According to the Oxford Reference, media law is the legislation through which governments regulate the mass media; including issues of censorship, copyright, defamation, broadcast law, and antitrust law. I learned a lot about media law this semester and did my own research outside of class as well. Media law is essential to keeping the peace in journalism and entertainment. Media law helps determine what we are and aren’t allowed to see. Yale Law School says that it covers conflicts all across the board such as racist and offensive speech, pornography, obscenity, commercial speech, defamation and privacy, national security, freedom of speech, internet and broadcast regulation, manner of expression, and more. I feel like media law was one of the first things we learned about in my Introduction to Media class and it’s for good reason. It’s important to know and understand the ins and outs of protection and what you can and can’t do. It helps you see media, entertainment, journalism, and reporting in a better, more understanding way. For the most part, media law acts as personal protection for reporters and journalists. You can’t get sued for defamation when you upset someone about something you wrote or a certain situation you reported on. Media law is an essential thing to learn and understand.
Stack of the same newspapers. https://unsplash.com/photos/magazine-pile-lot-JYPDh4ter10?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash
Majoring in public relations and choosing it as a career path was something I always had in mind. I grew up watching Sex and the City, and Samantha Jones was always my favorite character. She worked in PR and had her own firm and always just seemed so successful to me. She planned parties for people and companies and it always looked like she was having fun with what she did, and it drew me towards that career. Samantha was also portrayed as a character who was super funny, strong, assertive, successful, and creative, which somehow made me want to have her career even more. The creative side of me was also super interested in PR because I’ve loved hosting parties and coming up with events within my friend group, part-time job, or just wherever an opportunity has presented itself to me. I think I would thrive in an environment where I am able to plan events and be able to portray people or companies in the best possible light to make them successful. I honestly want to work in the sports industry and work closely to specific athletes and teams. I want to find ways to creatively represent them and keep them relevant and portrayed in a good light. I had thought about pursuing journalism for a while, but I ultimately chose PR because it checked more of the boxes of what I wanted to do.
With Halloween approaching, I wanted to share the top 10 horror movies I have on my list to watch before October 31st! Horror is my favorite movie genre, so I would personally consider this to be a top-tier list. I’ve created the list with the idea that you start at #10 10 days before Halloween and finish strong with #1 on the day of!
10. Halloween (1978)
I wanted to start the list of strong with a classic. Coming from experience, this movie gets everyone in the Halloween mood and it’ll always be one of my favorites.
9. The Exorcist
Another classic! I feel like everyone needs to see this movie at least once in their life.
8. Carrie (1976 or 2013)
For Carrie, I’m letting this one be interchangeable. I’ve already given you two classics, so you can keep the trend going or move on to the newer stuff. You can’t go wrong with either of these movies, it just depends on your vibe for the night. Are you in the mood for classic horror or a little more scary?
7. Insidious
This is one of my favorite scary movies of all time. This one definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat and brings a higher level of suspense, especially with the music! If you have nothing to do on this day, you can binge the entire Insidious series (which I highly recommend).
6. Scream
This is one of my FAVORITES! This is absolutely a must! Need I say more?
5. Annabelle
Annabelle definitely brings a scare factor into the movie mix. Annabelle herself is super creepy and the movie always keeps you on your toes.
4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original or 2013 version)
I’m making Texas Chainsaw Massacre interchangeable as well! Obviously, the original movie is a classic and I highly encourage everyone to watch it if you haven’t, but the 2013 version is also a good one!
3. Sinister
This may take the cake on the scariest/most disturbing movie I’ve ever seen. The storyline is disturbing and the whole movie I feel like I want to cover my eyes.
2. The Conjuring
The Conjuring holds a special place in my heart as my comfort movie. I could watch this movie every day of my life. If you aren’t familiar, it’s the same vibe as Annabelle and Insidious. The movies take place in the same universe which I think is pretty cool!
1. Halloween (2018)
It only felt right to make Halloween #1. Starting with the original and ending with the more recent version. I really enjoyed this movie and think it’s a perfect way to end the list!
Hopefully, this list delivers and puts you in the Halloween spirit this season! I know I’ll definitely be following it and I hope you all do too!
As someone who despises being sick, I am a huge advocate for taking necessary precautions when fall and winter roll around. As a college student, almost everyone I know gets at least a little bit sick when coming back to school. That being said, as cooler weather hits, the sickness tends to linger and worsen. There are 3 major viruses that we need to watch out for this season in order to stay as healthy as possible. Those viruses are respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), COVID-19, and the flu. A nonprofit health policy research group, KFF, stated that 40% of U.S. households were hit with at least one of these viruses. Aside from those big 3 viruses, there are others that we need to watch out for as well. NPR wrote an article where an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Emory University named Marlene Wolfe says we need to be on the lookout to avoid rhinoviruses, parainfluenzas, enterovirus D68, and human metapneumonia virus. All of these viruses have similar symptoms that we’re all familiar with such as runny nose, coughing, sore throat, sneezing, post-nasal drip, and more. I personally have a very busy fall and winter season, and I want to stay as healthy as possible this year so I can do everything I need to do. A few things that I’m making sure to do to keep myself and others healthy are thoroughly washing my hands, making sure to always cover my cough, drinking plenty of fluids, and drinking warm tea in the mornings (this is a personal preference but I feel like it helps!). It’s important for us all to be cautious and make sure we’re keeping ourselves and those around us healthy this season!
The Hunger Games trilogy has been one of the most popular book series of my generation. The books have been turned into movies that are extremely successful and have grown a pretty large fan base. For me, The Hunger Games has always been one of my absolute favorite book trilogies that I’ve ever read. I remember vividly when I was in about 4th grade the only thing that I wanted as a reward for a straight A report card was the hardback copy set of The Hunger Games trilogy. I absolutely loved to read (I still do) and getting those books was super important to me and I was so excited. When I first read the series I feel as though I was too young to understand the actual message of the books. I obviously liked the plot of the books and was interested in the love story of Katniss and Peeta and the action when they were in the arena, but as a teenager, I started to enjoy the books for a different reason. When they started making The Hunger Games movies I was obsessed with them, but it also made it a lot easier to see the themes and messages that were actually important. I’ve seen every Hunger Games movie about 100 times but in my late teens I decided I wanted to re-read the books. Reading the books again when I was older and able to understand what was happening in a different way made the books even better to me. It was easier for me to see the themes of inequality between the rich and poor, the importance of appearance, sacrifices for entertainment, hypocrisy, and much more. It was like I was reading a totally different book because I was old enough to understand it differently. To this day these books and their movie adaptations are my all-time favorite and I frequently re-read and re-watch the trilogy. I think everyone should read the books at least once in their lives because it can also show you some similarities between their government and ours and it truly is just one of the most influential book series I’ve ever read.
I haven’t always known that I wanted to take the media route when it came to my future career. I’ve bounced around different ideas ever since I can remember. Despite this, I have always looked up to Erin Andrews. I’ve seen her on TV ever since I can remember and I wanted to be just like her. I loved watching her on Dancing With the Stars but I mainly loved watching her narrate sports events. I watched her all over ESPN while I was growing up. I loved watching her in everything she did because I loved sports and it was important to me to see a woman be so successful in that field. She was one of the main reasons I even began to think of journalism as an option for my future. I still don’t know exactly what I want to do, but Erin Andrews heavily pushed me towards being a sports commentator. Andrews is currently employed by FOX Sports and you can see her many accomplishments on the biography they have posted about her on the FOX Sports Press Pass website. She was the first woman to win the Pat Summerall Award. She also received Vince Lombardi’s Award of Excellence. I looked up to her before she won these awards and I was even more inspired after she did. Regardless of her line of work I was still motivated by the person she was. She was a strong, confident woman who was dominating the sports industry with her hard work and charm. She made me want to dominate anything I did, regardless if it involved sports broadcasting or not. When I was younger I felt like I was seeing her everywhere in commercials, in the sports industry, on Dancing With the Stars, and it feels like much more. She honestly just made me want to be as successful as she was and hopefully report on the same sidelines one day.
