New(s) Media and New(s) Problems - Blog Post #3

              Over this past week and leaking into the current one, entertainment media has been focused on Caitlyn Jenner. I’d like to focus for a minute not on Caitlyn’s story but rather the coverage of the media. Marxist analysis involves looking at any media as amplifiers which usually draw upon widely accepted social ideals to reinforce norms placed by the elite class. As Vanity Fair shared the image with the world and her story, they went against this normal structure, which caused controversy and discussion in the news, papers, and social feeds.

                At first, every news clip I watched seemed to be extremely positive for her decision and focused on that alone, until I noticed a few patterns that exemplify the major problems with how breaking stories are handled today. The image Vanity Fair released of Caitlyn flashes constantly with any sort of coverage, with the bold letters of the company right above her picture. News channels rush to find any developments of controversy concerning the story to help their rating and keep people tuned in. The story turns away from the societal impact and towards objectifying the topic for means of turning heads and branding.

                In the section concerning The Frankfurt School, Berger sates the belief held by this group that mass media prevents “history from playing out as it should have.” Growing up, I always found it odd how different a single news story could be at the time I wake up compared to when I read it again before bed. Media coverage constantly manipulates and shapes facts to draw viewers in, rather than keeping a story focused on its initial points, as can be seen with Caitlyn Jenner.

Source:

Berger, Arthur Asa. Media Analysis Techniques. 5th ed. N.p.: Sage Publications, 2014. Web.