that I think the research that I did made me more objective and much less afraid. I spent the rest of my time researching the history of our country’s system of banking. I love history and I enjoyed digging into our government’s past. Even though I had taken numerous American History classes it was a lot of new information for me to process. There were hundreds of acts and pieces of legislation passed in the early days of our government that brought us to where we are as a country economically today. The research that I did into our nations banking history was eye opening and it made me want to write up a little summary and hand it out to people on the street. No one has a clue about our country’s banking system and I think that if we understand our past it keeps us from repeating the same mistakes in the present.

I think the two texts that we covered this semester that feed right into this type of film was Project Censored and Amusing Ourselves to Death. Like project censored Jones’s film set out to expose the issues not covered or talked about by mainstream media and both of these mediums presented powerful cases. However I find myself much more confident in the research done and presented in Project Censored than I do with Jones’s film. I connected Postman’s Huxleyan Warning direct to this film. We must be conscious and carefully media consumers if we are going to make educated and informed choice regarding our future.

10. Media controls almost every aspect of life and culture today

I think the biggest revelation I had this semester was my own dependence on media and how much of my life is controlled by the media. I had considered myself to be a pretty free spirit but after completing this class I know that I’m addicted to media, and that I am very susceptible to techniques of persuasion used by the media.

I think the best example is how I felt after reading chapter 8 in Project Censored. The Gardasil Sell Job was for me the most eye opening chapter that I read and blogged about. I remember watching all the commercials when gardasil was first released to the public and I was a huge supporter. I convinced my mom to get both my sister and myself vaccinated. I was convinced that this vaccine would change the lives of young women in America. I was a total victim of marketing and I fully bought into the idea that if I didn’t get the vaccine I would be at a much high risk. I was a victim of Merck’s advertising and public relations campaigns. After reading the chapter in project censored I felt like an ass. The way that the media covered this story and used the packaged Mereck sound bytes to promote this vaccine was not only irresponsible but in the long run it may prove to be dangerous.

This case study opened my eyes and made me realize that the warning at the end of Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman lays out two scenarios in his final chapter titled The Huxleyan warning. Postman warns that it is not the fact that we consume media (specifically television) but it is how we consume media. In order to prevent ourselves from being sucked into a Feed like world we must consume media thoughtfully and carefully. We have to remember that media is something to consume, not something that should consume us. If we remember this then Postman says we will have a chance of surviving and preventing the loss of culture and true education. I couldn’t agree more. I think that with media consumption being made easier and more convenient it is becoming even more important to be aware of what media you are consuming and where that media is coming from. These next ten years will show us a lot about who we are and where our culture is headed. I just hope we can pull it together before we’ve been willingly sucked into the “peek a boo” world.


The two part mini documentary does a great job showing just how little real news American’s come in contact with. I found this video to be extremely powerful and in a lot of ways it reminded me how important my role as a media consumer is. As a citizen of our now global world it is my responsibility to closely compare, analysis, and process all the media I consume.

Part One:

Part Two:

9. Media can directly impact the success of United States military campaigns at home and abroad

Militainment has been around since the civil war, when general from the North would read Southern news papers in order to develop a proper defense or offense. These techniques created tension between the media’s right to provide information to the public and the government’s right to protect their interests at home and abroad. Recently the tension between the government and the media has come to a sort of balance. The government created the term “sensitive information” that covers information the military and government wish to control (pg 115 Media and Society). This type of information is considered sensitive and could potentially endanger the lives of our troops.

Many journalists consider how the government lists information as “sensitive” to be a type of censorship. The government’s main concern isn’t just the safety of the troops, but they also are concerned with the morale at home. There is still a debate going on about if the photographing of flag draped coffins of dead American soldiers. The media sees this image as powerful and moving, while the government views this image as a threat to the morale of the American people, which can affect the support for the war.

Today with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan media has played a huge role not only in reporting the war, but in selling the war to the American people. Instead of working against the media, the government has created multimillion dollar facilities for the media, where they package and present the news to the reporters hoping to generate the type of stories that will boost support for the war and the troops. Despite spending all this money on press plans and media pavilions war coverage typically takes a back seat to more popular entertainment stories. On the day when the cost(s) of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were released by a Nobel-prize winning economist, Nicole Richie gave birth to her first born daughter, Harlow Winter Kate Madden (pg 168 Project Censored). The American public was much more interested in the first photographs of the baby than they were about the cost of the war, (close to three trillion dollars).

No matter how much money the government is willing to spend on media relations, you can’t make people interested in the war. However through the use of production techniques, music, graphics, fast camera work the government can make war entertaining, which is becoming the ultimate goal. Make war entertaining and then the public will watch.

The first video clip below features author and activist John Stauber contrasting the American media coverage surrounding the war in Iraq with the coverage the rest of the world saw. This clip really explains and demonstrates the clear link between the media and the “success” of the war in Iraq.
The second video I found fascinating. The author/creator of this clip was able to seamlessly meld together commercials and United States recruiting ads without skipping a beat, which makes you question the heavy use of production techniques in the recruiting ads.




American Military or Music Video?

8. Mainstream media does not provide viewers with the appropriate background information or alternative viewpoints

When this past November rolled around I couldn’t wait to vote. I’d spent a lot of my time trying to educate myself about the important issues this election and about the campaigns both candidates were running. I wanted to make sure that I was taking my right to vote seriously. I considered what I was doing to prepare for my first time voting in a presidential election above and beyond. However after spending the semester learning about how bias the news media is I wondered if my preparation had been all in vain. How could I cut through the manufactured public relations BS and the political jargon to insure that I was educated on the issues and that I was getting ALL of the facts?

After this semester I’ve learned that nothing is wrapped up in more confusing and misleading packaging by the media than politics. This very fact was so clear to Postman that he dedicated an entire chapter to it in his book. In Reach out and Elect Somone Postman reminds the readers how invigorating politics was prior to the invention of television. People were content and in fact willing to site and listen to future president Abe Lincoln speak for hours without distraction (125). These day candidates must sell themselves in as few words as possible in order to get elected. Postman argues that the use of television in politics takes the focus away from the actual issues and it places it on how well a candidate can come across in a little more than a sound byte.

Media and Society also gave this topic an entire chapter because there was so much to cover. According to Media and Society a candidates most important campaign tips is to use the media for everything (pg 233). With this concept in mind it’s not hard to see how America elected a president that ended up leaving the white house with an all time low approval rating. When our country elected Bush in 2004 the media and its coverage were directly linked to the success of the Bush campaign. However this time around more and more people were conducting their own research and taking the time to educate themselves on the candidates instead of letting the new and their packaged stories do it for them.


I can’t think of a better example of limited viewpoints and one sided coverage than the coverage of the 9/11 attacks. As the country rebuilt and more and more facts began to come out, the media refused to acknowledge any other viewpoint than the one they had initially reported on. I used the same clip that Kat used when she presented in class. In my opinion this is one of the more researched and credible 9/11 videos out there.

7. Today media and its content is driven, and often created by the PR industry

As I mentioned in an earlier post everything I’ve learned this semester has really opened my eyes up the media, but a lot of the in class films have opened my eyes up to my chosen profession, public relations. In today’s media climate public relations is a key ingredient to having a successful business. Public relations is a tool so powerful that it can change the way wars are fought and won. Today many news stations rely on public relations people to send them story ideas or leads. Usually accompanying these leads will be a VNR (video news release) and a wealth of background information. A lot of the news organizations will take clips directly from the provided VNR and weave it into their nightly news cast(s) passing the stories off as real news.

As a future public relations practitioner I hate that it will be my job to dupe the public like this. So many news stories we see are created by public relations individuals, who have a hidden agenda. It seems that nothing is truthfully upfront anymore. Most of the time it is impossible for the average American to tell what real news is and what is a packaged story? I believe that news stations should be required to tell the public which segments from the show were created and which segments were real news. This way the viewer will know which segment to critically dissect and to watch with a grain of salt.

Media and Society grazes over the issue of public relations in the media with a quick blurb, (pg 133) but in doing so raises some interesting questions. If the traditional model of news reporting is suppose to suceede something will need to be done in order to level out the playing field between journalists and public relations people. With so much of the daily news being provided by public relations people it is hard for journalists to maintain an edge. The prepackaged nature of a public relations media kit is hard for more grassroots journalists to keep up with.

Public relations has also taken up a large part of life in Feed. When a new trend or style is reveled via feed there is an instant notification and update available. There is no way that a reporter from a news paper could compete with this type of pre packaged, mass produced media kit. Most of what takes place via the feed is direct unfiltered public relations for products and services. One of the only parts in the book where Titus seems overwhelmed and overjoyed with his feed is when he gets his feed back after it was hacked. He scrolls through dozens of public relations promotions trying to soak it all up (pg 69). Public relations is a powerful medium that should be easy to spot and provide the consumer(s) with information about the company or person that is producing the public relations materials. This way it will at least give consumers a far chance at deciphering real news stories from manufactured public relations opportunities.

Put out by PR-Watch this video gets to the heart of the seamless relationship between PR and the American news media. This relationship not only jeopardizes content integrity, but it also sets a dangerous precedent that corporations must meet in order to get their business or product mainstream media coverage.

6. Social media platforms, are changing when, where, how, and with whom we communicate

This past Friday night a few friends and I were enjoying the warm weather on my porch listening to some music and having some drinks. While we were out on the porch the party our neighbors were having got broken up by the police. Complete chaos ensued and as we were all laughing watching the meley my friend looks at me and says “ohh man this is great, I have to twitter about it!” He then pulled out his Iphone and sent out a tweet saying, “Watching a party get bust on 83 Adams Street…amazing!”

Social media has taken the world by storm in the past five years alone. The social media platforms are changing so quickly that the edition of Media and Society that we used in class doesn’t even cover it. Today almost every aspect of our life is somehow influence by a social media outlet of some kind. Media and Society describes media and reader interaction as a tool or resource that individuals can use as a tool or reference point to help them make sense of current events (pg 255).

Today this description of social media doesn’t even scratch the surface. Social media has become a necessary part of our everyday lives and culture. People are using social media for both personal and professional development. What started as a way to connect with other individuals with similar interests has boomed into a promotional team’s wet dream. Today if you want to reach your target audience you need to know how to manipulate social media and its tools to levy your particular good or service.

The climate in Feed is controlled by social media tools that have almost replaced the need for individual thinking, or almost any kind of thinking at all. The interpersonal communication between characters in Feed is unusual and at times it is almost non-existent. After Titus is attacked by the hacker while visiting the moon, his father comes to visit him in the hospital. Forgetting that his son’s feed is non functional Titus’s father has a hard time remembering how to communicate with him without using the feed (pg.55). My hope is that social media and its related tools will be used as a way to compliment our existing styles and methods of communication. I fear that before to long we will become reliant on our social media tools to do all the communication for us, and I believe when that happens a piece of our culture will be lost forever.

While hilarious, this video’s content is accurate and presents all you need to know about all the new social media platforms. I provided the lyrics below because I had a hard time hearing what SEO Rapper was saying.



Song One:
Addicted to the power
cause I'm online for hours
10 tabs open on firefox browser
24 hours like my name Jack Bauer
conference call with the boss so I use Calliflower
but back to the topic
I just can't stop it
another album sale for the Poetic Prophet
look like this one came from MySpace
so I log in post a comment tell the dude thanks
then login to Facebook and accept friends
thats the same dude who hit me on Linkedin
sent me a message with a link to his page
had a Wordpress blog that talked about J's
peeked my interest
my favorite tennis
so I dugg it, stumbled it, and add it to delicious
then post a comment said I gotta be trippin
I ain't never seen those I must be slippin
said if you buy those I'll give you free shippin
told him size 13 and put some socks with it
a couple days later my package was delivered
so I took a picture
and put it on Flickr
Social Media is for the more than partying
network with those interested in what you are in
that's what I call social media targeting
gotta do it right for social media marketing


Song Two:
got an Facebook message from an unknown girl
said check my profile my name is Pearl
said I saw you on YouTube
I like what you do
I found you on Twitter and I follow you too
I like big guys and I think that you cute
so hit me up and I can get closer to you
cause in my world
I'll make your toes curl
get on my Tweetdeck and I'll show you how it Twhirl
sent her a message that said hold on Pearl
you moving way too fast and plus I got a girl
I love her so much and I think she so sweet
and if she see you she gonna bust your BubbleTweet
you trying to get a hook
I can show you where to look
click on one of them ad's on the side of Facebook
all kinds of places where you can go and mingle
you probably need the one that say Christian Singles
my phone rang, Chuck, you got it all wrong
like Marvin Gaye, lets get it on
your Imeem playlist got my favorite song
gomightyeagles.ning.com
that's your high school, I know what you got
I did my research, I found you on Spock
you voted for Barack and you use Firefox
you like Jay Z and anything from the Roc
sent a message on Virb but you haven't logged in
you use Gtalk so what your IM
I know where you at so stop playing hard to get
you left Pop Labs and you went to StomperNet
you signed up for Plurk but didn't really like the style
you got 2 blogs but haven't posted in a while
Chuck you need to stop it
gone and get it poppin
I want you to like me just like you like the Rockets
I'm a big girl I got love by the bundle
I said girl you look like Scarlet took a tumble
and how you get my number
you need to get it lost
your feelings is all false
man I'm finna log off
cause I'm...

5. Media is controlled by an elite few

Almost every movie we watched this semester addressed the issue of media regulation and ownership and I hate to admit it but I was generally unaware of the limited ownership of the media networks. I think that it is one of the most important things that I’ve learned this semester; you need to know where you are getting your news from before you can take it for its value. Everyone has an angle they are trying to play, including those who are controlling the media that is being broadcast in your home. The few who control the media can dictate and change our culture without anyone keeping their actions in check.
Media and Society addresses this issue in their Political Influence on Media chapter and in Concentration of Ownership section. While media moguls and mavens preach that media regulation is needed to protect “public interest” it is becoming clearer that regulation can be directly linked to shrinking content options as well as an even more narrow point of view when it comes to the news (Pg 85). I can already notice how radio stations now owned by clear channel have changed their content. As local and independent radio stations are being bought out by large conglomerates the station content is rapidly declining.
This feeling is echoed in Censored 2009 when authors Janine Jackson and Peter Hunt contend that US journalist are now not only having to check their content with their bosses, and the advertising people, but journalists must now consider how their reports will affect the companies bottom line (255). With newspapers loosing readers by the day it is crucial to please the advertisers with the content so they will continue their ad accounts with the paper.
The pressure to keep readership up and to please advertisers small independent news paper, radio, and television stations are being bought out by larger corporations. Corporate ownership means corporate sponsors. These sponsors who have specific expectations for content have a lot of pull when it comes to content. The loss of independent media outlets is dangerous and spreading. The end of independent media means the end of true journalism and in-depth reporting.

Peter Hart, a media analyst with FAIR, does a great job of summing up how the mainstream media has come to be owned by an elite few without much outcry from the American public.

4. News media has become a form of entertainment

Learning the techniques of persuasion opened my eyes up to all the times I’m consuming media that’s content has been edited to present only one side. Personally I am most susceptible to advertisements when they use music. As much as I hate to admit it when a sad song comes on during a slide show of heartbreaking photos I can’t help but donate money or buy that product. Lately I’ve been watching more of the nightly news and I have noticed a big difference between the news I grew up watching late night with my dad, and the infotainment that I now get from Fox, ABC, and MSNBC.
The stories that we covered in the project censored unit of the class will never reach the mainstream news media no matter how important the story is. Families do not want to sit around their dinner tables watching an in-depth news story about water privatization in South America (66), civil rights violations in Africa (134), or prescription drugs being peddled to under age consumers (107). After working all day no one wants to come home to a depressing hard to understand news story.
As Postman discussed in The Age of Show Business (pg 87) television turns everything in to entertainment. The problem isn’t that television presents entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter on television is presented as entertaining, which is the root of all this trouble. This entertainment aspect has spilled over into the news media. I firmly believe that in order to make the nightly news cast one needs to have a glitzy or gory story. The public doesn’t want to watch news that isn’t entertaining. In fact they don’t want to watch news at all they want to be entertained.

I choose this clip because I felt like the panel, specifically Janeane Garofalo, spoke to the lack of real reporting. Garofalo specifically talks about how it is hard to find a main stream media source that is putting out hard hitting journalistic pieces. I couldn’t agree with this clip more!

3. Product placement drives media content

As a public relations major product placement has become an unstoppable force. Product placement in the media has become the newest and one of the most profitable ways for advertisers to get their product recognized by their target audience. Product placement has become on of the most profitable sects of the public relations and advertising industries. The first huge product placement deal was in the 2000 film Erin Brockovich. Julia Roberts’s character only drank a local company’s coffee, and all the mugs or coffee cups in the film had the companies label on it. For this placement the coffee company shelled out over a million dollars.
In Media and Society they talk about the dangers of letting advertising have such a dominate role when it comes to programming(exhibit 2.8 pg 66). Using the example of music videos on MTV Media and Society discusses how advertising and programming has become so intertwined that it has become impossible to separate the two. The book goes on to discuss how this close relationship has gotten to the point where advertisers have the ability to control some aspects of the media content. With so much money to be made from allowing advertisers to have more pull in the programming it looks like product placement is here to stay.
The world in which Titus and his family live is controlled not only by the media but by the advertising firms that sell their products over their feeds. Like the feed, advertisers today are using special niche channels to zero in on very specialized audiences. This concept is best demonstrated in Feed when Quendy arrives at the party covered with false lesions because of the direct advertising sent to her feed. (Pg 191) The feed records every purchase made by the individual and then sends direct advertising related to their purchase history. With the way that product placement is going this type of advertising is in our future. Soon advertisers will know what we want before we do.

The first video is a great compilation of blatant product placement from a number of networks. The product placement is shameless. I feel like product placement today is not only obvious, but it has become a part of the media experience. The second clip is purely for my own amusement. A journalist asks American cult film legend David Lynch how he feels about the current relationship between movie studios and large corporations, and the resulting product placement. I can only imagine how many other directors, producers, and actors feel the same way about product placement in their films. (PS David Lynch’s Iphone commentary is equally funny and can also be found on youtube)

2. Today the news media is driven by sound bytes, not real, hard hitting stories

I had this media revelation when we dissected the second half of the postman book as a class. In the chapter “Now…This” Postman breaks down the way in which we are feed the news. A personal example of this that I recently noticed is the news ticker that is constantly flowing on the bottom of CNN. The blurbs of news are constant and make for perfect sound bytes. They offer no background, no links to more information; they are just simple, catchy news headlines.
Postman addresses the issue of this type of shallow news coverage when he talks about the Iranian Hostage Crisis. (Pg 107) Postman talks about how Americans were fascinated with the news coverage surrounding the crisis, but the majority of American’s had no idea about the background of the crisis, despite the almost constant news coverage. As Postman says, it was assumed that American’s knew the crisis was a dangerous and unhappy event, but the majority of the population had no idea about the culture or the people of Iran. Despite this lack of knowledge everyone had an opinion on the conflict and how it should be handled.
A similar situation in the present day media is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Everyone has an opinion on the topic and the majority of the population has no idea about the background of the conflict or the region of the world. This lack of in-depth media coverage is similar to the news reporting that takes place in Feed. While the feed keeps Titus and his friends sustained are sustained by the information provided by their feeds, but are unable to dig deeper into issues because of the feed. It is twisted that the feed, which makes their lives possible is also the force that is limiting their understanding of the issues facing their world. (I feel like this is an overarching theme throughout the book, so it’s hard to narrow it down to one page number)
I selected this video because it showed some of the worst journalistic techniques used in the media today. Techniques in this clip are the very same techniques that Postman is so critical of in “Now… This” These techniques lead to sound byte journalism and the same shallow reporting that breeds a culture that doesn’t look into anything beyond the surface.
I couldn’t help but laugh at this clip, hiding behind obscure phrasing, this clip really echoes this media revelation. In today’s world of news media there is only enough time for sound bytes and hired consultants. (Note the station, bottom left of the screen.)

Top 10 Media Revelations (in no particular order)

1. There is no liberal media, (policies and politics changing our news)
Before this semester I thought that the majority of the news that I was reading in the Boston Globe, NYTimes, CNN, BBC, ect… swayed further left then it did right when it came to the political spectrum. However that couldn’t have been further from the truth. The material we covered in class, specifically the films we watch (The Propaganda Model, The Obama Deception), helped me start to recognize the tone in which news is packaged for us.
In this sense I felt a lot like Titus in Feed. It was hard for me to understand and critically examine the news media because I’d never really known any other way. I had never been asked to critically examine the media before taking this class, so not only had I become use to the bias, but I’d in some way become desensitized to it. Titus encountered a similar inner conflict toward the end of Anderson’s book when he is forced to confront his media environment after he looses Violet, (pg 293). Titus’s confrontation with his world was much more abrupt and bitter than my confrontation with my media environment, but I could relate to the feelings of confusion and ultimately disbelief that Titus felt. Like Titus I felt that because I’d viewed media as a one sided medium that it had been hard for me to relearn something that I’d been taught for most of my life.
One passage from Media and Society book really showed me how much I didn’t know about the political tone that our media is saturated with. This tone can be traced back to the source, regulation. Liberals and conservatives have long been at odds on the issue of regulation. The issue of regulation is entirely political with “liberals” against content regulation, while “conservatives” say that content control is necessary to protect society from “graphic violence and pornography.” This idea of regulation and politics in the media is ongoing and is well explain in Media and Society. (pg 98)
Now when I read of hear a piece of news I try to trace back the ties. Who owns the media outlet that I am getting my information from? Has the content or its subject been changed or edited because of ownership? I am confident sorting through the news clips and sound bytes now, knowing full well that I will be able to spot both hidden and open bias if it is present in the article. That being said, the clip of Glen Beck that I have chosen clearly demonstrates how the bias in the news media is ultimately changing the face of our news.
This clip is satirical in nature. It opens with Fox news talk show host Glen Beck running a segment on how evil, liberal, and misinformed American media has become. Beck, an open and very vocal conservative, spends the entire segment showing how an interview he did was twisted and mutilated to fit the liberal media’s agenda. I used this clip because it showed how far right “conservative” media outlets really are, and how truly middle of the road the “liberal” media is. (If you are looking for more clips of Glenn Beck making a fool of himself there is a great montage.)

This is WILD!

I came across this while doing research for my media revelations video clips. I just wanted to share these two videos. Be warned, Bill is out for "far-left" bloggers... does that include me?

Watch this clip first:


This is the follow up clip:


I wonder how Bill feels knowing that his tirade against Ms. Terkel has only boosted her ratings and given her more PR than she and her organization could have afforded in two lifetimes. In terms of value, the breadth and depth of this coverage is priceless.

For more on this

Forgot to Cross-Post about Twitter!

CONS: Twitter posts can only give readers a glimpse of the whole picture. As Zaitchik puts it, you only get stick figure snapshots of situations, and nothing more. Trying to use twitter to grasp a whole issue can lead to limited understanding and it promotes single mindedness in our already shallow society.
Zaitchik also brings up a great point when he wrote that twitter our culture even further into a state of “autism” that breeds limited attention spans and skimming content.
I also consider the parodied line in Currents post “it’s like being with your friends at all times.” Twitter has provided us with another way for us to connect with the ones we love from anywhere in the world.


PROS: The list of eight things really presented some aspects of twitter that I’d never considered. I agree that in the PR field twitter can help companies directly connect with their audience and answer their questions in real time.
Twitter also helps give news agencies another way of connecting their media to their audiences. The way that twitter helps companies can also be applied to the way that twitter can help me get a job in the marketplace today.
I think that as a PR major it is easy for me to only see the positives of a social media tool like twitter. Today it is all about companies trying to promote themselves in as few words as possible and twitter is the perfect platform to practice this on.

I agree that twitter does promote a certain type of shallowness, but I am also fascinated with it as a platform for media. I think that in a few years we will be using a similar type of platform, but with half as many characters. Twitter is the ultimate in our less is more culture.

I recently tweeted about a type of wine that I was drinking, a friend saw that tweet and wrote me a facebook message about her favorite wine, which ended up with the two of us meeting up downtown for drinks on a Saturday.


This helped me relate more to twitter visually

Great Article on Blogging/Twitter

Media Discoveries I've Made Today

So I found two very relevant articles/blurbs that I just had to share. Enjoy!

This would not be my first reaction...

Can facebook make you happy?

The First Amendment, does it cover PORNO?

So last class I brought up the topic of a state school in conflict with their state representatives over the school showing an adult movie on campus. The school is the University of Maryland and despite threats by a state legislator they went on to show the movie this past weekend on campus.









I've attached the links below FMI!

The Washington Post

Local Maryland Paper

Education in the News Blog

Am I Brave Enough?

Clive Thompson's article "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy."


1. Describe what Thompson means by the title of this article - "Brave New World of Digital Intimacy" - in 3-5 sentences.
Thompson is referencing the almost false sense of intimacy that is crated through the use of online social media tools such as facebook and twitter. By following and “friending” hundreds of people on facebook, users are putting themselves out into the world like never before. If this type of flimsy digital intimacy is a good thing or bad thing remains to be seen.

2. Describe three PROS and three CONS of this new world, according to the research and individuals profiled in Thompson's article. Be specific.
PROs: One of the most obvious positive side affects of this new world is the ability to connect with others at any point during the day. These new types of technology allow us to become connected at all times, which ultimately can strengthen relationships. Another potential positive side affect is sited by Laura Fitton, the constant updates not only connect us to our friends, but help us connect to ourselves.

CONs: For me personally I see the biggest problem with this system to be the laid back approach to personal relationships and personal privacy. As discussed by Leisa Reichelt, the possible lasting affects of this type of non stop social updates is unknown, and the affects these tools may have on a persons ability to cultivate real interpersonal relationships is still to be seen.

3. What does Thompson mean by the phrase "ambient" awareness"? What do YOU think are the specific pros and cons of living in an online world of "ambient awareness"? Do you accept Thompson's conclusion that "ambient awareness" can have some therapeutic effects - making you a "happier person, a calmer person," or are you more skeptical? Justify your position.
Ambient awareness as described in this article I liken to being able to watch someone, like a neighbor, without ever really meeting or getting to know them. You can see what they are doing, but you are an observer not an active participant in their daily life. I feel this way when I read a status update or a new posting on twitter. I feel a little like a peeping tom. I constantly know what my “friends” are up too, but only in an observer sense. I find the opposite of Thompson when it comes to the therapeutic part of the updates. The constant need to trim down what is happening/relevant in my life into less then 160 characters is stressful and frustrating. A majority of the time I feel overwhelmed by all the updates I receive. I am still trying to find a balance between active and passive participation.


Right now my status update is: Caitlin Pierce is trying to teach GUS how to pee in the litter box, not on it.

Maybe Google is Trying to Take Over...?

As a gmail user I received this update in my mailbox this morning and the more I learned the more I became frightened and puzzled. Google has developed and is now launching a feature, named CADIE, that learns from your style of email lingo and will respond to your messages for you. Read More.

Censored Chapters 7,8,9,10

Chapter 7
The conflict surrounding the Gaza Strip is something that I hear about on the news almost weekly, however the sound bytes I hear are always quick and skim the surface. I am still waiting for someone to do an in depth series that will help Americans, like myself, get a greater grasp on the history of this conflict. However I now know that there is little use in hoping to catch a non partisan special on this conflict. I also found it extremely surprising that the issue of the healthcare crisis wasn’t covered by more American new outlets.

My question: what terrible acts will it take to get people to reexamine this conflict and the underlying issues in today’s media climate?

Chapter 8
This chapter was especially interesting to me a young woman. I remember when the commercials for Gardasil started airing and I remember sitting down with my mom telling her that she needed to get my little sister and myself vaccinated. After waiting for our insurance policy to begin coverage on this drug both of us received the three part series of vaccinations. While I don’t regret getting the vaccination I have realized that there is so much to be learned about HPV that the commercials were not only misleading, but in some aspects irresponsible. The drug company pushing this product (Merck) was more concerned about scaring the public into acting than it was about truly educating them about HPV. For a disease that affects one in four women my age, education is the first step.

My question: if the drug company’s can create their own educational campaigns to coincide with the launch of their products, what can the public do to cut through the BS and get the real truth?

Chapter 9
I was confused by the GM radio deal talked about in this chapter. I know that it was challenged by Ralph Nader, but doesn’t that type of relationship violate a number of laws? I know we talked about this type of gray area bribery/kickbacks in earlier chapters of Media and Society, and didn’t we label these types of behavior illegal? However the most stomach turning part of this chapter was the section talking about the Lowell Sun’s birthday celebration paper dedicated almost entirely to Rep. Marty Meehan. Meehan managed to turn a newspaper into a full on PR dream spread without much of a fuss from the public.

My question: with all the PR and stealth advertising is there anyway to tell what is actually “real news” anymore?

Chapter 10
I drew a lot of connections between this chapter and my project censored story. It felt almost shameful that we allow executive orders like the ones talked about in story#5 to pass with little to no media coverage while people in other countries are loosing their freedom and even their lives to publish and read articles exposing injustices like those. I also feel embarrassed that so few Americans know anything about these executive orders or about the Terrorism/Patriot Act.

My question: When did America stop leading the way in freedom of the presses?