Media Literacy Journals
Christine Kim
Journal #1 - Media
It’s there to keep you updated, social, and aware of what’s going on around the world. Whether it’s the latest gossip or the most shocking news feed, media is used for inform people about current events. The media is controlled by people and shown through society’s TV screens, computers, and cellular devices. Media has two different sides: the good, and educated side and the keen, deceiving side. The bad side of media can show sexism, fat shaming, slut shaming, and much more. This can cause low esteem towards society and pressure them to be perfect and flawless like the girls on the front cover page of Vogue. On the other hand, well educated people use media as an advantage to spread awareness. For example, the Mike Brown case would’ve been ignored if it weren’t for the media to show the harsh police brutality that black people had deal with. Because of this output, citizens have been supporting black communities all over the United States by putting strong statements like the “Black Lives Matter” statement. Overall, the press, the people, and the celebrities wouldn’t tie us together in one mass communication if it weren’t for the media.
The daily reports that you read and hear would be nothing if it weren’t for the media literates. Writing down ideas, absorbing the information, and exploiting the announcement to the world, these people are writers who tell the news to the media. To be a media literate, you must always keep writing and researching for your people. Society is counting on media literates to think of something new to scribble down for the tomorrow’s news, while we throw away yesterday’s paper like useless information. We depend on them constantly because they have the complexity and knowledge to understand how the media works. In the end, it all narrows down to a group of literates to open the doors of publishing.
Social Media
Wordle
Media Literacy
Journal #2 - What role social media plays in my daily life
I have to admit; I’m a little addicted to social media myself. Mostly because of a social media website called Tumblr, a blogging network. It is the only social media where I can be myself and surround myself with what I find interesting humorous, and pleasing. Unlike Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, I can just blog away the pain whenever I’m in a state of loneliness or sadness, and the best part is: no one can judge. I tend to feel ashamed and embarrassed whenever acquaintances or friends discover some of my deepest feelings and secrets that I share on my blog, which can lead to misunderstandings and awkwardness, but it still doesn’t stop me from writing about who I am.
I thought about how long I can go in the challenge, but I completely forgot and broke the challenge within the first 10 minutes. And besides, I knew I couldn’t resist the urge to stay off from Tumblr and Snapchat, its literary part of who I am and what I’ve become.
Journal #3 - Sex, Stereotypes, and Beauty
I have given thought towards society's standard of beauty many times before. It’s absolutely everywhere, from billboards to children’s books. It’s very difficult to replicate the big, blue eyes, flawless skin, long legs, uptight butt, and full lips. Sometimes, I feel insecure about myself and hope that someday I will turn out to be beautiful like Kendall Jenner and Selena Gomez. But I know that day will never come, unless I get plastic surgery, and that's highly unlikely. Society tends to be very picky and shallow when it comes to appearances. It's gotten so out of hand that there's even a "pretty privilege". People will offer to do more favors, assistance, and attention to people who are consider to be pretty. Even when couples break up and find someone new, the first question the Ex will ask is, "Is she or he hotter than me?" On ads, you'll see flawless, beautiful models, but you never see average looking models. In Korea, plastic surgery is a must, and Korean graduate will receive plastic surgery as a gift from their parents. Overall, although I and everyone else in the world are pressured into looking good like the models on the cover of the magazine, we still need to love our bodies. If the ads and TV shows offered more of a variety of people with different bodies, ethnicity, and genders, then everyone will be more satisfied of who they are. Society needs to gain self-confidence so that nothing will ever bring out self-esteem down.
Journal #4 - Presidential Fact Checking
On February 29, 2016, Donald Trump mentions in an interview that he doesn’t know David Duke, a KKK member. In the CNN politic news, it says, “Donald Trump is trying to clean up a racially charged controversy Monday after he refused to disavow former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke over the weekend (Bradner).” It figures that the CNN news was correct according to politifact. Politifact detected Trump’s statement about ignorance of David Duke as false. Trump is bluntly lying that he has no acknowledge of David Duke, and he’s secretly hiding that he’s a hatemonger. Researching if statements are a fact or a rumor is a big deal in our society. We must inform citizens with the correct information in order to educate, expand, and learn each other. If we spread out false information, then it can lead to misinterpretations and confusions. In order to prevent this misleading knowledge, we must research several sources and cite them properly before handing it around to other people. Checking rumors and political statements are a priority because it will reflect back to us and how it will affect our country. People do not want to follow a leader who doesn’t keep their word or manipulate their citizens with their twisted words. Overall, truths must be revealed, especially Trump’s proclamation.
Bradner, Eric. "Donald Trump Stumbles on David Duke, KKK." CNN. Cable News
Network, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
Qiu, Linda. "Donald Trump's Absurd Claim That He Knows Nothing about Former KKK Leader David Duke." @politifact. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
Journal #5 - Iranian Revolution
What makes this rebellion so powerful?
It overthrew a longstanding government and leader that had a lot more money, power, training, and experience. The Iranian rebels overthrew a Monarchy headed by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and replaced it with the Islamic Republic headed by Ayatollah Khomeini . They replaced a monarchy with a theocracy based on Islam. They did not have any of the usual reasons for a revolution but they replaced their leader with a religious scholar anyway. Iran decided to use Islam to guide the country.
Why is it that people were inspired to act in the first place?
The shah who was leading the country before the revolution was becoming more accepting of westernized beliefs and was letting the country become more like the U.S. The people believed he was being controlled by the U.S. and/or Europe and Iran was straying from Shia Islamic beliefs. When Khomeini showed up the people rallied around him with his strong Islamic beliefs and plans and with a large following had enough momentum to overthrow the government.
What techniques did the activists use to gain supports in the movement?
In order to spread the word and gain supporters, the rebellious Iranians used different techniques to overcome the monarchy. Unarmed tactics were used like strikes, boycotts, demonstrations to lure in ordinary citizens into activists. One of their first initiatives was to send protesters to win over the troops rather than using violent acts. Another method Ayatollah used to gain followers were these audio cassette tapes of his speech that mentioned the power of unarmed resistance and covert routines.
"The Iranian Revolution (1977-1979)." Movements and Campaigns. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Journal #6 - 1984
Journal #7 - Reflection
During my last semester of high school, I've learned a lot of media literacy in my language arts class. Looking back to my first smore that I wrote, even though I've learned new things, my views haven't altered much. Rather than changing my views, I feel as if my views deepened with knowledge because of the CNN Student News I watch every weekday. I understand the meaning of terms and vocabulary; I also know more about certain events that occurred from all the researching that I've done while doing my smores. I've learned that. I’m taking some new techniques with me to college such as writing a precis and understanding media literacy topics and terms. This class feels a lot different than my junior language arts class because my junior language arts class has timed writings. We read difficult books and took actually tests, which I had to wing it because I didn't know anything. This class felt moderately fair, not too hard not too easy. The assignments were straight forward, and there were enough assignments to boost everyone’s grade up. Usually I would hate my language arts class, but this is was pretty ok to me. I have nothing to criticize or complain about the classroom tactics. I feel as though everything went smooth and easy. But if I were to change one thing then it would be the precis. I do not like the precis because I hate writing in general. I also would like for some more reading time during class whenever there is a reading assignment. Also, during the socratic seminars, I want the large group be broken down to two smaller groups. Having smaller groups will be less stressful for the students, especially the shy and anxious students. It will allow them to have the chance to speak during the seminar since a handful of students will talk over the other students.