Reflective Essay

WRTG 101

Annemarie J Chiarini

Synthesis essay

Every multimedia medium enables a unique method of discourse by offering a different orientation for expression, sensibility, and thought. In this article “The media is the metaphor”, McLuhan identifies medium as the message in a discussion or argument. Forms of media do not denote specific or concrete statements regarding the environment or world but are rather metaphors, which work to enforce various reality definitions. Whether an individual or group is experiencing the immediate environment or the world using speech, printed words or television, media-metaphors classify, sequence, and argue the case concerning how the world is in reality (McLuhan, 2003; Postman, 2005).In the modern day, television is used televisions are used as a mode of communication to converse with the public. As a technology or technique that enables the passing across of messages, televisions are metaphorically “conversations” which affects how news is delivered in the sense that the media used determines how people will pay attention to the message.

Postman uses the term “conversation” metaphorically referring to all the technologies and techniques that permit individuals to pass across messages. Every culture is regarded as a conversation or corporation of conversations in symbolic modes. Postman seeks to show how the various public discourse forms can regulate content of multimedia message. Television has had an effect in delivery of news in the sense that “news of the day” does not exist if media is not available to provide it with expression. Lack of a technology in this case a media popular media personality to communicate a message results in people not paying attention to it thus without any medium to create form, news of the day does not exist (Postman, 2005). In the article “The Transition to Digital Journalism” Gomez writes that a lot of journalists enter this profession because of the love of telling stories. Gomez is concerned that digital media, such as television will bring doom to narrative as a result of constant eruption of information which lack context. This factor is affecting delivery of news as a result of journalists who do not pay a lot of attention to seek in-depth news before delivering it to people watching the news in televisions.

In the modern day, televisions have interfered with logic by placing more emphasize on image using technology and not the message or issue in the message. This is a claim that the author Quayle supports in his article “The Method of the Medium is in Motion” where he states that television news has the potential to support or affect higher public discourse level. In many cases visual imagery in television is largely responsible for conducting discourse (Quayle, 2010).

Quayle agrees with Postman that television offers discourse using images rather than words by arguing that looking at the evidence gathered from broadcast and cable news which was not available at the time Postman wrote “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, the method in television medium including its production is in good motion in addition to a hope in the form of public discourse in this electronic age (Postman, 2005) taking us back to the claim that Lack of a technology to communicate a message results in people not paying attention to it thus without any medium to create form, news of the day does not exist.

As a media event, people attend to these event fragments or “news of the day” because of the various media whose forms are suitable for a fragmented conservation. This change has had a significant irreversible effect of shifting public discourse as more than one media cannot possess the same ideas. Grabowicz agrees that a story can be fragmented into narrative series which are organized as topics where individuals can explore according to personal interests. It is possible to tell different aspects of a story in different multimedia formats such as video, graphics, and photo slideshows, audio or different media houses that make storytelling more engaging. According to a study conducted by Newspaper Northwestern University's Media Management Center and Association of America Foundation, journalists or television media houses require background information, context of the information in addition to visuals such as graphics or photos to make information interesting (Grabowicz, 12013).

In the article “An Apology to the 4G generation” Kelley notes how Postman predicted the way images in television which are changing very fast will lure many people from reading print text and thinking and shorten their attention spans (Kelley, 2012). According to Postman, thinking part of an individual’s brain would atrophy leading to a state where the state of the mind is somewhat analogue. According to Kelley, rebuilding one’s attention span can greatly improve thinking, learning and ability to communicate (Kelley, 2012).

Postman writes that television is currently at its trivial age with the best things being junk. The author supports this claim by stating that delivery of news through television is most dangerous when presenting important cultural conversations. In “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, Postman brings to light an important point which shows that a news show is basically for entertainment purposes and not intended for reflection or education purposes (Postman, 2005). The same is pointed out by Quayle who notes that “more does not necessarily mean better” with reference to more junk news delivered on television using the latest technology in mass communication than before.

In both their articles, Quay leis against Postman on the idea that subject matter in television are perceived as entertainment (supra-ideology of all television discourse) regardless of the point of view. Quayle disagrees with this claim by stating that in order to experience the reality of the present day life, it is necessary to go through the television age (Quayle, 2010). Postman’s claim that television serves people right by presenting junk entertainment and wrongly by serving people with important discourse like science, news, religion, politics, commerce or education is misleading (Postman, 2005). When conducting this research which was conducted many years ago it is clear to note that Postman used a sample size which was very small to prematurely conclude the potential of television as a medium of delivering news as it can be argued in this modern age of technological development. Twenty-five years later after “Amusing Ourselves to Death” was wrote, the news space for television news broadcast is full of news content just by taking a look at the business news sub-category (Quayle, 2010).

In the article “The Media and the Middle East”, the author notes that a lot of information originates from various news media or various entertainment industries. The author notes how important it is to develop awareness regarding the manner in which multimedia shapes an individual’s view point. Equally important is knowledge or awareness of how news is made. According to journalists, “if it bleeds, it leads” meaning wars, accidents, explosions among other tragic events make cover page headlines or top stories in television news because they boost the ratings. This is the main reason why headline news is usually characterized by crisis stories with less emphasis on context and culture. This makes it hard for an average person to realize that they are not getting context of the news.

Postman failed to predict the multiple directions that television is at the moment evolving or audience fragmentation which is creating smart viewers. As a result of the rapid evolution in communication, programmers are changing to methods that expand outside the common thought field. In addition, as the industry continues to fragment at a faster pace, very few of the observed multimedia characteristics, technologies or attributes of the multimedia technology will remain intact. The fragmentations within the changing methods will result in a medium that will be in motion in various directions simultaneously resulting in a television format that can diminish or raise public discourse level.

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