That's a good question. Well it's pretty evident mass media has interrupted our lives at full speed and has no intention of slowing down. The way we receive our news, view our news, read our news, is constantly changing. It's not only all about newspapers, magazines, and other print publications anymore. No, no, there's much more to it than that. The method by which the average citizen has acquired his or her political knowledge has at the least quintupled in number, and our political efficacy and attentiveness is being shaped by all these new practices which have been introduced by way of technology: ever advancing digital television, twitter, youtube, blogs on the internet, Facebook, other social networking sites, etc. They're all shaping the average American's values. But it appears for the most part, majorities of people were becoming somewhat turned off by what they saw daily in the spectrum of 'media politics'. Positions taken by anchors were becoming too extreme, too biased, so much so that no one could trust the news, especially not media news. But in 1999, a man many known as 'The Daily Show host', John Stewart, became the host of that exact program, The Daily Show, and spawned the arrival of a new genre; the satirical news comedy show interview program or what have you. Well it turned out to be brilliant. The hard nosed programs of Bill O' Reilly, Wolf Blitzer and the like were being challenged by a comedian, an intelligent comedian at that. But the real question remained; were people actually learning anything about important updates in our nation's political history? Has political attentiveness and efficacy increased due to the 'soft news' programs that include The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, even late night talk shows? Are market segments that include young adults and the less affluent voting more, participating more? Whether or not these people are, who has the edge presently in shaping the average American's opinions? Well your here to find out and i'm here to tell you.
If you are not familiar with what is regarded as ‘soft news’ check out the Daily Show website and news updates at:
If your looking for some new information regarding recent developments in Communications technology or just curious about the idea of mass media, check out the Communications department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
If you’re curious about Media Studies in general, check out the Communication Department’s blog at the U-M as well.
All Studies conducted at the University of Michigan Communications Department located at the North Quadrangle.
