Week 10

Communication Objective: Parents need to take on the responsibilities of parenting and stop allowing cable television to rear their children.

Target Audience: This ad is targeted at parents who have neglected their children and hired cable television as the babysitter. The group of parents mostly affected by this ad would be those who are high income earners. At the expense of their high demanding careers, their children have been forsaken and are parented by cable television.

Format: This advertisement can be advertised in parenting magazines, TV commercials, and as pop-up ads on the internet. If the advertisement is presented in parenting magazines, then homemakers and moms with less demanding careers could serve as advocates and initiate the guilt in parents who leave their television set to do the parenting. Advertising with TV commercials would target the children who are constantly watching television and inform them that they are victims of bad parenting. Ultimately, children would see these ads and demand less television and more parenting from mom and dad. Since some parents may never read the parenting magazine and view TV commercials, the use of internet pop-up ads would catch their attention. These internet pop-ups would catch these slacking parents when they sit down to open their most important e-mails.

Concept: The concept of this ad is that parents should invest more time in parenting their children instead of leaving them to be cared for by unsupervised cable television. Parents need to reevaluate their priorities and really think about who is babysitting their children

Visual: The image in this advertisement portrays the sexual appeal that many television shows offer children when they are not being supervised by parents. Although many parents may be fans of shows such as Sex in the City or other sexual provocative dramas or even violent dramas, they fail to realize that these shows are not suitable for their youngsters.

Headline: The headline, “Free In-Home Babysitting” is eye catching because parents are always looking for affordable child care services. For parents in whom money is not an issue, the convenience of the services being provided in the home will be appealing to them.

The Copy: The purpose of this ad is to encourage parents to think about the amount of time they permit their children to spend with cable TV. Although parents have not really hired Comcast’s On Demand feature to babysit, the reality is that children are gaining a majority of their education from shows that are not suitable for them. This argument is not to say that cable TV does not offer educational shows for children to view, but there is a responsibility for parents to choose these types of shows for their children. If parents fail to surrender to the demands of parenting, then their youngsters will grow up pursuing the sexual and violent images they see offered through cable TV. It is imperative that parents discuss these critical issues without simply allowing for the modern day babysitter, TV, to construct their identity and reality.

Week 9

In 2003, the hip- hop group Black Eyed Peas wrote their hit song, Where is the Love, in response to the attacks of September 11. The song is an anti-war anthem that speaks out against the war that was irresponsibly launched to fight terrorism. This song also tackles other global issues that are ignored and falsely depicted to the public. Where is the Love is significant in American history because it provided an outlet for the American citizens and a reality check for all those in denial about the tension in the world.

The purpose of the song is evident in its lyrics. As stated in Where is the Love, “What's wrong with the world mama/ People livin' like they ain't got no mamas/I think the whole world addicted to the drama/Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma”. The lyrics of the song convey the idea that people have become active participants in the chaos in the world, and as a result caused the lost of love. The USA has turned all of its attention to a war veiled with secrets, while gangs, discrimination, killing, CIA, and superficial ministers rot the nation of the USA.

The significance of this song would be best explained to a group of people who did not partake in its historical making by understanding the realm of political hypocrisy occurring at the time. President George W. Bush had recently been elected into office after a controversial and somewhat heated election. Supposedly, he unfairly won the presidential election and his agenda for politics were more personal than business. The rumor at the time was that President George Bush had a personal vendetta for Saddam Hussein from the previous reign of his father George Bush. Due to the president’s ego, the USA and its citizens became the victims of terrorists’ attacks.

Where is the Love, served as tool for reflection and as a “wake up call” for people to love again. Black Eyed Peas enlightened society about the time in which they are living with this hit song. People had become so conditioned and accepting of the turmoil of everyday life that they failed to see that there was a lack of love in the world. By recognizing the hatred that destroys our moral values and unity in the world, the vision of Where is the Love can someday be accomplished.

Week 8

WSB-TV
Channel 2 Action News
6 PM Broadcast
November 7, 2008


Viewing Log

Story/Time
Top Story: The ongoing trial of Brian Nichols is finally coming towards an end. Brian Nichols is on trial for a murderous rampage that he went on three years ago. He murdered four people (courthouse and government officials), carjacked five people, and kidnapped one person for escape. 4 min
Local News Story: Sheriff’s plan to improve court house safety to prevent any future incidents such as the Brian Nichols rampage from occurring again.
1 min, 10 secs

Weather: Brad Nitz provides the weather for the 3-Day forecast.
1 min

Commercial Break
2 mins

National News: Discuss President Elect Barack Obama’s transition into White House
3 mins

Local News: Fulton county election officials finally completes absentee ballot that will determine if there will be a runoff race between Republican Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin for the Senator of Georgia
45 secs

Local News: Plans from Chambliss and Martin are revealed for campaigning possible senate race runoff. Saxby Chambliss plans to fly in John McCain to help him, and Martin has contacted President Elect Barack Obama. Obama has not yet responded.
2 min, 20 secs

Quick Reports
Consumer Reporting: Credit card fraud is increasing as we get closer to the holiday season. Business will be checking the last 4 digits of your credit card to make sure that match with numbers printed that appear on the receipt.
Local News: New insights into the Brian Nichols’ case
News Ad: Stay tuned for ABC World News later.
About 30 seconds each

Commercial Breaks
3 mins

Local News: Brian Nichols has been found guilty on all counts of charges
3mins

Local News: Police arrest four people in connection to murders and a series of assaults in Atlanta.
1 min

Local News: Road Work
45 secs

Weather: More updates for the upcoming weather for the weekend and the week
2 mins, 30 secs


News Analysis
The news report began with local news reporting of the Brian Nichols case. Nichols has been on trial for 3 years and 8 months, a time period that has been too long for victims and the communities deeply affected by this tragedy. The seriousness and importance of this report was evident by the f the our minutes that were allotted to it in the news reporting. After a direct report on the Nichols case, a reporting of plans of improvement of the Fulton County courthouse was given. At the beginning of this reporting, it seemed as if this was a different local news topic until the reporting reverted back to the topic of Brian Nichols again. During these obviously related reportings, the stories were introduced by one of the stations lead news anchors, Monica Kaufman, but told in its entirety by one of its male news anchors. The news that the community will soon be safe from the merciless killer is rendered by the station’s white male reporter validates the news report.

The evening news continues their report by providing updated information on the elections for a Georgia senator. The updated report on the vote counting is given along with the candidates plan for a runoff race. Again, two different headline titles are used for reporting the same story. Maybe the use of the headlines is a tactic to keep the audience engaged in watching the news reports. During the 30-minute report, it seems as if I watched the news report on the same topics repeatedly.

Before the 30-minutes news segment was complete, the news station continued to provide updated reports on the Brian Nichols case. Clearly, there was an agenda behind all of these reports on Mr. Nichols. By the way, he was never given the respect of being addressed as mister. At least half of this 30-minute news had been structured as a tribute to the slain Judge Barnes that Nichols murdered over 3 years ago. It was if the news station were speaking to him and saying, “Judge Barnes you are not forgotten and we will do our best to make sure justice is served in your honor”. In addition, “your community and loved ones do not have to worry about a plague like this ever affecting them again”. Well, I don’t want to call any names, but I wonder what were the demographics for the people who viewed this evening report.

Other news during the segment included three minutes allotted to national news focused on President Elect Barack Obama’s transition into the White House which received less air time than the local weather. Other news stories briefly discussed consumer reporting, road work, murder arrests, and economy reports which all received 30 to 45 seconds of news reporting. It can be assumed that whatever affects a community the most is what is aired on the local news. No offense to Mr. Obama for the short time allotted to him during this news segment. Topics of concern to the Georgia conservatives were on the agenda tonight due to current priorities to ensure their piece of mind through justice and a republican elected official.


Teaching Critical Analysis

A possible teaching activity would consist of students choosing two different news stations to research and analyze. Students will gain research skills by researching what corporate companies own news stations and finding out the history of these companies. Research in the history of these companies should assist with helping the students in discovering what kind of ideological stance or perspectives companies have about the world.

Afterwards, students will choose a current major headline story. They will analyze how the two news stations report the events. Questions to guide their inquiry include: (1) Who are the news reporters (identify gender and race and impact on reporting news if any)? (2) Do they provide alternative perspective of news reports? (3) Do they use coded language and what group of people does this language appeal to? (4) Is the antagonist in the story humanized or dehumanized? (5) What types of headlines are used to report the story? (6) What kind of film clips of the story are used to report it to the public (any exclusion of material and affects)?

Once students have analyzed the story, they will compose their research and all findings in a comparison/contrast expository essay. Students will also create a 6-8 minute presentation incorporating some form of technology to present their findings. Grading will be based on a rubric that students will be completed by both teacher and student for grading.