My name is John Calkins, I am a returning student (to UNCG, before spring I last attended in 2006) and am just starting as a BLS major.
Concerns about the media
My major concerns about the emphasis of media in popular culture, and TV in particular, is the strong emphasis on trivial subjects and more pressingly the so-called "reality" shows and pagent shows. Although many people enjoy watching them, I believe that there is a disproportionate number of these shows, vs. the number of dramas, documentaries, news shows, and the like.
On cable TV in particular, there seems to be a disproportiate of these "un-reality" shows (most of what they show is, obviously, far from reality), on a large number of channels some of which would otherwise be showing documentary or other informative programming (one example, A&E network, which, ironically stands for Arts and Entertainment; their current programming now contains neither). These shows are at best an indulgence or "guilty pleasure" but do little to inform or provide useful information. This is not to say that I don't watch TV/movies just for the entertainment (I am a confessed Trekkie), but I don't just sit for hours on end watching (usually). Also, some of the Trek series, especially the earlier ones, were created with the idea of "message TV", episodes often have a strong emphasis on science, politics, humanities, etc.
I guess what I'm getting at is that perhaps TV should be a little more balanced, with a more even distribution of shows both for pure entertainment and information.
Link to a page that I like:
www.howstuffworks.com
This may sound geeky, but this site is neat, it as information on how just about anything woks/is put together. Really cool, from Air conditioners to potato cannons.
