Sports and the Media; Conclusion

     Professional athletes in America are portrayed as heroes when they're playing their respective sports, especially to children. That is, until an athlete does something off the field to demonize them. This opens the door for the media to expose their dark deeds, no longer portraying the athletes as heroes, but more like villains. Five years ago, allegations of Tiger Woods cheating on his wife surfaced, tainting the golf superstar's image and, ultimately, hurting his career. Woods was already quiet and stand offish to the media, but afterward he became quite hostile when reporters would bring up the incident.
     Yesterday, Dan Jenkins from Golf Digest magazine wrote a satiric article titled 'My (Fake) Interview with Tiger*' with the subtitle '*or how it plays out in my mind.' The article is essentially a parody, taking comedic jabs at Tiger's past and Jenkins' portrayal of how he thought Tiger would honestly answer the questions. Woods, somewhat unsurprisingly, did not laugh at the article. In Woods' dissent to the article, however, he brought the issue back into the limelight, causing major networks like CNN to talk about the parody article and the incident that occurred 5 years ago, when most people basically forgot about it by now. The media is oddly powerful in swaying the mood of a country towards an athlete or other public figure.
     On the other hand, many athletes also do their best to stay away from the media, even if it costs them. Marshawn Lynch, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, recently got fined $100,000 for refusing to talk to the media after a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. This was Lynch's second major avoidance of the media. When Lynch does talk to the media, it is very brief and often off topic. In an interview prior to Super Bowl 48, Lynch said to the media "I'm just here so I don't get fined." I wish more athletes would have this mentality towards the media; where they do their talking on the field, and have as little exposure off the field/court/ice etc. as possible. This would allow athletes to worry strictly about their performance, and not about becoming TV personalities or celebrities through self promotion.

     Throughout this blog, I have learned how significant of a role the media plays in everyday life, especially on a social aspect. Today's culture revolves around the media and electronics, giving major news outlets and media entities the power of deciding how to distribute and spin information to the people. The manner and mode of publishing news and information drastically impacts society and their understanding of what is truly going on. It will be interesting to see how media outlets continue to adapt to the fast changing nature of electronics and technology.

Midterm Elections Coverage

            The 2014-midterm elections brought with it a great amount of hype and build from the media. Many outlets provided extensive coverage and analysis as the polls closed across the country, making predictions and observations as the night went on. I, myself, watched CNN most of the night. The first thing I thought was odd that CNN did was their use of the Empire State Building in New York City in revealing which party controlled the Senate. As Wolf Blitzer explained, whichever party reached the 51-seat majority, the building would illuminate in their party’s color. I thought this was odd because I questioned how other countries would view this. Most industrialized countries do not have two-party governments, so their elections are most likely much more hectic and open. I envisioned other countries viewing this act with the building as a similar action, say, after a revolutionary group gains control over an oppressive government. I may have been the only person to think this way, but I found it odd for CNN to use the Empire State Building as a symbol of our governmental power struggle.

            Another interesting thing I noticed throughout the night was the speed at which CNN and other media outfits were able to make predictions on races and call them one way or another. For example, the Pryor-Cotton race was called by CNN as soon as the polls closed in Arkansas. CNN frequently cited exit polls throughout the night, so I assume that the exit polls had a large part to do with these early predictions, as well as early voting and absentee voting.

            As soon as the Republicans reached 51 seats, it seemed as though analysts began to debate how President Obama would work, or not work, with a Republican Congress. I would not be surprised if this were to be the topic of discussion among political media outlets for the next year or two; or at least until talks of 2016 begin to seriously rise to the surface.

Political Protests and the Media

     Third-world countries have become much too familiar with public protests and riots against their governments. From the student protests in Chile, to power struggles in Ukraine, and, most recently, to the protests in Burkina Faso. Many of these protests stem from the public becoming fed up with a dictatorial or repressive government administration. In Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore just resigned from the Presidency due to increasing protests and pressure to end his 27 year reign in office. A large component of the increased pressure was from the riots and raids on Thursday. Many protestors stormed government buildings, including the State TV building. They overthrew the station, allowing them some air time to state their case briefly before the network was turned off.
     Media coverage of protests is a huge factor when it comes to actually enacting change in these demonstrations. Without media coverage, other countries are less likely to apply pressure on the oppressive government, either due to a lack of information, or due to the fact that their citizens most likely aren't aware of what's going on, allowing them to ignore the issue. France, who colonized Burkina Faso, supported the rebels protesting against Compaore's power hold, due to increasing coverage of the events occurring.
     One would think that one thousand voices would silence the voice of one man. However, when that one man has the power to censor and spin those one thousand voices, he is able to go on with his business without outside players intervening. The media is a necessity when it comes to spreading awareness for a cause.