What did I learn in this class?

After learning all I've learned in this class I would say I'm happily augmented with a better sense of how the world works. I already considered myself to be decently literate with the media, but now I realize there was a lot more to know. For instance I came in with a cynical attitude of the media and how it manipulates our minds (I still kind of feel that way) and I wanted to learn to counteract all the propaganda, but with the class I think I have a better understanding of the different media outlets through a combination of their history, ethical issues, and laws surrounding ownership and everything.

When I watch tv or surf the internet I am more aware of how different things are not always working for the public good but rather can be there to make money or decieve the public. I think I learned the most about how public perceptions are changed by the media - more so than the media itself. I think this last gubernatorial election gave me a heads up to how well TV ads work and how a democracy can be exploited to use couch potatoes to get votes. I mean WOW... Meg Whitman got ANY votes considering she did nothing but say "I will fix education, lower taxes, and create jobs" in her ads? (who doesn't say those things?) It goes to show how important it is to know your news sources.

I already know about the First Amendment like the back of my hand, because I took a law class in high school and they talked about it. Plus I do a lot of reading in my free time and got to know about things like that well. I thought everyone would find it obvious that you can burn the American flag, since after all it's free speech... I guess not.

What struck me most about the media and how it operates is how so few people own everything. For instance the textbook said just five corporations own 80% of the media in the US. Does that not shock anyone? Essentially five corporate CEOs can dictate all the information we're fed. If they were to conspire to concoct fake stories and run them through all their media outlets, be it a fake invasion of Iran, I'm sure LOTS of people would fall for it. Corporate consolidation is a huge issue in itself - and worse, the more consolidated it gets, the harder it is to get out. It becomes almost impossible to create a television news channel, mainstream newspaper, or record label in such an inpenetrable atmosphere, which has bad implications. If there is one statistic everyone should know about the media, it would be that.