Michelle

Michelle

=__**MEDIA AND SOCIETY**__=

It is really fascinating to read about how media and society is closely linked. I find it particularly interesting when I was reading about the contradictory ways we think about the media. Some say the media let us know what's happening in the world, but then when they own the information they can bend it all they want, so the information that we receive might not be truthful at all; Some say the media enable free-thought and speech to be disseminated, but then at the same time the media is in a way controlling our consciousness, hence controlling who we are and how we think. In other words, it can be "a great weapon for eradicating ignorance and promoting democracy", as Nelson Mandela has said before, yet it can also be easily misused as a tool to mold our minds. Therefore it's not hard to understand why there are different fears concerning the media's influence in various aspects: politically, morally and culturally. So what should we believe in? Can we still trust the media? Is it even possible for the media to stand neutral?

**Nabeeh -** I also support the unreliability of media, probably in some cases. About media controlling us, i would say you are absolutely correct. The media flow is around us every day and night and the rhetorical ways it uses to promote advertisements, infotainment just persuades us to believe in it. This is a common and an effective way of brainwashing our minds. No matter how old we are, what beliefs we have, the media tends to overpower our minds. So i don't think trusting the media where ever you want to, is healthy. And about your last question, we always think media cannot stand neutral. But it can. We only need unbiased, straightforward and loyal people to work in the media industry.

And of course, the media themselves are hope to be self-disciplined, hence, strive to stay ethic and reveal the truest truth.
 * Carter: ** Sharing the same stance with Nabeeh, I do doubt the reliability of media. Still, even though the media is not 100% reliable, we need it in our daily life. Media simply make or break the daily transmission of information within the society, say we cannot stand without news just because the news reports are not reflecting the truest truth. Hence, what we can do could only be being critical and skeptical whenever we receive any message from the media. It is nothing to do with denying or negating everything. Yet do not believe in everything right away.

**Tinny:** I especially agree with Carter's point about the media's unreliability and necessity. Living in the 21st century, it is unavoidable that we're bombarded with information given by the media, and it is very difficult to filter all the implicit messages or bias. Media cannot be completely neutral, and what we receive is actually their version of things. However, with media's high accessibility, we can also view things from multiple perspectives with different perceptions. This is an advantage we can make use of to broaden our horizon, and therefore prevent ourselves from being manipulated by one biased perspective.

=__**Klein’s No Logo Response**__=

Klein’s No Logo is a documentary that has explored a lot of different aspects concerning branding, and I’ve definitely learn a lot after watching it. Brands used to be a message of consistency, a sign of quality. Brands were comforting logos, images that you can relate to, or build up a “fake personal relationship” with. But then it has transformed: the idea of lifestyle branding came up. Big brands like Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Nike, etc, their true products are no longer “the product” itself, it’s no longer coke or French fries or sneakers, it’s the idea, the lifestyle that they’re selling. In other words, instead of seeing their primary roles as producing products, they now work on producing their brands’ image meaning. However, problems are created then. As companies decide to spend their capital on building brand identities, they sell their factories, which immediately affected the workforce. They try to produce their products at the lowest cost possible, which usually means getting them made in China, Indonesia, etc, where there is no such thing as the minimum wage or whatsoever, hence the production cost could be really low. At the same time, those factories might send simpler procedures to other places where the production can be even lower. Hence, in every stage the salaries of the workers shrink. In fact, that’s one of the messages that the documentary wants to convey: the lack of fair trade nowadays.

The second point is, advertisements are everywhere. We don’t even have an option to turn it off or not. Advertisements are in the subway, in the streets, nearly no aspect of our life is not used. Everything is a potential prop. It shows us audience, the people who’re in contact with the brands, which pretty much mean everyone, that our life is totally getting invaded by the advertisements, by the lifestyles that the brands are trying to create.

.