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A short informational video I made about voting rights and the recent elections in Georgia
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For the interview piece of my final, I interviewed a member of the Board of Directors for NAMI CT The main piece of my final project will be focused on legislature geared towards mental health in our government. I will be interviewing a member of the National Alliance for Mental Illness to hear more about their efforts to show that mental health is just as important as physical health, and it should be represented as such in our democracy.
The supplementary piece of my final project will be focused on voting rights, and how the recent elections in Georgia should be examples for America in the future. More people were able to vote, as people like Stacey Abrams helped mobilize people and protect voting rights to more accurately represent the people in each election. The country should be looking at what happened in Georgia and trying to re-create these efforts so as to ensure that everyone will be able to vote, and our democracy will be a better place. In the PBS documentary “Cool Hunting” the main focus is on people who attempt to decipher what is cool for teenagers, and that information being utilized to create advertisements that will attract that audience. This strategy works wonders in today’s modern world, as teenagers direct most of their time towards social media. On social media, influencers create societal trends which run their course through the teenage population; that is until they create a new trend which kills the last one and starts the cycle all over again. These influencers having such a massive following makes the cool hunters’ jobs easy, as they partner with these influencers to produce partnered advertisements which directly reach their target audience. Since these influencers have a such an impact on the younger demographic, and they already influence the things they do, wear, say, and how they act, this partnered content now influences the things that they buy. Furthermore, they can work to advertise any product which can influence any aspect of a person’s life, as the ads present in influencer content can slowly mold a person’s identity. In the PBS documentary “The Persuaders”, it showcases how advertisers attempt to stand out in a world where advertisements are literally everywhere. They achieve this by trying to connect with the individual consumer to make them feel appreciated, and in return, having these consumers think the brands care, garnering their business. They further utilize influencers to do this by having the influencers make content that appears to connect with each follower, showing them why they can be successful. healthy, fashionable, or happy by buying a certain product. This personal connection extends to a wide variety of products, and allows advertisers to form bonds with customers that last.
A podcast talking about how we are influenced in everyday life with my classmate Kaiya An analysis of how the ideology of the USA is reflected in the Fire Nation from Avatar: The Last Airbender SECTION 1
As a 7th grade teacher trying to educate my students on how to be well informed about events in the world, I would first structure a lesson based on what constitutes as fact and what constitutes as opinion. I would then describe why it is very important to distinguish those two, and help them separate fact and opinion by definition. The lesson itself would consist of presenting examples of opinion, and having them answer as to why it is not fact, and then presenting examples of fact and having them answer why this is fact and why that is the kind of reporting they must listen to. In terms of sources, I would present the same chart that we looked at previously regarding media reliability and bias, and show them where certain popular choices lie on the graph. Furthermore, I would tell them that the inner circle of the graph, where the most reliable sources lie, is where they should get their information from, regardless of whether or not it leans slightly more left or right. When discussing what I would say to kids about the influence of parents or friend groups on their perception of reality, I would stress the importance of developing an individual world view. Every single person sees the world differently, and it is vital to have your own thoughts about the world and reality, uninfluenced by the opinions of those close to you. It is ok to learn from other people and have them teach you things, but the way you see the world, the way you think, and the way your opinions are formed should be entirely your own. Therefore, I would tell them to stay educated on the facts and formulate their own opinions about the world, and to always look for the most reliable news that they can find. SECTION 2 Following up with my lesson to my 7th graders, I would explain the purpose of the news and entertainment industry as mainly a for-profit machine that is hyper focused on what it earns. While there is some form of fair and just news out there, and it is important for us to find it, it is also important to realize that media corporations have ulterior interests besides just giving us the news, and that may go back to the advertisers that fund them, the earnings they get from our ratings, or any other method in which money funnels into the system. “We matter because producers of news want us to read and watch it, so they make news that we will want to read and watch. In practice, this means that the news of the people will be tailored to the groups of people most likely to consume it” (Crash Course 6:56-7:05). As a result, the news we see is whatever the consumer base of a specific news organization wants to hear. They utilize whatever they can to formulate stories, from bending the truth to report on something with sudo-accuracy, or creating a common enemy that everything can be blamed on. “A boogeyman to fear helps corral public opinion” (Al Jazeera English 4:12-4:17) However, I would also teach my students that there is a way that we must work to change the media, and that if we can work towards a more just media, then we will greatly improve our society and the way in which we consume real, factual news. “We need a media that isn’t just free, but also good, that is able to direct a mass audience towards what truly counts, which is, as its been since the days of Plato, justice, truth, and wisdom” (The School of Life 4:08-4:22) In no particular order, these are reliable sources that I often look to for news
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On this page, you'll find my assignments from CM-254-A, Media and Democracy.
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