As mentioned in “The Media Effect”, the mass media has a powerful effect on the country’s development. Media outlets can serve as agitators and have an effect on national development. This role is clear in the coverage of Clementi’s story. The media is using this story to develop a national debate over gay rights. People are blogging, posting comments on Facebook, tweeting, and even posting comments on station’s Web sites. There is a lot of emotion involved in this case because many feel this could happen to them. They become paranoid of their surroundings and worry about their own privacy.

I think this also opens up debate over the invasion of privacy. The media has been known as the “watchdog” over government actions. Who is watching over the effect media can play in privacy issues? It’s interesting to know that each state has its own privacy laws. I think a lot of people are going to be following this story to see just how far the case goes in New Jersey. Will this lead to a stricter punishment? This story has already made national headlines and it has been the topic of discussion on talk shows. Whether or not the two students behind the alleged webcasting face criminal charges, Clementi’s story will not be forgotten and it will spark an on going national debate.

1. The media certainly has acted as an agitator in the case of Tyler Clementi and the reactions we are seeing. Instead of conveying “enlightenment and harmony,” they’ve created animosity.” Ch 3 of Dr. Willis’ book quotes, “[national media] thus doign a good job of increasing irritations and suspicions among groups and governments and giving distorted pictures of various nations.” This exactly what the media has done here. They’ve agitated multiple groups related to this story on many different levels. Anxieties have been created for young homosexual teens, teen suicide activists, the government, lawyers, and politicians in regards to privacy laws and placing blame on those directly involved, problems regarding sexting, etc. The media coverage on Clementi has reached gay rights activists. Last week during Good Morning America, there was even a LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual And Transgender) representative speaking out on Clementi’s story. Ellen Degeneres posted a public announcement on tv and online.
We see clearly that the media directly creates such agitation.

2. The real question here is why did Clementi’s roommate and Molly Wei feel they could do this? There are already laws in place for the media in regards to privacy. There is a privacy law in each and every state regarding privacy invasion, which is interesting and something that I did not know before reading this post. Clementi’s roommate obviously did not think about his consequences or perhaps he had no idea he was breaking the law.

Are these the sort of ideas that open outlets of feelings and communication like Facebook and Twitter are putting
into people heads? Consider the source, you can literally post anything on Twitter and Facebook, just as Clementi’s
roommate did. Give and take, Facebook and Twitter does reserve the right to remove such material. However with the number of users amounting to what would be the worlds 3rd largest country, I can see how it can be hard to keep everyone under raps. Then again, that is why we have laws in place.

Media and technology have been huge advancements in our society. They have driven us to places we never thought we could go. We are a communicating digital community/world. But as helpful as it seems we must always remember how harmful it can be and has shown to have been.