Who are the gatekeepers of news? How effective is investigative reporting in informing the public?

What you read in the paper, in a magazine, what you see on television, or hear on the radio are all chosen by a person called the gatekeeper. “The gatekeeper is a media person influencing messages en route” (Vivian 230). That staffer is responsible for choosing what message the public is going to see. They tend to work behind the scenes, because they prepare what is going to be put out there in the media. It is impossible to fit every detail in a news story, and that is where the gatekeeper comes in. They decide what to keep, what to omit and what the main point of the story will be. However, how the story is portrayed or the unwritten message out of the hands of the gatekeeper. What you see on the news is their decision, based on public preference and opinion. Most often, gatekeepers try to maintain the honesty and integrity in a story.
Much like gatekeepers are investigative reporters. Their job is to discover the truth and remain honest while doing it. Like Jim Hummel, an investigative reporter faces a lot of scrutiny because they are sometimes seen as brown nosers or muckrakers. These are not necessarily the best reputations to have because they make it more difficult to get the dirt on a story. All together, investigative reporting is crucial to the public because it prevents and exposes corruption and lies in the media.

How has blogs and the internet changed the way news is reported?

Information is spread rapidly due to the Internet and its speedy retrieval. News has a way of now, reaching mass audiences through articles, videos, twitter updates, Facebook statuses and blog posts. The Internet has created a commons for media to thrive in. Because of blogs, people are able to follow a certain story and comment on other’s opinions of it. Although, I think, Internet has had a much bigger impact on the news industry than blogs have. The Internet has created a highway for news to travel on, with updates within seconds!

News stations have even created a solution for those who don’t have access to a television, or missed the six o’clock news. Almost every news program has a website that has a recap of what was missed or videos that are streamed online. They have also taken it to a new level with comments and feedback from audience. That feature is very useful because it allows news creators to know what the public wants to see. Besides the websites of news programs, there are also live feeds that are constantly updating. For a hot news story, a web site can put up a feed to a pending story and have viewers watch the development of it. The Internet and blogs have made a huge contribution to the news industry. The development of new techniques and devices are still growing and they will help make the spread of news even faster than it is now.

How is public relations used as a persuasive tool in communications?

Public relations has been used as a persuasive tool in communications by companies to promote their name in society. Public relations basically is the communication by a person or organization (preferably in the positive spotlight) that is intended to create goodwill or a favorable image to the public for a person, institution, item, ect. The definition of public relations as said by pioneer Edward Bernays is a loose one with many different variations to it but in the end almost mean the same thing. The public relations profession is one that people put a lot of trust into and because of that it’s a success in advertisement is through the roof. Public relations and advertisements pretty much go hand in hand. When institutions are changing policies, their PR goes on to observe what it would do for the company and how/if it would help them. The effects of these things are very important to the PR and their job is mostly just to make sure that literally, everyone is happy. Customers (the public), employees, the government, ect. They need to make sure everyone is happy and the product their vouching for is not biased or against anything. PR officials only want their products in the positive light, and will do anything to have it so.

How has mass media technology changed the way audiences are entertained?

Mass media technology has changed the way audiences have been entertained by making technology less of a privilege and more of a necessity. Now that especially hand held devices such as Blackberries, iPods, Gameboys and portable Playstations are popular, you can literally do anything you desire on your personal device. It is no longer an experience to physically go to a movie theatre and watch a movie you’ve waited weeks to see with your friends when you can just buy it off of iTunes and put it up on a projector in your room. It’s all about convenience, and society has gotten spoiled in every way with their personalized and unlimited options of entertainment media exposure. Technology also keeps on advancing and will never stop. Someone will never be 100% media literate in their lifetime because when they finally feel like they are up to par with all the new electronics, a new one is there to replace what they just bought. Even though all of this is unnecessary, people feel the need to be pampered in the way they are entertained. Because of this, mass media will keep on evolving to satisfy our ongoing need for the next and best new thing.

Which audience analysis measurements principles and techniques are most effective and why?

There are many different techniques in which audiences are analyzed and measured. Most of these methods piece together the practices of calculating how many people are viewing the product and how long they view for. One of the most effective measurement tools is counting circulation for newspapers and magazines. The Audit Bureau of Circulations is in charge of making sure that is in charge of “Checking newspaper and magazine circulation claims” (Vivian 332). The method of tracking this type of media is fairly easy because you have to physically buy print media. So companies easily track subscriptions and the amount of product that is sold based on sales and unsold copies returned from news racks.

One of the harder and less reliable types of media analysis is that of broadcast viewership. Since this type of media is basically instantly accessible for everyone, there are enormous amounts of viewers to keep track of. However, this type of tracking is necessary because in order to know if a show is working or not companies look at the ratings. It also helps with advertising and to know when to show certain advertisements and where. Although measuring mass media is a very difficult and large task, it is a job that needs to be done in order for the companies running these media outlets to stay in the race and be at the top of their game.

How is public relations used as a persuasive tool in communications?

The goal of public relations is to persuade the public that the company, person, brand, item, etc that they are representing is something they will approve of. All information released must go through public relations so they can monitor it and help keep a good reputation. They also help repair the image when there is bad press or gossip spread. When public relations is used in advertising it is used to make sure the ad is targeting the correct audience and that it is promoted enough through media to reach a large amount of people. Most major companies today have a public relations office used to help promote their business. The goal of public relation is to almost create a facade of how great and amazing this company is and why its better than the competitors.

How has mass media technology changed the way audiences are entertained?

Media is slowly taking over how we live our lives. Cell phones, ipods, electronic books, laptops, and so many more devices are kept at an arms length at almost all times of the day. As technology has advanced so have the standards for our technology. Simple flip phones are a thing of the past and can be considered cheap and low tech. Iphones, blackberries, and droids are the new must haves that are taking over the market. This is only one example of how the technology of the past no longer entertains us. We always want the newest and greatest. The movie effects and quality we have now is something we could never even imagine just a few years ago. We even have 3D televisions that we can buy for our own homes. Again just a few examples of how we cannot be satisfied with the media and technology of the past.