An Online Hoax

Timeline:

-          Megan Meier was teased about her weight in seventh grade. She also tried desperately the acceptance of the popular girls.

-          Megan and Lori Drew´s daughter became best friends.

-          Ms. Drew takes Megan on family vacation. She also knows that Megan takes antidepressant medications and that she had a MySpace page

-          Megan was transferred to Immaculate Conception at the beginning of eighth grade.

-          She no longer wanted to be friends with Lori Drew´s daughter.

-          Found a new group of friends, lost weight and played volleyball.

-          Ms. Drew creates a profile on MySpace with the name “josh Evans” and begins to flirt online with Megan.

-          Three months later “he” insults her and tells her that the world would be a better place without her.

-          Other people also send mean messages to Megan.

-          Megan commits suicide

-          Six weeks later the parents learnt that Josh Evans never existed and that it had been created by Lori Drew.

“Explain why Ms Drew wanted to “mess with” Megan” + Summary

Megan Meier was found dead in her closet after she commits suicide because of an online crush, Josh Evans, who said mean things to her.

The weird thing is that Josh Evans does not exist. He is a fictional character created by Lori Drew, the mother of Megan´s ex best friend.

Megan became best friends with Lori Drew´s daughter when she was in seventh grade. She was bullied because of her weight and wanted to join the popular group from school. Her parents transferred her at the beginning of the eight grade to another school and Megan told her best friends that she does not want to be friends anymore. Megan lost weight and became friends with other people.

Then she met Josh Evans, a 16 year old boy, over the internet and fell in love with him. After three months of online-flirting he told her that the world would be a better place without her. She commits suicide. Megan took antidepressant and Lori Drew, who created Josh Evans, knew that.

Lori Drew wanted to mess with Megan, because Megan did not wanted to be friends with Lori´s daughter anymore. The Drew´s family had taken Megan´s family on vacations, so I think that Lori was very disappointed and angry with Megan. She may have thought that Megan only was her daughter´s friend because they invited them on vacations. So Lori wanted to take revenge by playing with Megan´s feeling. I do not think that Lori expected that end, but it is very childish and immature of her for doing that action.

Media ethic – Parameters

Parameters		Definition	Example
Public interest		News reporter or media contributions should be of public interest and of some concern to the people who are consuming them	Amy Winehouse’s last escapade vs. the truth about the Cologne disaster
Privacy	Collides with public interest. People want to know everything about famous people. Their privacy gets violated.		The problems that Britney Spears had. The pictures that were taken of her.
Neutrality	Only objective information, not subjective. The media should not manipulate or brain-wash the people. It should only inform		Tabloid newspaper may contain the point of view of journalists.
Taste	Serious newspaper including well structured articles and catchy headlines. It should catch the attention of the people.
Truth	Reporters may invent stories so that the newspaper is sold better. False information may be added or even whole stories may be invented		Rumors

Hoaxes (HW)

1. Comment on the activities of the “Yes Men” (Do you think their activities make a difference? Could you think of a similar hoax being used on sth. in Germany?)

The aim of the activities of the “Yes Men” are in my opinion to create an utopia. It is complicated to decide whether it is a good idea or not, because for example the fake New York Times with the false news that the Iraq war is over is in my opinion to delicate to make a “joke” out of it. I think that their intention is that people at first believe that the article is true and feel happy and safe. Then they realize that it is a fake and start to think about how great it would have been if the article was real and the Iraq war would have really come to an end. This also applies to the other activities from the Yes Man.

In conclusion I think that the activities of the Yes Men make a difference, because it puts the reader in a perfect world (utopia) and dramatically they change from hopeful & happy to guilty and discontent.

I think that the news about the end of the war could also be used in Germany between others which I do not have in mind right now.

1. Find a definition of the term “hoax” and choose one hoax to present in class.

 

Definition of “hoax”:

1. An act intended to deceive or trick.

2. Something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication

Synonyms:
1. deception, fraud, fake, imposture, humbug.

A kind of hoax could be magic. Everything is fake and people sometimes believe what they see, even though it is all unreal and impossible. Some people even pay a lot to know the tricks.

Michel Cambon – World Press Freedom Day (Cartoon)

The cartoon was drawn by Michel Cambon and published by the World Press Freedom on an unknown year. The illustration was created in response of censorship of the freedom of speech and is directed at those who censored the freedom of expressionism.

The cartoon consists of four men with different nationalities behind bars and four different tags pointing at them with a message. They are sitting in a prison cell with an unhappy expression on their faces. The first man is tagged with “Disturbing the Peace”, the second with “Attack Against Head of State”, the third with “National Security Violation” and the fourth with “Bad Weather Report”.

The caption states that the shown men were put into prison because of different actions or things they said, which reinforces that the freedom of speech is very restricted.

The cartoon points out that there is no freedom of speech and if it is violated and someone says or published something without respecting the limits, he/she will end in prison. It is not known what exactly these four men did for example to disturb the peace or how the second attacked the head of state, but the fourth man was put into prison only because of giving a bad weather report.

The message of the cartoon is well-made, because it is shown directly what the artist wants to say, without metaphors or complicated symbols. Ironic was also build into the cartoon, with the last man. This ironic shocks the most, because it is ridiculous how someone can be send to prison only because of givin a bad weather report.

All in all the cartoon achieves its purpose and can be understood by almost anyone.

Iraqis Around the World Celebrate U.S. Withdrawal, Rebuilding Plan

Summary

The newspaper article “Iraqis Around the World Celebrate U.S. Withdrawal, Rebuilding Plan”, from The New York Times, which was written by F. Wunderlich, deals about Iraqi refugees having hope for their country, because of the Withdrawal of the U.S.

Five million of Iraq refugee are hoping for a better life now that the U.S. withdrawals from Iraq. They know that Iraq will not be the same as before, but some of them are planning to return to Baghdad to start a new life, look for their family and friends. But there are also those, who do not want to return, because they did not left anything behind. Most Iraq refugees are still living in the same country but far away from their family. The rest is practically spread all over the world; Syna, Jordan, Europe and only 2,000 in the U.S. They are not allowed to work, so they life from the black market and they have no human rights therefore they live in bad conditions and poverty. Because of the Withdrawal some refugees have now hope for their country and the Iraqis will be free to choose their own future.

Analysis

The given article is clearly from a National newspaper, because the headline is serious, not like in a tabloid, the picture does not want to cause attention and is used to illustrate the text. The language quality of the text is medium-high, serious and objective. All the information is based on statements of different people, whose names and ages are given, which can be used as sources.