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Displaying 401 - 425 of 607Play Ball/Pay Ball: Money and the Future of Sports
It's no longer whether you win or lose, it's how you pay for the game. By Paul Johnson
"A symbiosis has developed between sports and the mass media. Sports are used to promote newspaper sales, to sell advertising space, and to win lucrative con tracts for television and radio. In turn, the media help to sell spectator sports and attendant sports-related consumer products to the public." - Jay J. Coakley, Sport in Society
It seems ironic, but the periodic commercial annoyances that interrupt TV sports programs are the key to the presence of sports on television.
Everyone who thinks about it realizes that the viewers support the program. What's less obvious is the way sports... Read More
From 1968 to 1986, Roone Arledge headed sports for ABC Television. Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times describes Arledge's influence on TV sports, which extends far beyond the boundaries of any one network.
Arledge practically invented the big-time televised sport. He dragged it single-handedly into the big bucks with his aggressive pursuit of the sports attraction that he well recognized as almost the only spontaneous, unplanned, unpredictable entertainment for sale today.
Before Arledge, network sports were just another Saturday afternoon serial, an Army-Navy game, the Yankees beating... Read More
It's a Whole New Ball Game
TV sports is a ritual for millions but few fans stop to consider how the media has changed the game. By Stuart Showalter
It's the dog days of August. Outside, the heat is high and perspiration is dripping. The kids are off swimming and the lawn needs mowing. But it will have to wait because inside, on the tube, is...football!
The Kickoff Classic, a made-for-media contest held each August, matches two of the previous season's top-rated college teams in an effort to build excitement for the annual race for football glory. Whatever the outcome of the game, however, the existence of the Kickoff Classic primarily illustrates the symbiotic nature of sports and the media, especially television: they need each other... Read More
One of the challenges of publishing Media&Values is selecting an issue-theme which does not already have a significant body of literature or easily identifiable sources. Such a selection forces us to learn a lot - fast - and to reflect carefully on how organize the issue and what values-questions should be raised.
Such is this issue on sports and the media. Although almost all of us (come on now, be honest!) participate in media sports, at least occasionally, few people have actually written or researched this growing phenomenon. It was exciting, therefore, to commission several... Read More
The mass media have long influenced the popular image of minorities. From the 19th century's slanted journalism and caricaturing ethnic cartoons to the insinuating imagery of contemporary motion pictures and television, the media have contributed powerfully to the way that minority groups are viewed, including the ways minority members view themselves.
Scholars have demonstrated the mass media's impact on perceptions of ethnic groups, for better and for worse. For example, one pioneering study of the 1930s found that the derogatory depiction of blacks in the classic silent film, The Birth of... Read More
Feminists have always recognized the power of the media to control women's lives. In the l880s Susan B. Anthony wrote, "Just as long as newspapers are controlled by men, every woman upon them must write articles which are reflections of men's ideas. As long as that continues, women's ideas and deepest convictions will never get before the public." Contemporary feminists recognize that it is not only women's ideas and convictions that are at issue, but the very meaning of woman herself.
Changing the media's projection of woman has been a consistent agenda of the women's movement since the... Read More
In recent months the world has seen two instances of local media serving the cause of democracy.
Although the circumstances varied, in both Haiti and the Philippines an organized resistance used media (owned and operated by the catholic church) to sidestep government's repressive oversight and take its case straight to the people. These fearless voices were important instruments in toppling those tyrannies.
Most inhabitants of the industrialized West would be the first to agree that media play an important role in creating a democratic consensus and providing a forum for divergent ideas.
But... Read More
The most significant effect of media is our tendency to test our own experience and perception of life by what we hear and see on the radio and movie or television screen, And today's new media have compounded the problem by making those effects repeatable and recyclable.
Television's effects are particularly important in this process, since in most homes it is all-pervasive and almost ever-present. We watch TV to find out what we expect of others, answer questions and delineate horizons. Children, especially, need help with TV viewing. The, need parental help to interpret and evaluate what... Read More
The effects of media on young children are not simply watered-down versions of the effects on older children and adults. How young children think adds dimensions to the media picture that are not at issue at other age levels.
Young children have immature concepts of identity and reality and are easily fooled by actors, puppets, and animation. They may believe that all or nothing in the media is real. Because of their beginning logic capabilities young children may not be able to follow a story line or find the message in a program; instead they may concentrate on isolated and unrelated... Read More
What is the purpose of radio and television?
When I start my first-year broadcasting students off with this question in our first class period, they have many answers.
"It entertains." "Informs." "Provides companionship." "It makes money." "It makes people happy, sad or sick."
Although these are all true, most fledgling broadcasters — and, I suspect, most viewers — need to understand that they are really side issues.
It takes some perspective to recognize that while radio and television do all these things, broadcasting, as established in the United States, exists primarily to deliver a... Read More
With a million other demands to consider, why should a pastor take the time to study media? Even more important, with all the issues in the world, why should media claim a slot on the agenda for preaching, the true pastoral prime time?
The primary reason is the unique view the media can provide into your people's theological agenda, a true window into what they are thinking and feeling. This insight can provide a "fix" and a focus to touch base with where your listeners' hearts really are.
How can I say that? Think about it. Research on mass media — films, TV, books, etc. — says that their... Read More
A media awareness movement need not be limited to media "problems" only. Indeed the appropriate use of customized media could be the action/solution to a variety of social or pastoral concerns, e.g.
A computerized electronic bulletin board can simplify the organization of services for the disabled.
Audio taped messages can keep the elderly in touch with their lifelong friends.
A community radio station can provide a voice and contact point for isolated rural farm workers.
Social problems are often reduced by bringing the right information to bear at the right time. Applied creatively, today's... Read More
Read Blueprint for Response-Ability
Awareness
What's happening in this situation?
How are people hurting? Benefiting?
Where is the balance between positive and negative impact?
Analysis Political
How is power distributed?
Who wins? Who loses? Who decides?
Economic
How are the resources allocated?
Who owns? Who produces? Who consumes?
Who gains? Who pays?
Social
What are the relationships among persons/groups here?
Who is being developed? Who manipulated?
Cultural
What are the values exhibited?
Historical
How did this situation develop over time?
Reflection
Do our scriptures or religious... Read More
Blueprint for Response-Ability
How Media&Values magazine helped to jump-start media literacy in the U.S. By Elizabeth Thoman, CHM
Like fish in water, we are seldom aware of the media environment that continually shapes our lives, values and attitudes.
But today's mass media and telecommunications technology is creating a social environment that is radically different from the society of 25 or even 10 years ago. And as Michael Schudson reminds us, that environment is all the more significant for pervading every aspect of our lives.
A friend of mine who is an elementary teacher recently commented, "I don't know much about media, but I know it's a problem."
We can all echo her insight at one time or another. We may not... Read More
Ever think about what happens at your house when the phone rings?
You put down the bank statements and the automatic calculator while you grope wildly for the remote control that will turn down the sound on the VCR movie you're watching. Of course it's hidden along with the DVD control under the pile of magazines you were catching up on earlier during breaks in the action.
In the meantime, your husband hesitates as he listens to see if someone is going to get there first. He's really doesn't want to leave the Internet site giving the latest sports scores and stock quotations.
The 12-year-... Read More
Of all popular media, television illustrates the power of mass communication to inform, educate and influence the public.
While industry insiders often deny this power, saying television is just for "entertainment," it is clearly obvious that both adults and children learn a great deal from watching television week after week.
Critics complain that television too often teaches negative values - stereotyping, consumerism, a superficial and trivial approach to life. In contrast, many have applauded "The Cosby Show" as a breakthrough for television's positive potential.
For years after... Read More
Television exerts a powerful draw on people. I've seen adults drawn into fast action in the after dinner kitchen cleanup department and I've seen children drawn to complete homework early — all for the sake of spending Thursday evening with Bill Cosby's television family.
Sometimes television draws the human eye like a magnet — an irresistible light in the corner of the room. Of course, with the light comes the sound. It may be the sound of beautiful music or of words to challenge our powers of reflection. Or it may be a din. My garrulous three-year-old gave us more food for thought than she... Read More
Many people occasionally feel an urgent desire to escape, at least temporarily, to some media-free zone of living. This is not a fantasy exclusive to an age of television and radios blaring on beaches and in parks.
The old song "Tea for Two" looked forward to a place with "nobody near us/to see us or hear us/no friends or relations/on weekend vacations/we won't have it known, dear/that we own a telephone." But in everyday life this is only wishful thinking. A media-free zone is hard to find. Every arena of our lives is touched by and shaped by mass media.
The Home
The home is often... Read More
"How did we get here?" It's not just a question for those who are lost. Some think that we can better understand where we are today by looking at where we've been. With that idea in mind, I thought I would offer a short history of media education.
Media education can be divided into four distinct historical periods.
They are not difficult to remember, because the first one ran from about the year 0 until about the 1960's. The methodology was simple: educators ignored the media.
Even as late as the 1960's, when coffeehouses and... Read More
Aspen Media Literacy Conference Report - Part II:
Procedings and Next Steps Patricia Aufderheide, Rapporteur The Aspen Institute Wye Center
Queenstown, Maryland
December 7-9, 1992
Media literacy, the movement to expand notions of literacy to include the powerful post-print media that dominate our informational landscape, helps people understand, produce and negotiate meanings in a culture made up of powerful images, words and sounds.
I. Definition
A media literate person- and everyone should have the opportunity to become one- can access, analyze, evaluate, and produce both print and electronic media. The fundamental objective of media literacy is critical autonomy relationship to all media.... Read More
Walking down the corridors of a middle school in suburban Massachusetts, the distinctive sound of a television commercial stands out against the more traditional patter of classroom noises:
Yo! Are you hip to these? Are you in the know? Cause here's where Ego Minis are made to go-- In Yo' Mouth! Who needs a plate? In Yo' Mouth! Cause they're made to fit your face! In Yo' Mouth! They're mega-yum. In Yo' Mouth! The taste is pure fun! Inside, a teacher is leading a discussion about this particular TV ad. A list of all the computer graphics and other images appears on the... Read More
We'll call her Susan. She is 32, happily married to Brad, a successful aerospace engineer, lives in the home of her dreams, and is proud to be the first university graduate in her second generation American family. Yet she describes with visible anguish her fears of failure in rearing their two young children, Cheryl and Marc, ages 8 and 5.
"My children have all the opportunities — many that I never had — yet they just are not taking advantage of them,' laments Susan. 'Worse yet, I just don't feel that we are as close as we should be — our children are slipping away from us. My parents were... Read More
In its 1989 framework document, Media Literacy Resource Guide, the Ontario Ministry of Education uses this definition:
"Media Literacy is concerned with helping students develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of mass media, the techniques used by them and the impact of these techniques. More specifically, it is education that aims to increase students’ understanding and enjoyment of how the media work, how they produce meaning, how they are organized, and how they construct reality. Media literacy also aims to provide students with the ability to create media products."
In discussions of church computerization, someone invariably points out that the church has survived for centuries without computers.
Then someone else will say, "These times are different. Look at the competition."
But what is seldom recognized is the true reason for this fear of computerization that forms the background of these arguments. It is a concern that should be particularly recognizable to Christians, for it is a very old fear that is basic to our beliefs: the fear of idols.
And by the same token, the proper use of computers by the church must examine computers as idols. Our first... Read More
For a number of years, Ibarra ("Nim") Gonzales directed the audio-visual service at the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila where he created Photolanguage: Philippines. Currently in the United States to pursue doctoral studies at the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California, Gonzalez has been an editorial advisor to Media&Values for this issue. We asked him to summarize our many conversations about group media in the following questions.Nim, what really caused Group Media to develop in the Third World?
I think the emergence of Group Media can be... Read More