Assignment 1:

     Week three of the semester is beginning, and although there has been a great deal packed within these past few weeks, a picture remains in my mind.  On the first day of class, we were shown a slide show, and while we found some of the pictures we viewed to be enticing, some of them were far from any place we would want to be.  The photos ranged from the devastation of the recent oil spill, to a picture of an air balloon, which filled the photo with bright colors and a feeling of freedom.  However, among the many pictures, one that I can still clearly see, while feeling its impact, is the photo of the women's faces on the sides of the houses.
     This communication project, calling out attention to the many women who have been killed as a result of domestic violence is extremely powerful in my eyes.  As this Project is far from anything that I have ever seen, I found myself relating the image to the article, "Notes on the Construction of Reality in TV News Programmes" by Daniel Chandler.  In this article, it discussed how news is selective, and no matter which form of media we are being exposed to, it generally has a purpose.  Furthermore, as we have discussed, the media is ran by very few.  As a result, we tend to find ourselves presented with information that aligns with the views, beliefs, and interests of those individual's that posses power in the world of media, rather than what is actually going on in the world.  What if the news were to focus on projects such as this?    
     As the slide that displayed the many women that had been killed as a result of domestic violence proved, there are many problems and tragedies that occur in our world.  However, although events such as this one are very upsetting, we must accept them as reality and focus on their importance within our society, and therefore within our media.  As was stated in Chandler's article, so much involving minorities is ignored.  If we were to call attention to the stories that hold a much greater significance to the human race, and create a world of media that was not so controlled, I believe that we could present more of our reality to ourselves.  Photos like the one that I have described deserve more attention, and makes me hope to one day see, a much more democratic world of media.