Right now my goal for the future is to become a criminal profiler with a specialty in anti-human trafficking and child exploitation. At this point in time my planned career does not fall directly in the media field, but this does not mean that my career will not be heavily influenced by different mediums in the media world. Since most criminal profilers work for the FBI, the media has a big effect on how the public will perceive jobs like mine. The FBI gets a lot of media attention both good and bad depending on the angle of the story and the reporter. In my job, positive PR for the organization and what we do would be really important so that more people would want to cooperate with our investigations and my research as a profiler. If the public is skeptical of what we collect information and data for then they may be less likely to be willing witnesses or even victims who want to come forward. In my job I will need to be ready to utilize the media world as a tool to my advantage. Public relations was created to establish beneficial relationships in the public eye and that’s exactly what an organization like the FBI needs. A lot of the work they do is kept under-wraps which can look really bad for the public. If I want my job to have legitimacy and actually be able to help catch criminals, then my profession and the organization I work for has to be taken seriously. This is just one way that media would effect my potential job in the future.

Ashley Kawashima

Mass Communication

Term Paper #3

11/29/2011

The Internationality of “Death At A Funeral” 

The media product produced both in the United States and abroad that I chose to analyze are the differences and similarities between the British version of the movie production “Death At A Funeral” and the United States production of the film also titled “Death At A Funeral”. “Death At A Funeral” is set during the funeral of a father and based around the many family and friend issues that can come out of relationships both good and bad, while at the same time dealing with the death of a loved one and the potential death of his little person ‘lover’. The differences between these two movies I believe help to highlight some of the many cultural differences between the United States and Britain as well as on the media industry and the type of media that is perceived as popular by the public in each country.

When beginning my analysis of the character and cultural differences in the two versions of “Death At A Funeral”, I found it easiest to begin with the first scene where there has been a mistake with the body brought to the house. The US version of this scene is a lot louder, more profane, and racial then that of the British version which is much more composed, calm and quite. This definite difference in opening scene can more then likely be at least somewhat attributed to the ethics of the media system in Britain and the United States. The United States media world is somewhat based around the general acceptance of sex and profanity and the more careful regulation of violence, where as when looking at the British media system they tend to restrict profanity and sex more than they would violence.

Another scene I chose to analyze the differences in was when it becomes clear to everyone at the funeral that there is someone alive in the coffin. The british version of the scene is a lot less dramatized then that of the American version. There is no crude humor or jokes being made by the son talking about his father, and with the exception of  the boyfriend who is on drugs and hears someone in the coffin, the scene is very calm and collected allowing the hallucinating boyfriend to appear even more insane to the audience. In the American version the family members are a bit more talkative from the very beginning with partially due to Chris Rock (son of deceased father) cracking jokes about his father and talking about things such as the golden girls, which lightens the mood of the scene from the very beginning. What I have drawn from scenes like these are that American’s in media seem to need a more complex and comedy drawn scene to make them laugh out loud, where as British comedies seem to need less distraction and more focus on one or two particular characters in the scene.

The scenes in both versions of the movie were also emphasized with music that was appropriate for each individual version and the country it was made in. Where the British “Death At A Funeral” soundtrack was of a lighter tone with less background music filler then that of the United States version of “Death At A Funeral” soundtrack which was full of face paced and bass filled music that fit the high energy and intensity of the American family comedy drama. The soundtrack of the American version drew from some of the top hits in US music and was used to dramatize scenes in the movie. Where as the British versions soundtrack tended to be minimal at best and allowed the scenes to be dramatized and played up by the actors instead of background noise. This can be somewhat related to the idea of contemporary transmission which is the communication of cultural values to different cultures. I think the movie “Death At A Funeral” as it is portrayed in the American and British version translates the ideas of how families in different regions are both similar with their drama and problems but very different in the type of language they use, their actions to a degree, and what they perceive as appropriate behavior for dealing with their issues as a family. Movies like this are just another way that film producers can communicate thoughts and ideas about a generation of people and comedy to a mass audience of viewers.

Some things that remained the same in both versions of the film were the actual concept of the film as a hole entity. The producers of both movies stayed pretty much within the same story line, just changing specific aspects of the family and the level of their reactions to the issues that are raise in the movie. Another thing that remained the same was the character who played the little person lover of the deceased father. It appeared that by having Peter Dinklage play the dwarf in both movies the American producers and casting directors were helping to create just another layer of familiarity between the American version from the British version which also added to the humor of seeing him play the root of many of the problems in the movie between two completely different families.

In the end the audiences reaction to both versions of the “Death At A Funeral” film based on research done from focus group studies shows that the film’s British version was under appreciated and not hyped up as much as it should have been when it first came out to get he most viewers possible. Many people were said to have never seen the movie because they didn’t know it existed in the first place, but when presented the opportunity to watch the film thoroughly enjoyed the laugh out loud comedy. The US version however did very well in theaters partially due to the fact that it got a lot more hype and media advertising from its viewers. This proves that mass advertisement plays a big roll in what society views as being important and what types of media they have the most well known access too. “Death At A Funeral” is a perfect example of how the movie media world can be similar in story lines and big ideas from country to country, but vary when it comes to the details, comedy, and character reactions that will attract different types of audiences across the globe in our mass media market.

Bibliography:

–Death At A Funeral. Dir. Frank Oz. Verve Pictures (UK), 2007. DVD.

–Death At A Funeral. Dir. Neil LaBute. Screen Gems (US), 2010. DVD.

-“Death At A Funeral.” Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. <http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_at_a_funeral/>.

After monitoring my media usage for the past couple of days what has stood out to me about my media consumption is that I rely quite heavily on my laptop computer as my main media outlet. Over the past two days alone I used my computer to access the news, watch movies, conduct research for papers, access my social mediums like Facebook, as well as to download and listen to music. The reason for using my laptop so often and to access so many different media outlets is simple though, it is because in the wireless college environment I am living in it is the easiest and the quickest way to access news articles and online books for my paper and get my music all in one place without having to search around to much. Everything I need is just a click away so to speak.

Another media I used a lot though was print books, mainly for my classes. My textbooks are all hard copies and I had to use them to write papers for classes and do research for projects. Just because information is online and I used my computer a lot doesn’t mean that print has lost it’s importance. I still went to the library and checked out a book, and used my textbooks, and even spent some time reading my own paperback book. Some people believe that the web and internet is taking over the world of print, I think that online databases and the internet have definitely become more predominant in todays society as technology advances, but it hasn’t replaced print, nor do I believe that it will any time soon.

Ashley Kawashima

Mass Communication

Term Paper 2

November 6th, 2011

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/us/politics/cain-says-hes-back-on-message-for-now.html

Stonewalling in Media and Politics

       When the public reads news articles concerning the upcoming 2012 political election for president, and in particular those articles dealing with the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal, a question that comes to mind is, how does a political public figure deal with such accusations in the media? When answering this question it is important to keep in mind that it is the duty of a reporter to inform the public on current events and issues they have the right to know about, but that journalists have a journalistic code of ethics to not only their readers but their subjects to some extent as well. The article I chose to analyze was headlined as “Cain ‘Back on Message,’ if His Rivals Will Allow It” in the New York Times.  By taking a closer look at how the story of Herman Cain’s sexual harassment accusations came out in the news media, we can see real world examples of what we talked about in our political campaign section of our mass communication readings, such as the practice of stonewalling, the leaking of information (true or false as it may be), and into the principles of media ethics. In this news article the concept of stonewalling practice by public figures like Herman Cain is addressed, this article leans more towards the idea that Stonewalling can be an insufficient practice by political candidates by not only unsatisfying media reporters, but also by hurting their own political campaign and losing them even more respect in the public eye.

In “The Media of Mass Communications” stonewalling is defined as “the refusal to answer questions, sometimes refusing to even meet with reporters”. The moment that the story of Herman Cain’s alleged sexual harassment towards former employee Sharon Bialek of Chicago, Cain and his campaign spokespeople began denying that these allegations were true. Although it appears that Cain and his political and public advisors are changing their tactic when handling this issue by instead avoiding reporters questions on the scandal all together now. In the article Cain accuses his rival Governor Rick Perry of “leaking the information and ultimately blaming the news media for covering the story [at all]” (Saulny, Susan). He also told reporters after a Saturday debate that they should “stop asking questions…[and] read a copy of ‘the journalistic code of ethics’.” saying also that he “will not address the specifics of the accusation” (Saulny, Susan”.  Seeings how his harassment scandal has already his newsstands everywhere and is common knowledge by anyone who reads a paper, avoidance of the issue doesn’t seem like the most efficient way of dealing with the problem. “The Media of Mass Communications” reading states that “political communications generally advise against stonewalling because people infer guilt of something to hide”.

Mr. Cain’s accusations towards rival Rick Perry for allegedly ‘leaking the story to the media’ have also not done much to gain him respect in the public eye. According to a poll done by Reuters/Ipsos “[polls] show the percentage of republicans who view Cain favorably dropped 9 percentage points, to 57 percent from 66 percent in the last week” (Holland, Steve). Leaking is another media tool “often used by partisans and dissidents to bring attention to their opponents and people they don’t like much” (book). Thus far there has been no proof that Rick Perry in fact did leak this story to reporters, but Cain’s comment about journalists needing to take another look at the journalistic ethics code and basically telling them what they should and should not report on must not sit well with the reporters of the journalism field, and definitely has not stopped them from trying to cover the story that is buried here, which the public deserves to know before voting for their next president.

Susan Saulny the author of the article does make a point to highlight the fact that although Mr. Cain is trying to avoid any questions concerning this scandal and has at best not properly handled the situation as far as the media world goes, his campaign sales have risen and she also points out that “polls released late last week suggest that the crisis was not eroding Mr. Cain’s standing as a top-tier candidate” (Saulny, Susan). I think that this brings a greater journalistic integrity to the article as a whole. Rather than just spending the entire article reporting on the Cain scandal she brings in other important factors for the public to consider about his campaign. Which is the job of journalists, to present facts preferably in a non-biased and critically accurate manor. Cain’s avoidance of the issue and attempt to turn the attention to the possible story leak by his rival, people loose respect they once had for him which is another reason media avoidance techniques like stonewalling often times don’t work.

As the reader and a citizen of the United States who votes on presidential candidates and other leaders it is important for us to have as much information stored about all sides of an issue and a candidate. To truly be able to get the most out of news media though, it’s also helpful to understand media reporting techniques and devices used by political figures when dealing with keeping up their appearances and image to the public. Stonewalling is one of those avoidance techniques that is really hurting Cain’s political reliability and public respect and support. Making him appear guilty even if he is not. It’s not up to the media world to decide what stories should and should not be published in newsprint, it’s the reporters job to inform the public and if a sexual harassment scandal is occurring, the public has the right to know about it and be able to follow that story in the news. By trying to keep facts from the public or denying reporters comments on the issues that are at present the biggest stories the public is seeing about his campaign, he is in fact accomplishing the opposite of what he wants and bringing more attention to all of these un-answered questions, in turn taking away the focus on his actual political campaign and his opinion on the important issues of election 2012. Reporters can only report on the information they have and if political figures try and block out the media or stonewall them, reporters will often look to other sources for the information and stories they need and want to present to the public.

Bibliography:

Saulny, Susan. “Cain ‘Back on Message,’ if His Rivals Will Allow It.” The New York Times 6 Nov. 2011: 1. NY Times. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/us/politics/cain-says-hes-back-on-message-for-now.html>.

Holland, Steve. “Cain’s Support Dips After Sex Accusations: Poll.” Reuters. Thomas Reuters, 6 Nov. 2011. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/06/us-usa-campaign-cain-idUSTRE7A04CW20111106

If I could make one significant change to the future of media it would be to allow free access to news media for people all over the world. I know this is rather unrealistic as far as economy and paying for the media goes, but if more people could get free and easy access to the news and what’s going on, whether it be through a greater number of free internet access points, free newsprint, or greater access to televised news feeds and the radio, I feel that the overall literacy and widespread awareness of the world would go up dramatically. In society today a lot of people don’t educate themselves on the news and what’s going on in the world due to not having internet access or a TV or the extra dollar to spend on a newspaper, so if free news media could be a service that was more greatly administrated as well as advertised then I believe more individuals would take the initiative to become not only more world educated, but also more involved citizens of their own country, with better educated opinions and ideas on the issues of our world. The main problem that would arise from this is funding. I realize for example that if newspapers could get their newspaper out to their audience for free and still be able to pay their reporters most probably would. It’s the duty of media outlets to inform their readers and the cheaper it is to get access to these outlets the greater their audience. I don’t have an answer for the funding issue that goes along with this idea of easy and free news media access, but it could potentially come from more non-profit funders or through alternate contributors.

In this media clip the interviewee was my father Gene Kawashima who is 61. He was born and raised in Southeast Alaska and his media experience growing up to now has been primarily focused in Alaska. The media clip I have put together covers how cost of recordings has changed, how television effected his life, what it was like to first get a computer and access the internet, and what the media world was like 50+ years ago. What I personally really took away from the interview, was how difficult it was to access media and get informed about the world and be educated on what is going on around them.

The media product that I have recently viewed and chose to do my research for this entry on is the TV show Bones. Bones is broadcasted on 20th Century Fox Entertainment whose parent company is News Corp. Some ways that the ownership effect the content of Bones is often times in the TV show there are references made to other Fox and News Corp. media productions and TV shows, which doesn’t really effect the quality of the media product necessarily, just stands out to those who know what other affiliates go along with Fox. They also reference characters from other Fox TV shows sometimes and even have started a new spin off show coming out this next season. In Bones I think you can actually learn a lot from the show as well, they seem to focus much of their plots around current issues of the world and cover their cases with a majority of factual evidence and “what really could happen” type of plot bases. There are also a lot of different characters and types of characters in the show and brought into the plot as guest stars that people can relate themselves to in various ways which I think helps the audience to better immerse themselves into the show and follow the plot line. Bones does a decent job I at least believe of presenting personal, professional, and criminal issues to its audience that are relevant to our world and our society as a whole. The show also does a good job of dealing with a lot of issues on the aftermath of 9/11 and how war can effect people both physically and emotionally.

Ashley Kawashima

Mass Communications

September 18th, 2011

Robert Iger and the World of Walt Disney

              When speaking in terms of revenue the worlds largest media conglomerate is The Walt Disney Company founded on October 16, 1923 by Walt Disney himself (The Walt Disney Company). Although management and control of the Walt Disney company has been passed on over the past 80+ years the goals of Disney have for the most part remained the same as when Disney began designing and planning out the company with the help of his brother Roy. Walt lived his life and built disney around his famous words “My business is making people, especially children, happy.” This has been the goal of Disney and all Disney affiliates since it’s formation in 1923. A corporation on a smaller scale designed with children in mind has morphed and grown into the largest mass media producer in the world striving to reach and entertain people of all ages (Company History).

The current CEO and president of The Walt Disney Company is a man named Robert Iger . “Robert A. Iger became president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company in October of 2005 after having served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Walt Disney Company since January of 2000” as stated on the official Walt Disney Company website.  Robert began his career after graduation Cum Laden from Ithaca University as a television weatherman in Ithaca NY for ABC studios. Over the next few years of his life he migrated around ABC in various categories under various positions. This plethora of work experience made it so Bob was better prepared and able to take on the job of President and CEO of Walt Disney Company due to the wide range and variety of media industries the company encompasses.

Since becoming CEO of the company Robert has overseen the acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios as well as Marvel Entertainment, working to further broaden not only the company but the character franchise of Disney itself. This is exactly the goal that Walt Disney set out to reach when creating the Walt Disney Company. To be able to reach a large audience of people by entertaining them and keeping them happy. As Robert worked his way up to the top of the Walt Disney Company he earned the name of traditional businessman often times showing up at the office as early as 4:30am and working long hours into the night. He runs the Walt Disney Company with “a lot of sincerity and has that rare CEO quality–humility” quotes Nell Minow  the editor of the Corporate Library, who also stated that Robert “is not as glitzy and showbizzy” (Robert A. Iger Executive Biography).

These qualities of sincerity and humility have been important characteristics in helping Robert to build on the kind of Disney that Walt would be proud of. People respect Iger because he gives others respect and with respect comes hard work and creativity that reaches beyond the imagination. He has been able to instill a greater passion, creativity, motivation, and work ethic into the company while expanding in all directions. In the business of putting dreams and imagination on the big screen you have to be able to motivate and delegate to get what needs to be done done and in the most efficient and cost effective manor. With a big multibillion dollar company like Disney

As president and CEO of Walt Disney Company Igor has run into his fair share of problems and road blocks. It has been his challenge o rebuild and revive ABC Family the cable network which had been struggling with ratings for some odd years (Bob Iger). This attempt has been so far successful, but a constant uphill battle. Robert’s devotion to change and expansion for the better of the company has brought about his title as one of Fortune magazine’s 25 Most Powerful People in Business, one of the Top Gun CEOs by Forbes Magazine and one of the best CEOs by Institutional Investor Magazine (Company History). These titles and Robert’s well known work ethic and desire to help the company become better then ever has earned him great respect in the business industry which has been key in building relationships with other companies over international boarders and allowing the merging and coexistence between Walt Disney and other major media companies such as Pixar, ESPN, Marvel Entertainment, and many others.

Robert’s motivation for the company has been expansion, changing with technology, giving the people what they want and deserve, while at the same time focusing on preserving what Disney has already achieved and worked up to. Robert has stated “We like the size of the company today given the environment and have no plans to split it up and make it smaller” (Robert, Iger). Robert’s motivation and focus on working to make what the company already makes profit on even more profitable helps to encourage the creativity of the staff and employees making the work environment more positive and focusing more on what Disney has that they can offer their audience, rather then what Disney doesn’t have but needs.

Robert has also formed bonds between Disney and Apple to offer people new and innovative ways to experience Disney sponsored television shows and movies through modern technology important to Mass Communication and distribution. This connection with another major mass communication portal was crucial for Disney in distributing their products in a way that was easy for people of all ages to attain. Since Robert has taken control of the company he has done a lot to increase publication and creation of entertainment that is oriented to people of all ages, which in a changing social system where everyone is looking for something different can be a difficult task to succeed at but Disney doesn’t seem to be doing to bad for themselves so I would say he is doing a job well done.

When reviewing the changes, additions, and personal influence that Robert Iger has had on the Walt Disney Company since becoming President and CEO the effect have been large and mostly for the better. He has implemented various mergers to increase character options and to help spur creativity in his writers and creators. His positive attitude also helps to encourage greater work ethic and success for the company as a whole. All in all Robert’s contributions to the company have been positive, cost effective, caused an increase in marketing and helped to increase the audience of viewers that the Walt Disney Company is able to reach. Succeeding and far surpassing anything Walt Disney himself could have ever imagined Disney would become.

Bibliography: 

– “Bob Iger.” Encyclopedia of World Bibliographies. Adva Mag. inc, Web. 15 Sept. 2011.

<http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Ei-La/Iger-Bob.html>.

– “Company History.” The Walt Disney Company. Disney, Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

<http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/complete_history_1.html>.

– “The Walt Disney Company.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company>.

-“Robert A. Iger Executive Biography, ” The Walt Disney Company,

http://corporate.disney.go. com/corporate/bios/robert_iger.html (August 8, 2005).

-“Robert Iger.” Brainy Quotes. Web. 19 Sept. 2011.

<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_iger.html>

It’s difficult to narrow down my most memorable media experience. Thinking back on my experiences with media so far in life there have already been so many memorable moments I have had and have shared with other people that it’s hard to narrow one specific moment in time down. If I have to choose one of my most memorable media moments though, I would have to say it was after my grandpa and I found an old Slide Projector in the attic that had slide photos of his life in Japan and working at home in Alaska. I remember we plugged in the antique projector and looked at the photos up on the old white wall of their house. I was pretty little but I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen, I just couldn’t get enough of it and my grandfather was so happy to have found these memories that he could share with me. We went through the slides multiple times and I didn’t quite realize how touching or important this moment would be to me till I got a little bit older. But looking back on that moment now, and just being able to utilize media like that even though it was an outdated source was still amazing. Thanks to this form of chemical media my grandfather was able to preserve moments of his past forever and share them with his future generations. We have since had those slides put onto CD’s so that we wouldn’t loose them as technology and media mediums advance even further as they seem to be doing on a daily basis.