Media Does NOT Control Society Essay -- Sociology

Does media control us, or do we control media? "Sex, Lies and Advertising," was an essay written by the founder of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem, explaining the difficulties in interesting advertisers for a women's magazine like hers. She talks about the advertising world seeing women's magazines as only "cash cows" and all the articles are surrounding hair, makeup, nails, or some other superficial thing that relates to Cover Girl, Revlon, Clairol, or Olay. According to Ms. Steinem, what we pick up from the newsstand or have delivered in our mail every month is all "fluff" because of such advertisers. "Oh, women's magazines... everyone knows they're just catalogs" (Steinam 275). In the movie, "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" a woman journalist, Andie Anderson, who worked for such an advertiser's dream magazine, and wanted to have the freedom to write about politics and current events and things that were intellectually stimulating and not about hair, nails and makeup. At t he end of the story, she quit because she could not have that freedom because her editor would not allow her to write about anything but their set topics, and now, I see why. In "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" we see how such companies are really controlled by the advertisers and the editors of those magazines make sure they stay that way to ensure the life of their magazine. The article "Censorship and Homosexuality in the Media" also deals with advertisers control of magazines, and to the censorship of television, movies, even plays. It comes from the opposite direction though, rather than it being the magazine, or the conservatives screaming for something that wont offend their delicate sensitivities or possible maim Junior for life, it's co... ... McGrath, Charles. "Giving Saturday Morning Some Slack." The Blair Reader. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall. 266-271. National Vanguard Magazine. "Who Rules America?" Jul 2001. 13 Oct 2003. Http://www.stormfront.org/jewish/whorules.html Steinem, Gloria. "Sex, Lies, and Advertising" The Blair Reader. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall. 274-290. Tuttle, Katie. "Television and African Americans." The Blair Reader. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall. 297-303. Wynn, Marie. "Television, the Plug-in Drug." The Blair Reader. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall. 257-266.