| Media And Social Issues | |
| Are American Values Shaped by the Mass Media? | |
| YES | |
| ldquo;The Mind Managersrdquo; (Beacon Press, 1973) | |
| NO | |
| ldquo;Television as a Cultural Forum: Implications for Research,rdquo; Quarterly Review of Film Studies (Summer 1983) | |
| Critical scholar of modern mass media Professor, Schiller argues that mass media institutions are key elements of the modern capitalistic world order | |
| Media, he argues, produce economic profits and the ideology necessary to sustain a world system of exploitative divisions of social and financial resources | |
| It is the job of the citizenry to understand the myths that act to sustain this existing state of power relationships | |
| Professors of communication | |
| Hirsch in their classic article counter that television serves as a site of negotiation for cultural issues,images, and ideas | |
| Viewer selections from among institutional choices is a negotiation process as viewers select from a wide set of approaches toissues and ideas | |
| Is Television Harmful for Children? | |
| YES | |
| NO | |
| The Case for Television Violence (Sage Publications, 1999) | |
| a professor of communication, examines existing research in the area of children and television violence | |
| Such research isextensive and covers a variety of theoretical and methodological areas | |
| He examines the nature of the impact of television on children and concludesthat strong evidence exists for harmful effects | |
| a professor of communication, finds the research on children and television violence less convincing | |
| Despite the number ofstudies, he believes that the overall conclusions are unwarranted | |
| finds that the influence is small, lab results are artificial, and fieldworkis inconclusive, Fowles | |
| In short, he finds television violence research flawed and unable to prove a linkage between violent images and harm tochildren | |
| Do African American Stereotypes Still Dominate Entertainment Television? | |
| YES | |
| Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001) | |
| NO | |
| ldquo;Gimme a Break!rdquo; The New Republic (March 5, 2001) | |
| Professor and author | |
| offers a comprehensive analysis of African Americans on network series | |
| He traces their role on prime timefrom the negative stereotypes of the 1950s to the current more subtle stereotypes of the 1990s | |
| Bogle tackles the shows of the 1990s, particularly thepopular and controversial Martin | |
| Professor and author | |
| counters that stereotypes are diminishing in America | |
| In his review of Bogle’s book, McWhorter assertsthat Bogle has donned an ideological straitjacket, which blinds him to the strides that African Americans have made in prime time | |
| He concludes thatthe continued search for stereotypes prevents us from seeing the very real changes that have taken place in the media | |
| A Question Of Content | |
| Do Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior? | |
| YES | |
| Prepared Statement to the Hearing Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the United States Senate (March 21, 2000) | |
| NO: The Economist | |
| ldquo;Chasing the Dream,rdquo; The Economist (August 6, 2005) | |
| While the two selections in this issue both agree that as yet, there is little long-term evidence to conclusively prove that video games either do or do not encourage violent behavior, each cites different literature to make their claims about the short-term impact of violent video games | |
| Professor, Anderson, an expert in child behavior, addresses the literature that does indicate that any violent images in media can indeed have long-term effects; while the Special Report in The Economist focuses on literature that the differential age groups who play video games get different gratification from them | |
| This, of course, assumes that games are age-appropriate, but also points out that video games are increasingly becoming a staple in American entertainment | |
| Does Alcohol Advertising Target Young People? | |
| YES | |
| ldquo;How Alcohol Ads Target Teens,rdquo; Current Health (September 2002) | |
| NO | |
| ldquo;Media Influence,rdquo; in | |
| Prevention and Societal Impact of Drug and Alcohol Abuse (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999) | |
| is a nutritionist and health care counselor who works with young people | |
| In this selection she examines the impact of alcohol advertising that is geared toward younger audiences | |
| She doesn’t focus on the issue of alcoholism, as many researchers do, but she cites the problems with an advertising industry that obfuscates important information and tells only partial truths to a consumer public, and cites persuasive evidence that underage drinking can result in several harmful, or even deadly behaviors | |
| examines the research that has been conducted on the prevalence of alcohol and tobacco advertising, and concludes that the type of content analyses that are usually conducted to examine the frequency of ads in the media cannot be used to explain causality and alcohol abuse | |
| In particular, his focus on teens and young adults shows that while there may be a predilection of those who recall ads to intend to become drinkers in the future, the efficacy of advertising is unproven | |
| He also examines the effect of counteradvertising | |
| Is Advertising Ethical? | |
| YES | |
| ldquo;How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit,rdquo; Consumers’ Research (April 1998) | |
| NO | |
| ldquo;The Squeeze,rdquo; Columbia Journalism Review (September/October 1997) | |
| a former U.S. Trade Commission economist, takes the position that advertising is very useful to people and that theinformation that advertising imparts helps consumers make better decisions | |
| He maintains that the benefits of advertising far outweigh the negativecriticisms | |
| Author | |
| focuses on the way in which advertisers seek to control magazine content and, thus, go beyond persuasion and informationinto the realm of influencing the content of other media | |
| News And Politics | |
| Should the White House Control the Press? | |
| YES | |
| ldquo;Fortress Bush,rdquo; New Yorker (January 19, 2004) | |
| NO | |
| ldquo;In Control,rdquo; American Journalism Review (February/March 2005) | |
| shadowed the White House Press Secretary and other senior staff to examine White House press relations | |
| He examines factors that shape Bush’s opinion of the press, the attitude of senior staff, and the efforts of the White House to control the news agenda, which the White House is seen to accomplish with great skill and discipline | |
| discusses the tight control of information by the White House from the perspective of veteran reporters and editors | |
| Recent administrations have become more adept at tight news management with no leaks, no dissent, and "on-message" stories | |
| Such a tight clamp down on access seems to have no downside for the White House, but the media are concerned that keeping the public informed is suffering | |
| Is Negative Campaigning Bad for the American Political Pr | |
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