Media coverage in this day and age is one of the key persuader’s of society. The media chooses what it wants to cover for the public to see. The media chooses which people they want the world to pay attention to. There are so many different ways for the media to get information out to people these days. Before you would have to wait for the morning paper, or watch the news whenever it came on. Today there are countless ways to get updates on what is going on in the world. You can do it the old fashioned way and watch CNN or read the morning paper with you’re breakfast everyday. However, now if you’re out of the house when the news is one you can DVR it, search it on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, etc. You can receive email notifications. Even email notifications are not restricted to your computer anymore. If you own a Blackberry you can have emails sent directly to your phone. Media coverage is almost impossible not to see in society today. It is everywhere. The involvement that the media chooses to have with a certain movement can either be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. Media coverage without a doubt brings much needed attention to the eyes of society. However, the attention can either help the movement out or it can in a way cripple the movement.
In the G&J text Todd Gitlin writes, “The observer changed the position of the observed.” This statement is a short statement that is absolutely loaded with meaning. This statement is basically saying that media being the observer can change even the way people in their own social movement, view their movement. One of the movements I think that has been affected by the media is probably the environmental movement. The environmental movement has been around for some time now. Cotgrove and Duff stated in the chapter on environmentalists in the G&J text on page 75, “As was stressed earlier, environmentalists are far from being a homogeneous group.” I feel personally that the environmental movement has become slightly more homogeneous. Mostly because of the media coverage that has taken place in the “green” and global warming aspect of the environmental movement.
There have been documentaries done such as “An Inconvenient Truth” by Al Gore about global warming. The documentary really shook the globe. However, I really feel the “go green” tagline has been one of the most media covered movements in while. There are so many ways to go green and people have been following this movement due to the fact that it is everywhere. People are buying smart cars or hybrid cars to help out pollution due to gasoline. Also, recycling has become a huge part of society today. I lived in Peoria and there were always recycle bins you could go to if you chose to at local parks, but now there are recycle trash cans for every household. There is even a criteria checklist that green projects must fulfill to even be classified as “green.” With all of this “green” thinking going on and being broadcasted everyday I do feel that the environmental movement will be linked with the term “green” for quite some time to come, and the media has had a huge involvement in this. This is why I think that the environmental movement is more homogenous than ever.
Janna Said:
on July 1, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Ada,
I would definitely agree with you about the media’s involvement in the environmental movement. I wrote about that myself in my blog. You talk about how you see environmentalists as homogenous, and I agree that they are surely homogenous in regards to being “green.” Perhaps what the author who asserted that they are not homogenous meant that in terms of characteristics like gender, age, religion, occupation, etc.