Andrew Ferguson Response

Reading Ferguson’s biographical introduction got me very intrigued in the content of his work I would be reading. He is unlike a lot of our most recent guest speakers in that he could be labeled as a conservative Republican-versus the more radical route we have studied before. Although he should not be implicitly labeled in this category, some of his pieces, and his past job experience as well, could throw him more under that label. In reading his work, overall, I found it extremely enticing because it followed a different lens in looking at general new media and journalism as a whole that we have never quite experienced before this. Overall, I found his extremely well thought-out and knowledgeable-while also keeping our attention through skilled word usage and sarcastic humor.
My favorite piece to read was our first assigned article, “Twits on Parade: Twittering is the newest of the new media. And the worst.” It was interesting to read an article from a guest speaker that didn’t look at new media in a positive way. I believe that, from this article, Ferguson’s views on new media are not necessarily all bad though. The general idea he was trying to give is that, with new media’s elongated boundaries, some forms are being taken to the absolute extreme-and coming off as more than a little ridiculous. He quotes in this article, “Sometimes blogs are just too cumbersome. Suppose you have to go to the bathroom. Is it really worth the trouble of posting this information on your regular blog? Maybe… but maybe not. With Twitter, you can just tap your bladder’s condition into your cell phone—“got to hit the head”—and everyone you know, and many whom you don’t know, can read about it instantly.” This shows the ridiculous lengths that he believes new media is allowing people to reach, if people do not know where the line has to be drawn. I also believe it was insightful of him (although it is not a newly discussed topic in our class) to relate different forms of new media to affecting important political events such as presidential elections. He coins a new form of media to changing the atmosphere of each presidential election in the past ten years, a fact that we have discussed as extremely true in ours and past generations.
Another article that left me with after-thoughts was the piece, “The Media Builds a Monument to Itself: The Newseum educates the public.” This was an extremely interesting read because it made me wonder his motives for writing it-being that he is a member of the very media he is taking out of the glorified limelight. Although his role in the media and being a journalist in the way he describes can not be explained as exactly the same, they do come from the same common mold. For that very reason, I found this article extremely convincing. It is obvious he is writing it with no personal agenda himself, talking about how a job in journalism is not all that glorious at all. Ferguson quotes, “For the unimaginable vast majority of journalists, of course, journalism is as dangerous as bagging groceries at Whole Foods. But these scattered totems of danger and violence have the effect of elevating journalism in glamour and importance.” Another though that came to me while reading this article was how it could be related to concepts of Adorno’s “The Culture Industry.” The way that he describes the special effects films seemed very familiar to this concept-as over stimulating with the audience not having to think at all. He also described the Newseum as feeding the public a glorified truth of journalism to get them to believe that journalists are near-Gods putting their lives at risk to bring you the news, in an always reliable fashion-a form of brainwashing the public to believe a truth that is good for them.
In closing, I really enjoyed looking at his pieces and being able to relate them both to past ideas and also contrast with them as well. He was able to successfully keep my attention, while also convincing me to look at things from his viewpoints. I look forward to our discussion with him tomorrow…

QUESTIONS:
1.) What are your thoughts on the various forms of new media coming out in our market today?
2.) How would you relate the Newseum to other museums, such as a science museum? And do you think it can truly be defined as a “museum?”
3.) Tell us about your experience as speechwriter for George HW Bush…