Blog and Questions

            The articles “Conflict and control: The war in Afghanistan and the 24-hour news cycle” and “Live TV and Bloodless deaths: War, infotainment and 24/7 news” have same thesis but with different approaches. While the author of “Conflict and control: The war in Afghanistan and the 24-hour news cycle”, Kieran Baker tells her own experience to readers, the author of “Live TV and Bloodless deaths..” Daya Kishan Thussu tells readers informatively.

            I find Baker’s experience draws more attention to readers since it touches readers’ hearts. She tells the story sincerely so when readers reading it, they can understand her emotions and her behaviors. She had to go to Pakistan reluctantly because she had to report every single circumstance that happened during the war. She tells how bad was life in Herat by telling the boy "looked at her with desperate eyes." This touches readers hearts and makes them to have sympathy. Furthermore, she puts importance on 9/11 war live coverage. 

            Different from Baker’s way of telling, Daya Kishan Thussu tells reader more like textbook. He analyzes the effects and trends of medias closely. I find his way of telling is more objective than Baker’s way of telling. I like the way he develops his argument by giving more information as he can. Through reading “ The pressures of live reporting part’ I was appalled that all journalists and reporters work under the unimaginable pressure to make story as dramatically as possible. People created this pressure since they eager to watch drama and entertainment news as soon as possible. However, I think news have to focus on what the news are for. They have to be objective and informative instead of giving entertainment.  Thussu criticizes 24/7 news cycle because 24/7 news sometimes forgot to cover the root causes of conflict in countries.  Similar to Baker, Thussu also thinks 9/11 war live coverage is important and unforgettable. I think Thussu should have put some stories about others experienced like Baker did so that readers could be more triggered to his story.

Questions

1. Why do you think people desire drama and entertainment in the news?

2. What do you think about 24/7 news cycle? Do you find it useful? 

           

Problems with gun rights

      In America, it is legal to have guns for people's safety and security to defend themselves. There are many examples on the news that guns could be used for a good cause. However, sometimes guns cause a serious problem such as massacre. It has been issued whether people to have gun or not.
     For example, in April 16, 2007, on the campus of  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded others in two separate attacks, before his suicidal. It was the deadliest shooting by a single man in US according to Wikipedia.
     Because of guns, a plethora of people injured and lost their lives every year. Guns make people more likely to think of suicide that lead to death. People should consider guns as weapons not just for protection.

Different perspectives in Iraqi War

       As I already mentioned in the first reflection on "Iranians and Media Coverage of the War in Iraq", I could not fully understand about the Iraqi war. I suppose that the authors thought that the audiences would have some essential knowledges about the war.
      On the first essay, "The Self-Absorbed Bully", I did not think of the "Bully" would be the metaphor for the United States. The metaphor amazed me in some way since it was fresh to me.  The author well expressed the article by giving us the main issues why the war happened: Oil problem, the United Nations, The Empire Strikes, and  George W.Bush.  I strongly agree that the  oil was the main trigger to the conflict in iraq. If Iraq did not have any oil, then 'The Self-Absorbed Bully', United States, would not forced to reserve the oil. Also, on the third example where he mentioned about George W. Bush, as " The Cowboy President", I was amazed that the different perspectives would make the person totally different. Throughout this article, I certainly see that Brazil is against the United States unlike the next article in China's perspective.
      " The Chinese Watching the Iraqi War", as I mentioned on the last paragraph, takes a neutral stance. I was wondering how they decided to stay in neutral between Iraq and the United States? Similar to the "Iranians and Media Coverage",  how can the news and all medias lie to the citizens and report the biased opinions? In nowadays, medias take the enormous role to our lives. It is take for granted that we believe what we see in the television; I also could not believe that 'Chinese did not have the privilege of watching a major war on television because of the government's control over the incoming information.' The author analyzed the article by the China media situation.
     Both articles are well written but they do have different tones. In my case, I could understand "The Self-Absorbed Bully" more because of the layout and word choices. In "The Chinese Watching the Iraqi War", I saw the few words that mislead me for a second.