Governmental Control over Radio

During the formation of the radio industry in the 1920s, there were numerous factors that contributed to the industry's growth, including government intervention. Government intervention has been a ubiquitous factor in American society since the dawning of the twentieth century. As national industries began to merge together, the government feared that small businesses and consumers would suffer, and therefore enacted government intervention. Then in 1890, Congress initiated the Sherman Act, which permitted the government to intervene and break up monopolies. A fine of five thousand dollars or a year in prison were the most sever consequences for breaking this act. Over ten years later, Theodore Roosevelt became the first president to use the newfound law.
During the forming of the RCA, WW1 had just ended, and the navy wanted the radio under government control. The United States government soon forced British interests out of US radio and mandated ownership. Soon after, American Marconi was purchased by GE, AT&T and Westinghouse. Later, NBC was officially formed in September of 1926 by the RCA and its partners GE and Westinghouse. However, AT&T had already established a monopoly over radio transmissions, and thus was forced to sell its business to RCA. Clearly, the regulation and government intervention caused the shaping of the radio industry and controlled what stations would remain or perish. These governmental actions laid the groundwork for the roaring age of radio that would emerge in 50s, where rock and roll dominated the air waves.
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Social Learning: The Buried Life

Through the process of social learning, people acquire knowledge and form opinions by sifting through media, in particular TV. I believe that the show "The Buried Life" is an example of a positive form of social leaning. People, especially adolescents in society often take the opinions of what they read in a magazine or watch on television. Teens often latch on to these viewpoints because of their ephemeral popularity at the time. An example of this would be if a teen hated Kanye West after he publicly embarrassed Taylor Swift at the VMAs. Often, social learning leads to people making uninformed and uneducated decisions, which do nothing to further progress in society. 

Although there are countless negative effects of social learning, I believe that the reality show, "The Buried Life" serves as a refreshing alteration of this theory. In the show, four friends travel cross country while attempting to accomplish their bucket list. At each stop, they attempt an item on their list, while also helping a stranger accomplish something off their own list. While other reality shows follow idiots gratuitously drinking and having gorilla sex, "The Buried Life" focuses on helping people, and giving back to society. The four main characters are benevolent and admirable, where as other shows's stars only worry about getting a tan and scoring an Italian hottie. For once, MTV has produced a show with redeemable qualities and a touch of humanity. 

Hegemony in Media

In our current culture, the presence of hegemony is pertinent in all forms of media, even including children's films. Hegemony is defined as the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group over American culture as a whole. The media will constantly doctor the news according to its own interests. Often in photographs and news, African Americans will almost undoubtedly be labeled more negatively than a white person. The reason for this is due to framing, and this practice is often done to minorities. In newspapers and magazines throughout America, consumers are constantly being fed what corporate companies deem necessary, in a process called framing. This can also be seen in forms of media such as films, in which males generally hold the highest power.
I believe hegemony is best exemplified in the films of Pixar. I can genuinely say that I have loved all of Pixar's eleven films, ranging from A Bug's Life to Toy Story 3. Despite my love for these cherished films, I cannot help but notice that all of these films have lacked a female protagonist. Throughout all of these films, females have always served as secondary to the dominant male character. This form of hegemony may not appear as blatant as other forms, and females certainly have undoubtedly played crucial roles in many of these movies. However, I believe that it is time for Pixar to release a film with a female character as the lead. Reports have shown that the audience for films such as Toy Story 3 have been split evenly between males and females. Thus I believe the polls would be the same, even with a female protagonist.
Therefore, hegemony is, and always will be present in all the forms of media, including the films of Pixar. Although I am not disparaging Pixar's films, I believe that the time has come for a leading female role.