Media Conglomerates

The largest media conglomerate is News Corp. There are dangers, I think, to having these companies that own many different areas of media. This is mainly because there is a great chance that all of the things that people follow are based on the ideas of one conglomerate. It is scary to think that all we may know is based from the opinions of one boss or company because that would mean we are completely biased to one side. Since these conglomerates spread from film to TV to even magazines, there is a clear chance that each is promoting the activities of the other. Some people may not think about this occurrence at all and that is why this class is good for people to take. It puts things into perspective that you may never even think about, especially dealing with where the media comes from.

Now that we have this in perspective, we need to watch out for these types of companies and be aware that one company owns many and therefore many opinions, including our own, are extremely biased.

Violence and Social Learning Theory

Today i passed by my parents room and my dad just happened to be watching some violent western. I watched a few minutes of it and realized that it related to this assignment and the social learning theory in chapter 13. Part of the theory states that viewers imitate what they see on tv through a process known as observational learning. In this case, which may seem a little off, robbing a bank can clearly be taken into consideration as relating to social learning. In a western, robbing banks is what the characters do. Someone watching this type of act and the violence that comes along with it can learn that maybe they too can have success with this crime.

I know that this may seem extreme, but it important to realize that what you watch on tv effects how you act, whether you believe it or not. TV either makes you have possible violent acts or it can even help you to solve a problem. Even if it's an episode of Law and Order, there are key things that you take from a program that can either better or life or worsen it and it is all due to observational learning from the social learning theory.