When Does It All End.

As the media watchdog, it has been interesting to watch and learn from the media elites and local press about objectivity and one-sidedness within a heated debate. When will all this madness end? Our President at the University has said publicly that the debate was over and the Unviersity was not going to make any waves over the issue. Well Mr. Skorton the debate isnt over at a national level, weather the U. of I likes it or not. So it seems the national media is going to keep attention on this until something is done. Major news outlets like ESPN has run two separtate stories within the last two weeks regarding the situation at the U. So is the university supporting sexism or is this only a tradition.

Keepin' On

The job of the media is to report the news no matter the circumstance. This situation is no different than any other media event. Although, this is a normal media situation except the media is doing a great job of keeping the locker room discussion alive even though the University has said they are out of the discussion. The media will not let this discussion die. What is the reason for this? I believe the reason the media has prolonged this discussion is because their are so many doubters of the pink locker room that those opponents will not the issue die. The high ups in media organizations allow for programming to come into homes on a discussion that is very volatile. The media darlings within this argument have gained a lot of credibility and will be looked for in the future to be experts on the study of feminism in male sports locker rooms.

The Media

Some have argued that the modern day press has forgotten about the brilliant ideas and once vision of Thomas Paine. Ideas such as the concept of the uncensored flow of ideas and the idea that people should control their own lives. Many have suggested that citizens should be able to spread their honest opinions through the internet and new media and that the net offeres a vast, diverse, and passionate global means of transmitting ideas and opening minds. This was part of the political transformation some envisioned. Through media we could advance human rights, spread democracy and ideas to allow fearless argument to challenge and question authority. Blogs are a good illustration of this new media that allows for free speech and the flow of opinionated infomation.

A theory about women

Happy Thanksgiving!!
While researching for this project I found that there are certain theories that help in understanding the way that women are portrayed. Standpoint theories claim to represent the world from a particular socially stiuated persepecitve that can lay a claim to epistemic privilege or authority. This theory becomes controversial when they claim privilege over socially and politically contested topics on behalf of the perspectives of systemically disadvantaged social groups, relative to the perspectives of the groups that dominate them.
I think that this is the we way that women see the issue. Women have felt oppressed and I think that the law professor is feeling the same way. This issue has nothing to do with someone feeling oppressed and being a so called "disadvanated group". Do women really feel disadvantaged by the locker room being pink? I know that as a women I am not really offended because a color seems to be just a color anymore.
This issue is has been discussed in many forms but still there is no real solution to what has happened. The University should look into it further and not silence anyone's thoughts and feelings over the issue. Besides Iowa City is known for diverstiy and their are willing to accept homosexuals and various other opinions about them. Does the University have something against homosexuals? I feel at this point is almost like beating a dead horse and the issue will probably not be solved any time soon.
Have a great Holiday!!

Dualistic reporting going under

One of this morning's top stories is of Ted Koppel's decision to quit (or so they say) the late night ABC show, 'Nightline'. In 2002 ABC secretly recruited David Letterman to fill the time slot, but the escapade ended in embarassment when Letterman decided to stay at CBS. Nightline's ratings were at an all time low as of last night's last Nightline episode with Koppel. Personally, I believe with (probably) many others that Koppel decided to get out before ABC decided to let him go. What I think is relevant to this event is the way news is now being reported. Nightline (along with many other news outlets) approaches news from a dualistic manner. Both sides are presented, and then that's it. No investigation on middle ground, who may be right, what doesn't make sense, etc. Awhile ago, Koppel interviewed Jon Stewart on why The Daily Show's ratings were up while his were going down (well that's what was implied, anyway). Stewart's response to Koppel was that he does not give the audience what they want. Dualistic reporting is so dull and people do not know who or what to believe. Stewart takes the news investigates what may or may not be wrong with it. Yes, he uses humor to sustain an audience, but Stewart does not believe that is why people listen to his side of the news. People want more than what the mainstream media (Koppel) is giving them. I have to agree with Stewart, and the evidence is now available. Koppel is done with Nightline, and the American people have succeeded in sending a message that they want more than dualistic reporting. This blog is trying also to engage in more investigative reporting within the issue of the pink locker room, because the mainstream media did not do a well enough job the first time around.

Death Threats

After posting in her blog that she was against the pink locker room, Erin Buzuvis received nearly 174 comments in defense of the pink locker room. In those comments she also received many death threats. "It is deeply offensive and completely unacceptable that a spirited public discussion about the pink locker rooms at Kinnick Stadium has been degraded by threats of violence," President Skorton commented in a statement. Skorton assigned the Office of the General Councel, the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, and the UI police to review the threats and to take the appropriate actions based on their findings. It seems President Skorton took the appropriate action here, but has anyone heard what has happened to the individuals who made the threats?

Another opinion

On another blog website I found another person's opinion on what they thought of the pink locker room. Ben Miraski starts off by stating that "When I was younger and would go to another school for basketball games, it was common for us to be assigned to the women's locker room. Most high school teams do not have more than one guy's locker room so they would often use the women's. No one thought anything of the more feminine decor." I found this to be interesting since at an earlier age people often use the other sex's locker room and it was not an issue. But who knows what the women's locker room looked like? Does this have to do with ones maturity level?
He also states that the most amazing thing about this is that it is not the visiting teams complaining. I found this blog appealing because he has some of the same thoughts and complaints that many people feel it is not worth wasting our time over. Mr. Miraski opinion towards the whole issue has to do more with timing than anything else. He wonders if this would be an issue if the team were 4-0 now and tied for the Big Ten lead. ( This is as of September 28, 2005). Timing was a key factor but many people do not know what to think anymore. What could be a better way to solve this issue? Is there a better way or should we just forget about other's opinions and stick with tradition?

The Issue of Objectivity

On October 18, 2005 in class we discussed the issue of objectivity and the effects that is has with the media. Chad Raphael discusses objectivity and the effect it has on the media. He states "Jouralists and news organizations exercise their powers of selecting news. Without some critieria for what makes an event or person important or interesting enought to cover, journalists would have no way of choosing among the countless happenings that occur every day." So my question is what makes the pink locker room controversy receive national attention? Why did news organizations choose to cover this story and better yet why did ESPN talk about it?
In class we also discussed the issue of sense-making meaning that people have some sort of knowledge of an event to actually understand the meaning behind it. Also, the issue of size is equal to power. The size of the University has a larger impact on how the media portrays events that pertain to the University. A few voices speaking out on an issue is not going to have enough impact to hurt a major University. Again, did the issue get blown out of portion or do we really need to consider the few voices that are against the locker room. To achieve a better democracy we should all have our voices heard and not silenced.