Government & Media Essay

Two Types of Models?

If I were asked to classify articles in to two types of models my first response would have been Meagan Fox in Maxim Magazine and Drew Barrymore in Playboy, (sometime around the mid-nineties). This, however, would be wrong even if I were truly interested in reading just the articles. Nevertheless, this does illustrate the “profit seeker” model, proving that; “the mass media have no responsibilities other than to make profits for their owners” (Leighley 11), and half naked women is certainly one way to earn revenue. But I digress, as we are not discussing those types of models. I refer now to two articles regarding health care reform; one by the ever popular New York Times titled, “White House Weighing Public Health Care Option,” by Joseph Berger and the second article coming from the Orlando Sentinel; “Can Florida opt out of federal health care?” by Aaron Deslatte.

In the 1950’s, the popular Dragnet character Joe Friday would plainly state, “All we want are the facts ma’am,” which was later abbreviated into, “Just the facts ma’am.” What Joe Friday was looking for was the “reporters of objective fact” model (Leighley 9). In the article by Joseph Berger, he is giving it to the audience straight, using tools akin to quoting important sources like The Associated Press and offering conclusive evidence. Based on this model Mr. Berger, “[is] merely a conduit for information, tools used by citizens and government officials to expand their scope of vision or communication […]” (9). One would argue however, given the scope of the New York Times, that it could fall partially under the “profit seeker,” model as laid out by Leighley: “The emphasis of [this] model of mass communication is that the U.S. mass media are privately owned business enterprises. […] [assumes] that the individuals who make up the news audience are first and foremost consumers who can be a target of market-like competition.” Further proven on the New York Times website where one click of the mouse and you are shopping for a brand new Lexus—which does touch a bit on the “propagandist” model, but again, I digress.

Moving to the hometown of Orlando, Florida we look now at the article by Aaron Deslatte. Again, in my opinion this falls directly under the “reporters of objective fact” model where Deslatte is giving it to us straight. However, as you get further into the editorial there is a mention of, “the president is coming after their guns and freedom.” Well, when speaking of apples, I rarely use oranges to illustrate my point—this being the excpetion. But, here in Florida, guns are always a big topic and many southerners are afraid of losing their second amendment right under the socialistic views of President Obama; just like they are about to loose their rights of state control as Big Brother continues to tighten his grip with health care reform. This type of article clearly finds it’s way to the “public advocate,” model as described by Leighley as; “journalist hav[ing] a social responsibility to use the newsgathering process to engage newsmakers (government officials) and the public in debates on issues of political importance,” even if it is irrelevant to the topic of health care reform. He continues on: “reporting ‘just the facts’ is a serious failure of the mass communication system.” Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel, thank you for not failing us as a public advocate on our constitutional right to own a weapon or many weapons, including AK-47’s.

Although flipping through the pages of Maxim Magazine tends to be a bit more interesting, there is little to be gained from the top ten ways to pick up a babe at a bar. As we seek for information in a global world, we as the readers have many “models” to choose from. Given the plethora of media outlets (i.e. internet, podcast and the like), audience members will always gravitate to the one source that feeds them with the most pertinent information for their individualistic needs. And yes, we can find solace in the fact that Meagan Fox will stick to modeling while Anderson Cooper will tells us like it is. As the famous American broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow once offered, “Good night and good luck.”