The Media's Portrayal of Journalism

This past weekend I watched Man on Ledge, which was a pretty good movie with an interesting twist on a “good guy robbery”.  The part of this movie that I thought was fascinating was the portrayal of broadcast journalism and journalists.  Throughout the entire movie a very annoying lady with fake blonde hair, an irritating persistence to uncover anything “newsworthy”, and a thirst for the limelight. 

Throughout the movie she was found trying to get a better angle on the man on the ledge without trying to figure out the real story. The director didn’t show her as someone that was trying to learn all of the facts, but as a journalist that was trying to get a good story at any cost.

She was very annoying, especially to me, a girl that wants to become a broadcast journalist.  After watching this movie I wanted to show my family and friends what broadcast journalists actually do for their career.  And prove that journalism is about getting the story right, not about getting the spot light.

Beauty

The portrayal of beauty in the world, specifically within the media, is something that I've been pondering quite a bit lately.  My thoughts came to a head (no pun intended) while I was watching Snow White and the Huntsman with my parents last Friday night.  (Yes, I crash my parent's date nights occasionally...) Needless to say, I won't recommend you watch the movie, but I did realize something about the depiction of beauty in the world today.

The media portrays beauty as something that is always used negatively, or for personal gain, like the wicked queen in Snow White.  In many of the mainstream films of today, the “bad guy” is beautiful, and has to be punished because of his or her crimes.  However, because this antagonist is being punished, a young audience often unconsciously perceives this as a punishment for beauty.  By portraying beauty in this light it persuades young people, especially girls, to believe that it is wrong to think of themselves as beautiful, because, as the movies show us, most beautiful people are evil.  This thought process is completely dysfunctional.
In Esther 2:7 & 9, in the King James Bible, it shows a very different side of beauty: "...the maid was fair and beautiful...” describes Esther. “And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her, her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women."  After becoming the new queen because of her beauty, Esther had to make a very hard decision to ask the king to spare her people.  She did, and the Jews were spared.  Esther was given her beauty to help a kingdom.
I do understand that it is difficult for girls to understand that beauty can be a tool that can be used for good, because many of these girls are going through awkward years in their physical development.  However, they need to be taught that being beautiful is a blessing, not a curse.
 All youth need to learn that everyone is beautiful and that beauty can shine through in different ways. Unfortunately, the problem with the way the media is portraying beauty right now is that many girls learn to think that any form of beauty is bad.
Or even worse, that recognizing their beauty is conceited, when in reality, it is recognizing one of God's gifts.  We learn more about recognizing God’s gifts in D&C 88:33: “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift?  Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.”
The Lord tells us directly in this scripture that we need to receive, or recognize, our gifts from Him, and one of the gifts He can give is beauty.  We need to receive this gift and give thanks to him for it.  If we don’t receive it then we can’t rejoice in it or use it to better the lives of those around us, and if that is the case then we might as well not have been given that gift.
We are all blessed with different gifts from our loving Heavenly Father.  One of those blessings can be beauty.  Beauty needs to be recognized as the gift that it really is, by those with that blessing and those around them, because once people are comfortable with their own beauty they can use it to bless everyone around them.