media-analysis-blog

[media-analysis-blog]

The Gutenberg Press: the Godfather of Western Mass Media

Media today is ubiquitous across the world. It serves many purposes such as to entertain or to educate and it covers many mediums such as audio, visual, and electronic.

Media today owes a lot to a specific invention made in 15th Century Germany by who many would call the Godfather of Mass Media, Johannes Gutenberg. His invention is called the Gutenberg Press.

What makes the Gutenberg press so important for mass media today? Well, for starters, it was the first medium that made use of precast selection of letters and symbols that made printing on paper much easier and quicker than the block printing method that was common for media printing at the time.

Also, Gutenberg patented a special ink that was suited for his machine that worked more efficiently than other inks at the time. And with that, Gutenberg also worked on a system where certain letters and symbols could be printed if a certain trigger on his machine. This process would be the precursor to type writers that would come somewhat later.

The Gutenberg Press also ushered in what would be call the Printing Revolution.

What is the Printing Revolution? The Printing Revolution was a phenomenon in Europe that was triggered by the spread of the Gutenberg Press. The Gutenberg Press made creating mass media more accessible to the people. 

The key event that kicked this off was the creation of the Gutenberg Bible. The Gutenberg Bible, or die Gutenberg-Bibel in its native German, is a bible, hence the name, that was produced by the Gutenberg Press. This bible was printed by Gutenberg himself in partnership with another printer named Johann Fust. Despite what many may believe and the nationality of those two printers, the Gutenberg Bible was not printed in German, but in Latin.

The Gutenberg Bible was made as an experiment to test the viability of the Printing Press, and the experiment was a huge success. The Press printed about 150 copies of the Gutenberg Bible and one of them is in the Library of Congress to preserve as an influential written work.

After the printing of this Bible, many other types of books and other literature began to be published. Some of them, like the Gutenberg Bible, were religious in nature. However, there were some that covered more academic topics. One such example is the Press revitalizing the study of literature from ancient Greece and Rome during the Humanist Movement. Other books were more for entertainment value such as romance novels. In fact, it could be argued that the Gutenberg Press helped boost the very first romance novel boom.

In other words, books became a lot more widespread in Europe than ever before. And this had a net positive on European Society as a whole. Because of this increase in literature, the literacy rate of Europe increased exponentially. And along with it, came the formation of plenty of Public Libraries. 

The Gutenberg Press is also responsible for introducing the method of making money off the writings one produced. The first ever people documented to have done this was the Dutch scholar, philosopher, and Catholic theologian Desiderius Erasmus, a key figure in the development of the Humanist movement.

With all these grand advancements, the Printing Press did encounter some conflicts, one such of them being that since these Presses were nearly everywhere in Europe, there was a problem with quality control and copyright control. In other words, there were many people who made some profits copying other people’s works and then selling them in much lower conditions.

In addition to that, the Press also ran into some issues with the Catholic Church at the time. This was because the Printing Press had a laissez-faire policy to what could printed at the time, and among those things, that included material that was Anti-Church or would be considered promoting teachings that were against the Church’s at that time or just works that were consider crass in general with sexual acts that were considered impure and debauchery by the Church.

This concern brought with it the first ever mass media censorship called the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. This list was list of written material that Catholics were not allowed to read unless they faced excommunication. The purpose of the list was to dissuade what the Church would call “the Flock” to veer away from their spiritual path.

Also, the Press brought with it the first ever information war. This war occurred between the Protestants led by Martin Luther, who is known to have used the press to produce his 99 Theses, and the Catholics. The Catholics, despite their first reservations of the Press, saw the Press as a useful tool of apologetics against the accusations made by the Protestants. The two groups would make a plethora of material against each other, trying to sway the people to believe their own side over the other.

In conclusion, Gutenberg’s invention has changed the landscape of Western Mass Media and Mass Media in general. It’s recognition as a pioneer is well-deserved and cannot be disputed.

[media-analysis-blog]

Jew Suss: Germany’s Answer to the Birth of a Nation

When it comes to propaganda films, the most well known of them is the Birth of a Nation realized by D.W. Griffith. The film is an adaptation of a novel known as the Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan.

Although the film is credited with introducing many film techniques, it was INFAMOUS, even during the time of its release, considered very controversial, many pointing out its shameless praising of the Ku Klux Klan and its racist depictions of African Americans.

However, the Birth of a Nation isn’t the only film that was made with very racists messages. There is a German answer to that film, a Nazi German answer. This film is called Jew Suss (or Jud Süss in the original German) and it known to be the most controversial German film ever made.

Just to note, there are actually two films with that exact name. There is the 1934 British film and there is the 1940 German one which is the main subject. It should be known that the British Film condemned antisemitism and the film played the man Joseph Süss Openheimer as a more tragic figure who although a fierce supporter of his Jewish people, got caught up in human vices.

However, in the Nazi Version, this obviously changed. Instead of a complicated Anti-Hero of sorts, Süss is made out to be a sneaky, deceitful, darkly charming yet opportunistic, materialistic, and corrupting. In other words, Süss was made to be every negative stereotype the Nazis had of the Jewish People.

And it was not just Süss either, the Jews, including Süss at one point, in the film in this film are all portrayed as filthy and possibly carriers of diseases. Though this was sort of true for some Jews in the time period this film was set in (around the 18th Century), it is NOT for the reasons the film offers, the film makes it out to be like the Jewish People’s natural state rather than result of the Jewish people having no choice but live to in the unfortunate living conditions in some unsanitary places like ghettos and the like. Because to display that being the reason for unhygienic states would actually humanize the Jews and therefore propaganda would not work.

Speaking of which, Joseph Goebbels, a well-known right-hand man of Hitler and the Nazi Party, made sure that neither Süss or the Jews could be played sympathetically. Goebbels knew that if they were, the people would feel for Süss and the Jewish people and not try and stand up and fight against them just like the Nazis wanted them to. So this led the film, by Joseph Goebbels’ decree, to be pared down to be the most effective propaganda.

Speaking of Goebbels, Goebbels was heavily involved with the film’s production, even scouting the most fitting actors for this Nazi Propaganda Dream Project of sorts.

This also included the recruitment of the well-known actress in Nazi Cinema Kristina Söderbaum to play Dorothea Sturm. Like Dorothea, Söderbaum possessed the traits that admired in their women: she was blond, she was beautiful, she had a youthful glow, and doe-eyes that suggests a certain naiveté that calls for a certain amount of protection that is needed for her man.

Goebbels also called for the hiring of Ferdinand Marian, an Austrian actor, to have a contrasting look. Marian was dark-haired, dark-eyed, ethnic-looking enough to pass as a Jewish man without actually being one, and very handsome. He had the look of the sensual and seductive Jew that would charm the naive Aryan woman away and have her commit Rassenschande, which is essentially any sort of sexual contact between Jews and Aryans according to Nazi Law.

And in the film, both Süss and Dorothea play out the Nazi’s greatest fear: A charming, seductive, worldly, yet very malicious Jewish man preying upon a sweet, innocent, yet naive Aryan woman.

This exact fear is played out in (trigger warning: rape/sexual assault) a rape scene between Süss and Dorothea (which Süss doesn’t do in the the 1934 film). And in typical racial propaganda fashion, this rape wasn’t unfortunate for Dorothea because she was raped in general, it was unfortunate because she had any sexual contact with a Jewish man, therefore making her “impure”. To cleanse herself, Dorothea goes to drown herself, which kicks off the boiling point of the film when the crowd uses her death to “fight against the Jew”. Süss is at the end punished for this, once again, not for violating Dorothea in general, but for having “relations with a Christian woman”.

And there are plenty of other fears in the film that Nazis spread about the Jews present in this film. So many of them that they would not fit in this one blog post without making it as long as novella. But these fears are played out in an effective way.

The 1940 Jew Süss has a reputation for not only being blatant Nazi Propaganda, but actually well-acted and executed in delivering this antisemitic message. The film’s execution of that message was so effective that not did it become a popular film in Germany and abroad at the time but also mobilized some Citizens to go against the Jewish population. This film has been credited as the film that truly kicked off the Holocaust.

After World War II, this film has naturally been seized and restricted by the Non-Nazi Government. Almost everyone involved with this film, especially the director Veit Harlan, on trial. Harlan himself has been charged (and was acquitted of) for his role in producing a film that has brought a negative impact on the Jewish people at the time and his acquittal is controversial. Ferdinand Marian himself, who’s involvement is mostly accepted as him being strong-armed by Goebbels to protect the Jewish side of his family, later got into a car accident that many have called a suicide.

Many other people who worked on the film have no fared much better, Söderbaum’s (Dorothea) career took a hit and she was almost always associated with this film and Heinrich George got arrested by the Soviets and was sent to a prison camp to die and other film crew were barred from working in film again for years.

And where does the film stand now? The film is now restricted in Germany and Austria as nobody can screen, sell, or distribute this film. However, if one wishes to see what Nazi propaganda looks like, the film can be found in America on DVD with a forward explaining how the film was used in Nazi Propaganda for film historians who want to research that topic.

This is a similar fate that the Birth of a Nation has, which is fitting seeing how it’s firmly established that the Nazi-Made version of Jew Süss is Germany’s equivalent to it.

[media-analysis-blog]

Some Facts about Italo Disco (Multi Media Project by A. Person)

(This is the single cover for Tarzan Boy by the Italo Disco Project Baltimora, one of the most well-known Italo-Disco songs in the United States that hit the top 20 on the Billboard at number 13 upon release and considered a “gateway” to other Italo Disco songs.)

Did you think that Disco Demolition Night led by the Chicagoan shock jockey Steven Dahl destroyed Disco Music forever? Do not worry, it didn’t.

Despite their best efforts, Disco Demolition Night only made Disco evolve into different forms and still manage to be popular, one of those forms is the European born and bred Italo-Disco.

Italo Disco came about due to Italian and European DJs to continue to supply the European fanbase with more Disco music. This is because despite some rocky waters in America thanks in part of the Disco Demolition Night, Disco was still very much popular and in demand in Europe. So the Italian/European DJ’s continued to make their own Disco Music and in came Italo Disco.

Italo Disco during its run in Europe was largely a singles-driven market, meaning they were mostly focused on making hit songs rather than making albums. This is partly why many Italo Disco artist may only release one, two, or three songs and not make an album to go with them. One such example is an Italo Disco/Singer Clio who only ever released three songs, Faces, Eyes, and Feel the Fear.

This isn’t to say that Italo-Disco artists never released albums, actually, plenty of them did, but one should be surprised to see Italo-Disco artist only release singles if you were to check Discogs.

Italo Disco was a huge success across Europe with such hits such as “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora which entered the top 5 of many European Countries such as Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Germany. And there is also the song “Call Me” by Spagna that also was a monster success across Europe hitting the top five in countries like the United Kingdom, France, Italy (naturally), Norway, and Finland.

Italo Disco even gained some popularity in countries of the former Eastern Block, Russia included, and even had some successes in Asia.

Italo Disco was typically sung in English, oftentimes by non-native speakers but other times by native English speakers who were living in Italy (where naturally a good chunk of Italo Disco was produced). Other times, Italo-Disco was sung in other languages such as Spanish or even Italian.

Italo Disco did have a certain practice with some acts. It wasn’t too uncommon in Italo Disco to employ singers to sing the songs and have somebody more photogenic or at least fit the image they were going for to be the “Face” (think Milli Vanilli).

Such examples include the aforementioned Baltimora. Jimmy McShane (pictured above) actually did not sing lead on any of the songs, their most well-known song “Tarzan Boy” included.

Another example is the well-known Italo-Disco project known as Den Harrow. Tom Hooker, who himself has contributed plenty to the Italo Disco Genre, provided the vocals for most of Den Harrows tracks, but the Italian Model Stefano Zandri was chosen to be “the face”. Both Zandri and Hooker would later have a dispute.

And these two examples aren’t the only ones either, Valerie Dore (her most well-known song being “the Night”) also was known to employ a “face” to lip-sync over somebody else’s vocals, however, in this case, Dore’s “face” (Monica Stucchi) actually did sing with her own voice on a couple of tracks “Get Closer” and “It’s So Easy”.

Italo Disco is one of those musical genres that are gaining a resurgence of popularity with music listeners across the world. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, plenty of Italo Disco tracks are being remastered and re-released and put on compilations or they’re being remastered and re-released with the original albums they came with.

Spotify, as of this writing, in response to this growing interest in Italo Disco has made an Official Curated Playlist that’ll provide newcomers to the genre a taste of what this genre has to offer.

Italo Disco as a genre and a topic is so interesting to learn about and this blog has only scratched the surface of it all. It is highly encouraged for you all to go check out this genre and listen to some tracks and even find out some cool facts.

And also, be sure to listen to my Audiocast about Italo Disco!

And be sure to check out my video showcasing some cool Italo Disco songs!

[media-analysis-blog]

#Gamergate and the Campaign Against Anita Sarkessian

#Gamergate is a controversial phenomenon that really took off in response to the situation regarding game developer Zoe Quinn, who before was known for developing the interactive game Depression Quest, being accused by an ex-boyfriend of sleeping with other game developers to supposedly get ahead in her career.

Although Quinn has denied these accusations, many of her opponents already had their minds made up and began a harassment campaign against her which also included leaking her personal information which included her address and even some nudes.

Some went even deeper, some of them even sending Quinn death threats and rape threats, so many where she had to leave her house. They even hacked her and some even made sock puppets to “spread controversy”.

But what does Quinn have to do with Anita Sarkeesian? Well, it’s simple, Anita Sarkeesian would later receive the same treatment for her perceived slight on the Gaming Community.

Around this time, Sarkeesian launched her series of critiques on Women in Video Games that was appropriately called “Tropes vs. Women in Video Games”, a series of videos that deconstructs and discusses the roles women had in video games up until that point.

Her series of videos were no different than any other media analysis videos and although her takes could be argued weren’t the most nuanced and there are some missteps in judgements she made, the takes themselves weren’t outrageous and could be reasonably debated with an open mind and rational exchange of dialog. That is not what happened, what ended up happening was that Sarkeesian got WAVES of harassment for these videos.

First off, Sarkeesian received a HUGE amount of Youtube Videos responding to her videos, although there were some that were more rational and gave Sarkeesian the benefit of the doubt or at the very least just focused on her points and where they differed with her, there were plenty of them that were essentially filled with ad hominem attacks and insults.

This doesn’t even get into the harassment she received on social media. Like Quinn, Sarkeesian ALSO received a boatload of trolling, hate comments, and even some death and rape threats for ALLEGEDLY trying to “take the fun out of video games” or “injecting politics in video games”. These threats ALSO had resulted in Sarkeesian leaving her home due to safety concerns.

This insult also produced memes attacking her character and making wild claims about the views expressed by her in her videos. (trigger warning: misogyny). And also, there some memes discrediting the harassment she was receiving at the time.

And it even dipped into Antisemitism (trigger warning: antisemitism), implying that Sarkeesian is Jewish and is making those videos for corrupt agenda. Sarkeesian is NOT Jewish, she’s actually of Iraqi descent, but even if she was, to claim that her “Jewishness” is the reason she made those videos and implying that she’s doing it for some more nefarious reason other than analyzing Women in Video Games is nothing short of conspiratorial and paranoid.

All of this harassment even ballooned into a bomb threat issued to the Game Developers Choice Awards. The perpetrator of the threat specifically issued the threat to blow up bombs in that building unless they removed Anita Sarkeesian’s Ambassador Award. Fortunately, there were no bombs to be found, but that threat truly shaken everyone involved.

There is also a shocking threat that caused Sarkeesian to cancel her lecture at USU. There was an anonymous alleged Student that threatened to bring a semi-automatic rifle, pistols, and pipe bombs. It appeared the threat was nothing more than a scare tactic, but it was enough to have Sarkeesian cancel the event, fearing for her life.

What was Sarkeesian’s biggest crime to warrant all this harassment? From many could see, the most she did was make some takes that some took issue with. But are those takes worth the wave of harassment, death threats, rape threats and even threats of a bombing or a shooting? Many reasonable people would say no.

But to too many of the Pro Gamergate people, this was what Sarkeesian deserved for making takes they didn’t personally agree with. To them, Sarkeesian has ceased being a person and instead became a symbol of what they believed they were fighting against, which to them was at the time was “SJWs trying to inject their politics in our video games”.

When one doesn’t see a person as a person, it’s EASY to justify all the harassment Sarkeesian received. This is one of the things the #Gamergate situation showed to the world. It showed that if somebody reduces a person to a “symbol of what they’re against”, that somebody will more likely levy vicious attacks and justify death and rape threats towards their opponent.

Sarkeesian had to endure this for a while, but luckily, as of this writing she is doing alright and seems to have look back on the Gamergate Situation as something that keeps her going and giving her a deeper insight in the minds of certain gamers.

Although one can argue that her takes in her original videos weren’t perfect, everyone who aren’t Gamergate Fanatics can agree that the harassment that Sarkeesian wasn’t a rational discussion on her points and was just an uncalled for attack. Having disagreements with somebody over video games is NOT worth dehumanizing somebody and justifying an online mob against them.

[media-analysis-blog]

Blending It Up With Blender

(The Blender Logo)

One of the most well-known free and open-source applications on the market right now is a 3D-Modeling Package and Computer Graphics Tool-Set known as Blender.

Blender is a free to download and free to use without the need to buy a activation key such as with other popular 3D modeling and computer graphics software such as AutoCAD

Blender is also quite international too. The program, as if this current writing, is available in about thirty-six languages. Such languages include but certainly not limited to English (its default language), French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, Korean and so on and so forth.

Although Blender is open source and free to use and nobody has spend a single penny on it. There is an option to send some donation money to give the Blender Team a little extra financial support if they do choose to do so.

Blender has all the functionalities of any other model making software that one has to pay for. It provides modeling, animating, physics testing, rendering, and rigging all without people having to pay over $1,000 for a yearly AutoCAD license.

This makes Blender a very cost-effective and more openly available software for any beginners who want to get into making 3D-Models or visual effects in general.

This program is definitely accessible to those who are either in tight financial situations or are just wanting to be wise with how they spend their money. The best thing being that one doesn’t have to sacrifice quality for the cheap price of free.

Because of this reason, Blender has been widely and warmly received by tech enthusiasts, hobby 3D-Model Makers, and even PROFESSIONAL 3D-Model Makers for quite a while. It usually seen as THE go-to free alternative to all the 3D-Modeling Packages one has to pay for.

Not only that, Blender is not only widely considered the most popular and viable alternative to free 3D-Modeling packages, it also often shows up in lists where it holds it own against the PAID modeling packages on the market.

This puts Blender above other free 3D Modeling programs which do not receive this same amount of this recognition. Other Free Modeling programs are decidedly more niche while Blender got the honor of releasing a movie on Netflix made almost ENTIRELY out of its software. An honor that no other Free-To-Use 3D-Modeling Program has to date.

(A still from aforementioned Next Gen movie)

And top of that, Blender has a cornucopia of tutorials available on Youtube in a variety of languages, and not only on Youtube, there are also courses available on learning platforms such as Skillshare and Udemy. And not only that, one can even find COLLEGE COURSES focused on learning how to use Blender. Not to mention that it also has plenty commercial instruction books available teaching people how to use it.

This puts Blender a head above just being a “Free Alternative to other Commercial Products” and being seen as a viable 3D-Modeling tool in general. Especially for people who are low on funds or at least put themselves on a budget.

The fact that Blender is this fully-functional and on par with other modeling packages all while being on their same level means that Blender has a very important role in lowering the barrier of entry for the general public.

Because there are many people in life who either cannot or do not want to spend a lot of money on a software program that is extremely expensive, especially if they are just starting out or dabbling.

Blender also has a dedicated community of users all across the world, meaning that if they have questions regarding it, they can easily go onto forums many places online to ask their Blender-related questions and get some relatively quick and reliable answers. And even outside of asking questions, they also share photos of their various projects and the like.

And on top of being able to share progress of their projects or even rendered photos, Blender also allows users to sell their finished work if they so choose. And if one is skilled enough with it, they can possibly use Blender as a very economically feasible way to make some money on the side, and if they’re really prolific, make their main flow of income.

Not only is Blender fully free to use, it is fully free to distribute and even edit and modify to ones liking underneath the GNU General Public License, and one can even distribute these edited versions of Blender.

Blender is a truly influential program that has lowered the bar of entry of 3D-Art for many people and it continues to do so to this very day.

[media-analysis-blog]

Hop 2 The House Music

What is House Music? Where did it come from? What are the origins? And what are its effects today?

Well, House Music music is a genre of electric dance music that is known to be up-tempo with four-on-the-floor beats that usually range from 115 to 130 beats per minute.

The style actually has its origins in Chicago in early-to-mid 80′s. And the name is said to come from a Chicago club named the “Warehouse” that operated between 1977 to 1983 when the club shut down. This club’s attendants were primarily black. 

One of the credited “inventors of this style of music” was Frankie Knuckles, born Francis Warren Nicholls Jr. He was a DJ at the Warehouse, and he was known for splicing together records to make them longer to be able to satiate the club goers. Knuckles, for this reason, has been known as the “Godfather of House”.

And as for the “first ever House Music record”, it is naturally hard to pinpoint exactly, but according to Discogs, a well-known music archiving site as well as marketplace for records both rare and common, the honor usually goes to the House Music Pioneer Jesse Saunders’ record called “On And On” that was recorded in 1983 and released in early 1984.

But as for House Music’s stylistic influences, what are they? Well, House Music is actually an offshoot genre of Disco, a genre that was extremely popular and was pretty much ubiquitous in the mid-to-late 1970′s, and despite what popular belief has led many to believe, have actually survived into the 1980′s and beyond in various other forms such as Post-Disco, Italo-Disco/Eurodisco, Hi-NRG, and naturally, House Music.

This is evident since House Music and Disco share many similarities; they both are known to be forms of dance music that rely on four-on-the-floor beats and they both originally served a niche of people, usually people like people of color, sexual minorities, and women, before spreading out to the mainstream.

One of House Musics big breaks into the mainstream came from the late 1980′s  song called “Pump Up The Jam” by the Belgian techno music project called Technotronic. And it was a smash hit all across Europe, going number one in Spain, Portugal, Norway, Belgium (the band’s home country), and Iceland, going number two in the United Kingdom, Austria, Switzerland, and Greece.

And the song even managed to be a massive success across the pond. It managed to become number two in the United States and managed to hit number one in Canada.

In the same year, the Italian house music project, Black Box, released the track Ride On Time, sampling Loleatta Holloway’s popular disco song “Love Sensation”, and it became a smash success in Europe, notably going to number one in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

These two smash successes of songs opened the pathway for house music to get a strong foot hold in the 90′s, many believing this to be the Golden Age of House Music.

One phenomenal example of this big break is Robin S’s song “Show Me Love”. Originally released in 1990 in the UK, but later remixed by Swedish producers StoneBridge and Nick Nice, which is the version most are familiar with and the version that received the most popularity, “Show Me Love” was a smash hit in both the Americas and Europe.

Outside of even “Show Me Love”, there were various other house songs that muscled their way into the mainstream. These other mainstream-hits were “Finally” by CeCe Peniston, “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up” (both done by the aforementioned Black Box), “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by C+C Music Factory, and “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)” by Crystal Waters.

And it wasn’t just strictly house acts that were making house the mainstream phenomenon at the time, but also established acts outside of house also helped with making house a mainstream smash. One such act is Pop Star Madonna, who herself got her start in dance music in her earlier career, released a house smash called “Vogue” from her album “I’m Breathless”.

The song itself being a stark departure from the “Speakeasy Chanteuse” feel that Madonna was going for on the album, but regardless, it was a tremendous hit and also helped bring not only house music to forefront into the mainstream, but also brought the vogue dance, which was mostly confined to gay clubs, into the mainstream. Not only that, but also the song is the most recognizable and popular song on the album.

And from the Golden Age, House Music made its mark on the Dance Music world in general and is still a popular form of music. It is very remarkable how a very niche genre of music from exclusive clubs in Chicago has grown into this worldwide phenomenon enjoyed by many and continues to be a strong influence on the dance music scene.

[media-analysis-blog]

Shock Jockeys, the Controversial Cowboys on the Open Range of Media

What is a shock jock? The most common definition is that a shock is a radio personality who are known for their inflammatory or provocative commentary.  Shock jocks are often known to be rather controversial figures and often get into trouble from the inflammatory things they say.

The prototypical shock jock is known to be Petey Greene, an African American radio host from Washington D.C. who started his radio show in 1966 often covering various topics such as racism, drug use, poverty, as well as other events. And he was known to talk about them in a smart-talking kind of manner.

However, the term was not used during Greene’s career and actually got its legs during a later time. Howard Stern, who was influenced by the aforementioned Peter Greene, is one of the first people who was described as a shock jock during the beginning of his career.

(Pictured here, Howard Stern, one of the first people described as shock jock)

The shock jock first got their appeal during a time when people wanted to rise up against the censorship laws that felt was restricting freedom to express more raw and more authentic views.  

Outside of Howard Stern, another example of these figures is Rush Limbaugh, a highly controversial, conservative political commentator and radio host who is known for a variety highly controversial viewpoints and behavior. 

It is no surprise that figures like Stern and Limbaugh came about around the time of the abolishing of the FCC Fairness Doctrine in 1987 which demanded radio presenters to be impartial and unbiased.

Before that, presenters were encouraged from reporting on controversial topics in a manner that allows for multiple perspectives to be recognized and not to add too much of their own bias.

However, once the doctrine was relaxed in 1987, presenters were more free to express their own biases and perspectives, and they were allowed to deliver their message in anyway they wanted to, in comes the shock reporting.

When shock jocks first made some rounds they were extremely popular with listeners. Part of the reason they got some much popularity was because unlike the conventional reporter, shock jocks often times had dirty mouths and sometimes told “blue jokes”, which to the public at the time, was quite, excuse the pun, shocking.

And due to this, this caught some ears, people were often interested in this form of radio presenter who wasn't afraid to be brash and brazen. It was a stark contrast to the more straight-laced and professional types that were more common at the time.

But of course, this did not come without any problems, shock jocks, although having quite the audience, often found themselves in trouble with some of the shocking things that they say. This trouble may lead to them actually losing their jobs.

One such example of this is when Anthony Cumia, one half the Anthony and Opie show, a show well-known for their shock jock hosts, was fired at one point by Sirius XM after what could be perceived as a racist rant against black women on Twitter.

Although this happened on Twitter and not on the Anthony and Opie show, this still shows that sometimes even people who are known for their rather brazen and often times offensive words and attitudes don’t ALWAYS come out clean.

Another example of this was in 1992, Howard Stern said something quite offensive regarding the Aunt Jemima brand (now, as of this writing, is the Pearl Milling Company). He said “ The closest I came to making love to a black woman was I masturbated to a picture of Aunt Jemima on a pancake box.”

This rather racy and racially charged comment has gotten Stern and Infinity Broadcasting, a company he was presenting his show on at the time, charged $600,000.

And three years later, in 1995, Stern has gotten in hot water with not only Selena’s fans, Selena being a famous singer who was tragically murdered by Yolanda Salvidar, but also the Hispanic community of America at that time.

While Selena’s fan were mourning for the tragically murdered singer, Stern was noted for playing gunshots (for context Saldivar shot Selena in the back) over Selena’s music. And he also was noted for mocking Selena’s fan with a fake Hispanic accent, and later stated, “Spanish people have a weird taste in music...this music [Selena’s] does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul”.

Naturally, the Hispanic community of America were not pleased with his comments, prompting Stern to later issue an on-air apology in Spanish.

This shows that the very qualities that made the shock jocks popular in the first place will also land them in some hot water.

But despite the controversy their brazen personalities and words bring, it is no doubt that shock jocks have introduced a new type of expression to radio and media in general.

The shock jocks ushered in radio hosts who often speak their minds on certain issues all while offering their own flavor to it. This influence goes beyond the radio, one can still feel the influence of the shock jocks in podcasters, especially ones who are known to express their opinions in confrontational ways.

In conclusion, the relaxation of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 could be considered as the groundwork for a Radio Revolution, one which the shock led, changing radio hosting in a major way.

[media-analysis-blog]

Yellow Journalism and the Reactionary Response to Firing of Gina Carano

To many in the know, Gina Carano is an actress and former mixed martial artist who worked on Disney's the Mandalorian before she was fired by Disney due in part by some controversial and inflammatory posts on the social media platform Twitter.

The posts in question were posts mocking the need to use masks during the Covid-19 Pandemic, posts where she got into heated debates with people who questioned Carano's lack of support of the Black Lives Matter movement,  putting "beep/bop/boop" in her Twitter bio as a response to fans who asked her to specify her preferred pronouns, a move many consider transphobic. Though at first claiming her statement wasn't an attack on trans people, Carano later apologized for this, citing that actor Pedro Pascal helped her understand preferred pronouns.

In addition to these, Carano also came under fire for sharing a post that compared "hating somebody for their political views" to the Holocaust, a move many have interpreted that as Carano implying that American Conservatives were going through the same treatment as Jews in Nazi Germany. A move that was the tipping point to her losing her job at Lucasfilm, owned by Disney.

To many, Carano's firing can be seen as a result of her own irresponsible behavior and that Lucasfilm and Disney were well within in their right to let Carano go. They are a private business after all, and private businesses are allowed to dismiss any employee they deem is not following company rules, and in turn, potentially hurt their profits. So to many outside of a particular sphere of people that this blog will discuss, Carano's firing could be seen as something that is typical of anybody getting fired. The right-leaning Reactionary Sphere thinks differently.

The Reactionary Sphere, which is overwhelmingly Conservative, has since taken the news of Carano's firing and portraying it as a strictly political move done by a Disney. Some have, such as GOP Senator Ted Cruz, held Carano as a victim of "Cancel Culture". And this in turn led into campaigns led by conservatives to urge people to cancel Disney+, the platform where the Mandalorian airs. In turn, they have made Carano a symbol of some sorts of the Right's struggle against the Left in the Culture War.

Internet Culture War has been a hot-button topic for the Reactionary Conservatives for quite some time. It has generated viewership on right-leaning Youtube Channels (many of which has covered the Carano-Firing), traffic to right-leaning websites such as the Daily Wire, which has plenty of articles dedicated to Carano and her departure from Disney, and clearly whipped up a firestorm of debate, not just for Carano, but anybody else the Reactionary Right deems a victim of Cancel Culture.

Although there is a debate to have about Cancel Culture, its impact, or whether or not it is fairly applied in certain cases or not, however the topic is often a favorite topic of the right-leaning Reactionary Sphere because it is a breeding ground for sensationalized "Yellow Journalism". For Carano's case, and similar cases like her where somebody deemed on "their side" ever loses a job or gets banned from a certain platform.

They tend to simplify the situation involved and present it as an Us vs Them situation for their audience. In this case, Carano represents the right-leaning types as many of them share her genuine or perceived view on masks and Black Lives Matter. Many right-wingers, barring some LGBTQ persons on the right, have expressed various forms of homophobia and transphobia and have made similar mockeries of including pronouns in bios. And since Disney is a cooperation that is seen as "progressive" by many right-leaning people, them firing Carano fits well in their Right vs Left Culture War narrative and guarantees the right-leaning commentators plenty of viewership from their angered audience.

This is indeed a form of Yellow Journalism because it follows the criteria of "if it bleeds, it leads". Carano's firing from the Mandalorian due to her less-than-stellar behavior on the internet is the perfect "blood" as it were. And also, the idea of getting fired for having differing political beliefs is something that could possibly ignite a sense of righteous anger in anybody, let alone somebody leaning on the right. And also, like many sensationalist journalism, they pay no heed that it is not too uncommon for companies like Disney to fire employees for employees' unprofessional behavior in and out of the workplace to remove nuance and keep the situation surrounding Carano an Us-Vs-Them narrative that'll generate more buzz and therefor more clicks on their articles or views on their videos.

And that is essentially what sensationalized Yellow Journalism is about at the end of the day: catching attention. And to many Yellow Journalist, they will catch more attention with sensationalized narratives that simplify the situation, especially simplifying to an Us vs. Them narrative, than with reporting that explores many more facets than what is on the surface. Because it is what is on the surface that draws the most attention.