Journal Entries #12 (Ch. 14 response)

5 things that should be censored:
Nudity
Sex
Language
Clowns
Gore

Journal Entries #11 (Ch. 13 response)

One situation of public expression I think that went to far and should be curbed are the anti-prop 8 people after prop 8 passed. There was much vandalizing going on and protests going on temple grounds. I thought it was quite over-the-top and it should've been stopped by police or something. I really don't know how I would've remedied this situation, but I'm really glad the Church handled it they way they did.

Journal Entries #10 (Ch. 12 response)

I think that Public Relations like image consulting is ethical because there is nothing wrong consulting about one's image in order to make it better. This is just a simple tactic in order to keep things in check.

I think that the promotional exaggerated claims utilized by Barnum still indeed exist today. They are definitely not as noticeable as Barnum's were, but they definitely still exist. One exaggerated claim can be that of Apple's iPods. The batteries in those things do not last as long as they say they do.

Journal Entries #9 (Ch. 11 response)

Here are the two advertisements that I think are good:
Dislcaimer: I do not own these videos at all, I merely included them for my teacher to view what I am talking about.

Cadbury Gorilla Ad


I think this particular ad is good because not only does it capture one's attention with the close up of the gorilla at the beginning, but when you see the Gorilla begin to play the drums, your reaction is either laughter or surprise or both. This ad captures the audiences attention, even though what's being advertised has nothing to do with the Gorilla playing drums. But the thing is the audience will never forget the gorilla playing to a Genesis song on the drums, and will thus associate it with Cadbury Chocolate.

Bravia "Balls" Ad


The reason this ad is so great is because of the thousands of balls just bouncing down the street. This is not something that you see every day, and captures the audiences attention right off the bat. The music in the background is relaxing, and seeing the multi-colored balls bounce slowly down the street is even more relaxing. After seeing the multi-colored balls bounce down the street, introducing a TV as something that will provide color like no other, like these bouncing balls, is ingenious. It's a great ad not only because it captures the audience's attention, but they also relate the many colors of the balls to the product being advertised.

Here are 2 ads I think are bad:

Greenpeace Polar Bear Ad


This particular ad is bad because one, it is bad computer animation, and two, it is trying an emotional appeal that doesn't really work. In fact it results in hilarity, because it is such a bad advertisement. It is trying to appeal to the viewer's emotion, but it just doesn't work because of the silliness of the computer animation.

Freecreditreport.com Ad


Although the eccentricity of this ad is quite amusing, it is not a very good ad because people might not use the product because of how annoying it can get over time.

Advertising is extremely effective in today's society, especially if the things associated with a product stay in a viewers head. For instance, I would rather use Fedex rather than UPS because of the funny commercial I saw by Fedex. However, with stupid commercials like freecreditreport.com or other local commercials (e.g. local furniture outlets) makes me not want to use those products or services.

Journal Entries #8 (Ch. 9 response)

As I watched TV for a week, I found that I really do not care for watching shows like Family Guy, Simpsons, King of the Hill, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, etc. Sitcoms drive me crazy, so do the "adult" cartoons. Every once and a while the Simpsons are funny, but I hate Family Guy, a lot. The humor is so grossly degenerate it's not even funny. I also dislike those sitcoms like Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, Friends, etc. There are always sexual innuendos and jokes that drive me crazy. Another thing I hate on TV are those stupid reality TV shows like "Bachelor" and "Extreme Makeover" and "True Love" or whatever. They are so fake and staged it's not even funny. I'll watch American Idol during the auditions stage, just because it's so funny to watch, but other reality TV shows drive me crazy. The shows that I do enjoy, however, are The Office, holiday specials like Charlie Brown Christmas, and movies that are on TBS or TNT. for instance I watched the movies Cast Away and A Few Good Men.

Something I learned about television is about how much regurgitated garbage there is on it. There are hardly any good ideas for shows anymore, tons of commercials, and at least every show has some sort of sexual innuendo in it. There is also large amounts of violence and among other things. Television has grown steadily worse, and I am very glad that we do not have TV at home, because of the grossness of it. Television provides me nothing but information and some entertainment for the shows worth watching. Even then, I can survive without TV because I can find any of that online. I can watch my favorite shows online whenever I want, and I can watch the news whenever I want.

I think that TV networks have succeeded in appealing to the Lowest Common Denominator. There are so many stupid, time-wasting shows out there, it's not even funny. It seems like they broadcast just to broadcast sometimes. I especially hate the stupid soap operas, they are definitely appealing to the lowest common denominator. I think CBS and ABC appeal to the LCD the most because of the programs they put on their stations. I think NBC defies the label the most because of The Office, which definitely does not appeal to the LCD.

I think TV has had a huge impact on society than any other form of media, but not as much as the Internet will have. TV has always had a huge impact on our society, and probably will for the next decade or so. But I think that we will find that it will slowly be taken over by the Internet, just like every other form of media. I really like the Internet, and really don't like TV. I would rather go online to watch stuff than turn on the TV any time.

Journal Entries #7 (Ch. 8 response)

Hollywood likes to think they create American culture. They have increased the amount of sex and violence on TV because it is what they want to expose to the American public, not the American Public wanting more violence and sex. I think that that the American public are simply just accepting what they are given and are not taking a stand against what is wrong. Hollywood is just trying to find new, sensational ways to draw the public to their movies. It's all about money, and sensationalism sells, so obviously they are going to increase the amount of sex and violence on the silver screen. I think it is very sad how much this has increased in the last decade alone, mostly because people have stopped going to the movies. Therefore, movie producers have constantly increased special effects, sex, and violence to make movies look appealing to potential viewers. Over time, I think we have become desensitized to these things. It's actually quite frightening to me, and I really have no desire to see any movies that have recently come out.

If I were a movie producer to make a box office hit in 2008, I would probably make a novel-based movie. Those seem to be doing very well. Another apparent movie trend that seems to be going on is comic-book-hero-movies. However, since those are getting so old, I would not do a comic book movie. I would probably base my movie off the book "The Giver", because there has never been a movie based on it, and I think it would be a really good movie, if it was done right. It could also turn out to be very crappy, but I think that if you had the right director and the right writers, you could come up with a very intriguing movie. This book has no sex or lots of violence in it, and I really do think it could get a PG rating. PG-13 movies seem to be getting worse and worse lately, and thats a major concern of mine. Anyway, I would definitely do a novel based movie, just because they seem to do better than others. It would not have any language or sex or extreme amounts of violence in it at all.

Journal Entries #6 (Ch. 7 response)

Journal Entries #5 (Ch. 6 response)

Metropolitan daily newspapers have lost circulation and some have shut down because the news that they provide is now readily available online. Why would someone pay to get news they can get it for free by just going online and looking it up? It just doesn't make sense. I don't know of any current examples of certain metro dailies failing, but it would make sense to me just to go online and check the news rather than pay for a newspaper.

I think the reason community newspapers are booming is because it covers all of the local news in a particular area. Metro dailies cannot possibly cover every single news story that happens in the nation. Therefore, by specializing to a certain area, community newspapers provide people with a source where they can find out what's happening in their area. So they then subscribe to the local news and that is why they are booming so much. An example would be back home, the Merced Sun-Star is pretty much the biggest source of local news in our county and almost everybody in the county is subscribed to it.

Journal Entries #4 (Ch. 5 response)

Journal Entries #3 (Ch. 4 response)

On average, most of those that I interviewed have not read more than 3 books in the past 3 months. Most of them were just general interest fiction/nonfiction books. Or rather, just textbooks. It seems that books are slowly becoming less popular. I think that people still read books, but since information is so readily available online, books are kind of losing their appeal.

As far as textbooks go, I think it would be way cool to have an interactive, electronic textbook. I really do like having a tangible book to read from, however I always find it very hard to concentrate on reading textbooks, especially if the subject is very boring. So if there was an interactive, electronic textbook that helped you along in reading the text, that would phenomenal.

However, for leisure reading, I would not want electronic books. That just takes the magic away of curling up with a good book somewhere and reading it. You can't really curl up with a computer, and if you could, it would be bad for your eyes if you stared at the screen for too long. There is just something magical or comfortable about having a tangible book, to flip through it's pages and read a good story. Maybe I've just been indoctrinated with this ever since I've existed, that books are not meant to be electronic. But I would much rather prefer a real book for my leisure reading.

Journal Entries #1 (Ch. 1 response)

The communication model could be applied to a newspaper article the following way: A reporter writes a story about the war in Iraq, and encodes it into his message which is sent to the receiver, who is a man who just picked up the morning paper. While he receives the message, there could be Environmental Noise, where there are cars passing by and honking, Internal noise, where the receiver's thoughts are elsewhere, or semantic noise, where the receiver does not understand the message at all. However, through all of this noise, the reader gets the message that the soldiers in Iraq are dying quickly. In response, the reader quickly writes a letter to the editor saying that if the soldiers are dying, they should put the draft out. As the reporter receives the feedback, there is the internal noise of five other stories that he's working on right now. He then gets the message back that they should put the draft out and that this reader is an old crazy guy.

As for a magazine article, a writer writes an article about anything at all, and it is published into the magazine they work for. The subscribers to the magazine receive the magazine and the article with the message, however there is the internal noise of random thoughts inside the receiver's head as they read the article. It may also be possible that there is semantic noise, that is that the receiver does not understand the message conveyed in the article. Then, the subscriber to the magazine could either email the author or write a letter to the editor about the article. The magazine will receive the message that the reader enjoyed the article through the semantic and internal noise of those who may be reading the article.

With a radio program, the communication model changes a little bit. It might be broadcasted over satellite radio, reaching a much larger audience than a newspaper or magazine might. As as it sends it's message to it's listeners, there may be Environmental noise from the listener's surrounding area, there may be Mechanical noise as there may be something wrong with the radio or the range of the broadcast, there may be Semantic noise where the listener may not understand, and there may be Internal noise inside the listener's head as they may be thinking about something else. As the listener (receiver) decodes the message, they could call into the radio station and tell them what they think about what they just heard on the radio. This feedback may be interrupted by all of the noises listed above. There could be environmental noise where there is people talking in the background, etc. However, the radio station receives the message and decodes it, realizing they should probably upgrade their program in order to include other listener's views.


For a television show, the communication model is typical. The Sender is the TV Station who broadcasts it's programs to various Receivers (people who watch the station) throughout the country. The message that is sent is the show being broad casted. However, there are many distractions of noise while watching TV, there are commercials actually included with the show which could be considered semantic noise. There is also potential environmental noise in the place where the viewer is watching the show, and there could also be internal and mechanical noise. As the viewer watches the show, they may rate the TV Shows, thus providing feedback to the broadcasting company.

The communication model does work for more efficiently for some media than for others. For instance, there is a lot more noise while watching television than while reading a magazine or newspaper article. I think that Television programs and radio stations have the most noise because of the frequent commercial breaks that they have and the potential of the receivers not to be paying attention to the message being sent, or other noise going on. However, when it comes to entertainment, radio and television have a lot more to offer. All you have to do is listen and watch, which require almost no mental work at all. However when you read a newspaper or magazine, you have to comprehend what you just read. Not very many people like to make the effort to find things out for themselves by reading it, they would much rather have it presented to them through a much easier form of media. When it comes to persuasion, however, I think that it goes back to the newspapers and magazines again. I think it's very easy for someone to be persuaded when they are reading something, because they are already engaged in the text. Also, using rhetorical tools in writing is very powerful and you can very easily be persuaded to a particular side.

Journal Entries #2 (Ch. 3 response)

Yes, of course negative stereotypes still exist in the media today. For example, there is the stereotype that all teenagers now are unruly, depressed psychopaths, immoral, have no respect for authority, and/or have some kind of problem with drugs/alcohol/porn. There is a good number who have that sort of problem, but it is extremely frustrating to be judged just because you are a young teen. You have almost no respect at that age. I think another negative stereotype that exists in media is against Muslim people. I'm pretty sure they are not all anti-Americans. There are some very nice people I have met over the years that are Muslim and I'm pretty sure they didn't have some crazy plans to take over the country or whatever.

Yes, I think there is a very very strong possibility that people will be immersing themselves in the world of mass media to a point where they begin to tune out the real world. It's already happening! There are people around the world who go for days without food or sleep who sit playing a computer game all day! There have been people that have died from exhaustion by cutting themselves off from the real world and immersing themselves into a virtual reality that the world of mass media provides. When people try to escape the real world by immersing themselves into another superficial one constantly, they eventually become ostracized from the real world. Thus, they lose their ability to communicate with people face to face, and a lot of genuineness or authenticity is lost in conversation with others.

When people do begin to overly distance themselves from the outside world, they lose a lot of skills that they would have had. For example, if Sally was to talk to her "friends" through means of only texting, facebook, and/or myspace, it would probably be much harder and more awkward for her to talk to people face to face or even over the phone. She would lose her ability to communicate with others in person. Cases like this were apparent all over my High School. I knew several kids who would come to school, keep to themselves and be shy most of the time, and then go home and facebook, myspace, text, play video games, or whatever. That's why it's extremely important to find a balance of our use of Mass Media. Too much of good thing can be bad, and so is the case with Mass Media.

My BYU Comms 101 Blog!

Well, this is the official opening of my Blog for my comms class, I hope you will enjoy it!