During the presentation on the Death of Media, Tanya spoke about the illusion of democracy and how often we are blinded by the media. Television shows that claim that they are audience/viewer run when there are ulterior factors that are far more important in its contribution. It had made me think about American Idol and its skeptical campaign Vote for the Worst.
Vote for the Worst(VFTW) is quite self-explanatory. It is dedicated to enticing people into voting for the worst contestant on American Idol. I’ll save some time and give you a link if you want know more: http://votefortheworst.com/about_us
The people behind the website have realized that television producers are not only playing an unfair game but also have made clear their decisions are based off of maximizing their profits. American Idol has never been showcasing the best talent of America, rather it was giving us the most successfully entertaining batch their producers could concoct. Hence, why the audition clips are an essential part of the show.
Schechter describes that profit making has been the primary mission of mega corporations, and their programming is designed to maximize that goal alone. Their method has always been monologue, even through such gimmicks as audience voting and internet chat to create that illusion of viewer involvement. Is this fair? More importantly, when and how are we fighting back? How are we to disrupt this corruption? Will remediation be a step towards saving the imminent death of media? Schechter also tells us that a media and democracy movement is required; a push towards accuracy and fairness, breaking up media monopolies and supporting public broadcasting. Additionally he reminds us to be actively aware and participate in the media. In class we discussed this participatory culture and came up a few methods, such as building a collective intelligence, creating knowledge communities where predictions can be drawn and be used in productive ways.
In response I have since become much more active in social communities online where by spreading knowledge and teamwork, some sort of minor social activism can evolve to a spark to make a change. I refuse to let the onset of mediaocracy eat me alive!
References:
Danny Schechter, The Death of Media
http://votefortheworst.com
1 comment:
i'm happy to see that you're participating in these emerging knowledge communities and that you're using them as a platform for your own cause(s). why not write about one of these experiences in a self-reflexive post?
i.
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