Sandusky Who?

Last week, dozens of Facebook status' clogged up my newsfeed spouting opinions on the Penn State scandal. "JoePa" was flowing off the tongues of people who had never watched a college football game before in their life.

As the indictment news of multiple Penn State employees was revealed, media outlets went wild and the stories poured out- Joe Paterno involved in sex scandal. Joe Paterno to retire at the end of the season. Joe Paterno fired.

Wait, legendary coach Paterno sexually abused multiple boys in the showers at Penn State? Not the case, but if you would have been watching ESPN or any other station covering the scandal last week, it would be easy to think just that.

In the seemingly nonstop coverage of the scandal, Paterno was at the helm. The actual villian here, Jerry Sandusky, was given an almost-free pass from the media.

Sandusky, former coach for the Nittany Lions, was the one who abused those eight boys over multiple years. Mike McQueary, assistant coach, was the one who witnessed Sandusky molesting a young boy in the Penn State showers. Paterno is the one who is getting all the blame.

Now, understand this, I am in absolutely NO way trivializing what happened here or saying that Paterno was in the right by not making sure that Sandusky was punished for his inexcusable actions. In my opinion, all three of these men should be fired and held accountable for their actions, but I don't believe that the media coverage is providing fair coverage.

I would be willing to bet that a significant amount of people thought that Paterno was the alleged assaulter.

If Paterno was not the legendary coach that he is, and was let's say someone like Iowa State's Gene Chizik, would we be getting this same sort of coverage? Would we be hearing more about the president of the college also being fired along with the coach? I'd like to think so.

We, and the media, need to remember that this is bigger than football and bigger than Paterno, no matter how prolific he may be.

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Occupy Wall Street Coverage

The Occupy Wall Street- and now Occupy X city across the country- movement is sweeping the country, thousands of people are participating and facing arrests for standing up against their political unhappiness.

Yet, as I have talked to people around Simpson, many of my peers have either never heard of the movement or know next to nothing about it. How could that be? Are we just a current events illiterate school? I don't think so.

While the mainstream media has picked up its coverage since the beginning of the protests, I still do not think that they are providing ample coverage to this movement that is affecting every part of our nation.

Todd Gitlin, as reported by Mallary Jean Tenore via Poynter.org, is also dissatisfied with the coverage. He calls the coverage "predictable," "lazy," and "the knee-jerk preconceptions."

Gitlin points out that the first thing that the media is doing wrong is "focusing on protesters who look like outcasts." It has been pointed out by those involved in the movement that media is focusing extensively on interviewing those who look odd- "on grungy looking people or people with dreadlocks or people beating drums."

He also advises journalists to look at the larger picture of the movement. The protests are not just isolated events, but a story. Look at how the dots are connected.

Finally, Gitlin suggests that journalists have to dig deep to understand what the underlying goal of the issue is. Being aware of history and other social movements can help to deepen one's knowledge of this movement.

On the bright side, however, the coverage has gotten better as the protests have gone on. What was nonexistent is at least getting some air time, helping more people become aware. As the movement continues, we can expect to see the coverage widen and become more influential in telling the stories of the protesters.

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The Media's Role in Society

The media plays a massive role in the way people think and they way they react to specific situations.

Recently, Maria Armoudian published a book, "Kill the Messenger," examining how the media has "perpetuated both good and evil." With this novel she examines articles surrounding the most pivotal moments of the 20th Century, such as the genocides in Germany, Rwanda, and Bosnia, and then explains how the media played a direct role in the heinous actions that took place and resulted in the loss of millions of lives.

Furthermore, Armoudian explains, "it is naïve to believe that the impact of radio and television in particular can be easily brushed aside."

With this quote, the role of the media on our society must be questioned. Right now the media has been covering the candidates they believe have the best chance to win, therefore candidates such as Ron Paul receive little to no positive coverage and are essentially eliminated from the race.

Another example, is the media's coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest going on in New York City and quickly spreading to different states across the U.S. When this protest began, mainstream media in the U.S. was hesitant to cover these protesters. If this was pre-social media times, this could have caused this protest to lose supporters and dwindle off; becoming forgotten in history.

The press should make sure to provide well-researched, unbiased coverage for any major event or person. They must be very careful about the ideas they back in their stories and remember what they print, say, or show will have some sort of impact on the audience good are bad, and need to be ready to take responsibility for any consequences that derive from their stories.

picture provided by _PaulS_ from creativecommons.com

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Ten Years Later

Twitter exploded with hashtags of #neverforget and #GodblesstheUSA on the decade anniversary of 9/11, as over three million tweets acknowledged the occasion.

We shared where we were, who we were with, what we thought on that Tuesday morning ten years ago. Various news and social media websites encouraged us to express our memories and describe our experience since. The New York Times, among others, created an entire addition to their website covering every aspect of 9/11 from the events of the day itself to the impact on American Muslims since. Television documentaries and films consumed practically every station from CBS to OWN, Animal Planet to the History Channel. Newspapers took the opportunity to bring out the biggest and best in front page illustration.

We were bombarded with images and sounds. Videos of the attacks themselves and the minutes after. Recordings of panicked 911 calls and final goodbyes to loved ones.

Was it too much? Did the hundreds of hours of anniversary coverage trivialize the events? Or honor those affected most by the tragedy?

Nevertheless, whether there was too much exposure or not enough, the media succeeded in helping us remember that tragic day and the lives lost. A plummeting stock market, the Presidential election, and debt reduction plans were slightly further from our mind as we took the time to tune in to the coverage or glance through the commemorative magazine. Through television specials and newspaper articles, Americans came closer together as a nation in remembrance, just as we were a decade before.

photo courtesy of pingnews.com via www.creativecommons.com

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