Observation Log #3

Location : Bedroom
Time : 8:00 am
Duration of exposure : 5 min.
Type of Media : Internet
Activity : E-mail
Notes : I logged on to my E-mail, and i had an e-mail from Newburry comics. They were trying to give me information on a new CD that was coming out. This is one of the worst types of advertisment, Junk mail. I get them way to much.

Location : Bedroom
Time : 8:15 am
Duration of exposure : 15 min.
Type of Media : Commercial
Activity : Watching Televisiono
Notes : There are way to many commercials, when i was channel surfing for 15 min before i had to leave for class I was only able to see commercials, and it made me very upset and angry

Location : Car
Time : 9:00 am
Duration of exposure : 20 min
Type of Media : Commercials (again)
Activity : Listening to Howard Stern
Notes : When i first put on the radio i listened to Howard for five minuits, then the commercial started. I knew i would be doing this log on Commercials, so i payed attention to how long it lasted, i was shocked when the commercial lasted for 8 min. That is almost more commercial than show.

note: This observation log was a way for me to blow off some steam about commercials... i hate them so much.

Observation Log #2

Location : Bedroom
Time : 7:45 am
Duration of exposure : 10 min.
Type of Media : Internet
Activity : E-Mail
Notes : When i first signed on to my E-Mail i noticed i had two E-Mail's from people who i didn't know. I then later realized that they were both advertisments for Newburry Comics.


Location : South Point Dr. (outside)
Time : 8:15 am
Duration of Exposure : 30 Seconds
Type of Media : Advertisement on a taxi
Activity : Walking to school
Notes : This taxi was the coolest taxi i have ever seen. It didn't just have a normal advertisment, instead of just picture, they had small televisions ontop of the cab, i was in such shock about the TV that i didn't even pay attention to what the advertisment was about.


Location : Red Line (T)
Time : 2:00 pm
Duration of Exposure : 15 Seconds
Type of Media : ??
Activity : Riding the T
Notes : As i was riding the T i looked out the window, and while in the subway i looked on the wall, and there was a series of lit up pictures on the wall, so as the train drove by it made it seem like a movie. It was a little game, it showed a quick glimps of something and then it said "Do you know what you just saw? if so go to www.whatdidyoujustsee.com and enter to win" I thought this was an interesting way to try and make your T ride more enjoyable


Location : Downtown Crossing
Time : 3:00 pm
Duration of exposure : 5 min
Type of Media : Billboard
Activity : Walking around downtown
Notes : The billboard was for the parramount theater, normally i don't notice many billboards, but this one had a lot of flashing lights, and it seemed to grab my attention.

Observation Log #1

Location : Bedroom
Time : 8:00 am.
Duration of Exposure : 20 min.
Type of Media : Computer
Activity : Checking E-Mail
Notes : After the first day of class i started noticing advertisement everywhere. Even hidden in E-Mail sent to me by my friends

Location : Gym
Time : 8:45 am
Duration of Exposure : 1h, 20 min.
Type of Media : Advertisment
Activity : Working out
Notes : i noticed that almost every excersize machine has a form of advertisement on it. Also while i was working out there were televisons on, that was playing the news. I only payed attention for a couple seconds at a time, but in that time i was able to learn a few things.

Location : Bedroom
Time : 2:00 pm.
Duration of Exposure : 30 min
Type of Media : Television
Activity : Watching television
Notes : There is all different kinds of media on the television. I noticed in the lower right hand corner there was always an advertisement for Warner Brothers. I also payed closer attention to the commercials, and then i realized that the commercials were almost as long as the show i was watching.

Location : Car
Time : 4:15
Duration of Exposure : 15 min.
Type of Media : Radio
Activity : Driving
Notes : When listening to music on the radio you hear about two songs, then about five min. of advertisment. I am begining to notice that advertisment is everywhere, in most cases there is more advertisment in the media you are trying to watch then the media itself.

Who owns the media?

The media is owned my six different companies, AOL Time Warner, The Walt Disney Co., Bertelsmann AG., Viacom, News Corporation, and Vivendi Universal. Among these six companies they control all forms of media, from television to the radio, if you want to be involved with media, you must be involved with at least one of these six. Each company has many sub companies under it, or else they would never be able to get away with running the entire media. The reason the companies do this is so they can target different groups of people at the same time.


When you think if Disney, you think of Mickey Mouse, and other younger forms of media. So if Disney wants to make horror movies they must form a new image. This is why they came up with Touchstone. This way a younger audience can still relate to disney, while an older audience can relate with Touchstone, even though they are all the same company. This is a trick that allows all media to be controlled by these six companies. There are a few small independent companies that have their own forms of media, life public access television, but they can not compete with these larger companies. These smaller companies are very important though. These independent companies allow us to view a form of media that is not controlled by a large corporation. On the other hand it is also a good thing that there are six large corporations that control the media, for without them we would not have access to as many different forms of media as we do. Also if there was only one large company there would always be a bias view, and you would never know if what you are watching was fact or an opinion. With six different companies you can compare what each is saying and come up with your own ideas.


The six major companies control almost all the media that you and I see every day. It is important to understand that all media is controlled by these six companies so that we don't think smaller companies are really "small." It is also very important to be aware of what you are watching. If you were to believe that every smaller company isn't owned by a larger company you might think their reasons for saying something has to do with personal views, and not the views of a large company.