20. The media “sets our agendas for what is important” (Gamble & Gamble, 351

The mass media is constantly sending us messages that we unconsciously absorb and exhibit (Gamble & Gamble, 351).  The media teaches us what is going on in the world, thus shaping our perceptions of the world.  The problem with this is that the media often provides us with a false representation of reality, so their biases become our biases.  One of the biases found throughout the media is the focus on how a famous woman looks and feels rather than her accomplishments (Gamble & Gamble, 355).

A biased media representation that recently demeaned women was David Letterman’s comments the other evening about Sarah Palin and her family.  He made a comment about Sarah Palin’s appearance, typical of the media, by saying she looked like a slutty flight attendant.  He then went on to make a crude comment about her daughter being “knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”  Letterman targeted a woman of power by talking about her and her family’s sexuality in a derogatory way.  It is wrong that the media usually focuses on the sexuality of women rather than their achievements.  He went too far by calling a female governor slutty, and then talking about her 14 year old daughter having sex with a much older baseball player.  When the media controls the information we see and hear, they are telling us how we need to look, behave, and what to prioritize as important, even though what they may be telling us is wrong or biased (Gamble & Gamble, 351).

Gamble, T. K., & Gamble, M. W. (2003). The Gender Communication Connection. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

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~ by lckupke on June 18, 2009.