METRO - “Cleverness 4 So”

It was February 3^rd when issue number 26 of the free entertainment newspaper METRO was all over UWI. Every girl was reading it, turning directly to pages 15 to 18. Two of the feature articles were addressing “The Soca Wives of T&T”. This without a doubt shows that the media is aware of not just the local trends, but of the trends that are happening globally. Plastered all over cable is reality TV shows surrounding the lives of the spouses or significant other of celebrities, mobsters, basketball and baseball players etc. So, why not write an article surrounding this in a Trinidadian context. Hmm… well these Trinidadians are a clever bunch of people.

In my opinion, this tells us how much the American media is ingrained within the contours of minds. This indicates how much influence American TV shows are having on our culture. Is this a case of cultural imperialism? We are Caribbean people; we prided ourselves on being down to earth, on being unique. It seems like all that is slowly changing, as everyone wants to achieve this celebrity status or associations with people of the sort. As I see it, Metro was telling its audience, these are our Trinidadian celebrities’ wives, time to acknowledge them, like the Americans do their celebrity spouses.

As Caribbean people, ordinary citizen or media press we have to be conscious of the messages we are sending to the public. We have to know what values and attitudes we are transmitting to readers. The media can call it cleverness, because they have realized how to get people to buy into wanting and coming back for more. They need to think about the repercussions of their actions. Is it that their ultimate goal is for people to lose this Trinbagonian identity, and ascribe to the dominant ideologies of those Western and European cultures? Is the Trinidadian media apart of this alleged conspiracy to create this “One World Order”?

Lord, put a hand!!!!

Who Owns the Media? Part 1

Does anyone know? Can anyone answer?

In the 1990’s many companies merged to form media conglomerates thus allowing the media and cultural industries to emerge with immense force. There were ten big media industries, and then there were eight … and now it’s?...... six!!! The media is run by six major conglomerates around the world. These moguls all own several newspapers, publishing houses, record labels and movie production companies. This to me showcases the highest levels of selfishness and greed. As the only reason why these mergers even happened, was because the cultural industry is a business. The media is a business that is purely centred on profits.

Who runs the world?? Not Girls!!! (Look what Beyonce did?) Money, Money, Money!!!

This reduction or trend from multiple to single ownership, allowed a concentration of control of what people hear, read and see globally. These media heads control every aspect of the news presented to the public on a daily basis. They determine what information is important and which ones aren’t. These conglomerates filter the media content to express what they want, meaning that they are sending our intellectual processes in a particular direction. According to McCombs and Shaw the press are agenda setters, they do not tell us what to think about, but they do tell people what and whom to think about” (Biagi 374).

A typical example was used in the class presentation by the group with Oswin. The reason for George Bush’s administration to raid Iraq was to find weapons of mass destruction. However, documentaries released after suggested that they were looking for oil. The media was used in two different ways, initially they were used to support Bush’s decision, and get Americans on board. On the other hand, the film opposed and challenged the reasons given, making Americans and world citizens question Bush’s intent.

In order, to decipher messages transmitted by the media it is essential that we are aware of who owns these different TV and radio stations, and publishing agencies. It is important that we understand, that the messages we receive from the media, isn’t actually what transparent as we once thought.

Statistics showing the revenues of the major conglomerates in the Cultural Industries - in particular the Media and Broadcasting Industry.

The Big six: Ownership Chart	Revenues in 2011
General Electric (GE)	$143.60 Billion
Walt Disney Company	$40.96 Billion
News Corp	$33.405 Billion
Time Warner	$28.97 Billion
Viacom	$15.4 Billion
CBS Corporation	$14.2 Billion

SOURCES: Yahoo! Finance. Key Statistics. 2011.

Biagi, Shirley. Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media. 7^th ed. USA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Print.

--- Spice Independence ---

Yesterday was the 7^th of February, 2012. It was a day of great significance to Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. It was their 38^th anniversary as an independent nation.

Hooooooooooooorrrrraaaaaaaaaary!!!!

Being Grenadian, I was clad in my national colours – red, green and yellow. I was proud to showcase to people who I was. I felt part of a community as I saw fellow nationals on campus dressed with the triad of colours. As human beings we develop our identities based on our interactions with our family, traditions, myths and society on the whole. Wearing my national colours yesterday was a means of expressing my communal identity. According to Stuart Hall this is an identity that is associated with large-scale communities.

February 7^th, from since 1974 is a day for Grenadians to express their national identity. In the past, I was never really interested in the Independence celebrations; I saw it as just another day to stay home from school. Being away, in another country has opened my eyes to a new perspective. One that tells me to spread the word to others saying, “Hey this is Grenada’s day!”

I analysed the many posts of my facebook Grenadian friends, home and abroad. I realized that the majority of Grenadians living in other countries had profile pictures of the Grenadian flag. Many others were posting local songs, posting pictures of the fauna and flora and of gatherings making our national dish - Oil down. The internet provided this non-physical environment that allowed us to express our elation and pride. It afforded us the opportunity to celebrate our independence day together, despite our geographical limitations.

In my mind, this was an empowering experience, as we lived out our national and cultural identities online. The internet, Facebook allowed us to share messages that collectively - they became this shared experience. In this one instance, we can see how powerful the media can be. It is ultimately up to us, as users to utilize it in ways that would unify peoples and help build better societies.

Take a listen, just another way the media helps to perpetuate our Grenadian national identity. ENJOY!!!

Artist: Zedel Jeffery

Song: Happy Birthday to Grenada!

Media Consumption Log

On January 30^th, I monitored my media consumption for twelve hours, and the above chart carefully outlines the percentage of time that I engaged in activities that were directly media related. Yep! I am very much ashamed to say that I had contact with the media for just over fifty percent of the twelve hours. This exercise seriously got me questioning the media’s influence on my daily activities: what about it that attracted and consumed my attention? What kept me coming back for more?

For the hours I spent interchangeably and sometimes simultaneously listening to the radio, reading magazines, watching the television and surfing the internet, I was bombarded by advertising campaigns from companies like Dove, Hewlet Packard, Trinidad and Tobago’s Army and Water and Sewage Authority fetes.

-----Everybody say WAAAAAASSAA Fete!!!! -----

It was clear in many cases that the main purpose of these broadcasting stations was to entice listeners of all demographics to buy products, attend activities etc. In the case of Boom Champions (http://www.boomchampionstt.com/united/), they told the T&T populace what are the best fetes and soca songs of the 2012 Carnival season. It also dawned on me that while listening to Boom Champions I heard not one Calypso. Is it me or is this radio station telling the nation that soca is better? Out with the old and in with the new?

Although, a lot of negatives throughout time has been attributed to the media, reading articles presented in the Ebony – Dec ‘11/Jan ’12 Edition and the UWI Guild of Students magazines showcased the positives of the media. The ability to use this platform to influence its readers to change certain aspects of their lives, whether behavioural or cognitive is amazing. Kevin Ramsewak, in the article titled the “Guild Gone Green” expressed that students must be conscious of their environment, and encouraged them to make simple lifestyle changes to reduce green house gases in the atmosphere, by using bicycles, or P11 to get from points A to B. Ebony’s main feature article about the American Singer Jennifer Hudson’s weight loss served to inspire overweight black women to start leading healthy life styles.

On the completion of my media consumption log I made a vow to myself that from now onward to choose media that are of substance. By that I mean, shows, articles, programs that will help develop my intellect and and an awareness for society.

What is Media Literacy?

It is important that my blog followers are aware of the basic terminology that would be used from time to time on the site. The first major definition that must be dealt with from the get go is "media literacy".

The following wordle contains all the words that come to mind when I think of 'media literacy'.

(Click on Image for full size)

“We swim in an ocean of mass communication, exposed 68.8 percent of our waking hours to media messages. So immersed are we in these messages that we often are unmindful of their existence, let alone their influence” (Vivian 3).

Yes! The media is all around us! Take a closer look. Closer, closer, closer – STOP!

Travelling in the maxi taxi home, the radio’s on. Now, look to your left, I can bet my bottom dollar that he is reading the Trinidad Guardian. Obviously, look over your right shoulder, and yes, you saw correct - she is certainly reading a Mills and Boones. Now, peep in front, tell me you see her. Who? The school girl that is reading the teen Cosmo magazine! You just reach home, and you watching Crime Watch with Ian Allen on TV6 already. Instead, of updating your blog or studying for legal communication, you minding people business on Facebook. Tsk Tsk Tsk!!!

What a day!!! Do you believe me now?

We are constantly exposed to media materials on a daily basis. Many times we are unconsciously engaging in media consumption during the 24 hour day. As human beings, living in a media saturated world, it is inevitable that our days would be void of media content. The question here is not whether my life is completely drenched and influenced by the media. The question is how I as an individual can take control of the meanings I receive from these messages.

According to Vivian, “media literacy is possessing the knowledge to be competent in assessing messages carried by mass media.” It is knowing the mass medias' effects on society and culture. Media literacy is about developing awareness to the content, and blatantly refusing to be passive decoders of its text.

SOURCE: Vivian, John. The Media of Mass Communication. 10^th ed. United States: Pearson Education: 2011. Print.