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Media professionals have many ways of finding out what audiences are interested in, whether it’s from ratings, sales figures, or email responses and interactive satellite television. Other ways include looking at responses on the internet and seeing what products are viewed the most, and what comments are made on products. Usually there are comment boxes on websites that sell products and they ask you for a rating. For example, amazon.com has you rate products, whether it’s books, movies, games, music, computers, electronics, home and garden products, toys, apparel, or shoes, and plenty of people take their time out to glorify a product if it worked really well for them or they really enjoyed it.
When it comes to ratings, media professionals can see whether or not their advertisements during a certain time slot have been boosting sales or whether they see no difference. With kid’s shows, they would obviously show commercials for toys and cartoon movies, while more adult shows that are on later at night would have advertising for things like electronics, higher rated movies, and products that only adults use.
The radio can also be used, since many people will call in to share their views about certain things. It is a good idea to find out what audiences are saying directly from their mouths, especially since they know they are anonymous. Reading feedback in magazines is also a good way to find out what people are interested in. There are always those sections at the beginning that discuss different articles in the previous magazine and people say what their likes and dislikes were. Usually people are honest because they want the magazine to respond appropriately so that the magazine can be improved for their reading pleasure.
Production research is also another way to find out what people are interested in. Research is done to find out about how the creativity or agency of he media professional is limited by organizational and also external factors. Organizational means the way the goods are produced, the ownership structure, the editorial line, and culture or ethos of a certain media organization. External factors could be anything from the economic power of advertisers and sponsors, the laws and regulations enforced, and the willingness of those who are politically and economically in charge.

This short film, Money as Debt, by Paul Grignon was definitely more interesting and informative than I had anticipated. The Mint surprisingly only makes 5% of the United State’s money, with banks creating 95% of all the rest. It is startling to find out that the banks simply trust people and that when a loan is given, money is “created” and the total amount of money in the United States increases. I had never thought about the actuality that it started a long time ago with goldsmiths and how they would cast coins based on eights and purity of metals (gold and silver) and that is how they had a value of worth. The paper money we now have is a spin-off of the paper claim checks that those bankers back then were making, which also had a scheme behind it. People were taking out loans and taking money out on credit, and the banks charged interest which was making them money. Eventually, a “run on the bank” happened when bankers lent out too much money and did not have enough supply when people started asking for their gold back. The government had to regulate banking and legalize that practice. This seemed good, but now we are in the terrible crisis of money being debt today.
Now, money isn’t value, but debt. It used to be worth an amount of silver, but now it’s just a “digital dollar.” In the past, gold and silver had to be found and dug out of the ground, and it was limited, but now it’s created as debt, and it’s created whenever anyone takes a loan out from the bank. The American debt is an astonishing $45 trillion (in 2007), compared to the $5 trillion debt in 1957. A 40 trillion dollar increase in 50 years is a really scary thought, considering that the amount of time was so small. Paper, digital, and plastic money definitely makes more sense in our world, especially the way we live in such a fast paced society.
Our deposits are actually loans to the bank in reality. All banks are connected, and bank credit created at one bank becomes a deposit in another, and vice versa. One part discussed how banks collect interest on money it never had. The money that they charge interest has to come from the people who took out the loans, and the banks charge incredible amounts to try and keep up with the rising debt. When someone pays off their debts, that individual will have more money, of course, but, if all the debts are paid off, that leaves society with no money. The example of The Great depression is exactly that: the money supply shrank drastically while supply of loans dried up.
I definitely agree with the statement in the movie that “Greed and dishonest are the main problems,” especially because money is the focus of everything. There could be no national debt if the federal government simply created the money it needed, but our interest payments to the government would be impossible. It is also ridiculous that bankers are in charge of who gets the money they need and who doesn’t. It’s getting harder in our society because of the economic probels we are now all encountering. The survey was also discussed where they asked people about money and no one had an accurate understanding about how money was created, even employees at banks! It is not surprising, however, because I know that personally I had no idea about this either.

For my animated .gif I picked the compine Time Warner. Time Warner is a media power house owning many organizations and compines such as HBO, New line, AOL, and many others. The animation is a flash of some of the compines that do control most of the media we see today. Weather or not we relize it or not Time Warner impacts your life in one way or another.

For my Adobe Illustrator project, I chose to modify a recent issue of
Time Magazine with the featured cover story “Surviving the Lean Economy” using an image of an emaciated looking hog. I modified the headline to be “The TIME is NOW to Save the Economy” and a new graphic chart representing the recent crash of the stock market. You still know that the magazine is TIME because I maintained the same overall graphic look and feel.

At first look, globalization sounds like a wonderful opportunity for people everywhere to be able to experience other cultures through the use of media. However, like most things, there are positives and negatives concerning globalization. The three key aspects of media globalization that I looked at is globalization,

Globalization

There is no where in the world that you can travel today without the familiar sites from home of global brand icons such as McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Nike, etc. These global brands and many others have travelled the globe to find new markets for their products and to offer to the world what Americans have grown up using. Sociologists use terms today like McDonaldization, Coca-Colonized to discuss the effects of how globalization has affected other cultures around the world. The brand identities of these companies are literally recognized around the world in even the most remote places. Logos and symbols, like McDonald’s golden arches and Nike’s swoosh are recognized and respected around the world and transcend any cultural or language barriers. People who would not normally be able to enjoy the taste of a Coke or wear a pair of Nike sneakers are able to because of the global marketing commitments of these companies. A downside of this globalization is that some U.S. companies, especially in the clothing and toy businesses, have been found responsible for contributing to unfair child labor and poor working conditions in factories. There is a need for social responsibility for these global brands that must be watched carefully. The spread of consumerism is another concern of some people who do not believe that consumerism is a positive thing.

People’s lives are becoming more affected by global phenomena and the global media industries play a primary role is raising global awareness. With the technological advances of the Internet and satellite transmissions, the world has become infinitely smaller and instantly up to date with happenings around the world. Certainly, the issue of global warming is something that affects everyone, and through globalization we can all work together to find solutions to the problems. What we do here in the U.S. affects the air quality of countries elsewhere and the reverse is true that other countries affect the air quality of here in the U.S. Global warming affects everyone and we need to all work together to develop a globalized answer to the problems.

With satellite transmission, everyone is able to keep up with the most up to date news of what’s happening in the world. When the earthquake hit in China a few months ago, we were able to watch video of real time events and results of the massive earthquake. This enabled the Red Cross and organizations around the world to provide help and money to these people almost immediately.



Media Globalization

The media industry has changed dramatically in the last twenty years and has been reduced to a handful of powerful conglomerates that own almost all of the media.
Conglomerates such as Time Warner, Bertelsmann, Disney, Sony, Viacom and News Corporation operate globally and are responsible for the vast majority of what is seen and heard around the world. These companies all own a great many other companies, many of which people never realize, and contribute to the communication of the world. For instance, Time Warner owns AOL’s AIM which has 110 million users just in the United States. Time Warner publishes over 166 magazines, produces movies seen worldwide and CNN which reaches over 1 billion people worldwide with news. These companies have taken over how the world learns about entertainment and news. While they have made information available worldwide, there does need to be concern regarding the control these companies have and the deregulation that has taken place in regards to how they are monitored.

The music industry has also contributed to media globalization. Bands like U2 have transcended the role of just being a band and have become a global brand. They reach out to people with their music and through the invention of MP3 players such as iPods, music has become a critical and necessary part of many people’s lives. U2 also uses their music to create global awareness of important social topics such as AIDS and the problems in Darfar.

The Local and the Global

Because of the vast development of technology and the media conglomerates, people are exposed constantly to events that are happening locally and globally. Whereas people used to really only know and understand what was happening in their corner of the world, we now know what’s going on everywhere. The media that is pretty much all Western based is responsible for covering the events worldwide. When reporting on events in Third World countries or in Communist countries, the media is reporting from a free Western point of view. The benefits are that the Western world can step up and help in a better way when events are reported on natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, famine, etc. and some countries don’t want our media showing their way of life to the world. This was a big problem when the tsunami hit in Indonesia three Christmas’s ago. The world was trying to get food, water and supplies to the people and the government was blocking the aid to their own people.