Horvath Post #6

For our final project I choose to do Fars News, the Iranian English newspaper, and to say the least-it is far behind in technology. There website lacks in numerous ways. Their journalist are under strict restrictions of what they can and cannot report on. The government only wants you to know what they believe in and how they feel about all topics. All the media is under governmental control and if journalists undermined that there are harsh penalties to be paid.

In Irab media are they are lagging behind in numerous ways. One, for example, is that they are not as able to be up-to-the-minute reporting like in the U.S. In tying article with the class presentation I thought it was fascinating how Lebanon is being divided into two different subcultures. I know growing up when I wanted something my friends had and my parents told me know I would always use the excuse everyone else had it or did it, so I can see why it would be confusing with the two prominent religions being on the exact opposite side of the spectrum.

Horvath Post #5

I think subconsciously a lot of us knew that children programming is definitely on the raise in recent years. As our lives become more chaotic and busy, parents are always looking for a way to entertain their children so they can get things done without having to worry about what they are doing. And unfortunately for a lot of them, that means sitting their children in front of the television. If the children are watching television parents don’t feel like they have to worry about what the children are getting into or what potentially can happen to them, or so it seems to me. It also helps that a lot of children programming is also trying to move more into the educational aspect of television, which helps to make parents feel not so guilty about letting their child watch hours of television instead of playing outside.
I know personally that when my niece and nephew come over to my parents house while their parents are at work, they play outside for hours with the neighborhood kids and I feel like because of the area my parents live in you do not have to sit there and keep an eye on them at all times. But if when I am at their house and they are outside playing I feel like I have to have my eye on them at all times because I do not feel comfortable in the neighborhood they live in, so I would rather have them inside with me—even if that means they are watching the television.
I think Nickelodeon might dominate the market because they really focus on how they make the kids feel and what it means to them. It makes kids feel like their opinions matter, which in turn makes more kids want to be a part of that. I always felt like my opinion didn’t matter because I was “just a kid,” but Nickelodeon changes that and captures of the heart of children.

Horvath Post #4

The guest speaker on Wednesday and talking about North Korea really got me to thinking about something he mentioned on North Korea and I remember hearing this same thing being mentioned in Media Effects about Bulgaria. I cannot imagine having to own a radio that is preset to a government run station... Let alone the radio having to be on that station at all times. Being a person who loves such a diverse amount of music I can’t imagine living without it. I like having the freedom to change the channel to whatever music suits my mood at that given moment. To live in a world where you had to listen to a set channel and get in trouble if you changed it would be complete torture to me. Not to mention the print examples he let us look at. They looked strikingly similar to what you think of when you think about the propaganda posters from the holocaust. That thought alone terrifies me. I could not explain exactly why that is, but something inside of me is terrified that the still make advertisements that resemble that. We have come along way but they must really think it works if they are continuing that tactic. North Korea was never high on my “must visit” list but after the guest speaker it might be even lower on the list just because he didn’t seem to have very many freedoms when he was there. And I, for one, have grown accustomed to my independence and freedom-something I never want to give up.

Horvath post #3

While listening while the Mexico presentation was given, something caught my attention and immediately I thought back to something I saw on a TV show. It was briefly touched upon that a lot of the Mexico television networks don't report what happens with the cartels because they fear for their lives as well as their families. I’m not sure how many of you have ever watched the TV show “Border Wars” on the Natgeo channel, but there was an episode that directly related to this issue. There was a well known Mexican reporter who reported for both Mexico and U.S. channels. One day while he was sitting near a bordering river he observed and recorded a human smuggling operation going down. When the guy leading the illegals, known as a coyote, saw him and said “are you a report? –don’t report this I know who you are,” or something to that effect. Because of this, he ended up taking time off from reporting all together because he knew numerous reporters who were killed for reporting things the cartel had involvement, especially when dealing with the border police uncovering a vehicle trying to smuggle across weapons and money. That is something that I cannot wrap my mind around… It’s not something I’ve had to deal with or ever imagine. It’s almost as if it is something you think only happens in movies.

Horvath Post #2

I think Hollywood dominates the film industry for multiple reasons. Mainly the fact of its location and what it has made for itself. It is similar to fashion, which I do not claim to know anything about, New York, for example is fashion hub of the United States. It is all about what you have to offer, and for Hollywood they make it seem like a pretty darn good deal. I actually had a friend move to LA a couple of years ago to pursue her dream of being a musician and since moving out there she has gotten involved in numerous plays. Everyone loves to root for the underdogs, and Hollywood gives us that opportunity because young aspiring people have the ability to pursue such opportunities. As obnoxious and self-centered as this sounds, I think a lot of the reason Hollywood dominates the film industry has a lot to do with the fact that it is located in the United States. While there are a lot of countries that do not like the United States, there will always be some who strive to achieve one accomplishment or another by comparing themselves to the U.S. Look at Bollywood for example, it is growing in popularity, even in U.S. I’m sure Hollywood will never be overrun but if it was one thing that will give it a run for its money it is, in my opinion, Bollywood films.

Horvath Post #1

The biggest ramification of the media content being controlled by a few transnational conglomerates is the lack of diversity and the smaller companies being over run. While the media content being controlled by the “Big 5” leads to more diversity than if it was only controlled by one conglomerate, but being under all Western influence it leaves out for example, the Eastern view. I believe it is fair to say that Western media shapes the global news media, take for example CNN. CNN played a major part in integrating the media systems in former socialist countries, bringing them into the Western fold. With all the bureau’s CNN opened around the world it gave them the ability to report on the spot thus giving CNN the ability to influence international public opinion and even contribute to the influence the actions of people involved in the events being covered. CNN was the first station to be able to report straight from the “battlefield.” Without CNN doing so in 1991 most of the people would go about their business with little news about what was happening during the wars. It was inevitable that CNN would have major influence over international viewers when they were the only ones doing so. Today, CNN is not the only international media source but it lead the way for Western news media to invade the international markets. With the Big 5 influencing being primarily Western, the Western news media has shaped the global news agenda.