5 Characteristics of Modern Media That Is Changing The World Now

Something has changed the way communications and marketing is happening in today's world. It's taking place outside of our familiar and established lines. That Something is Modern Media and we will cover on the characteristics of Modern Media. Senders are always professional communcators employed by formal media organizations. Why is this happening? The senders are professionally trained to write and keep their contents manufactured in a way that have a standard format and nothing unique, creative or unpredictable. The product produced become more of a package with perfection.

An example happens in the sitcoms and drama that we see on television, family oriented sitcom that seeks harmony and racial contact groups, have many ethics and sharing of different cultures with different social groups and most of the dramas do not come with explosive actions and horrific scene, this is what the government wants to project to the people living here.

In the early 1990s, in Britain, four large media groups, time warner, columbia pictures, CNN, news corporations controlled the majority of news being circulating around national daily newspaper. The transformation of media institutions into large commercial conglomerates exist only because they are able to make more profit for their large corporations and are able to circulate their media products in the international arena.

There are a group of media moguls/barons who have created corporate structures that span across the continents, combine holding in printing, broadcasting, publishing and film productions and have a diversification of business which brings in multiple profits for the corporation. An example of media mogul is Rupert Murdoch who owns News corporations and his company owns properties on four continents, which produce and distribute products in television, books, films, newspaper and magazine publishing and now even online social community like myspace which have the largest among of members is owned by him.

John Pilger in "information is power" commented that 90% of international news published by the world's press comes from the big four western news agencies. United press Internationl(UPI), Reuters, Agence France Press(AFP), Associated Press (AP). Locally you can see that the newspaper articles are being covered mainly by foreigner writers and the perspective comes from a foreigner's point of view and this is why you need to read more than just stories covered by them but also other newspaper which may have a difference view on the story.

Cross media ownership occurs if any one branch of media holds a large percentage of stake in another company, it will be in the position to control the opinions of the larger section of people in the corporation. Mediacorp holds TCS 5, suria, channel U and ChannelNewsAsia and we should never rely on just one feed source of coverage but diversify the way we look and read on different perspective of news coverage from local and foreign writers.

Feedback plays a powerful role in the media as it decides when the advertisement or programmes should be continued on the television or not. If a programme which is broadcasted stays no value or with negative comments from the society then the program might face being eliminated out of the schedule for good.

Forex Trading the Top U.S. Economic News Reports

The US dollar is the most traded currency in the world and an understanding of US economic indicators is important in understanding the US dollar and its role in the currency trading system. Some of the most important U.S. economic indicators include the gross domestic product (GDP), producer price index (PPI), consumer price index (CPI), industrial production (IP), durable goods & services, employment cost index (ECI), retail sales index (RSI) and housing starts. These indicators have the potential to generate volume and move market prices around the globe.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - The gross domestic product is a measure of all economic activity in the economy. The GDP represents the total market value of all goods and services produced by both domestic and foreign companies within the borders of the US. The GDP should measure between 3% and 5% for advanced industrialized nations such as the U.S., Europe and Japan. A growth of less than 3% indicates a stalling economy and a growth of more than 5% indicates that the economy is on the verge of inflation.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) publishes two measures of the GDP. One measure is based on expenditures while the other measure is based on incomes. The GDP publishes an advance release of the GDP following each quarter of the year, which contains, among other things, estimates for data not previously released, trade balances and inventories. This is considered to be the most important release while other BEA releases are considered less significant.

Producer Price Index (PPI) - The PPI measures price changes in the manufacturing sector as the average change that domestic producers in manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, electric utilities, natural gas, mining and fisheries receive in selling prices. The PPIs used most often in US economic analyses are measures for crude, intermediate and finished goods.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - The CPI measures the average price paid by urban consumers for a fixed basket of goods and services. Urban consumers are largest base of consumers, totaling about 80% of the U.S. population More than 200 categories of goods and services are included in the calculation of the CPI. The measure of the CPI includes taxes and user fees connected with goods and service, but it excludes the volatile food and energy components of consumer spending.

Industrial Production (IP) - IP is a chain-weighted measure of the change in production for the nation's factories, utilities and mines. An IP is determined for types of industries and types of markets. Since the IP is a measure of industrial capacity and available industrial resources, IP may also be called capacity utilization. Since manufacturing accounts for about one-fourth of the economy, IP rates indicate the capacity of the country's factories.

Durable Goods and Services - Durable goods and services are a measure of new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for immediately delivery and delivery in the future. A durable good or service is a good that lasts or a service that extends for a period of more than three years.

Employment Cost Index (ECI) - The ECI is an estimated measure of the number of full-time and part-time employees in businesses and government. It is based on more than 500 industries in 50 states and 255 metropolitan areas. Data are collected from surveys of employer payrolls and includes wage as well as non-wage costs of employment.

Retail Sales Index (RSI) - The RSI is an estimate of the total monthly sales from retailers. It is a measure of consumer consumption and confidence. Data are collected from a sampling of retail establishments throughout the country. Retail sales include the sale of services, durable goods and non-durable goods. It includes excise taxes and excludes sales taxes.

Housing Starts - Housing starts is an estimate of the number excavations for foundations of residential properties. An analysis of housing starts measures the change in housing start levels from month to month.

Andrew Daigle is the owner, creator and author of many successful websites including ForexBoost at http://www.ForexBoost.com and http://forex-trading-system.typepad.com , Free Forex Training Resource for the Novice and Advanced Forex trader.

Attitudes That Forms the Three Components

Attitudes are stable cluster of feelings, beliefs and behaviour and displays one intention towards specific things like people,situation and work. Example, work related attitudes relates to the aspect of work and work setting and we need to understand that diverse workforce have varying attitudes.

Attitudes form three component which is actively happening in our daily activities. Affective component is the emotional reaction towards something. Peter had been with the company for three years and have always been a role model in the company and is expecting his promotion due today but was shocked by the boards decision to give the promotion to much junior staff who was recognised for his recent contribution which made up 15% of the company's annual profit. Behavioural component looks at how the subject faces and reacts to the matter's attention. Peter was displeased by the board's decision and requested for a transfer out of the department without considering the efforts he had made in his three years, His performance shows he have no interest in working as hard as he used to, giving the boss a low performance impression. Cognitive component is to think and reason but it is the hardest to action among the three components. Think and anaylze before you take your next big step.

Cognitive dissonance is a feeling of discomfort caused by the information received which is affecting your positive self-concept. Leon Festinger suggests that people seek harmony in their attitudes, belief and behaviours and try to reduce the tendency of inconsistency among these elements. Reducing dissonance can be achieved by changing the behaviour or justifying the behaviour with new cognition added. The aim is to established consistency as we are always motivated to avoid inconsistencies. Example, We are always bombarded by influence at work and sometimes we just do not want to go to work because we are not motivated but we have to adapt and cling on to the job because we have a family to feed and that thinking changes the way we look at things which constantly reminds us why we go to work in a motivation way.

The central route to persuasion occurs when one derives from the message with positive understanding and do not require further elaboration to understand what the message is driving. In an advertising world, a commercial message uses part of central route to bring a point to the users to purchase the product. Example, how an asthma suffers decides on purchasing the best medication to reduce the number of asthma attacks would not understand the medical jargons used on the advertisement instead creating a message that elaborate on the benefits which an asthma suffers can receive which reduces the number of asthma attacks would surely sell it's product.

The peripheral Route to persuasion occurs when one is unable to understand what the message is trying to drive but some factors within the message actually gives a positive signal to further the consumer back to the product message which is driven. Example, If Michael Jordan is to do endorse for a brand of batteries, would anyone have purchased the batteries, why on earth would a basketball player be in a battery advertisement. Studies shows that though Michael Jordan plays basketball, the batteries will still sell in the eyes of consumers who are knows who michael jordan is and why should michael be endorsing these batteries, could they be as good as how michael jordan plays his basketball? Jansport backpack introduced an advertisement which had little to talk about but had more visual effects that somehow caught the eyes of a young boy who immediately went to the nearest sports store and purchased the pack and realised it was as good as what the advertisement was trying to put a point across.

The elaborate likelihood model is a combination of central and peripheral route and this two forms do not lead to the same attitude changes. A common question asked in the technology world, " Since you know that windows is not the fastest platform, why are you not switching over to a faster platform?" There are tons of answers to this question but it is the social psychology that have a fairly simple answer to it.

Self awareness theory states that when one looks at themselves more often than not, they tend to evaluate and compare their behaviour against internal values and standards which might be short coming. Example, Telling a lie or being guilty is what your friends will stigma you as being dishonest and not worthy of being friends, once you are exposed to the lies you have been telling, the subject tends to drink, abuse their bodies and even suicide attempts. The subject could have calm down and think of alternative ways to handle stress like this by attending spiritual aids and mental therapy which helps calm one person and resolve your problems and failures in a better way.