What do you benefit from radio and TV?

There are people who know about radio, while there are others who don’t, and mostly those who know nothing about radio are those who have the most opinions about it. To some, radio is a source of connection to the outside world that can be heard by just having to turn on the radio, while others think that radios are just taking control of the minds of others because what they are saying is a portion of the truth about certain things. But how can you differentiate between the control of what is being said rather than what should be heard? To put it simply, I think that radio and media are good sources of information about certain topics, even if that means that they could bring disagreement.

In the Article “Radio’s American” by Bruce Lenthall, the history of how radio came to be and how it affected those people who were involved in the hearing but also in the involvement itself is discussed. There were people who reacted negatively, while others thought that is something that should continue to exist. That’s where the fear of radios came from; some people thought that radios were mind-eating devices that would end up controlling those who used them regardless of what they were for. But there were those who just wanted to use it for fame or even politically because it reached out to many citizens or even countries. They also saw it as a form of communication with the general people. However, the general people don’t always seem to see it that way. There were people that would argue about the facts that were being said throughout radios because it seems like they were just saying it to get profit out of it rather than actually educating their people. They were trying to reach out to the people for their benefit, but at times that just made the people panic more because they didn’t provide actual facts that would stop their people from worrying. It made matters worse when they started to bring in people to speak for the radios and be an influence to others with the great ideas or even products that they wanted to get out. Which is why they wanted to take advantage of those speakers that can provide something for that radio. But would that work on those who already know that they are just doing it to have their pockets filled or out of benefit for their people? At the end of the day everyone was getting what they wanted, some wanted to spread their wisdom while others wanted that information. To put it another way, having the radio be known by everyone was a win on their part due to if there was danger there way the first thing that they would do to warn their people is by programing it on the radio for everyone to hear.

In other words, it focuses on using new technology to reach greater audiences and spread worldwide. For instance, in the article  “A Force That Has Changed the Political Scene” by Alex Pasternack, it talks about how technology is being used for political reasons to spread the word about their chosen candidates. While that being the case, Kennedy thought that by using the technology, Power could eventually win his favor since putting a face on tv makes then more recognizable. Despite that, they wanted to better the image of their candidate by using TV impressions and teaching them how to act in front of the cameras and have the people acknowledge them. That aside, they thought that TV is rather suspicious or just for pleasure, but using TV can bring new opportunities or challenges and problems. However, they thought that they were deceiving the honest opinion of the public. On the contrary, Bruce states, “The modern culture that radio represents threatens to overpower individuals, leaving them with little control either in their own lives or in the wider world” (Page 2). While TV might be world wild it also promotes cultural awareness to have more assets to educational content. That is to say that this new technology can either bring great things or bring misfortune. For instance if tv is used in the wrong way it can be seen as wanting to set those who are watching an example of what they really want to do to other countries, they can see it as a threat and start a war because they felt like their country was in danger.  However, they are still willing to take that chance because it can be a new era for the upcoming generation and for those who are yet to come and do a better job that they are doing.  Therefore, by showing this new way of doing things and having the people on the edge of their seats just by having to listen to a radio or even having to watch TV is beneficial to them and those who are working to get attention throughout the world. Just like Alex Pasternack states, “TV has altered drastically the nature of our political campaigns, conventions, constituents, candidates, and costs” (F. Kennedy). Considering that Kennedy is being careful regarding the matter of its candidates and their political campaigns by keeping this under wraps. What’s more they don’t want to ruin the candidates image by having them be exposed to the cruel opinions of its people. Furthermore, that’s making the people more cautious about what really is being said in front of the TV or radios because, just with words, you can’t tell the truth from a lie because they have everything figured out to make everything more realistic. Not to mention that the only reason why the tv and radio are set to look perfect is to not make their people panic by having to say something that wasn’t meant to be said or reveal important information that was meant to stay under the radar because everything is not set in stone yet.

What the authors are trying to tell us readers is that this new technology wasn’t always that easy to handle by those who disagree regarding the matter. The majority of the people thought that this new invention would bring chaos rather than good. But is that really all there is to it? On the contrary, they were just afraid of this new invention that they knew nothing about and that those in power got to use a lot more often than the normal people actually could. While the author might know the history behind what was actually going on, they still put their opinion into their own texts because they also want to have a word out and show that having an opinion regarding a cause like this is important. They sometimes even put themselves in other people’s shoes to know how it would feel to have an advertisement or a disadvantage when it comes to certain topics. For example, Bruce states, “As Americans incorporated broadcasting into their lives, they found a sense of autonomy and perhaps voices in their new mass culture” (page 5). This shows that they wanted to expand their cultural awareness by speaking of that in their articles. To elaborate, the Americans now feel like they can now mass their culture and make big changes because of this new form. Besides that also shows that many more people would get to relate with the culture that they now know.  Therefore, by doing so, they are able to connect with those outside of America and spread their culture through its new inventions of life and purpose involving the new change they are now able to create through the help of others. There are also those who think even further ahead of others, like Pasternack; he interviewed many people regarding the matter of the new technology and how they view it and what they think about it as well. He had Kennedy interview people and write their opinion about it in the article. For example, “it can be abused by demagogues, by appeals to emotion and prejudice and ignorance” (Kennedy, page 6). On the other hand they wanted to be able to connect with emotion rather than with tricks or threats. For example when they use children on tv to have people donate or even react to that company or ad because people react strongly to children rather than grown adults, children are innocent while adults are already corrupted.  Moreover, some people began to be ignore the fact that they can do what they want with this new sense of power that they now have for now just because they have the upper hand regarding the TV matters or any other new technology, to the point that when it involved political standing, it could backfire because they were not well prepared for what the world had in view for them and the outcome of those decisions. Then again the tv people still decided to do what they can to have full control over the tv industry. Therefore, those in the political standing only thought about what would be good for them rather than what would be good for their people, so much so that even money started to get involved because they thought that maybe the TV improvement was meant for political education or even deception, which they left at the hands of the viewers. Nonetheless, would that really make the world a better place? That depends on how they continue to abuse the radio and TV.

In summary, I think that both authors have brought out a lot of change through their articles regarding TV and radio technology. While also spreading the cultural awareness to better educate those who are not well informed. Historically this new technology might have had a very big impact because it was something new that was introduced that not many knew much about. With that in mind it also showed that many can learn the ways that radio and TV works if they just try to work through it together. But perhaps because those articles and outspoken authors help with the understanding of people and what they can benefit from and how to make the best out of worse situations. Like that they no longer feel like they are being controlled and managed by those in power. In spite of that , the radio and TV were something that there were many looking forward to. It does not matter if they thought that it was something that controlled your mind or even just told lies; they still looked forward to the new innovation that would be widely known. Having said that, the radio and TV are a good source of information regardless of what others might think. At the end of the day they would both come in handy when it’s most needed.