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Stephanie Touch Dr. Alesha Gayle English 0701 03 Dec. 2013 How Media Impacts the American Way of Life The news is negatively impacting our way of life by focusing narrowly on the bad things bad things that happen in America and not addressing the topics the way they should be addressed. Media impacts the American way of life by influencing judgments, choices, and opinions. Americans constantly rely on the news for important information and current events. The news is everywhere, so there is no doubt that Americans will be hearing updates on what is happening in their country. The news affects peoples views and opinions on what happens in the country, no matter now big or small the case may be. Reporters have a certain kind of way when talking to a particular audience. This is when social capital plays a part in media because of who the reporters are directing the message to. The news negatively impacts our way of life because the focus on the bad things that happens in America. The news is negatively impacting our way of life because it focuses on negative messages. The understanding that the audience want more of these messages is because it excites them. Their assumption is that the audience is used to the negative messages. To keep their ratings high, news reporters show what they believe Americans are interested in seeing, that is, the violent and negative things that are going on around them, so that is what they show. The news affects viewers opinions through the tone that is used by the reporters. For example, on the case of the Steubenville rape trial, the news reporter from CNN, Poppy Harlow,

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spoke in a sympathetic tone for the offender. She reports, It was incredibly emotional, incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures. Star football players, very good students literally watched as they believed their life fall apart (Harlow). The report affects the viewers opinion on the trial because they did not bring up the fact that the boys were wrong for raping the girl. They only talked about how the young football players lives were ruined for making one mistake, revealing that the fact that the boys raped a girl did not matter to them. The boys were football stars and they were the towns glory and fame. They were treated with a lot of respect and protection because they made the town look good. The status of the boys was being taken advantage of because the boys knew that the town would try to protect them from their wrong actions. Moreover, the negative impact from the town covering for the boys was that it describes how people are being treated differently because of the social capital they have. The news reporter spoke about the incident the same way that the folks from Steubenville would have, which was showing sympathy for the star athletes. The news reporter took the boys side without caring about what happened to the girl. They are focusing on all of the wrong things, meaning that the news tried to make the boys look like they have made mistakes because they are boys and that it should not ruin their whole lives. What the news needed to focus on was what happened to the girl and how the rape negatively affected her for the rest of her life. Another way that media or the news negatively impacts the American way of life is the way it influences judgment. What this means is that people listen to what is being spoken in the news, which gives the audience an opportunity to change their judgments on their beliefs. The news influences Americans beliefs of race. There are many stereotypes in America, but when it

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is talked about on the news, they start to believe that the stereotypes are true. For example, The Young Turks had a news report on racism in Australia. The report was about a KFC ad that was racist against African Americans. It showed a civilized Caucasian man surrounded by uncivilized African Americans. He pulled out a bucket of chicken and they all became civilized again (The Young Turks). One of the news reporters points out, And when you give them chicken, they shut the hell up and start acting civilized again (The Young Turks). What he meant by this was that the KFC ad was saying that African Americans are uncivilized and that they love fried chicken. So, the reporters speaking on the ad will influence peoples judgments on African Americans because they see these stereotypes and it can change their minds about what they think of African Americans. This influence negatively affects people because they are not able to create their own opinions and they will believe the stereotypes that are not true. Social capital impacts our receptions or understandings of mass media because there is always a particular audience that the news is writing or giving the message to. Depending on social capital, there will be various opinions on what is happening in America. There will be different views and understandings from all sorts of people with different social capital. Peoples social capital changes the way they interact with other Americans. For example, in Dalton Conleys, Honky, Conley was minority in a community of minorities. He was white, living in an African American and Hispanic community. Conley was not sure how to interact with white people when he moved to a white neighborhood. He faced a situation where he did not know how to react upon because he was not use to being around white people, and did not have an excuse of not blending in with them. He writes, I didnt know what to do. In the split second it took to react, my mind formulated two choices (Conley 192). He did not know if he should put

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on a ghetto act or to throw the rude comment back to the boy, Khalil. Then he describes, Upstairs I paced in circles like a dosed-up laboratory animal, wishing I were back in our old neighborhood, where at least I had my skin color to blame for not fitting in (Conley 192). Conley uses his experience to show that there are certain ways people talk to a particular group depending on social capital and the news reporters do the same thing. Social capital impacts Americans reception of mass media because the writers or reporters have a particular way of speaking depending on the audience they speak to. Social capital impacts Americans understandings of other Americans because people have different types of social capital, which makes it harder for people to understand where others are coming from. For example, the Voting Rights Act prohibits discrimination in voting. In the article An Assault on the Voting Rights Act, the Editorial Board of The New York Times writes If we had a federal government that was not paralyzed by partisanship, this ruling would serve as an inspiration to take action. Congressional Democrats would quickly prepare a more expansive formula, and the Republicans who voted for the old formula just seven years ago would support the new one (An Assault on the Voting Rights Act, 2). The federal government is in favor of the Voting Rights Act because they do not understand the situation of the people that are being discriminated against. It is also the case for minorities, where they do not know where minorities are coming from. It is hard for people to understand one another when they do not have the same amount of social capital. The government is not affected by the Voting Rights Act so they will not have the same amount of hardship as those who are being affected. To conclude, media is negatively affecting the American way of life. The news regularly focuses on the bad things that are happening in America. It influences peoples judgments and

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decisions. The news keeps talking about the bad things because they assume that Americans are used to it and they understand that people want to see more. Americans hear something on the news and create have their own opinions on what is going on in the country. It is often said that the things that are being said and how they are being said can affect peoples opinions and choices because it creates an argument that people will either agree or disagree with. It can be from something as small as an underage drinker to something as big as the government being shut down. The way the news put things will have an influence on peoples views no matter how bad or unreasonable they might be.

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Works Cited Conley, Dalton. Honky. New York: Vintage, 2001. Print. The Editorial Board. An Assault on the Voting Rights Act. New York Times 25 June 2013. Print. TheSublimeDegree. CNN grieves that guilty verdict ruined 'promising' lives of Steubenville rapists. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 17 Mar. 2013. 14 Oct. 2013. The Young Turks. Racist KFC Ad in Australia. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 04 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.