I can analyze media content!!!!!

My new role as a media consumer:

During this class I have begun my journey to become a critical mass media consumer. The best part is.....it working. I feel that I can now look at media in a different sense than just entertainment. I enjoy looking at ads, commericals, magazines, newspapers to see the underlying meaning of the print, pictures and phrases.

I have found myself to change interest in the media forms I used to indulge in. I used to watch a lot of reality trash...well I still watch some, however I find myself flipping through channels stopping to watch commericals. I read the newspaper headlines and articles to see what is happening else where in the world, which was rarely done before. I watch them to see the forms of advertisements used on television and in magazines, to see how the products are glorified. I used watch tv, or look at magazine articels to find things to think about for my blogs, now I watch and read it more to see the differences between commericals, between the full page ads in the newspapers and magazines. However I mostly found myself actively searching the internet, and not for celebrity gossip, but for other peoples blogs and for media related articels on the web.

I look back at my first day in our class and compared myself to today, I realized that this class really has helped my confront my fear of reading newspapers and analyzing the content for fearing of misunderstanding. Now I have the ability to read articles and analyze advertisements in a critical manner. I now look for the underlying meaning for media. I also realized how I took media for granted. I never used to sit and think how everything was put together. I never thought how hard it must truly be to create a radio program or to put out a news release or to publish a newspaper daily. This is something that this class made me open my eyes to. That not all aspects of media is entertaining.

I really enjoyed being challenged in the sense of analyzing all forms of media. I have enjoyed what was taught in class as well as learning how to blog and maintain my blog, and find things of importance to write about. I loved working with my group to explore Rolling Stone Magazine. I would have never really thought of why certain ads are placed in the magazine as well as the format, its importance in the huge evolution of music. Before this class I would have looked at the pictures and interviews. Now I look for the writers, how well an article is written, its relevance to todays topics, how it might impact society, and why it is important enough to be put in that issue.

This class has propelled me into a world of media in which I can now understand. I am grateful for the opportunity to advance my skills in analyzing media content, as well as relating meida importance to our culture and society.

I feel like a new mass media consumer. New in the essense; that I can relate to the forms of media and my surrounding society with understanding.

Yeah!!!!