Week Nine Final Assignment Jane Doe
HUM/176
February 5, 2009
John Doe

Part One
As the director of a local television station it would be my duty to report the news that would have the greatest impact on my community and its residents. The death of a celebrity will be news worthy, entertaining, and bring in ratings but would not affect my community like the closing of a city park three days a week would. The primary role of the media is to accurately report on the issues that directly impact its viewers and communities. The death of a celebrity does not have much staying power beyond its entertainment value and furthermore has no direct effect on the community or its residents. There would be a larger impact on the local community by covering the story of the local park closing. Residents and families would be impacted the most by a city park closing and having their opinions and views would be vital to the coverage of the story. City council members would also be interviewed about the budgetary issues and the reasoning for this decision to further inform viewers. The social responsibility of news media is to present unbiased coverage of issues that affect the public; however, these days it seems that there is really no social responsibility of the news media as most stations are for profit businesses owned by larger media corporations. The responsibility it seems these days is to the company’s shareholders. There are so many ways that consumers get their news now, and it is likely that a celebrity’s death would be a nationwide event but not a lasting story that would directly affect local communities. As a member of the community and a local news representative it would be the responsibility of the news company to cover the story that most affects the residents within that community. The changes in media over the last century have been many. Newspapers used to be the only way to receive news and now we have television stations broadcasting news 24 hours a day as well as Internet as means to accessing news. The Internet and cable television news stations have opened up the world to nationwide coverage of news stories streaming 24 hours a day. This is very different from the typical local coverage found in newspapers and on local news stations. People can now access news via the Internet, social media websites, cell phones and tablet computers. These devices now allow people to access news from anywhere at any time. There are many advantages to having different ways of accessing news; two major benefits to consumers are convenience and source variety. Some disadvantages to modern media delivery are that there are so many sources to consider, and some may not always have the most accurate coverage. Some stations may be biased or have an agenda in their methods of news coverage. Because of the Internet, it is common to see several sources with the same information and wording. There are areas of ethical and legal consideration that need to be better addressed to users online. Protection of one’s privacy, intellectual property, and freedom of expression are important issues that need to be respected by all users online. Having these ethical and legal considerations protects the rights of individuals, artists, and companies’ ideas and property.

Part Two
Culture is reflected in both movies and television through a variety of techniques. This reflection of culture is achieved by movie and television producers through character casting, scene choice, and location. Movie and television companies also reflect culture in their productions by building story lines and plots based off of popular belief, knowledge, ideas, and realities of everyday life. Movies and television shows may depict ethnic characters and reflect culture through the characters cultural characteristics such as language traits, food choices, and general beliefs. This cultural representation also can be reflected by the movie and television companies through location choice and time periods in which the film takes place. The relationship between television, movies, and culture is one where television and movies have the power to influence society. Television shows and movies have the power to influence us through the popularization of styles, words, ideas, and concepts through the use of characters carefully crafted to relate to the public. Companies that produce these shows and movies market them to specific audiences, depending on the intended actions. They have the power to transform taboo ideals to societal norms through careful depictions, audience targeting, and choice of materials. This effect on society is similar in electronic video games as well. It is a common debate amongst parents and children about the appropriateness of materials and their potential influence on behaviors. It is thought that as negative behaviors in virtual games are rewarded that it could influence the player to imitate the behavior in reality. There are several controversial issues in popular games that concern parents and the public. Some of these issues revolve around content in games such as violence, language, and sexual nature. Other issues stem from the fact that most of these games have players alone indoors sitting for hours playing games. This fact often perpetuates thoughts that video games promote a sedentary, antisocial lifestyle amongst the players. Within the last few years gaming companies have responded to concern and have created new gaming consoles and games to promote activity and socialization. The Wii and Kinect systems have games that require participates to be up and active as part of the game play. Games have also come onto the market targeted to families and encourage groups of people to play and interact. These new formats of games also promote and help in building hand eye coordination and problem solving skills. The most influential and important games that have been released in the last few years are, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Wii Sports. Grand Theft Auto was important and influential because it was one of the games that really got people talking about the impact of games content on the player. Games like Call of Duty joined the online world with normal gaming world. Players were now able to play the game online with players from all over the world instead of having to play alone. The newest introductions to the gaming world are games that require players to be physical and social. Games like Wii Sports and Rock Band encouraged multi-player action with players engaging in physical and social challenges.