What the Heck is Social Media?

Because of the new developments of technology and the way people communicate with each other, a now form of media called social media, has emerged. Basically it's media that is shared or communicated through social interaction. However, this type of social interaction is mostly done online or with the use of the Internet. If in the past, media was communicated by means of a monologue style of deliverance, social media uses actual dialogues between the audience and media provider.

The different types of socialized media are concept, media and social interface. Concept social media refers to those that are in the form of art, information and meme. Whereas there is also physical, electronic or verbal social media. While social interface media refers to social media that is either intimate, direct, uses community engagement, is social viral, electronic, broadcasted, syndicated or physical media.

There are various forms that this new media is expressed. These are either by way of concepts or slogans that are designed so as to make sure that they are on the awareness of the audience at all times. Grass roots social-media meanwhile is done by speaking to the audience publicly, setting up installations, doing performances or making demonstrations.

There is also social-media in the form of electronic media, wherein the media can be shared; there is electronic media that is syndicated as well as social media that is done via search algorithm techniques. Meanwhile, print media is media that is meant to be circulated as well as distributed and redistributed.
Social media is distinct from industrial media, such as newspapers, television, and film. At the same time it is relatively inexpensive and has accessible tools that enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information, industrial media generally requires significant resources to publish information.

Examples of industrial media issues include a printing press or a government-granted spectrum license.
In order to fully understand the concept of social media more intimately, let us compare it with traditional forms or media. The more traditional forms of media are mainly broadcast or mass media. Although both forms of media, traditional and social, are able to effectively reach a wide audience in almost all parts of the world, media that is social is more accessible to people of all classes.

The reason why social media is infinitely more accessible is because it has tools are often free or available at a low cost. For example, the Internet is now being offered at a very low price to most audiences. In fact, many people are able to access the Internet for free, because of the availability of free wireless internet access in most places or locations today.

Meanwhile, traditional forms of media require subscriptions, such as cable television, magazines, newspapers and the like. Therefore, if there is a choice between having to shell out money for information or getting it for free, as with social media, the general audience will choose to get the information they desire for free.

Moreover, in order to engage in traditional forms of media, expertise and great skills are required. People expect more from people who write articles in newspapers and magazines, as opposed to someone who writes down his daily thoughts in an online blog. Therefore, there are less inhibitions and restrictions when it comes to expressing oneself in the realm of social digital media.

Social media is also oftentimes more updated and more accurate than the information that traditional media offers. The reason for this is that social media is released almost as soon as it is typed or uploaded online. And if there are any mistakes or corrections to be done, it can easily be corrected right away as well. There is no need to wait for the printing press to publish all those newspapers and magazines anymore.

Peter Humleker is the Founder and President of Miami Internet Marketing. We specialize in helping local small businesses explode their website traffic using the Internet, Mobile, and Social Media marketing. Get our free report, "7 Profit Killing Mistakes Small Businesses Make" at our website Miami Internet Marketing dot com!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Fox News to Replace Beck With 'The Five'

The Fox News Channel’s temporary replacement for Glenn Beck will be a talk show featuring a rotating panel of opinionated people.

The channel announced the new show, called “The Five,” just two hours before Mr. Beck’s final broadcast. Since April, when Mr. Beck and Fox reached an agreement to end his 5 p.m. political talk show, there has been speculation that the channel would schedule an interim news or talk program in its place.

Fox News said “The Five” would feature a “roundtable ensemble of five rotating FOX personalities who will discuss, debate and at times debunk the hot news stories, controversies and issues of the day.”

By bringing on a rotating group of people, Fox avoids any direct ratings comparisons between Mr. Beck and any single replacement host.

Mr. Beck often attracted more than two million viewers to the channel’s 5 p.m. time slot, a rating that no cable news channel had ever regularly seen at that hour before.

Among the people involved in “The Five:” Greg Gutfeld, who is host of an overnight talk show for Fox; Juan Williams, who is a regular on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor;” Dana Perino, a former spokeswoman for the Bush White House; and Andrew Napolitano, the host of a libertarian talk show on the Fox Business Network.

The others named by Fox in a news release were Geraldo Rivera, Andrea Tantaros, Eric Bolling, Monica Crowley, Bob Beckel and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

“The Five” will start on July 11. For the week of July 4, Fox will repeat some of Mr. Beck’s old shows.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Obama to Host 'Twitter Town Hall'

2:00 p.m. | Updated President Obama will welcome some of his Twitter followers to the White House next week for a Twitter Town Hall, where he will answer questions about jobs and the economy that people across the country can begin posting today, using the hashtag, #askobama.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and executive chairman who recently returned to the company, will be the moderator of the event, to be held Wednesday afternoon in the East Room.  He will pose the questions to Mr. Obama who will answer them for about an hour in front of two gigantic screens that will display the conversation on Twitter in real time.

It will be streamed live at http://askobama.twitter.com and http://wh.gov/live.

Twitter will select the questions, using curation tools and a group of Twitter users to help identify the most popular questions raised both before and during the event. Twitter will be relying on its own search and curation features as well as a company called Mass Relevance to help find questions and topics that are most frequently mentioned.

Macon Phillips, special assistant to the president and director of digital strategy, said that the event was an opportunity for the Mr. Obama to use the Twitter platform to hear directly from people outside of Washington.

“Twitter offers a compelling way to not only get information out but also to understand what people have to say about an issue,” he said. “That is why we are doubling down on our online engagement efforts.”

Earlier this year, Mr. Obama visited Facebook’s headquarters in California and fielded questions from Marc Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer. The event was live streamed and the questions and answers were displayed on Facebook’s platform.

Mr. Phillips said that there has been a new emphasis on using social media platforms throughout the federal government to help bolster customer service efforts as well as deliver, listen and collect information.

“It is a tool that helps people do their jobs,” Mr. Phillips said. “All of the people who have official White House accounts would tell you that it is a really helpful way to engage with people and bring in new ideas and be aware of new issues that they otherwise might have missed.”

Earlier this month, members of Mr. Obama’s campaign team announced that he would be posting his own tweets on the @barackobama Twitter account from time to time, signing them, BO. With more than eight million followers, that account is used primarily for his re-election efforts while the @whitehouse account is used for administration news and updates.

Adam Sharp, Twitter’s manager of government and political partnerships, said that the curators chosen by Twitter to help select the questions would be a politically and geographically diverse group. He said the curators would ask the people in their communities to highlight what they think are the most important questions for the president to address.

Curators will also be reposting questions and posting their own.

“We will have highly-engaged Twitter users from around the country to provide that geographic diversity to help identify good questions, “ he said. “This helps us make sure that we are addressing the concerns that the Twitter universe cares about. “

To participate, Twitter users need to include the hashtag #askObama when posting their question.  All questions with the hashtag will be included in the selection process. If Web users do not yet have a Twitter account, they can visit http://askobama.twitter.com to sign up and join the discussion.

For those @WhiteHouse followers who want to be considered to attend the Tweetup next week, they can sign up online at  http://WhiteHouse.gov/Tweetup, according to Kori Schulman, deputy director of digital content, Office of Digital Strategy.

Ms. Schulman, who is the person behind the @whitehouse account, said that the goal was to have more events at the White House so that posters can engage more with senior administration officials and with each other.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Future Jobs in Advertising Will Be Dominated by Media - Polish Up Your Media Resume!

Jobs in the advertising industry declined during the recession of 2008-2010, but now appear to be increasing again. Looking at the advertising jobs of the future, we believe media will dominate job growth. Available jobs will involve media planning, buying, and sales for both traditional and new media. Integrated communications will be key.

In terms of job opportunities, there are three basic functions which media professionals perform to connect ad messages with target markets: media planning, buying, and sales. To prepare for an advertising job, job seekers should develop a good understanding of media planning, media buying, and media sales for both traditional and digital media. (The future is integrated marketing and media.)

1. Media Planning

Media planning is the process of developing an effective media strategy and action plan involving use of both traditional and digital media.

The planning process first begins with an analysis of the marketing situation. Then, second, based on marketing priorities, media objectives are formulated that detail exactly what the media plan is supposed to accomplish, for example, including the definition and prioritization of target audiences the media plan must reach.

Third,strategies are formulated which will most effectively accomplish the media objectives. Finally, based on the media strategies, a detailed tactical plan is developed.

The media strategy and action plan incorporate the right media classes, the right media vehicles, the right geographic markets, the right timing, the right budget, the right number of advertising exposures, in the right media contexts, and so on. In so doing, media planning contemplates how traditional, digital, alternative, and marketing services media can help best address marketing problems or capitalize on marketing opportunities.

The end result of the process is a media plan, often called the tactical plan. The media plan details the recommendations and detailed rationale for all media activities and spending. For example, the plan may propose the use of magazines as the important medium for some particular advertising. The recommendation would include how much money should be spent in magazines vs. other media, in which months or weeks ads should be scheduled, and, of course, which specific magazines are most cost effective and best meet the magazine selection criteria.

Of course, media plans must also include other proposed media/marketing activities such as geographic market areas which should receive supplemental media spending, how often the consumer should be reached with advertising, as well as how the advertising should be scheduled throughout the year or planning period.

A media planner is someone who develops or supervises the development of media plans through a rigorous media planning process. The media planner may occupy any level in the organization; responsibility, not title, defines the job.

Now, imagine that you are a media planner. You have $3 million to market your product to male beer drinkers. An analysis of media alternatives for reaching this audience suggests these three potential strategies.

1. If you bought one:30 spot in the Super Bowl for $3 million, you would reach almost 33% of male beer drinkers all at the same time.

2. If you bought fifteen:30 spots on male-oriented, primetime, network TV programs, you could reach 65% of male beer drinkers more than once with 35% of them reached at least twice.

3. If you spent half your budget for display ads on male-oriented websites and the other half in men's magazines, you would reach 63% of males twice each, on average, but in different media contexts.

Question: Which option would you choose? Why?

2. Media Buying

Media buying is the second type of job available in advertising and the advertising media area. People who buy media are simply called media buyers. Media buyers may be generalists or may specialize in buying specific media: broadcast or print or digital.

After the media plan has been approved by the client, the media included in the plan must be purchased from the media sellers. Buying is the process of identifying the preferred media vehicles, then negotiating with selling media to reach a satisfactory price and other important terms and conditions. The transaction is called a media buy, and the person who negotiated the transaction with the seller is called a media buyer.

Typically included in the list of negotiable items are price, additional time or space units, positioning of the ad or commercial within the media vehicle, inclusion of higher quality and more effective media vehicles, and value added features such as billboards (broadcast), turnkey promotions, merchandising assistance, programs to involve sales force and customers, and so on.

You might be a buyer with a budget and instructions to buy a specific display ad on the home page of a major search engine, for example. You find that the budget is sufficient to buy an ad on the home page of either AOL or Yahoo but not both. You therefore ask each of the sellers to submit a proposal, and you negotiate with both of them until one offers you desirable inventory at an acceptable price. After negotiating with the sellers, you may then select the seller with the lowest price or the best additional enticements. When you have completed the transaction, you have done a media buy!

3. Media Sales

Media sales or selling is the third category of advertising media jobs. All media have sales people who work on the local level selling to local businesses or on the national level selling to national advertisers and advertising agencies. In addition, opportunities exist in media representative firms who often represent media companies in the key markets of the countryt. For example a television station in Hoboken may hire rep firms to do their selling in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Detroit -- or where ever.

What is important here is that media sales will likely be the largest employer of people in the advertising industry, and could be considered by those who have interest in advertising, professional selling and has accrued a little bit of experience in the agency business.

If you were the media seller for AOL in the example above, you might propose a media package consisting of X number of clicks to AOL for the one-time-only price of $5 million. But the Yahoo sales rep would be doing the same thing! Your job would be to come up with an offer better than Yahoo's, including a final price and any other terms and conditions that would induce the media buyer to keep negotiating with you until you can reach a contract.

Media sales persons are usually called media representatives or sales reps. Sales reps may work for the medium (e.g., AOL) or for an independent firm that represents several non-competing media. Sellers communicate with buyers by phone, face-to-face in person or video conference, by mail and e-mail.

Ronald D. Geskey CEO, 2020:MarketingCommunications LLC and author of "Media Planning & Buying in the 21st Century." marketing2020@aol.com

"Media Buying & Planning in the 21st Century" is an excellent primer for those looking for a job in advertising or advertising media. The book discusses many career opportunities which will help readers better understand the advertising and media business so that they can pursue media job opportunities more intelligently. The book covers topics from a practical "how to" standpoint, and unlike many media books, explains issues in plain English.

The author, Ron Geskey has over 30 years of experience at major advertising agencies. He has a B.S. and M.S. from Southern Illinois University, doctoral work at Texas Tech University, and Executive Education at Wharton School of Business, Northwestern University, Michigan State University

Websites: http://www.21stCenturyMediaPlanning.com - http://www.MediaPlanningBuyinginthe21stCentury.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Generating Publicity For Your Business - Knowing Your "Media Market" Is Critical

When starting a successful business venture or launching a new product, most entrepreneurs or business owners conduct some type of marketing research to determine the extent of their prospective customer base. And when getting the word out to that customer base, many entrepreneurs may turn to the media to help generate a buzz for them. However, as detailed as their marketing research might have been, very few business owners are as meticulous at determining their proper "media market" - that is, all those media outlets whose editorial profiles are a match to a product/business profile and would be appropriate for generating media exposure and publicity.

One of my favorite things to do is educate my clients about their "media market." Consider this, in North America there are more than 75,000 media outlets and almost one million reporters, editors & producers in the entire media market. However, only a small percentage of those may be appropriate and applicable to your business/product. But which ones? Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned entrepreneurs are either uninformed or misinformed regarding what it takes to attract media attention for their business. I recently surveyed 100 business owners and entrepreneurs who contacted my business about a publicity/media exposure campaign. Here's what I found:

11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless"

19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Market Perceptions"

29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media"

41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits"

Here are the descriptions of these categories and the lessons I try to teach those who fall into each category:

11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless"

These are the business owners who know their product and market inside and out, BUT they have never thought about launching a publicity/media exposure campaign before now. They know very little about their potential media market or how to generate publicity therein.

The Lesson: For these types of business owners I recommend asking for help from a smaller PR agency or publicity specialist who is willing to "hand hold" to get the client educated. Research to find one who doesn't mind spending the time to educate you about what should be included in your specific media market and the pitch. Make sure the agency or publicist understands the product/business as well as you do and can in turn educate you about your media market - one that will be able to benefit your business for years to come.

--

19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Perceptions"

These are the business owners who are CONVINCED that EVERY newspaper, consumer interest magazine and TV show will run a feature on their new products when they launch a publicity campaign.

The Lesson: No product or business, no matter how big or great can be assured media coverage in every outlet in a media market. But you can get coverage in a good number of them given the right media tending. Every media pitch will be weighed against the media outlet's editorial lead-time, its available editorial space, and availability of an editorial staff member to cover your pitch. It is totally up to the discretion of each media outlet as to whether your pitch makes it to the pages or on air. It can be an uphill battle if you target the wrong media with the wrong message. But you can greatly increase the chances generating those media placements with a little expertise and media market know-how.

--

29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media"

These are the ones who think of their media market in two simple terms: LOCAL & LARGE

LOCAL, as you might imagine, means the media outlets in their city or surrounding geographic region -- the local newspaper, a regional business magazine or two, a few shows at local radio/TV stations. LARGE, on the other hand, are media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, Oprah or your other favorite large circulation, trade specific media outlet.

The Lesson: The reality is local and large are indeed part of your media market, but not the only ones. The best media market opportunities may well be the dozens of other smaller scale papers, magazines, newsletters or TV/radio/cable shows that may generate more customer interest and sales than a placement in the big media might. Because of a lack of media market knowledge, many business owners don't even know these smaller, more targeted media outlets exist. This is where a PR agency or publicity specialist can be integral in your publicity campaign. They know the media market very well and will be able to find those media members who will be the best for generating editorial features on your business or product. They also have great media contacts that can turn one feature into a syndicated story that runs in multiple media outlets nationwide.

--

41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits"

These are media-savvy entrepreneurs and business owners who are realistic and knowledgeable about how the media can benefit their business. They know that they have to narrowcast their media pitch to a select segment of the media in order to get coverage that will increase exposure for the business.

The Lesson: Don't let a PR agency or publicity specialist tell you they will send your pitch to 20,000, 30,000 or 50,000 media outlets. The reality is, of the 8,000 daily & weekly newspapers, 11,000 magazines & newsletters, 15,000 radio/TV/cable stations and 7,000 Internet news sites in North America, only about 25% of those accept press releases from outside their geographic area. They cover only LOCAL issues, businesses and products, and it is a waste of time to target them. The key is researching to discover which media outlets will be receptive to your pitch and knowing how to parlay those media contacts into positive consumer interest features that will educate and entice customers about your product or business.

Just like marketing to find the right customers, one should be equally diligent about finding and pitching the right media market. Bottom line - whether you have a general interest product that has widespread consumer appeal or a trade specific business with a very narrow customer base, knowing your appropriate media market can mean the difference between product/business publicity or product/business obscurity.

About The Author

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions.

http://www.spreadthenewspr.com

todd@spreadthenewspr.com

(785) 842-8909

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

The Whole New Thumbnail Media Planner Experience

How does a media planner or media buyer or advertising account exec or advertising manager come up with credible advertising campaigns and media plans when clients demand increased ROI?

That is why the Thumbnail Media Planner was created. Finally, a media planning and buying guide has arrived. The assistance it can provide for media planners and media buyers is very valuable and essential. The Thumbnail Media Planner is a marketing media reference that provides key advertising statistics and media research into the media industry. The media plan guide provides information which allows media planners, media buyers, advertising account executives and advertisers develop the best media exposure strategies.

The Thumbnail Media Planner provides information regarding advertising costs-- media rates-- and other key data in a convenient 104 page media research pocket reference. In client meetings, the media planner does not have to grapple with papers to immediately answer questions raised during meetings. The Thumbnail Media Planner is indispensable in new business presentations. As a consequence, the Thumbnail Media Planner increases the media planner or media buyer's professional image and productivity. This media planning guide gives the ad agencies, advertisers and media sales representatives the upper hand on understanding today's media landscape and media costs trends. The media information, solutions and answers are amalgamated into an expedient media planning marketing media reference.

In an effort to attract prospective clients and maintain customers, ad agencies, advertisers and other media practitioners are searching for ways to secure favorable public opinion for their clients. To do so at fast pace and less errors, the media planning guide for marketing media reference has been launched to make their work more creative to result in increased client's profitability.

The job in advertising and public relations is a killing pace albeit exciting. Being creative on a tight schedule can be emotionally stressful. Meeting deadlines and eventually working long hours can sometimes result in being burnt out. The media plan guide, the Thumbnail Media Planner, was created for the purpose of assisting the media planners, media buyers, advertising account executives, advertisers, and media sales reps. Using this marketing media reference improves media planning, saves time and improves productivity.

Working under strict time constraints are alleviated. Hectic lifestyle can be put in check to maintain good health. The media planner provides an advantage for media practitioners by way of readiness and solutions to media planning questions. Media rates and data can be given in due time. It can provide the chance to delve into options before time and effort will go to naught.

The superior communication skills and abilities required by the job can be honed to an advantage. The media plan guide and the marketing guide reference the talent can be easily put to good use. The media planner complements and supports what ever abilities the media practitioner possesses. It also boosts training without attending formal classroom education. In just one set, whatever the ad agencies, advertisers and the rest of the media world require as support for their already big job.

It also affords a character change and attitude on the part of the media practitioners. Makes them look and sounds professional in their dealings with clients and prospective customers.

The media plan guide and the marketing guide reference the talent can be easily put to good use. Visit online resource for Media Rates and Data

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

American Mainstream Media - Player Or Tool?

Many different types of communication tools, such as the TV, cinema, radio, newspapers and magazines, web sites and the music industry, can be classified as media. An important issue relating American media is the concept of "concentration of media ownership". This concept implies that the ownership of most of America's media lay in the hands of a few media conglomerates, who both earn huge sums of money through advertising and sale of copyrighted material, and, at the same time, are considered as important global players, regarding the fact that they influence people's views about their surrounding world to a large extent.

But on the other hand, some argue that instead of being powerful players, the American media are in fact tools in the hands of the government. In this paper, each theory will be investigated to see which one better describes the role of media in both the American society and also the world.

It is claimed that there is no stronger power in the world than the American public opinion, and this public opinion is itself shaped by the media, so media can be regarded as taking the place of the powerful kings and popes of the past centuries (National Vanguard Books, 2004). There are many different ways through which media carefully shapes people's opinions. It provides its audience with an image of the world, and then tells them what and how to think about that image. By stereotyping, the media also tell people how to think and judge about others (this others can refer to different races, women...). The media also plays its role by concentrating on certain stories and issues, while omitting others.

Among other communication media, the television is the most influential, regarding the fact that people spend a lot of time watching TV, probably much more than they spend on other media, such as the cinema or newspapers. According to a survey by Mediamark Research, 98% of Americans have a television, while only 79% are newspaper readers. Three examples of how public opinion is shaped by American media are:

- middle east news, and how the Arab-Israeli conflict is portrayed

- the 9/11 events and the wars that followed

- racial issues

The government has always declared the media to be a power that doesn't always act in the right way. The conservatives have always complained that the US media have been unpatriotic and not supportive of government's foreign policy, or simply too liberal.

The Media Research Center has carried out a study on the role of media on the war on terror, from such a conservative viewpoint. The report gives examples of why the American media have not reported the war and relating issues in the correct way:

- Peter Jennings of ABC, in a live program 2 days after the 9/11 attacks stated: "the US might no longer be a free country" and he also claimed that civil liberties have been suspended in the country.

- The "US Patriot Act" was reflected in a way by the media that made it look like some form of unconstitutional "snooping into the lives of ordinary Americans".

- In the case of moving of Al-Qaede prisoners to Guantanamo Bay, media reported that they had been tortured, and should have access to civilian courts.

- When the New York Times revealed that the NSA (National Security Agency) was monitoring phone calls, it made it look like a threat to civil liberties. (Rich Noyes, 2006)

There are other studies that have used the war on terror to conclude that the media in America have been independent players, and not controlled by the government.

Jim Kuypers is a political communication researcher who claims that the mainstream media intentionally reflected the speeches of President Bush in a biased manner. Kuyper claims that "if someone were relying only on the mainstream media for information, they would have no idea what the president actually said. It was as if the press were reporting on a different speech." He concludes the US media to be an "anti-democratic institution". (Kuypers, 2006)

Other writers have claimed that the media have concentrated too much on the government's failures and weaknesses during the war. (Lustick, 2006)

Opposing this "media as power" theory which portrays the US media as an independent power, calls it the "Fourth Estate", and claims that journalists are more influential than any government official in setting the public (and sometimes foreign) agenda, are the "media as tool" advocates.

Two important points helps understand why the media are referred to as a tool:

- the media is dependant on the government for the information that it can obtain, and that it can call credible

- the media can criticize the government only within certain parameters that are acceptable to the government and its notion of national security

These facts are said to turn the media into a public relations arm of the US government. (Edward, 1993)

Again, the war on terror would be an interesting context in which the role of media can be studied, this time with the "media as tool" viewpoint.

The concept of "embedded journalism" appeared during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and proved to be a good way to keep reporters content and controlled at the same time. The media put pressure on the government to allow them better access to battlegrounds; they were not pleased with the way they were shut down from information in case of Afghanistan, and also the way they were censored in the Gulf War. And pentagon made the best out of all this, as Lt. Col. Rick Long of the U.S. Marine Corps put it: "Frankly, our job is to win the war. Part of that is information warfare. So we are going to attempt to dominate the information environment." (Kahn, 2004)

In this project, reporters signed contracts with the military which limited what they were allowed to report. Reporters were embedded in selected military units, and so shared their everyday lives with soldiers, and relied on them to get them to the place they wanted, and they usually didn't have access to any other source other than the military.

A Penn State study reveals that this project did affect the number and the type of stories that were published by major newspapers, and the result was that more articles about the U.S. soldiers' personal lives and fewer ones about the impact of the war on Iraqi civilians were printed in the 754 news articles that were analyzed in this study. (Linder, 2006)

It can be concluded that the media can enjoy a certain degree of independence, provided that they don't cross certain red lines, and remain faithful to certain notions that are important to the US government. American media is not just a "power" or a "tool", but a powerful tool that can be used in a very affective way by the government, if only they can come up with clever ideas and projects, like the "embedded journalism" project. In the "Information Age" (Hess and Kalb, 2003), tactics like hiding the whole story or direct censoring will certainly be ineffective. The US government surely will evaluate its "embedding strategy" and might come up with new and innovative ideas in order to reflect issues and events in its own way, and stay in control of this powerful soft tool.

Bibliography:

1. Edward, Herman, The media's role in U.S. foreign policy (Power of the Media in the Global System), Journal of International Affairs, June 1993

2. Hess, Stephen and Kalb, Martin, The Media and the War on Terrorism, Brookings Institution Press, 2003

3. Kahn, Jeffery, Postmortem: Iraq war media coverage dazzled but it also obscured, NewsCenter, 18 March 2004

4. Kuypers, Jim, Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , October 28, 2006

5. Lustick, Ian S., Trapped in the War on Terror. University of Pennsylvania Press, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006

6. Linder, Andrew, Study on Embedded Journalism, The Pennsylvania State University, 2006

7. Noyes, Rich, MRC research director, The Media vs. The War on Terror: How ABC, CBS, and NBC Attack America's Terror-Fighting Tactics as Dangerous, Abusive and Illegal, September 11, 2006

8. Research staff of National Vanguard Books, Who Rules America? The Alien Grip Our News and Entertainment Media Must Be Broken, November 2004

Elham Kadkhodaee

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.