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.