http://matthewthomas5.wix.com/massmedia

Matthew Thomas

Dr. Shutkin

FYS Digital Story Proposal

December 3, 2014

The intention of this project is for you to define a personal philosophy of social justice and digital media.

Digital media allows for harmful and hateful language to be expressed in a much more prolific manner.  To me, digital media is simply a tool.  Like any tool, there are people who use it appropriately: those who seek to improve the world we live in through the unparalleled access digital media gives us to the general populous.  However, tools can be misused, and the threat represented by media is often overlooked, or rather under-appreciated.  The biggest threat posed by digital media is also one of the greatest utilities it offers: broad, constant access to millions of viewers. 

Consider Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN: your basic powerhouse, 24-hour news conglomerates.  These organizations have real power, and their power is not just represented through their financial worth (though that certainly helps).  Their power stems from their audience.  It comes from their ability to sway public opinion in a way that is frighteningly effective.  From MSNBC providing no positive coverage of Mitt Romney and no negative coverage of President Obama in the 2012 presidential campaign (businessinsider.com), to CNN arguably, and sometimes quite obviously, pressing liberal agendas harder than conservative ones (newsbusters.org), to Fox News’ generally appalling smear campaigns ran on President Obama and pretty much anyone with a dissenting opinion (Google “Fox News bias” and take your pick, there’s plenty of material to choose from).

To appease those who would wish that I included sources for this last statement regarding Fox News: don’t worry; there are plenty to come.  The idea for my digital story is simple: present the most radical right and left wing agendas endorsed by television anchors with an enormous bias towards sensationalism in the eyes of the uninformed, typically undereducated public and evaluate the threat their propaganda poses to this country as a whole.  My main focus will be on Fox News.  These are people who slander the President of the United States by unfoundedly declaring him a Muslim, and, worse yet, these are people who believe that declaring him a Muslim is a way to slander him.  These are the people who vilify a man in California on national television for taking advantage of the food stamp system to obtain extra food for himself, but celebrate corporations that open or purchase a subsidiary company in a foreign country and legally move their headquarters to that subsidiary as a means to increase profit through this somehow legal method of “tax inversion”.  Both the man in California and these companies are accomplishing the same thing: self gain by taking advantage of a flaw in the system.  But it is the man that is selfish and lazy, and the company that is clever and resourceful enough to rig the system in their favor.  They dutifully ignore that by rigging the system one of these two is obtaining groceries, and the other is essentially stealing trillions of dollars from the federal government (Schoen), for their own financial and political gain. 

It is examples like these that make cable news networks so dangerous, and while Fox News is right in this case that food stamps are not a right and should be used only as a last resort, Fox News anchors actually have the power to convince people that it is morally outrageous that a man could steal groceries while encouraging companies to do the same on a scale a trillion times larger.  They do this on live, national television, and they get away with it.  Worse yet people emphatically believe them.  That’s power.  That’s why their influence must be reduced, and only informing the public of their hypocrisy and completely biased agendas can control them.

I have chosen Microsoft PowerPoint as the multimedia resource to be used to relay this information.  I am already familiar with PowerPoint, as are most people.  I believe that this familiarity will help my audience feel comfortable in the face of the unique perspective towards digital media that this project asserts.

Annotated Bibliography

"Fox Cheerleads U.S. Companies Moving Overseas - Because Obama." RSS. Web. 3

            Dec. 2014. <http://crooksandliars.com/2014/07/fox-cheerleads-us-companies-

            moving>.

            This article does an excellent job of displaying the bias and malicious intent behind the hypocrisy of some Fox News talking heads.  Of special importance is its claim that Fox News can stomach trillions of dollars of lost tax revenue as long as they can continue slandering President Obama for the sake of propaganda.

"Fox News Follows California Beach Bum Living Off Food Stamps For Years."

YouTube. Ed. Michael Savage. YouTube, 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.   <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP_izYhdehY>.

This is the video of Fox News having the California man unfairly living off food stamps onto their program.  This video is important because while it serves to show Fox News bias and political corruption through juxtaposition of this man and corporate tax evaders, it also shows the enormous benefits that network news can have.  The points brought up in this video are significant ones and should absolutely be displayed to the public eye.

Hadro, Matt. "Non-Partisan? Not a Chance! The Worst of CNN's Election Bias."

NewsBusters. 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

<http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2012/11/19/non-partisan-not-chance-

worst-cnns-election-bias>.

            This article lists the many instances where CNN is thought to be covering the 2012 election in a partisan manner.  This article will be helpful for the final project, though it was not cited in the proposal.

LoGiurato, Brett. "MSNBC's Bias Against Mitt Romney Was Astonishing." Business

Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

<http://www.businessinsider.com/msnbc-bias-romney-obama-liberal-news-

media-2012-11>.

This article displays the depth of the bias in MSNBC’s coverage of the 2012 elections.  This article has an embedded graph to outline the grossly partisan thinking that went into their coverage during the election period

Schoen, John. "How Does a Corporate 'Tax Inversion' Work?" NBC News. Web. 3 Dec.

2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/how-does-corporate-tax-

inversion-work-n209701>.

This citation is a detailed article describing corporate tax inversion. It is of particular importance because it explains the effect tax inversion has on the country financially through loss of tax revenue.

Below is a the Problem Statement and Literature Review portion of the SAP Assignment for First Year Seminar: Digital Media and Social Justice.  This post contains the group portion of the assignment as well as the individual portion assigned to each group member.  The group contains Matt Thomas, Megan Fenner, William Good, and Joseph Mrowca.  

Group Problem Statement Part 1

The usage of personal electronics has grown at an incredibly rapid pace since its emergence in the early 1970s. We live in an era where our lives are centered personal desktop computers, laptops, cellular devices, televisions, and gaming devices. Educational institutions, workplaces, and health centers all rely on technology to accomplish simple tasks. While these developments are exciting, and for the most part, progressive, what happens when an individual cannot afford to own a cell phone let alone a computer? It is hard to imagine how school assignments would be completed without a computer. With the revolutionary development of the Internet, communication, business, and learning have been made easier and more accessible for those who can afford it. In 2003, Cleveland was named the poorest city in the country with an overall poverty rate and children’s poverty rate at 31.3% and 46.9%, respectively. In 2013, the overall poverty rate increased to 36.9% and the children’s poverty rate increased to 54.4%. With such a high percentage of people living below the line, how can society progress while leaving its children behind?

Electronic waste, a previously buried issue in society, is beginning to emerge to the surface as a significant 21^st century issue. As a culture of consumption, perhaps one of our biggest faults is chasing and nurturing the idea of “out with the old, in with the new.” Many of the electronics dumped in third-world countries have not yet reached the end of its true lifespan. If those who can afford to purchase a new computer or phone every two years simply donated or traded their device in responsibly, the progression of e-waste could be slowed while simultaneously providing impoverished citizens an opportunity to keep up with the rest of society.

Group Problem Statement Part 2

The goal for this social action project is not to simply reduce and impede the progression e-waste, but to improve the standard of living for underprivileged families in the United States. The Internet is a tool used on a daily basis by nearly 75% of North Americans. Free access is provided in numerous public locations, however not everyone has access to technology. Technology and the Internet are used for businesses, learning, and entertainment. Our social action project alone won’t be able to close the 25% gap of people unable to access the Internet. However, we feel that something is better than nothing. It is important to bring these issues to light. Simply because new, updated technology is released annually, does not justify the habit of discarding our “outdated” devices.

There are numerous organizations that are dedicated to collecting functional, unused, and unwanted electronics. It is our goal to partner with one of these organizations and begin to bring awareness to the gap technology access. In addition, we aim to raise awareness about e-waste and the importance of responsible donations. The idea is to provide an equal opportunity for those who cannot afford electronic devices and Internet access.

Group Problem Statement Part 3

As a class we would all participate in this proposed social action project.  Teams would be set up to accomplish specific goals.  One team would be in charge of creating a video to be streamed online to raise awareness and possibly funds.  Another would tackle raising awareness through other mediums like setting up posters, flyers, collection boxes, contacting JCU radio for an on-air mention, and contacting the JCU paper to possibly have an article put in the paper about the project.  The third group would be in charge of contacting local charities and outlining the project in an attempt to form a partnership.  Hopefully through this partnership we could easily ensure the electronics we collect are handled and distributed responsibly.  All of this, for the most part, would take place on campus, though we could easily decide as a group to expand the project to outside school boundaries. 

Matt's Literature Review Part A

Internet access is a vital and necessary tool in today’s society.  This is the Internet Age, where information is king and you can find anything online.  But many people are trapped by this wealth of information because they have no way to access it.  Internet access is taken for granted by many, but imagine how difficult simply going to high school is in this day and age without it, or starting and managing a small business, or taking a high level position anywhere without access to valuable online resources.  There is no historical precedent for this, however.  The easiest way to access the Internet currently seems to be through the mobile phone.  Even if we could provide more low-income families with a mobile phone and low cost data plans it would go a long way in evening the Internet access gap that divides middle and lower class families.

Group Literature Review Part B

We would like to start a campaign to have people donate their old cell phones so that they may be recycled: not for parts, but resold to people cheaply and effectively to low-income families.  That would go a long way to solving two problems: the Internet access gap that divides this country and the growing amount of e-waste that pollutes foreign countries as a result of the United States’ inability to reduce its carbon footprint.  The idea is simple, get the message out via posters and word of mouth that there are boxes set up around campus specifically for old cell phones to be recycled.  We then team up with a local charity to provide local underprivileged parents, young adults, and teenagers with access to the World Wide Web through their newly acquired smart phones.

Bibliography

"World Internet Users Statistics and 2014 World Population Stats." World Internet Users

            Statistics and 2014 World Population Stats. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

Discussion Two

In summary, Lincoln Dahlberg’s article “Re-construction digital democracy: An outline of four ‘positions’” categorizes the users of digital media as the following: liberal consumer, deliberative, counter-publics, and autonomous Marxist.

Do you agree with Dahlber’s conclusion that the uses of digital media and can be summed up in four categories and all serve a democratic purpose?

Do you believe that with digital media, the objectives of the four categories would be difficult to achieve?

Suppose you lived in a censored country such as China each digital category outlined in the article would be exclusive to the government. Would you consider it a social injustice to have limited access regarding digital media?

Discuss the broader digital media and social justice topic, issue or cause that your social action project will respond to? What is the ethical, historical and/or political significance of this topic, issue or cause?

           

            Internet access is a vital and necessary tool in today’s society.  This is the Internet Age, where information is king and you can find anything online.  But many people are trapped by this wealth of information because they have no way to access it.  Internet access is taken for granted by many, but imagine how difficult simply going to high school is in this day and age without it, or starting and managing a small business, or taking a high level position anywhere without access to valuable online resources.  There is no historical precedent for this, however.  The easiest way to access the Internet currently seems to be through the mobile phone.  Even if we could provide more low-income families with a mobile phone and low cost data plans it would go a long way in evening the Internet access gap that divides middle and lower class families.

Describe the type of social action project that you have identified.  Offer examples of how it has been used in the past. Why does this type of project form an appropriate response to the specific topic, issue or cause introduced above?

I would like to start a campaign to have people donate their old cell phones so that they may be recycled: not for parts, but resold to people cheaply and effectively to low-income families.  That would go a long way to solving two problems: the Internet access gap that divides this country and the growing amount of e-waste that pollutes foreign countries as a result of the United States’ inability to reduce its carbon footprint.  The idea is simple, get the message out via posters and word of mouth that there are boxes set up around campus specifically for old cell phones to be recycled.  We then team up with a local charity to provide local underprivileged parents, young adults, and teenagers with access to the World Wide Web through their newly acquired smart phones.

Weblog 4

     Most American's are naive to the impact our consumerism has on a global scale.  Our Nike shoes are made by horribly underpaid Asian workers of different nationalities, our household appliances produced in Chinese factories that pump out an incredible amount of air pollution creating a smog that lingers over Chinese cities and pollutes the lungs of millions of people, and our e-waste is shipped overseas to be dealt with by the youth of foreign countries so that that adults of this country don't have to deal with it.

     Though all of these are major issues, the focus of this weblog is e-waste.  According to www.greenpeace.org:

"In the United States, it is estimated that 50-80 percent of the waste collected for recycling is being exported.  This practice is legal because the US has not ratified the Basel Convention.  Mainland China tried to prevent this trade by banning the import of e-waste in 2000. However, we have discovered that the laws are not working; e-waste is still arriving in Guiya of Guangdong Province, the main centre of e-waste scrapping in China....  In India, 25,000 workers are employed at scrap yards in Delhi alone, where 10-20,000 tons of e-waste is handled each year, 25 percent of this being computers."

     These statistics are staggering, and though efforts have been made by China to reduce the amount of e-waste entering their country e-waste is still being imported.  This is another symptom of the problem.  E-waste sites are far too profitable for them to be abolished completely through statutes.  The only solution is to find a profitable way to safely recycle these materials in an eco-friendly way, something that is much easier said than done.