ABSTRACT
Magazine articles, television shows, movies, newspaper columns, and press releases do not just magically appear one day for thousands or millions of people to see. Media institutions, such as television networks and newspaper and magazine publishers, have guidelines that they use when deciding what stories they will cover (and which ones they will not) and how the stories will be presented. In my classes, I talk with students about how the media have a significant amount of power and control over the news and the images they use to portray social issues. I discuss how commercialism and the drive for ratings often overshadow journalistic integrity and solid investigative research. The journalism students in my classes are often offended when I critique the media in this way Many of my journalism students feel that they have integrity and ideals that they will use when writing and covering the news. What my students usually come to see by the end of the semester is that it is not just the individual reporter who decides what story he or she is going to write for the front page of the newspaper. It is not just the freelance author who chooses the stories for Ladies’Home Journal. It is not just anyone who decides they want to write a column for Penthouse or for The New Republic. It is not the individual news reporter who shapes the final story for the local or national news show. The creation of a published media story involves decisions made by a number of people and is often driven by our cultural obsession with entertainment, drama, and speed.
