Identification of Audience, Issue, Medium, Content

30 questions, 1 point per question

Instructions: By writing detailed answers to the following questions, describe a time when
you felt concerned about someone you care about (sibling, cousin, friend, associate, random
person, etc.) consuming media in a way that you thought was negative or even dangerous
Examples:
● Someone singing along with sexist lyrics
● Someone yelling racist and/or violent comments while playing a video game
● Someone using Snapchat or Facebook while driving
● Someone telling people their PIN at an ATM to try to get help
● Someone following an unhealthy diet regimen on Instagram
● Someone gambling online beyond their means

IMPORTANT: Use a real-life event that you have witnessed.

DO NOT make up a story.

For questions that have lists below them, simply delete the points that are not relevant and
leave the correct answer(s).

1. How do you perceive the person's gender? (gender=how we appear to act in terms of
masculine/feminine societal norms)

● Cisgender male (body and identity match)

2. How do you perceive the person's sexuality? (sexuality=physical preferences in sexual

activity)

● Heterosexual male (men who prefer women)

3. How do you perceive their age?

● 61-75 Old Aged

4. How do you perceive their racial identity?

● White

5. How do you perceive the person's ethnicity? (i.e. their cultural background)

● White American
 Identification of Audience, Issue, Medium, Content
30 questions, 1 point per question
6. Choose all of the words you think describe the person's appearance
● Height: Short
● Physique: Heavy,
● Visible disability and/or physical challenge: None
● Obvious mental disability and/or challenge: None
● Skin color: White
● Hair Color: Bald up top Gray on the sides.
● Hair Length: Short
● Impression and mannerisms:Clean cut (nails cut, hair trimmed), Relaxed
(responds, moves efficiently)
● Additional descriptive words should be noted elsewhere for future use

7. How do you perceive the person's style (fashion, mannerisms, tastes)?

● Mainstream
● Sporty
● Professional (business attire)
● Formal (dressy)
● Mismatched
● No Color Coordination

8. How do you perceive the person's economic class? (i.e. the income level they grew up
with, NOT necessarily their current economic condition)
● Upper class (affluent to the point of not having to worry about material issues,
may have inherited a family fortune, or family head is a corporate management
elite such as President or VP, manages capital investments rather than working a
'regular' job)

9. What is your relation to the person?

● My relation to them isn't listed here (note elsewhere for future reference)

10. Where and when did the incident take place?

Sitting down watching FOX News while eating dinner.

11. Describe in detail exactly what you saw that you felt was not right. DO NOT explain why.
This person thinks the whole BLM movement is fake, it's run by thugs. I saw this person
reiterate all the stereotypes black people face in 15 minutes. He did not hold back any
feelings, he was fed up seeing the destruction from the George Floyd movement. He was
sick of all of the break ins, robberies and protests that were happening as a result of
George Floyd being killed.

12. Explain how you felt when you witnessed this incident.
I was in shock. My eyes opened up wide and all I could do was stare at the table. I kept
thinking to myself “OMG he watched FOX News so much, he's starting to sound just like
them!”
 Identification of Audience, Issue, Medium, Content
30 questions, 1 point per question
13. Describe how you reacted to the incident at the time. (For example, did you say
something to the person? Did you ignore it? Etc.) I tried to explain that none of the
protests or “riots” would have started if the police didn't kill an unarmed man.

14. Describe some of the thoughts you have had about the incident since that time.
It's weird, this person is my boss and I know he's racist.

15. Describe why you think the incident was negative for the person and society.
I think it was negative because he felt so passionately about it. To see him that angry
over what came after the death of George Floyd was eye opening to me. My boss sees
the world through his lense, and through that lens he sees no wrong in the killing of
black people by the police.

16. Who else was involved in the incident, and how? Include everyone you can think of.
My boss's wife, and another co-worker were also present.

17. Describe any consequences you are aware of related to the incident you are describing,
that happened to the person involved, or to someone else in society who has suffered
from a similar incident.
As far as I know, there have been no consequences.

18. Identify the issue at the heart of the matter in its simplest description
● Racism (discrimination based on perceived racial identity)

19. What was the MEDIUM the person was using when this happened? The medium MUST
be a machine (i.e. The actual mechanical device, such as a gaming console, a TV, an iPod,
a cell phone, an ATM etc.)
TV

20. Answer if applicable: What software program or app was the person using? The
software or app MUST be a browser of some kind that delivers the messages, not the
messages themselves (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.)
Note: this question may not be applicable if the person was watching TV or reading a
book, for example.

21. Choose the categories appropriate to describe the medium that was being used and the
program/app/software used on the medium. It may be more than one, but cannot be all,
as some are contrary to each other.

● Located media (devices that require you to go to them, such as Living Room TV,
desktop computer, ATM, game console etc.)
 Identification of Audience, Issue, Medium, Content
30 questions, 1 point per question
22. Describe the GENRE of content the person was consuming. A genre is a category of style,
subject matter, or format that is used to package a program's content.
● Fox News, NFL, Golf Channel, NBA

**For the next 5 questions, draw keywords from your above answers and conduct
preliminary research on your topic, audience, and genre of content. Browse 5 credible
online sources to get a sense of the issue in a broader social context.
a) Post the link to the source below, and…
b) Briefly summarize how it describes the issue, who is affected and how, what they
attribute as the cause of the problem, how the problem is seen in the medium/genre
of content, and what they advocate as a solution.
(Note: this preliminary research is VERY rough, just to assess the viability of the topic, and
may include non-scholarly sources that directed your concern to this research focus. News
and magazine articles are typically preferable to blogs and other non-evaluated sources)

23. Review 1 of 5
https://www.leader-call.com/opinion/columnists/the-war-against-white-people/articl
e_070a1c04-b7df-11ea-b4b8-c3e6e33ee5f9.html
The writer of this blog expresses how he feels attacked and ashamed every time he
watches Nascar, Football or Basketball just because he's white. I have a feeling that is how
my boss also felt.

24. Review 2 of 5
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/09/magazine/what-too-many-white-people-s
till-dont-understand-about-racism/
This ties in because my boss is fed up with BLM being all over his favorite sports
channels. He feels as though it shouldn't be as big as it is.

25. Review 3 of 5
https://online.ucpress.edu/nrbp/article-abstract/1/4/496/114221/I-Can-t-BreatheAs
sessing-the-Role-of-Racial?redirectedFrom=full text
According to this article “2016 American Election Study Survey, we hypothesize and
confirm that whites with high levels of racial resentment, conservative ideology, and those
who indicated support for Donald Trump hold negative attitudes toward the Black Lives
Matter movement.”

26. Review 4 of 5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5004736/

I can explain how prejudices of black men are manufactured and disseminated through
the media.

27. Review 5 of 5
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/i-gathered-stories-of-people-transformed-
by-fox-news.html
The information that people receive turns into sickness in their bodies. My boss was a
whole different person after watching Fox News.
 Identification of Audience, Issue, Medium, Content
30 questions, 1 point per question

28. Stop and think for a moment about all of the above information. Consider what you have
learned from the course readings so far, from your preliminary research, and what you
feel you know about the issue from witnessing it first-hand.
● Now, briefly write a paragraph stating what you understand the problem to be,
what you believe contributes to it and causes it, what you believe is the best way
to address the situation.

29. Consider the preliminary assumptions you just wrote, and think about what you have
learned about audience behavior and the power of media throughout your education in
Communication. Remember that NO study of media use has ever conclusively related
media consumption with direct behavioral effects.
● Write a short response paragraph to the one above, stating what you might be
missing or overlooking in your assumptions and preliminary thoughts on the
issue. What other factors might also contribute to or explain the audience
behavior?
I definitely feel that I am making assumptions about my boss and his resentment or feeling
towards BLM. I'm excited to write about how the media influences its audience. My boss is
a good guy, I think he was overloaded with information and he burst.

30. Create a draft of a preliminary research question for your project by replacing the
bracketed words in the following:

How do [user demographics (age, gender, sex, etc.)] experience, reproduce, and
contend with experiences of [social issue] in their consumption and use of [genre of
content (and program name if applicable)] through [medium (and program or app if
applicable)]?