Soc 205: Social Problems

Fall 2012

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What to do about news media?

 

Who should do something about the social problem?

  • Individuals
    • as consumers (of news, of advertisers' products)
    • as citizens, voters
    • as workers
  • Institutions
    • Journalism and journalists, media outlets
      • the business model (advertising)
      • over-reliance on official sources
      • public and independent media?
      • 'watchdog' function
    • Government
      • break up the media conglomerates
      • Federal Communications Commission as regulatory body--greater public participation (rather than being 'captured' by corporate media)
      • Greater, but less scripted, access to government officials
      • Campaign financing (what happens when there are no limits?)
    • Alternative media
      • Some documentaries worth seeing
        • A Crude Awakening (end of oil?? That's crazy talk!)
        • An Inconvenient Truth (laying out the evidence for global warming)
        • Food, Inc. (from farms to factories--you'll never eat again ...)
        • Supersize Me (not just a diet--a complete documentary, two thumbs up from sociologists in many places!)
        • Inside Job (CEOs got bailouts and bonuses and all I got was this lousy recession!)
        • Hot Coffee (lawsuit abuse or corporate takeover of civil law? You decide!)
        • The Corporation (what if your neighbor was a corporation?)
        • Billionaires's Tea Party (Grassroots, Freedom and Liberty, LLC®)
        • The Yes Men ('correcting' identities, or unauthorized 're-branding')
        • Why we Fight (the military industrial complex, war, and so much more)
        • Bowling for Columbine (guns, violence, US society, and surprisingly little about gender--here's the Marilyn Manson teaser)
        • The Century of the Self (learn about Edward Bernays, the most influential person you've never heard of--shows growth of the propaganda industry)
        • Manufacturing Consent (about Noam Chomsky, but more about his work on mass media, politics, propaganda, and .... manufacturing consent)
        • Outfoxed (it may not be good journalism, but it's sure good business--somewhat dated, but still a keen glimpse into Rupert Murdoch's empire)
        • Two films worth watching: Wag the Dog (where art imitates life ...), and Thank You for Smoking (repeat after me: personal choice ...)
  • Social movements/activism

 

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