Gifts From Kenya

These gifts are a representation of something much more sacred. This country can be very ignorant of other cultures and traditions. And in this case with the gifts of the cows, the ignorance creates a great misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the gift. The Kenya people are giving the American people something much more, something sacred. It represents much more then the connotations the we have when we see or here a cow. It was meant as a symbol of sympathy, hope, and a level of respect for what the country was going through.

Representation and the Media

Visual representation is such a powerful representation no matter what the medium. Whether it distorts reality or not it still is a presentation no matter how it is interpreted. The difference between the true meaning of an event or person and the median representation can vary quite differently but they are also open for interpretation from the consumer. The word representation itself has different meanings and connotations. This was shown in the video with a congress member representing you compared to a news article or picture. "The way in which meaning is given to the things depicted." All representation is always open to interpretation and this interpretation can be influenced by who or how the information is being presented.

First Reading Media in Context

Media has become a much more subjective medium. The channel itself has become much more diverse. The ability to access information, whether it be the 24 hour news feed we have access to on television, the radio, traditional mediums such as news papers and the growing popularity of the unlimited access of the web, has changed the way we receive and interpret the information. There is an active relationship that develops between the consumer and the media. They both dictate to each other the supply and demand of the content of the media. In the end the media is a gatekeeper of information meaning they dictate what information the public receives and what "news" is newsworthy. The media was a much more powerful gatekeeper in the past when there where less forms of communication. With the diverse range of what a consumer can find online or with a 24 hour news channel the consumer can become much more selective in what they want to know about. The transmission model of communication states that communication is the process of moving messages from a sender through a medium to a receiver. This model relates better to society today then the other cultural model in that the relationship between the media and receiver is a refection of each other. Because this relationship is strong the media then become powerful in that the consumer is reliant on the message. The media then can influence and exploit the consumer.