Lorenzo Tijerina

Occupation: Currently, I am doing freelance videography and editing, working on everything from music videos to weddings to profile pieces. I’m also involved in some very rewarding work with The LAMP, teaching kids how to be more proactive when it comes to their media consumption.

Favorite blogs & websites: I use blogs to stay in the loop about what’s going on in Brooklyn and the rest of the city: Kinetic Carnival, McBrooklyn, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Brooklyn Vegan. TheSkint is a great place to find great deals around the city. I have an electronic subscription to The New Yorker and I’ll also turn to the New York Times Online and the Guardian for news. The Onion has a great website and I enjoy checking out their A/V Club. Sites like Gawker, Geekologie, and Videogum keep me hip. My son and I spend a lot of time together on YouTube not only posting our own content, but watching old music videos. Another favorite site of his is Sploder, where we can make our own video games. And with Netflix and Hulu it seems there are less and less reasons to turn on the television these days.

What got you interested in media literacy? I would have to say my interest in media literacy began with watching television as a child and recognizing patterns in the shows and commercials. I began asking myself why these patterns existed. Why, for example, did cartoons like He-Man always go to a commercial about eight minutes into the show and how did that effect the structure of the show?

In school I gravitated toward whatever audio/visual options were available, even if it was just operating the projector on movie day. By the time I was in high school I was very aware television was always trying to sell something and viewed even my favorite shows with skepticism.

In college I studied radio, television and film and that took my media literacy to a whole new level. We studied mass communications and learned the techniques used by broadcasters to manipulate their audience. When you think of what the average young person is up against when they turn on a television or, now, their computer, the need for media literacy is more important than ever.

You used to be an editor at Fox News. How does that experience change the way you look at media? I worked at several news stations. It was a great experience and I would be less than honest if I didn’t admit that I absolutely loved it. The pace and the excitement of live television is undeniable. Working in television you see that there is no grand conspiracy. The higher ups are driven by ratings and everybody else is just trying to do the best job they can. It’s very competitive. A great deal of what you see on television is motivated by stations just trying to keep up with one another. A lot of the theory I learned in school went out the window and it all became a matter of trying to outdo what the other guy’s where putting up. I did, however, see the answer to my He-Man question first hand. News has a very strict format dictated by commercials, i.e. all the real news is in the first block while the last block is reserved for the kicker (a fluffy story about water skiing squirrels or whatever).

You’re also teaching one of The LAMP’s workshops at Brooklyn Prospect Charter School. What has surprised you the most so far in working with the students? Working with the kids at Brooklyn Prospect, the biggest surprise was how aware so many of them are about things like target audience and viewer tracking. These kids are very cognizant of their value as consumers and as the children of consumers. It was just below the surface, but once we started asking them questions their response was immediate. You could literally see the realization on their faces when they were asked to think about why their favorite websites are set up the way they are. (Click here to see pictures from this workshop and others!)

We know you do a lot of video projects with your young son. Tell us more about that–why do you think that’s important, and what do you hope to impart? For us it’s mostly about having a good time, exploring ideas creatively. I want my son to be able to express himself any way he sees fit, so that’s part of it, too. I also try to pass on whatever knowledge I have about technique and get him to think about the ways stories are told, but mostly it’s just a way for us to spend time together.

Tina Fey and Seth Myers picket at Rockefeller Center.

November 5, 2007 marked the first day of a strike by the Writers Guild of America-West and WGA-East which lasted one hundred days. The main issue was the compensation received by writers, which was meager when compared with large studio profits, and also how writers were to be compensated for reality and online content. The WGA strike is significant for many reasons: It was a clear turning point in the business of digital media, cost Hollywood billions of dollars, and drew attention to the plight of thousands of people working behind the scenes of media which most of us take for granted as being free (not to mention illegally downloadable). On February 26, 2008, a new contract was ratified by the union, and writers went back to work with new rights and protections. However, that contract is up in 2011, and a lot can happen between now and then in the world of media and entertainment. The issue will linger as long as we have an Internet, but the WGA strike  represented the arguably first big shot across the bow of the online media business.

On November 13, 1969, United States Vice President Spiro Agnew gave a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, accusing the nation’s television networks of using bias and distortion in their reporting. He further urged viewers to “register their complaints on bias through mail to the networks and phone calls to local stations.” Agnew lamented that the media was dictated by a small group of men, informing the opinions of an estimated 40 millions Americans who watched the nightly news, and who had recently seen several newsmen harshly critique President Nixon’s November 3 speech on Vietnam minutes after it was delivered. Forty years later, this event is especially significant amid the conflict between Barack Obama’s White House and Roger Ailes’ Fox News, with White House Communications Director Anita Dunn saying that the Administration is “not going to legitimize them as a news organization.” Then, as now, the White House was trying to define the meaning and purpose of news, and possibly reign in an independent and free press. In both cases, it seems, the Presidents might have been wishing that Americans were just a little more news literate.

The Hollywood Ten with their lawyers

November 25, 1947: A group of ten screenwriters and directors, known collectively as “The Hollywood Ten” are fired from their jobs in the first systemic Hollywood blacklist. Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo were all held in contempt of court one day prior for refusing to testify before the House of Un-American Activities (HUAC). Ultimately, 41 artists were called to testify, and over 320 people were eventually added to the blacklist that kept them from working in Hollywood. HUAC feared that these artists were  Communists, imbuing their work with propaganda designed to recruit members to the Communist Party. Those who refused to “name names” of anyone they knew who might be a Communist were added to the list, leaving many prominent voices silent, livelihoods destroyed and promising careers cut short. Those who did testify were despised by many of Hollywood’s elite, including Elia Kazan, who, when honored with the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, was met with protest; many Oscar attendees refused to stand when he took the podium to accept the award. The blacklisting of the Hollywood 10 was a pivotal moment in American cinematic history, both acknowledging and condemning the power of film.

Reese's Puffs, named one of the least nutritious but heavily marketed cereals

A few days ago, Yale University released the results of a study conducted around the television advertising of cereal to children. Also a few days ago, according to an editorial in this morning’s L.A. Times, the Food & Drug Administration made some noise about plans by the food industry to add “Smart Choices” labels to cereals and other foods which are high in sugar and other non-nutritious additives. On the one hand, I applaud the FDA for stepping up to protect consumers from misleading information, but on the other hand, I’m still furious it took this long. Really–the FDA is just noticing this now? For far too long, it has been too easy to slap a “Smart Choices” label on less-than-smart food.

Among the findings of the Yale study was research demonstrating that marketers in the cereal industry are pretty liberal with their health claims.  For example, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp and Reese’s Puffs average three or more health claims per box.  A look at the Nutrition Facts box on Lucky Charms reveals that although it does provide several vitamins, it also contains a lot of sugar–14 grams per serving, and that’s a one cup/35 gram serving. And, that one serving fills 10% of the recommended daily intake of both carbohydrates and sodium. Perhaps I’m being cynical, but on top of this, I doubt that most kids eating Lucky Charms are only eating one cup.

Ok, so Lucky Charms is only advertising its strong points. That’s typical; if I wanted to sell a product I would also choose to accentuate the positive while downplaying the negative. But the real trap here is that most people see those few positive things, and forget to ask about the rest. In my opinion, the fact that Lucky Charms is 41% sugar outweighs the benefit of the calcium and vitamin D in it, since I can get my calcium and vitamin D in lots of other ways that don’t also require me to overload on refined sugar. Plus, research shows that fewer consumers under 30 years old are looking at nutrition labels.

The application of media literacy to  this issue is clear. Consumers and children are not asking questions about how something is being marketed to them (why are all the kids cereals on the bottom shelf at the supermarket?), nor can they identify the constructed message which may not tell the whole truth up front.  Like I said, I’m glad the FDA is doing something, and I hope the momentum continues. Better late than never.

–Emily Long

I think this one could use a little more subtlety in terms of its persuasive techniques. We’ve got a dozen bathing beauties, a Hefner look-alike in the background, and a pool boy. At what point in looking at this are we supposed to be thinking about Volkswagen?

This one is pretty beautiful, I think. As it should, it makes me think of a work of art, and makes the connection that when you’re using Braun, you’re not just cooking but creating art. Sure, a whisk is a whisk, but if you’re an artist, not just any whisk will do. According to Braun, at least.

Talk about sterile. When I think about getting a vaccination shot, the truth that I have to get pricked by a needle is not really encouraging, and it’s not what I want to think about. Plus, what’s that green and pink gunk in the needles?

Love this one! With the color palette, I actually notice the red in the lower right corner–not to mention the condom. Plus, c’mon, the image of the Grim Reaper slipping on a condom is a little funny. It also points my eye directly to a clear weapon in the fight against AIDS.

]]> http://www.thelampnyc.org/2009/10/16/selections-from-the-lamps-ad-archive-ad-it-up/feed/ 0 http://www.thelampnyc.org/2009/10/16/selections-from-the-lamps-ad-archive-ad-it-up/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheLamp/~3/jkvVnqf3mn0/ http://www.thelampnyc.org/2009/10/15/blog-action-day-media-literacy-and-climate-change/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:39:17 +0000 The Lamp http://www.thelampnyc.org/?p=977 I was thrilled to see that the cause for this year’s Blog Action Day was climate change–it’s something all of us at The LAMP hold very dear. Last March, we participated in and helped promote Earth Hour, a campaign encouraging individuals and cities to turn off all their lights for one hour to raise awareness about climate change. Of course, this is great, and it’s an effective visual way to demonstrate the power that a simple act can have on the environment when people work together for a common purpose. But one thing puzzled us–during the hour, people were asked to email and call friends and share their Earth Hour experience with them. What about the power used by those devices?

It’s easy to ignore the impact media has on the environment. A lot of us are guilty of leaving our cell phones in the charger long after the battery has fully charged, or of leaving computers on overnight, or of leaving the television on when nobody is watching it. However, our phones, computers, televisions and gaming systems can also be huge energy hogs–for example, around 2/3 of the energy used by mobile devices is the result of them being fully charged but idle in their chargers. Video gamers may use as much energy in one year as the entire city of San Diego. In August 2009, 60 Minutes reported that Americans throw out roughly 130,000 computers every day, and about 1 million cell phones every year. Even when e-waste is earmarked for recycling, it may have to travel thousands of miles to be processed.

In addition to forgetting to turn things off, it’s easy to fall prey to marketers whose business depends on convincing you that you NEED a hot new phone (even though yours works just fine) or that you NEED a more high-powered computer. When you do decide to buy a new gadget, how closely are you evaluating the impact it has on the environment? Not all gaming systems are equal, many of the materials used to make electronic devices have to be shipped from other countries, and something with a shorter battery life will need to be charged more frequently.

This is where media literacy comes in. One component of being a more literate media consumer is that you understand the media choices you make, and this extends to making thoughtful media purchases. Our addiction to electronic devices uses up a lot of energy; the IT industry emits as much carbon dioxide as the aviation industry. It’s difficult to underplay just what that means.

In response to this, The LAMP has been hard at work developing and seeking funding for a program which would use media literacy to address climate change, explore how our media choices impact the environment, and devise ways we can each minimize that impact. We also accept recycled equipment to use in our workshops, so if you decide you want or need a more souped-up Macbook or camcorder than what you currently have, you can send us your old one.

Meanwhile, remember that even though our digital devices can do an awful lot of cool things, when used thoughtlessly they can also do the opposite.

–Emily Long