The media is incredibly powerful.

Case-in-point: Britney Spears. The woman is insane. She succeeded as a young musical artist, but then everything went downhill. Meanwhile, the media continued to follow Britney’s life, and today, portrays her as a musical superstar and role-model.

Lets recount all of the insane things Brit-Brit has done.
- Shotgun wedding in Vegas to Jason Alexander (lasted 24 hours)
- Proposed marriage to Kevin Federline
- Was caught driving with her baby on her lap
- Shaved her entire head
- Attacked a paparazzi with an umbrella
- Had a mental breakdown when the police had to come to her house
- Locked herself in a room with her kids so she didn’t have to give them to their father
- Exposed her private areas
- Infamous lip-syncing at concerts
- Pretended she was a lesbian

Yet, despite all of her radical behaviors, Britney is still a role model for teenagers. The TV show Glee dedicated an entire episode to Britney and worshipped her music and choreography. Britney is obviously not a good role model, especially for young children. She lost control complete control of her life and all of her absurd behaviors were publicized. Well, why then, is Britney portrayed as a role model and a star? Simple, the power of the media. This goes to show just how powerful the media is and the control the media has over society.

Public Service Broadcasting vs. Commercial Broadcasting

I just finished working on my group project that we are presenting tomorrow on Chapter 8 from the text. One of the questions that we are posing to the class is about the types of media content that is being produced. Specifically, what type of broadcasting (public service or commercial) do you support?

I have decided to be selfish and answer this question on my own. I believe that there are positives and negatives to both PSB and commercial broadcasting. Today’s TV audience wants to be entertained. They don’t want to watch educational programs or documentaries. They want to hear about celebrities and watch reality TV shows. If TV channels and radio stations only broadcast educational/cultural programs and documentaries, they are going to lose the interest of their viewers, lose money, and eventually go out of business. Because of this, I argue that it’s the viewers of media content that control what type of media content is being produced. If the producers want to make money, they have to please their viewers.

Although commercial broadcasting may be more popular today than PSB, it still has negative aspects. If often shows a lot controversial aspects of life, such as sex, alcohol, and drugs. This gives an unfair representation of our society and also can be bad if young children are exposed to this type of broadcasting.

Public service broadcasting, on the other hand, is informational and highlights the positive aspects of society. Although the content of PSB is of a better and more educational level that will benefit more people, the producers of media content need to broadcast more commercial programs in order to stay in business.

What Does it Take to Become a Celebrity?

How does one attain fame?  In today's World, it seems as if anyone can become famous.  People reach celebrity status for a number of things, such as having a special talent, their looks, their profession, etc.

I believe that in order to become a celebrity, all you need is money.  One can buy their way into attaining celebrity status.  As an example, I will use Rebecca Black.  Rebecca is a young girl from a wealthy family.  She wanted to get her name out there and was able to make herself famous because her parents were willing and able to invest a huge sum of money to secure her stardom. Rebecca's parents spent money so that Rebecca could produce a music video of a song she created called "Friday." Here is a link to the music video, if you haven't already seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0

This song and music video, which is said to be one of the worst songs ever created, has over 60 million views on YouTube, and the numbers are increasing every minute.  By creating this song and video, Rebecca Black succeeded in becoming famous.  Although she may be known as one of the most horrible singers in the world, she is still well known.  The video has over 1 million "dislikes," and websites have been created to attack and make fun of young Rebecca.  Here is one of the countless websites thats purpose is to destroy Rebecca Black: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Rebecca_Black.

Regardless of how good or bad her song may be, Rebecca achieved her goal in becoming famous.  How did she accomplish this status?  According to the nasty comments she is receiving, I would have to believe this celebrity status was not reached by Rebecca's musical talent, but simply by her access to money.