Understanding Motives and Considering Their Impact: Why We Need Media Literacy

After taking a class on media literacy it is clear that we sometimes need to reconsider the things we see on television, the internet, in magazines, in newspapers, or any of the other ways we are accessible to the media. Media literacy is important because we, as consumers of media, need to consider the motive of the source and its impact upon the messages we receive.

For example, say you are watching a movie review on Good Morning America. It is a positive review for the new Disney movie. Then you flip to the Today Show and the same movie is given a less-than favorable review, while a Universal Pictures movie, that is opening the same weekend, is given a great review. The issue is not about whether either movie is good or bad, but is about the station’s motive.

Good Morning America airs on ABC which is owned by Disney. Therefore, they want to promote their movie in a way that will get millions of people to see their movie over the competition. Similarly, the Today Show is on NBC, which is owned by General Electric and their motive is to get people to go see their movie instead.

According to the Columbia Journalism Review, General Electric owns NBC along with Universal Pictures, the Universal Parks and Resorts, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo Network, Sci-Fi Channel, the USA Network and many other affiliate stations and companies. Likewise, The Disney Corporation not only owns ABC and the Disney Resorts but also Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and Pixar, ABC Family, the Disney Channel, and ESPN along with radio stations, record groups, book and magazine publishers and numerous other things. Therefore, viewers need to be alert to the media and what it is promoting.

Another instance where this occurs is when daytime talk shows broadcast from theme parks. On April 2-4, 2008 The Ellen DeGeneres Show was taped at the Universal Orlando Resort. NBC is not the only station to use their shows to promote their parks. Not as recently, but still relevant Live with Regis and Kelly was broadcast from Walt Disney World during the week of December 4, 2001 for Walt Disney’s 100th Birthday.

The promotions do not end with daytime talk shows. Scrubs, on NBC, filmed an episode at Universal Studios. However, Disney wins the prize for promoting its parks through prime time television. Full House, Roseanne, Step by Step, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Boy Meets World, and Family Matters all filmed episodes at WDW.

While those listed above were filmed at the WDW parks, According to Jim filmed an episode on the Disney Cruise Ship. In the episode, Jim’s sister-in-law’s new job required her to produce a commercial for the Disney Cruise Ships. Jim’s family was cast as the actors for the spot, which set-up the premise for the episode. The episode was filmed in two parts; the first part established the story and the second part is when they were actually on the cruise ship. So, in reality, that episode of According to Jim was an hour long promotion for the Disney Cruise Ships, as the other shows were for the Walt Disney World Resort.

By knowing what forces are behind the media, people are more aware of these motives and being media literate helps people from being susceptible to hidden promotions. Filming in theme parks is basically product placement on a larger scale. Nothing is necessarily bad about these types of promotions; however media literacy helps to realize how the media shapes its material towards these motives.

Are You Influenced by the Media?

To examine how people are influenced by media effects and the different factors that shape those influences I examined the portrayal of gay people on the sitcom Will and Grace and the female image stereotype on the reality show The Girls Next Door.

I learned the media can have a large or little impact upon people’s perception of stereotypes depending on the person’s levels of seven set point factors and six factors special to a type of effect. Some examples of the set point factors include a person’s maturity or lifestyle. The content of the messages and the context of the portrayals are examples of the factors special to a type of effect.

I found that Will and Grace really reinforced the gay stereotype through its characters and situations. Gay men were portrayed as overly feminine and obsessed with fashion and appearance.

Not only did it reinforce the gay stereotype but it put down heterosexuals. An example of this is in the episode “A Chorus Line” when one of the main characters, Jack, makes heterosexual men seem savage because they drink beers as apposed to gay men who drink white wine. Furthermore, in this episode guest star Matt Damon poses as a homosexual to get into the Gay Men’s Chorus, stating he likes to sing and there is no place in the world for a heterosexual man who sings.


Similarly, I noticed many media effects reinforcing the female image stereotype on The Girls Next Door. The show is about Hugh Hefner’s three girlfriends who are all blonde, good-looking, thin, and have large breasts. They have no jobs and their lifestyle consists of partying. The show says to viewers that a female’s life should revolve around a man, females should always look amazing – by wearing tight clothes and having surgery if necessary, and females main goal is partying.

This media message reinforces the stereotypical female image and depending on how these factors influence people it could cause a rather negative effect. Hopefully, people have been instilled with factors that would lower their risk set points such as knowing the girls do not hold typical lifestyles and being mature enough to realize there is more to life than partying.

Through examining these media effects I found I am affected by the media, some instances more than others. On Will and Grace I understand it is a comedy and not all gay people fall into the category of Will or Jack. However, my risk factors are higher when watching The Girls Next Door. I identify more with the girls on this show being that it is a reality show and the girls are somewhat close to my age, so I sometimes find myself being envious of their lifestyle.

After examining the media’s effects I can see how it manipulates people into acting or thinking a certain way. My goal for the future is to be more aware of the media making sure it does not affect my decisions.

CSI: Miami Tops the Ratings

CSI: Miami gained the highest ratings of the night mainly due to its timeslot and competition.

As far as ratings go, CSI: Miami was the best show that Monday March 31, 2008 had to offer. The CBS show captured the highest Nielson ratings of the night with 15.53 million viewers.

The only other show comparable during CSI: Miami’s 10:00 pm – 11:00 pm timeslot was NBC’s Medium. Although Medium did well by attracting 9.54 million viewers, it fell short of CSI: Miami by almost six million viewers.

CSI: Miami achieved a 4.8/12 in the ratings verses shares. By analyzing CSI: Miami’s rating success it is obvious that the show does well in its time period, has loyal viewers, and is a popular show airing on Monday nights.

Normally, shows airing during the 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm time slots gain the highest ratings, however CSI: Miami got better ratings during its later time slot then shows like Dancing with the Stars, Two and a Half Men, and Deal or No Deal which appeared earlier that night.

One thing to take into consideration is CSI: Miami’s competition. Other than Medium, CSI: Miami’s competition came from the 10:00 pm news shows and cable programs. Whereas the earlier hours had to compete against shows airing on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and CW; CSI: Miami on CBS was only up against NBC’s Medium.

Another factor that helped CSI: Miami earn its high ratings is the season. If it was a Monday night in the fall instead of the spring CSI: Miami would have competition from Monday Night Football which could have lowered its ratings.

CSI: Miami definitely has a good timeslot and moving the show to a different night and time would hurt the show. If it aired earlier and on a different night CSI: Miami could be against big rating earners such as Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. This would probably cause a conflict of interest between viewers who might choose to watch one of those shows over CSI: Miami.

Another reason why it would be harmful to move CSI: Miami from its timeslot is that it has always aired during that time and its viewers are accustomed to the timeslot. Changing nights and times it would confuse the viewers and lead to lower ratings. Viewers might not be aware of the move and they might have another show that they watch at that time or they might not be available at that time.

Obviously, CSI: Miami has a timeslot that works to their advantage giving them a lead over the competition. Probably the main message here is to not mess with a good thing.

How Neil Postman's 1985 Ideas Connect to Today

The book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman highlights the ongoing trend towards infotainment. Though the book was written in 1985, its concepts still connect with media trends today.

For example, Postman states, “Former [presidential] nominee George McGovern has hosted the popular television show Saturday Night Live. So has a candidate of more recent vintage, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.”

Ironically, the current potential Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, has also hosted SNL. Actually, everything about SNL closely ties to Postman’s discussion.

While thinking about Postman’s ideas during my daily life I find they still have relevance in today’s media. Postman states that we are more concerned with entertainment and images then news and ideas. Even when just examining SNL, this is seen in its news parody, “Weekend Update” and its sketches sparked by current events.

The impact of shows like SNL on our culture ties to Postman’s statements about Americans increasingly seeking infotainment. As Postman predicted this is not a dying trend. Since 1985 more of these types of shows have emerged, such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

According to the SNL, True Hollywood Story, during the 2000 election over a third of Americans under 30 watched SNL for their election news. In addition, Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller note in their book, Live from New York, that Al Gore and his aides watched the 2000 election parodies to determine why Gore was defeated during the presidential debates.

The fact that we have evolved into a culture where the presidential candidate watched a comedy show to evaluate his campaign would infuriate Postman. Our culture and the media are so intertwined that we do not even think about what it means for the next possible president to have hosted a sophomoric, comedy show; a show, as Postman would note, that has become part of the culture itself. SNL is a perfect example of Postman’s discussion because its sole purpose is making current trends and events into entertainment.

SNL, and most of the shows on television today, connect with Postman’s statement that “Television is our culture’s principle mode of knowing about itself. Therefore, […] how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly staged.”

Reading Amusing Ourselves to Death illustrates that as our culture becomes more about the media, the media reflects this trend, which creates an ongoing cycle towards infotainment obsession.

News for Citizens by Citizens

We are bombarded with news stories; therefore, we have to ask ourselves what is news? The book Media Literacy by W. James Potter describes news as having three constraints: deadlines, resources limitations, and geographical focus. With these constraints in mind, citizen journalism sites can overcome most of the limitations. I have examined the American Town Network citizen journalism site and found a section of articles about events and daily activities of places across the nation.

Steven Outing notes in his article “The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism” that there are several different types of citizen journalism sites. Ones I have found important to the theme of responding to the constraints of news are: opening the site up to public comment, having the citizen as the add-on reporter, and having an edited stand-alone citizen journalism site. By incorporating one or more elements in a citizen journalism site the reporting of news will not be as constrained.

With traditional print media it is often hard for journalists to gather information about an ongoing event or story. Using an online site could eliminate the constraints of a deadline because new posts and comments can be added to the story as the event continues. The three layers of Citizen Journalism mentioned in Outing’s article show how news can overcome the constraint of deadlines by having local citizens post articles and comments about the events.

The constraint of resource limitations can be improved by Citizen Journalism because the people involved in or experts on a story can post their views. With an endless number of people contributing the need for resources should not be a problem.

The constraint of geographic focus closely ties to the American Town Network site. By browsing this site I found stories about specific places. When looking at my hometown’s site I found it was broken into smaller townships. This was interesting because many newspapers are going out of business or merging with other newspapers and leaving a gap in community news coverage. With Citizen Journalism, people in smaller communities can get news about their community and also post news.

Survivor: Favorites vs. Fans

The statement made on Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites brings up a debate that connects with issues of media literacy.
Alexis (a fan) stated, "I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage."
I think Alexis is neither completely correct nor completely wrong in her statement. By watching the past seasons she probably picked up a bit of information about the strategies of how to play the game. Like she said, she saw how her opponents have played the game in the past, whereas they do not know anything about her.
However, the shows are condensed and put together for entertainment purposes, so they might not always have been truthful. Alexis has probably fallen in the media literacy trap of getting a false feeling of being informed. She believes that she has the advantage because she has watched her opponents play the game in the past, but what is to say that the favorites will play the same way as they have before?
The Favorites are definitely the ones with the advantage because they have had the chance to experience the game. They already figured out which individual strategies have worked and which have not. The fans might think a strategy could work for them, but since they have never actually played the game, all of their preconceived notions could be way off.

Max Headroom Thoughts

The episode of Max Headroom illustrated the concept of message saturation. Television was the main focus of everyone’s life in the show and TVs seemed to be everywhere.
Television was not just a passive activity, but it was also a way to communicate. Several times throughout the episode people were instantly connected to one other by using a television.
This connects with the issue of message saturation because people were bombarded with television and it would have been nearly impossible for anyone too keep up with all the news. Even just the rapid news stories aired by Channel 23 and Breakthru-News would be too much to handle.
Our daily lives are a lot like the world of Max Headroom’s because people now have access to a countless number of stations, which all air different programs. It would be impossible for anyone to ever watch all the TV programs produced.
TV is not the only cause of this problem. Media messages are everywhere, therefore, message saturation causes people to psychologically sort through all the different messages on a daily basis without even realizing what they are doing.