Final AssignmentPart oneBeing an editor or producer in any form of media is a difficult job. The said person is often faced with many difficult decisions. They are faced daily with the inner struggle to showcase less important pop culture issues that will get good ratings, and putting issues that are less flashy and more serious as a lead story. When faced with a difficult decision as such, the editor has no other choice but to showcase what will give higher ratings.
In this situation, the editor is forced to choose between showcasing the death of a celebrity or a story about recycling. There are many different reasons why an editor must choose to showcase the story about the celebrity. The story will sell. It will attract readers who may not have viewed the paper, increase the ratings and revenues of the paper, and keep them competitive, current and relevant. By putting the celebrity death as a lead story, especially on the internet, it will attract readers to the Internet media site.
When the death of a celebrity occurs, many people will type their name in the search engine. If the internet media site puts the celebrity death as the lead story, their paper may come up as a result to a search. This will draw in readers.
Once the person reads the story about the celebrity, they will probably read the following articles. In order to attract readers, the editor must appeal to the public. While they have a moral responsibility to report on the issues of substance, with out readers, the articles will go unread anyway. In this era, the audience has many different options when it comes to where they get their news from. If a media outlet wants to remain among the popular choices, the must showcase and lead with stories that will attract an audience. Once the audience can depend on that media outlet, they will explore all the articles. Revenue and ratings are the bottom line in the business of media delivery.
Without readers, the ratings plummet. The revenues of the media outlet will also decline. This will eventually lead to the demise of the media outlet. The recycling story, though provocative and informative in its own right, will seem boring and unimportant when compared to the celebrity death. In the end, a media outlet is a business.
A businesses main priority is to make money. Also, when breaking news occurs, a media outlet is obligated to relay that to the public as quickly as possible. This means other stories will take the back burner.
In order to get good ratings, a media outlet needs to be competitive. It needs to lead with the same stories other media outlets are leading with and, possibly, provide more information or a different perspective to readers. It needs to remain current. If all other forms of media are reporting on the celebrity death, the editor needs to make sure his is too. All the stories need to be up to date and relevant to what the reader is interested in.
The editor also has a responsibility to make sure all stories are appealing and attractive. While the celebrity coverage will draw in the reader, the editor must make an effort to make the headline of the recycling story something that will grab the reader??™s attention. In summation, although the editor has a compelling story that will impact the reader in a deep way, he must choose to lead with the celebrity death. It is important for the success of the media outlet to have an audience. Despite, the impact the recycling story will have on the readers, the better choice is the story that will grab the attention of the audience. Once you capture the audience, they are more willing to pay attention. Part twoWhen NYPD Blue first entered the television world in 1993 on ABC, there was controversy because of some brief nudity and language.
The show lasted twelve seasons and won countless Emmy awards, Golden Globe awards, Screen Actors Guild awards, Satellite awards, and Television Critics awards (NYPD Blue, 2011). The catcher in the rye, first published in 1961, had controversy surrounding it because of the amount of profanity, sexual scenes, general subversive nature, and lots and lots of smoking and drinking (10 Notoriously Controversial Books, 2010). Over 65 million books have been sold since 1951. The last temptation of Christ came to theaters in 1988, and because of a brief love making scene, did not do so well in the theaters or in the video rental stores. The film has been supported by scholars, film critics and some religious leaders (The Last Temptation Of Christ, 2011). Grand Theft Auto III was released in 2001 on the Playstation two console, and because of violence and sexual content was deemed to controversial. The game has sold more then 14 million copies (Grand Theft Auto III, 2011). The relationship among these four media types is that they are all controversial, mainly because of sexual situations, but they have all made good money or they have gotten good feedback from critics.
Grand Theft Auto III is not the only modern electronic game to be labeled controversial, in fact since 2010, there has been six other games that have been labeled controversial. Modern electronic games are no more controversial within our culture, than any other type of media out there. Sex, drugs, and killings are issues within our culture, that depending on how you look at them, they can either be controversial or not. Except for family oriented games and games labeled ??? E???, there is at least one or more instances of sex, or drugs, and people killing other people, but are games really controversial Kids get their share of sex, drugs, and killings in today??™s universe of television and movies. Television shows like South Park and its movie spinoff have enough controversy for several modern electronic games. If parents do not stop their kids from watching these shows or stop them from playing these games, than there is always going to be a controversial subject about it.
Furthermore, young adult books will always have at least one instance of sex or people getting killed, similar to what some games will have that are rated mature. The difference between books and modern electronic games is that the only way they will be able to actually view what the book is trying to say is by using their imagination. Overall, modern electronic games and books are about equal in controversies. How often do parents stop their kids from reading a book that is vulgar and consists of subjects like sex and drugs and killing, not as much as stopping them from playing these games. In conclusion, there is always going to be controversy towards modern electronic games. Within our culture every media type including games are about the same with the controversy surrounding it. Books are great to read, no matter the controversy, but it is up to the consumer to decide if the book is going to be good or not. The same goes with movies and television shows.
In regards to modern electronic games and the younger crowd; the parents need to be cautious and diligent when buying games for their kids, but no matter the controversy, video games will always be a hot sell among children. References10 Notoriously Controversial Books. (2010). Retrieved 11 6, 2011, from ListVerse: http://listverse. com/2010/04/24/10-notoriously-controversial-books/Grand Theft Auto III.
(2011, 11 6). Retrieved 11 6, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III#cite_note-72NYPD Blue. (2011, 11 4). Retrieved 11 6, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en.
wikipedia. org/wiki/NYPD_Blue#ControversyThe Last Temptation Of Christ. (2011, 11 3).
Retrieved 11 6, 2011, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/The_Last_Temptation_of_Christ_%28film%29
