Chapter 5 - Magazines

1. Go to a bookstore (not BYU's) and look at the different magazines.  Select one that appeals to a highly specialized audience (different from one of your own interests.) Read through the magazine and based on the magazine's content (including advertisements) prepare a description of the magazine's "typical reader." Give specific examples to justify your generalization.

The magazine I picked up was the Parenting magazine.  The magazine's "typical" reader would be someone who has children, more specifically, women who have young children.  The advertisements that were found inside were ads for laundry detergent, diapers/pull-ups, toddler snacks, baby lotions, etc.  The actual articles consisted of the how to's such as raising children, or healthy diets, or how to cut down on expenses, etc.  The cover alone, along with the large print of specific articles in the newspapers attracts those nurturing mothers.

2. What impact will/has the electronic media have/had on the magazine industry?

Personally, I feel that the electronic media hasn't really had an impact on the magazine industry.  People still want a magazine that they can actually touch and turn the pages of.  I know people who like to cut out the pictures, or cut out an article.  If it was all electronic, they wouldn't be able to do that.  I didn't even know that they even had electronic magazines, so that goes to show you how popular they are.  In the end, I think magazines will always be better when they are made of actual paper.

Chapter 4 - Books

1. Poll 10 people by posing the question "Read any good books lately?" How many have they read in the past 6 months? What types of books have they read? What does this tell you about your sample and society?

I posed the questions to my family during our family reunion one weekend. Here is what I came up with when I started with the question "Read any good books lately?"

The Ten People I polled:
Dad: Recently read Biography of John Adams, The Autobiography of Moss Heart, and a Durk Cussler book. He's read 6 books in the last 6 months. He likes to read non-fiction, biographies, and some fiction.

Kenzie: hadn't read any good books lately. She read 3 books in the last 6 months, and she usually likes fiction, and non-fiction.

Chase: recently read The Book of Mormon, Meek and Lowly, and Psalms of Ancient Israel. Ge;s read 3 books in the last 6 months and he usually likes religion and biographical books.

Grandma: Recently read The Lottery, Life on the Refrigerator Door, and Death in Vienna. She's read 12-15 books in the last 6 months and she likes scripture, fiction, and current non-fiction books.

Amber: recently read The Shack, Breaking Dawn, and Stolen Innocence. She's read 6 books in the last 6 months and she usually reads non-fiction.

Kristin: recently read Escape. She's only read 1 book in the last 6 months and she usually likes non-fiction.

Mom: recently read Star Girl. She's read 3 books in the last 6 months and usually goes for biographies and non-fiction books.

Cam: recently finished the Eragon Trilogy and Artemus Fowl. He's read 4 books in the last 6 months, and usually goes for fantasy, mystery, adventure, and books on tape.

Jason: finished Good to Great and Playing for Pizza. He's read 3 books in the last 6 months and usually goes for religious or fantasy books.

Maria: recently read These is My Words, Sarah's Quilt, and Unconditioned Parenting. She's read 10 books in the last 6 months and usually likes to read fiction and parenting books.

The sample I chose was not very diverse. Mostly my family focuses on religious books, or non-fiction, but the fact is - we all read books. We are all literate, and we are a big book reading family. But books are a big part of today's society. There are few people in the U.S. today that can not read, or that don't read any books at all. In public schools we are required to read certain books, in college we are supposed to read our textbooks, and other literature for classes. I believe nothing will take the place of an actual paper book. But reading has become a past time. By looking at my sample, you can see who values books, or who may have more time than others to read. For instance, my Grandma has read almost 15 books in the last 6 months, and my sister in law has only read 1. Well Grandma lives alone, doesn't work, and no longer has a family to take care of. She has all the time in the world to read, where on the other hand, my sister-in-law is a mother and she works at the same time. Reading books has become a leisurely activity. (unless of course, you are in college or any kind of school.) We have so much other forms of entertainment, that reading isn't as popular is was back 100 years ago. Other media has taken it's place, but it still survives. Books and authors adapt, and they will continue to be a good source of learning, entertainment, or escape.

2. Which would you prefer to use in your college classes, regular textbooks or electronic textbooks? Which would you prefer for your leisure reading? Why?

I would much rather use regular textbooks in class than electronic textbooks. My reasoning for this is because I have a photographic memory, which means when I read something important, I can memorize which side of the page it is on, and where it is located on the page. This makes things easier for me, because if I need to look something up, or go back and study something in particular, I can usually remember where it is in the book and on the page. If I were to use electronic textbooks, I wouldn't be able to do that. Using actual books is much better for my eyes too. If I were to read an electronic textbook, after reading for so long, it would hurt my eyes and actually give me a headache.

The same goes for my leisure reading. When I read a book I want to be able to turn the pages, mark up the page if I want, and just even smell the book. (weird, I know, but I love books.) Electronic books would never really fly with me.

Chapter 3 - Mass Communication Effects

1. Do stereotypes exist in the media today? Explain and if yes, give examples - if no,explain why you believe they do not.

Stereotypes are everywhere in the media. In order for advertisers and television show writers to get their points across quickly in the small time they have, sometimes they use stereotypes to help the story along with out giving a huge background. There are hundreds of examples of stereotypes in the media, all you have to do is pick up a magazine, turn on the television, or search the internet. Here is a list of examples I found over the internet of common stereotypes:

Black people are on welfare

Mexicans are lazy
Asians are super smart
Irishmen are alcoholics
White people are racist
BYU students are self-righteous
U of U students all drink

Recently I've been watching a new TV show called The Big Bang Theory.  In it, there are various stereotypes.  You have penny, the blond girl who lives in the apartment across from sheldon and leonard, who is depicted as a gorgeous blond who is ditzy and falls for all the wrong guys.(a typical blond portrayal) Then you have sheldon and leonard who are exceptionally smart, but socially inept.  Together these stereotypes create a very entertaining show, but they are stereotypes none the less.

2. There is the possibility that people will be immersing themselves in the world of mass media to a point where they begin to tune out the real world. What might happen if people begin to overly distance themselves from the reality of the outside world? Are there examples of where this has already happened?

The example I thought of where someone has immersed themself so much in the mass media world, is when girls look at magazines, movie stars, and other types of media where women are depicted as skinny, beautiful, and perfect.  Girls all over the U.S. become anorexic or bulimic because of the pictures they see of prominent women in the media. They distance themselves from reality, and think that all girls are supposed to be that size, that weight, and that beautiful.  It can tear their self esteem apart, and create various health problems.  Reality is so distorted for them that when they do become too skinny, they still think they are fat.  Here are examples I found of skinny models in magazines, internet, etc. :

Chapter 1 - Living in the Media World

1.  Using the Communication Model, define how each component could be applied to a newspaper article, a magazine article, a radio program and a television show. Does the model work more efficiently for some media than for others?

Newspaper Article:

sender/endcoding - journalists, advertisers, photographers, and Editors.

message - news

noise - biased views, false information, complicated concepts, and any outside noise while you are reading the actual newspaper.

Decoding/Receiver - You (the reader)

Magazine Article:

sender/encoding: Editors, writers, and photographers

message: news on movie stars, health information, modern clothing styles, etc.

noise - false information, unrealistic pictures of models, and opinionated articles.

Decoding/Reciever - You (the reader)

Radio Program:

sender/encoding - radio DJs, commercials, and news announcers

message - new music details, hollywood news, new products to buy, and news.

noise - false information, biased opinions, etc.

Decoding/Reciever - You (the listener)

Television Show:

sender/encoding -  producers, screen writers, and actors.

message - stories of unrealistic lives

noise - false view of reality, overly exaggerated story lines, drama, and liberal views.

decoding/reciever - You (the viewer)

I don't think that one model works more efficiently than the others.  All of them have noise that interfere with the real meaning, and all of them have distractions that can cloud the real message that is being sent.  The media's goal is to create shared meaning, but sometimes that doesn't always happen.  It just depends on the audience, who is sending the message, and what message is being sent.

2. Which of the mass media perform the informing the best? Entertaining? Persuading? Explain.

I think the television does the best with informing and entertaining.  Not only can you hear the information being presented, but you can see it, through pictures and video.  It uses more senses which I think engages the viewer much better.  For example, on the news there has been plenty of coverage of hurricane Ike.  It's more powerful to see and hear what Ike has done through video, pictures, and live footage from reporters on television, rather than just reading it out of the newspaper with less quality pictures. Now for the persuading, I think that newspaper media would do the best.  I think when you actually read something, you can internalize it much better than watching someone speak to you.  When you read a newspaper you have to do the work of actually making sense of the words, so if someone was trying to persuade you, using the newspaper would be a good way to do it.  You can present written facts, stories, etc, to explain your point.  Words are so powerful when you want to persuade someone, so you need to get through to them through a media form that will make the reader really analyze what you are saying.