Women in Media

How women are depicted in the media.
There are two very different stories involving two very different people yet somehow they both seem to be treated in a particular way. And it seems to point to the fact that the two people happen to be women of Hispanic descent. On one case you have Sonia Sotomayor, who was previously mentioned in a prior blog, and the fact that she has been “critical” of the Arizona immigration law. And on the other hand we find Jennifer Lopez, an international icon for pop culture, and the reception of her latest music video which aired during American Idol.
Firstly, Sonia Sotomayor is a Supreme Court judge that has been appointed by none other than the president of the United States, Barak Obama. Needless to say she has much authority and probably a great deal of knowledge on a vast scale. This is a woman that has been through not one but two Ivy League schools, Princeton and Yale, in order to obtain her J.D. However the way that she is depicted in the media during a news coverage on the Arizona law of immigration seemed as if she was biased towards the disapproval of the new bill. The new law would basically allow for the law enforcement to randomly check people for identification in order to prove they are legally in the U.S. However Sotomayor brought up some questions regarding topics that no one else seemed to be concerned with but actually make the decision that much more difficult. For example the people that would be detained for not having valid proof of citizenship would be held for abnormally long periods of time and more resources are required to maintain such activities. Even though Sotomayor brought these important topics to the table, people seem to only focus on the fact that because she is Latina she must be against the bill. And the media does a good job of pressuring any other choice besides accepting the bill saying things such as it would be “un-American” to not pass it. And in the written article the author really stresses the fact that she is Latina instead of focusing on the facts that she brought up. Again it seems no one wants to address the important issues and would rather focus on the theory of gaining votes from the Hispanic community for Obama. Regardless the media should not focus on the fact that the Supreme Court judge is Hispanic and instead realize that she is an intelligent woman with some knowledge of the law, given her position, and think about what she is saying.
The other woman in the spotlight, Ms. Lopez, was taking criticism from not only the media but from a previous judge who is notorious for being cut throat and somewhat rude. There are a couple of interesting things about this article, which include the way that the media presents her new music video and the reactions from it, while Simon Cowell has his own thought of Lopez. The music video has words tagged to it such as “inappropriate” and “explicitly” which automatically give off a negative connotation to the video. Whereas in comparison the video that Lopez was in is arguably less explicit than any other male rap videos with the same theme. But the fact that it is Jennifer Lopez makes the huge difference and is blatantly stated that she should know better. Clearly there seems to be a double standard at play in this situation. Another interesting thing in the article was that in Cowell’s new biography he shares what he thinks of the “Puerto Rican diva.” He goes on to say that he cannot stand her even though he has never met her. Clearly something is wrong with this picture however in the article it doesn’t focus on the clear issue but instead compliments Simon’s statement by saying “Ouch” not even defending Lopez in any way. In both these cases, both women were presented unjustly and media should really change the way these things are handled in order to not seem biased themselves however they seem to care more about ratings more than the actual news.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertainment/2012/04/25/american-idol-feud-simon-cowell-on-jlo-cant-stand-her/

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/04/26/sonia-sotomayor-critical-arizona-immigration-law/