Most athletes are using pictures of themselves in their athletic setting to market themselves. It is also said to be very important that they broadcast another image of themselves to sponsors where they are dressed nicely. This will show the sponsors that the athlete is not only had working on the field but looks presentable off the field. The sponsors wouldn’t want someone who doesn’t look good without their helmet to be the face of their exciting new product or just the face for their brand. Athletes are likely to participate in commercials for athletic attire, sports drinks, or even banks. These representations don’t seem to affect the outlook sports fans have on the Athlete as much as it affects the outlook they have on the product. If you have a likable good looking athlete presented to recommend a product people will actually take it into consideration when they make a purchase, because they think “I’ll look just like them”.  Participation in these commercials and endorsements are also noticeably a double standard for athletes vs. celebrities. When a celebrity is seen on a Cover-Girl commercial or a Pro-Active commercial some may say it is “selling out” but, when an athlete gets new fancy pair of “sneaks” and wants to recommend it to other athletes is not?

The endorsements don’t seem to hurt an athlete’s image the way they might impact another celebrities’. They seem to help the athlete because, when you see an athlete on a commercial for a new pair of shoes it me the consumer see them as a credible athlete. When they consumer sees them playing their sport later they may have thoughts like “Wow he runs really fast, just like he did on that commercial for the new pair of Nike shoes.”

Although endorsements don’t seem to impact athletes the way they impact the status of other celebrities’ scandals can impact their career much worse. When an actor cheats on his wife and is caught it is talked about but ultimately we don’t seem to expect monogamy from these artistic individuals (whether any celebrities personal life is the public’s business, being another topic altogether). Then a sports icon is caught in a scandal (especially a pro-golfer like Tiger Woods who plays a sport where the Spectators are largely in the higher social class and would expect “proper” behavior from their child’s role model) and they seem to be almost burned at the sake for their infidelity.

One topic that could easily ruin any celebrity’s career, whether it be an athlete, an actor/actress, or a musician, is animal cruelty. When Vick was caught participating in dog fighting it nearly ended his whole career. People seem to be more compassionate and caring when it comes to our furry friends then when it comes to a spouse and their children. Adultery we can forgive, but animal abuse is just unacceptable.

In some ways it is easier for an athlete to market themselves, but in other ways it is harder to get through a traumatic time in your life when you do something wrong. Vick and Woods are both good examples of this struggle.

YouTube's Place in Our World
Melissa Wallace

YouTube is without a doubt one of the most prominent terminals for information and entertainment in this new age of technology. Anyone can be a star once uploading a video that goes viral. There have been children who have become huge YouTube sensations for doing something funny and cute, for example being bitten by their little brother. 2.5 million people have tuned in to see the toddlers angry response to his brother, Charlie, chomping down on his finger.  

That’s not all folks; YouTube still has more to offer than just your average neighborhood kid taking the time to act a spaz for your entertainment. YouTube also has your favorite artist’s new music video (which could probably lead to the end of the music channels provided by your cable company). You can search any song you’d like to hear and there will be a video, a presentation of the lyrics, a concert performance, and other songs that may relate to your search which will help you find more music you like. This convenient source of song suggestion helps you find music you may not have heard of, but it may still be enjoyable for you. This could be a contributing factor to the decline in CD sales and record stores. People no longer have to go there to find new or old music they like. The can simply type it in to their search bar and it will appear to them.

YouTube is not only a place for entertaining strangers with your family’s quirks or watching your favorite music videos, but also a place where businesses advertise their trades. Businesses pay YouTube to put their commercial on before the start of a video. Every time someone tunes in to a video on YouTube an add starts to roll. When given the option to “skip this add” most opt out from watching the remainder, however the commercials are constantly being displayed. For every view YouTube has some business is being promoted. This seems to me like a very effective way to get your name and product out I the public’s eye.

Melissa Wallace

Reality television has become very popular in today’s culture. From what to wear, what to eat, and where to live our society has been impacted. Shows that are put on to display the abnormal are making that atypical life style seem like the new way of living. A prime example would be Teen Mom. This show causes young teens to think it is socially acceptable to enter into motherhood with no stable foundation to raise a child. The think they can have a child at 16 and then some TV producer will come pick them off the street and throw them onto a reality TV show. They think it is suitable to throw, not only their own life away, but their innocent child’s. Some of the other reality shows are used to enhance the culture of our society. You can learn things from them: how to survive in the wild, how to cook gourmet meals, who is the better special effects artist. Being on a reality show can jump start your career. Jersey Shore is a great example of this. Before they were those fist pumping Italians everyone was talking about they were pretty much non-existent. Now they appear as guests on other TV shows, they are on the cover of famous magazines; they are models of behavior for any person who watches them on their TV.  They are now making millions of dollars just doing whatever they want and people sitting at home are eating it up. Phrases they say, things they do, brands they wear are beginning to show up. You can find them on T-shirts at the beach, coming out of your neighbor’s mouth, even in your own everyday conversations. These are the shows people are ashamed to admit they watch, the shows people mock endlessly, yet they have gained such a huge role in shaping our society.

 
 
 

Melissa Wallace

John Macarther Is an evangelical Christian pastor who was featured on Larry King Live. He is a person of faith quoting the bible. And he gives his opinion on the afterlife. Larry King contributed to a debate between others on what happens to us when we died. Throughout the episode Larry King didn’t speak as much as he let his diversity of guests speak. He maintained a calm exterior while he let the somewhat heated debate unfold around him. Although he would ask questions to prod the conversation along he did not give too much of a biased opinion on the afterlife.

Nancy Grace is arguing with her Guest, Mr. Frank Taaffe: a good friend of George Zimmerman, about whether the wounds inflicted by Trayvon Martin were life threatening. In my opinion Nancy Grace is more exciting to watch because, she is readily voicing her opinion against his claims that she believes to be inaccurate. Nancy is not afraid to point out her guest’s unbelievably invalid story. Then she brings in an attorney for Trayvon’s family. The attorney debunks Taaffe’s claims saying that he is the first to say that Trayvon went back into his house and then came back out to “whoop dat ass”. Nancy began very calm and then when her biased guest began to attack her questioning she became equally irate. Although she did not maintain the calm exterior that Larry seemed to keep, she was far more entertaining.  Nancy went as far as calling her guest a “fairly intelligent” human being, and Taaffe was rude to her, going around her questions, and cutting her off.

Although, Nancy was more entertaining to me I think that Larry King would be a more resourceful foundation for information because he had a large diversity of guests and insightful conversation. Nancy however was more chaotic and had only bias guests taking the side of one.

Melissa Wallace

Of all four papers listed: USA Today, The Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, and the Dundulk Eagle; I think that USA today has the best chance of survival in to the constantly evolving era of technology. Of each paper USA Today has the widest fan base and is already third in the top 100 papers in the USA. They also cover many subjects in their writing. From politics to what is playing in the movie theatre, the paper covers everything. You can learn interesting events going on throughout the country, and even throughout the world that may impacts or be of interest to our country. You can learn about these even without feeling as though the whole paper is very bias. Consumer reviews point out that there is roughly an even split of people who believe the paper is more conservative and people who believe is it more liberal. So no matter your view they have articles that will agree with your opinions and some that may open your mind to other opinions.

 

Opinion on bias	Conservative	Liberal	See no bias
Percent%	46%	40%	14%

 

But in the end the fan base is what I believe with have the largest influence on the paper’s lifeline. The other papers are simply missing the followers that USA has acquired. Being from Maryland I have heard most about the Baltimore Sun. However, the comments I have heard are mostly about the paper’s bias and that people don’t want to bother reading it anymore. This may be why it has a lack of followers. Word of mouth can cause the demise of a company. So, when I hear these opinions if I were to go buy any of these papers I would probably purchase USA today, the reason being that their customers seem the most satisfied with the content. There have also been comments made that the sections have gotten very small, for instance people don’t use the classifieds adds anymore because craigslist has had such a boom. So, these days when you are buying a paper you are consuming it for the news. That being said, most people who have an interest in reading the news are looking for a very slanted opinion, they want the facts so they can draw their own conclusion. But the like I said the largest reason for my opinion is just that USA today has so many more followers.

 

 

There are many different things you see when you look at the cover of magazines. Just as Cosmo has beautiful women put together by a make-up artist and airbrush to make girls want to be skinnier, or Men’s Health has physically fit men to convince you that by following their workouts you too can look like them, Time has disturbing images portrayed to draw interest into their articles. Every image and picture is put there to give you a desired thought or feeling.

    “What happens if we leave Afghanistan” is the headline on this cover of Time magazine, featured in 2010 to gain support for the war effort. They show a picture of a “poor defenseless woman” who has been mistreated and abused. It gives the American people the sense that these poor women need help and liberation. Each picture impacts our society’s opinion on topics around the world, even to scare people showing a very normal looking kid, from any American community, which grew into “monster” without any warning.

                                                                            

  When you turn to a story on the inside of this Political Magazine there are more gruesome and horrifying pictures to accompany these somewhat bias opinions. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in today’s society that is certainly true. If you were in line at the grocery store you may only look at the cover of Time and after looking at it you will walk away with the idea that if we don’t stay in Afghanistan that every woman there will lose their nose without having a solid basis for to form that opinion. If you were in that same line the and saw a cover displaying a young boy looking as innocent as any other neighborhood kid labeled a murder you are going to walk away thinking you should start homeschooling your kids. We need to understand that everything we see is put there for a reason. Political magazines are just as phony as a fashion magazine and have just as many hidden agendas, they have to sell copies and they have opinions to support.