Does relativity have applications?

Week 7 Notes, Com 105 Global Media Policies: Egypt - "Arab Springs"  Egyptian Uprising -> ousting of Mubarak  Election of Morsi  "Coup" removes Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood from power.  Attempt to control Muslim Brotherhood voice via media control.  Egyptian Minister of Foreign affairs: "[Muslim Brotherhood media] incites violence and murder in Egypt  Requests European officials to close pro-Muslim Brotherhood satellite channels. China:  In China, the system that restricts online access is call The Golden Shield Obscenity Laws:  US obscenity laws determined by federal, state, and local governments  Enforced by regulators; reviewed by judiciary  Obscenity Laws based on moral values  The standard for obscenity can differ between countries.  Religion plays an important role in determining moral values  Different standards for obscenities in different cultures  Standards of obscenities evolve and change overtime. Changes in Obscenities: Iran  Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, had warm relations with the West, even maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.  Advocated greater secularism in society  In Iran's Past when there were good relations with the U.S: Secular clothing, especially for women, more acceptable in the public sphere  1979 Iranian Revolution: Replacement of Pro-Western monarchy with anti- west theocracy o Ayatollah Khomeini  Broke off ties with West and Israel  Argo Movie - details the story of U.S. Embassy employees escaping during the Revolution  Greater emphasis of religion in society  New media restrictions on obscenity introduced. Everything became more conservative especially in dress for women. Overview of global journalism:  Government sanctioned news versus private news: o Many news organizations are private organizations. o Some are semi-official (independent in name but has significant ties to the government)  Fars News Agency  Presenting news media which is in line with the government's views o Some are official News organizations.  Xinhua News Agency (China) - official press agency of People's Republic of China - it is part of the Chinese government. o Some are publically funded.  BBC (UK) - funded by government, independent of direct government intervention.  News reporting and government control: o Private, public, semi-official, and official news agencies can be influenced by government. o Self-censorship can occur with private news. o Reporters without boarders claims the media in Zimbabwe involves "surveillance, threats, imprisonment, censorships, blackmail, abuse of power and denial of justice are all brought to bear to keep current leaders in power. o Semi Official news examples:  Official and Semi-official news agencies often balance interest of state with interest of the people  2014 Hong Kong Protests - when British Rule ended China agreed they would protect Hong Kong and allow autonomy. But there were changes proposed in 2014 which would change the democratic rule in hong kong. Many Hong Kong residents believed mainland China reducing the autonomy of HK. Global Media and Propaganda Recap of Global News Media:  Private (CNN, Disney, ABC…)  Semi-official (FARS Iran news)  Official (Xinhau news in China)  Public (BBC, PBS) All forms can be manipulated by the government. Propaganda - form of communication intended to influence attitude of population toward some cause or position. When we think of propaganda we tend to view it negatively, but it really is in the eye of the beholder. Characteristics of Propaganda:  Strong ideological bent - political, social, economic, ect.  Propagandists are not about trying to be neutral or objective - they have an agenda to advance.  Propaganda can be good or bad - depending on the eye of the beholder. We have tended to view is as bad because we do not like the idea that the message of propaganda is influencing us, and making us think differently. Even if the message is good, we do not want to be manipulated.  Is institutional in nature - is practiced by organized groups, whether it is the government, political lobbies, private corporations, religious groups, or social movements.  It involves mass persuasion; often using the mass media to advance its message.  Tends to rely on ethnically suspect methods of influence (such as deception, racism, ect.).  Primary concern is persuasion, ethics come at a distant second. Edward Berneys and Guatemala:  Edward Berneys - was a key public relations figure in U.S. Nephew of Sigmund Freud  Involved in a campaign; believed manipulation of public opinion necessary part of democracy.  Some of his propaganda activities assisted covert CIA operations (operation PBSUCCESS).  Decree 900 passed in 1952 during the Guatemalan Revolution - redistributed unused lands to local peasants.  Major land owners were not happy with the decree  To get American government involved, United Fruit Company employed Bernays to create psychologically inflammatory disinformation against Arbenz Govt. of Guatemala. North Korea:  Has one of the most sophisticated propaganda machines around. Persian Gulf War:  Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)  Nayirah testified about Iraqi troops removing babies from incubators  Claim is unsubstantiated  Later revealed she was the daughter of Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S. and coached by PR firm, Hill Knowlton to persuade public about dangers of Saddam Hussein. Iraq War (2003-2011):  Al-Zarqawi was someone who beheaded people, and was extremely violent, the U.S made cartoons threatening him and distributing it by throwing them out of planes over towns where he could be living.  Pentagon program involved planting stories in Iraqi media that demoralized insurgents. Israel vs. Hamas and Hezbollah:  Hamas = terrorist who gained control of Gaza, pushing out Israeli people. They create propaganda to speak to the Israeli population, but the reaction was not what they wanted.  Shia terrorist organization Hezbollah is threatening the area of Lebanon Media Effects Part 1: The goal of propaganda and whether it is good or bad is up to the eye of the beholder. Media Effects Paradigms:  Most of us would like to think we are not effected by media, but then they think others are effected by mass media. This is called the third person effect. 1 Hypodermic needle Model - media can affect you in a very strong way and inject you with information. This assumes that people are passive viewers of the information. All aspects of media will affect all aspects of human behavior/attitudes. a 1950s - the television became a common staple in American homes, but there were only a few choices in programs to watch. 2 Minimal Effects - it does affect people, but it is not as bad as the hypodermic needle model. a 1960s --1980s - rise of cable television with more choice. 2 Powerful media rediscovered (1970 - present) a Agenda-setting: News media doesn't tell us how to think, but it tells us what to think about. Millions of important events occur every day. News media can only select a small number of these events to focus on and report on. The things they decide to report on influences us about what we think is important. Agenda setting effects are dependent on (1) news coverage and (2) placement of the news (front page vs. buried on page 12). We and the media tend to focus on the one but not the many, meaning people fail to connect to news reports of tragedies which have many victims, but rather they connect better to stories with identified victims. An example is the Rwandan Genocide (April 7- July 15, 1994) there were systematic massacres of 500k to 1 million died in 100 days. Gikondo Massacre - 110 people killed in front of unarmed UN observers. But this event did not garner that much media attention because there was confusion about what was going on, but even when we were aware, they did not report much on it. We are more likely to remember certain people, therefore news tends to choose one individual to focus on. Psychic Numbing: the vast size of victims goes beyond our level of comprehension. We shut down emotionally. As human beings we simply cannot understand that level of violence. Identifiable victim effect: we have a stronger emotional connection with single victims then a group.  More willing to offer aid.  "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" For agenda setting: news agencies prefer stories with identified victims. Even when stories discuss stories with mass casualties, people may not be emotionally affected. a Spiral of Silence b Cultivation Theory 1 Negotiated Influence - (powerful effects but only certain circumstances and for certain people)(1980s - present) a Framing (Robert Entman, 1992): the way we tell stories can affect the way people view the event. Example: the Russians shot down a Korean airline and the magazine wrote it as a murder in the air when it was a tragic accident. However, when Americans accidentally shot down the Iran Air, they try to explain and make it really more of an accident than the other time it happened. Another example: Hurricane Catrina, the pictures of people taking food from a grocery store and one was described as "looting" the store where as others were described as "finding" food. "To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation." Framing tells us how we think about issues. Conflict Frame: might be reporting on multiple sides of a story where there are different opinions, so that the audience can get the full perspective. Creates perception that there's debate surrounding issues that may not be debated in expert communities (e.g., climate change). Episodic Framing: focusing on the individual rather than the society as a whole. Effect - more emotional empathy and remember the events better. Thematic framing - focusing on society rather than the individuals. a Priming