Juice15, Bourdieu

“Above all, though, with their permanent access to public visibility, broad circulation, and mass diffusion-an access that was completely unthinkable for any cultural producer until televisions came into the picture-these journalists can impose on the whole of society their vision of the world, their conception of problems, and their point of view” (Bourdieu 330). I feel that this statement sums up what cultural producers are trying to do with television and how we allow this to happen.

The first part of this quote talks about the reach and range that television has today. Television is a relatively new technology but has just exploded onto the world in major ways in the last ten years or so. Today many houses not only have one television, but have two, three or even more than five. I have never had a television in my room, but I know parents who let their five and six year olds have televisions in their rooms. People are even putting televisions in their bathrooms and kitchens. This is only helping cultural producers reach a larger audience on a more consistent basis. The way televisions are today is also helping this visibility and circulation. Televisions are getting cheaper which helps and there are many different kinds, brands and sizes of televisions which suit certain people’s needs.

People can always turn off their television if they do not like what they see. But it seems impossible to get away from all television news and stories. Journalists go after stories that will grab people’s attention and get the high ratings that are so important to them. Many times in this article the idea of audience ratings is discussed and how it is important to get high ratings. We do not necessarily get to choose the news we see, but the corporations and journalists choose what is put on the news and how it is portrayed to us. Many times during the political election it was obvious to see how certain news corporations portrayed candidates differently. This is how they get their point of view across to the viewers. But the last sentence in this reading says “The failure of critical thinkers and organizations charged with articulating the interests of dominated individuals to think clearly about this problem only reinforces…” (Bourdieu 336). We all need to be critical of the news we receive and we need to judge and choose for ourselves what we believe and think without certain news influences.