Social Movements and the Media

After watching Bill Moyers " Buying the War" it is hard for me not to say that political figures and media heads do not control the news and set the agenda. The news should be determined by the people. Both sides of issues should be covered even if it will cause tension and go against the common goal or trend. In "Buying the War"it states that during the beginning of the war it was hard for the media to show that they disagreed with the war because it might have been seen as Anti-American. There is conflict in this to me because is not freedom of speech something that is apparent in America. Therefore not being able to publish and cover stories that did not agree with the war is Anti-American. 

We need media that addresses the interests of people of color because to often do those interests get over looked. American media should cover American people and American people include people of color that are a minority. One reason is that people of color are  a minority and their interests may or may not be the same as that of the majority. In order to increase the mainstream media's interest in other topics the mainstream media must first have diverse representation. After there is diverse representation then topics and concerns will follow that trend. This may not solve the case of diversity in coverage but it is a start. Also I will argue that the interests of people of color are not always the same as everyone else's. People of color deal with issues like under representation that may not even be an issue or even a thought of someone else.

Media coverage over the war in Iraq has changed from when it first began. I remember the war being reported on as something that had to be done. It was told over and over to Americans that the people in Iraq were the ones who bombed the World Trade Centers and they must be punished. Like Iraq had done something terribly wrong to the people of the United States and we needed to retaliate. At that point in time that was thought to be the truth even thought there was a lack of facts that supported these claims. America did not know for sure but we still went to war.Everyday there was something different about the violent bombings and other things done to U.S. soldiers. But civilian casualties were not shown in proportion the the actual number of those casualties, they were shown in proportion to the number of soldiers being killed. This in many ways slanted the news coverage of the war.

 The media was beneficial for the Civil Rights Movement because the rest of the world did not know exactly what was happening until the media covered it. Civil Rights Movement had came along because African Americans felt like they were being ignored. Media outlets were a sure way to get the attention they deserved. Without proper media coverage, pictures like the one shown above would not have been circulated.

Recently, in the Jenna Six campaign the media also played a major role in getting the attention necessary to result in action, similarly to the Civil Rights Movement. The media covered protests nation wide that were part of the collective effort. If it was not for media coverage the news would not have gotten as much action and speaking out that it needed.  Here is a link to the CNN story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIHfTfMXFtQ

It is important to cover local issues so that others in the community and city are aware of those issues. Media outlets are people's main source of information so if it is not covered in the news broadcast, radio , or newspapers, then how will they know. News should be balanced and not slanted to keep from stepping on any ones toes, even if it the president. News should also cover every ones issues, not just the majority.