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Influence of the Media on the Vietnam War

Influence of the Media on the Vietnam War The Vietnam War was divisive for America for many reasons, but the debate about the role of the media has become almost as controversial as the war itself. A popular assessment that emerged shortly after its end was that newspapers and television networks had contributed to the failure in Vietnam by becoming oppositional bringing the brutality of war, as well as criticism of the government, into American homes, influencing public attitudes and ultimately bringing about the withdrawal. In political and military circles the medias impact was deemed to be so decisive that the Department of Defense attempted the total exclusion of reporters from the invasion of Grenada in 1983, and introduced a new media pool system for the Panama invasion of 1989. In his 1986 book, The Uncensored War, Daniel Hallin challenged this view that during the war the American media shifted to an oppositional stance. In a strong empirical study, Hallin suggested the growth of critical coverage merely reflected the growing dissensus on the war, particularly within the political elite. Hallin has since drawn broad support, certainly from the academic field, and this essay supports his conclusion that the media did not become a force of opposition. In arguing that the US news media had little independent impact on the course of the war, however, I believe Hallin is wrong. This essay will begin with a brief critique of Hallins 1986 study, as this will provide a useful framework for analysis of the medias impact on the war. I will indicate why it is a sound conclusion that the media was not an institution of opposition, before stressing three omissions: the changing media; the impact of critical reporting; and the ability of an objective media to influence opinion and policy. The following sections will expand these arguments, in order to show that they are key to understanding the medias impact, and that it must be considered a factor in the course of the Vietnam War. This essay will argue that the media did have some independent impact on the course of the Vietnam War through a vicious cycle of making information about the war available, and affecting public and elite opinion. Once negative opinions formed, these were reported by the press and led to a greater split, making the Administration consider the publics reaction to military policy. Hallin a brief critique Daniel Hallin (1986) argues that news coverage was broadly supportive until 1968, operating within a sphere of consensus, with stories focused on a theme of American boys in action. The shift to critical coverage was due to elements within the administration beginning to argue publicly over the course of the war, the media never moved into a sphere of deviance where fundamental criticisms of the legitimacy of government action were made (Robinson, 2010). This shift at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive reflected a breakdown of consensus regarding the war, both in the political elite and wider society. Hallin attributes these findings to two factors: prevalent anti-communist ideology in the USA ensured journalists and government officials were united; and the media continued to practice objective journalism the ideology and newsgathering routines of journalism did not change, the media continued using official sources and not favouring opponents of administration policy. Hallin supports his theory using quantitative data relating to the content of news media and its progression through the War period. The strength of the study lies in this empirical approach; the data are thorough and support his conclusions well, such as the fact that only 8% of all Vietnam stories contained comments reflecting favourably or unfavourably on major actors. Thus Hallin provides a very persuasive response to the oppositional thesis, but his study is much less supportive to his argument that the media had little independent impact on the course of the war. This is due to his failure to develop his argument in key areas. The first is the dramatic changes taking place in the media at the time of Vietnam. It was not the first war where atrocities were committed, nor the first to involve political debate about its course, yet these were faithfully reported during Vietnam as they had been in no war previously. Hallin does not discuss the reasons for this, and this is crucial for the evaluation of the medias impact. The second is the influence of negative reporting. Hallin does not analyse fully the effect of broadcasts such as Walter Cronkites famous declaration of stalemate and the footage of General Loan killing an unarmed Vietcong prisoner. Hallins third omission is the consideration that an objective media by what it reports can still have a significant impact on public and elite opinion. The media reported stories damaging to support for the war, albeit from an objective stance, and its effect could have been compounded by a vicious cy cle. These omissions represent my arguments for the conclusion that the media did have some impact on the course of the Vietnam War, and they are discussed below. A changing media At the time of the Vietnam War there were significant changes taking place that affected not only the stories that were available to journalists, but also crucially the way in which the news was reported by the media. As has been seen since, these developments decreased the extent of the medias deference in a time of war and enabled greater independence (Robinson, 2010). Vietnam was a war of firsts in many respects. As Susan Carruthers (2000) notes, it was the first television war. Vietnam received sustained, almost nightly, coverage for a number of years. It was the first war to be broadcast in colour (Culbert, 1998), and the first to benefit from new technologies such as satellites. In previous wars editors would order reporters to deliver timeless pieces from the battlefield, such as troops securing an area or marching across countryside, as stories had to be physically brought back to the USA before broadcast. Without this problem broadcasts began to involve current battles and combat, as they were immediately relevant to the reporting of the wars progression. This meant that much more detail about the war, particularly its human costs, reached the American public. Carruthers (2000) also points out that Vietnam marked the start of an age of investigative journalism that culminated in the Watergate scandal. As will be discussed below, the military s credibility gap encouraged journalists to root out stories for themselves, making reporting much more independent than it had been in previous wars, where the media had relied on information from military briefings. Daniel Hallin (1986) does refer to these changes, and the historical context of the war in Vietnam. He concedes, Vietnam did push journalists away from the deference of an earlier era, but perhaps neglects the significance of this change in relation to the medias impact on the war. Hallin notes that Vietnam was the first war in which reporters routinely accompanied military forces and were not subjected to censorship, giving the media extraordinary freedom to report the war without direct government control. I believe this freedom is extremely significant in the assessment of the impact of the media. It gave reporters unprecedented access to the war, which they could deliver first hand to the American public through their television sets and newspapers. In the words of Epstein (cited in Herman Chomsky, 1988), the military lost its control over the movements of the press, who could step out of their hotels and find themselves willy-nilly in the midst of bloody fighting. This freedom led to damaging exposà ©s such as Morley Safers report showing the burning of the village of Cam Ne in 1965, stories which would not have surfaced prior to Vietnam. The most important development relating to the medias influence in Vietnam was the increasing profile of television news. As Hallin (1986) attests, Television news came of age on the eve of Vietnam. CBS and NBC TV, Americas two biggest television networks, extended their nightly news bulletin from fifteen to thirty minutes in 1963, with ABC following suit in 1967. The growth of television news had a profound effect on the way news, and especially the war, was reported. News had to be selective and visually dramatic. Carlyle Thayer (1992) explains the effect this had: the war that Americans saw was almost exclusively violent, miserable, or controversial: guns firing, men falling, helicopters crashing, buildings toppling, huts burning, refugees fleeing, women wailing. For the first time the American public experienced the human suffering of war, not expressed by words or statistics, but by pictures that showed them details previously unknown to them. It must be said that Hallin (1986) credibly shows that mainstream media refrained from exposure of wars human costs for the considerable part of Vietnam. He receives support here from Lawrence Lichty, whose study of 2,300 network evening news reports from 1965 1970 showed that only 76 showed anything approaching true violence (Lichty cited in Thayer, 1992). Again, these are strong arguments in terms of disproving the oppositional thesis, but both Hallin and Lichty undervalue the effect that critical reporting can have on society. These dramatic changes in the information available to journalists, and the way in which they could report it, greatly increased the potential impact the media could have on the Administration and wartime policy. The impact of critical reporting Daniel Hallin (1986) demonstrates that there was a growth in critical coverage around the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive. In assessing the impact of the media on the war, I believe he underestimates just how critical, and how negative, some of the coverage of the war was during this period. While overall coverage may have remained objective, this is not to say that certain broadcasts were not detrimental to the war effort some are still remembered as turning points in the war. The CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite was described as the most trusted man in America. On 27th February 1968, upon returning from an inspection of the war, he proclaimed, to say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion, while describing Vietnam as a bloody experience (Carruthers, 2000). Upon hearing this broadcast, President Johnson is alleged to have told aides, it is all over (Thussu Freedman, 2003). Its effect was clear to see. On 31st March Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek a second term as President, and in a speech to the media shortly afterwards made clear that they were in no small part responsible for his decision (Carruthers, 2000). Cronkite directly contradicted the government line on the state of the war, and went further on CBS Radio, speaking of the misleading picture of those optimistic stories weve heard about the progress of the war, and asking, Can we, as a nation, face up to the prospect of an overwhelmingly cost ly and bitter Asian War? (Braestrup, 1977). Here it is clear that Cronkite and CBS strayed in to Hallins sphere of deviance. The anchorman claimed the public had been misled by their government, and questioned the war itself. This was by no means the only instance of extremely critical reporting. Hallin is silent on the issue of the footage of General Loan, Chief of Police of South Vietnam, shooting an unarmed Vietcong sympathiser in the head, aired by NBC on 2nd February 1968. David Culbert (1998) is correct to emphasise the impact of both the footage and the still photograph, which appeared in newspapers around the world, on viewers and policy-makers alike. He also records the words of Frank McGhee, commentator for the unedited footage aired on 10th March, the war is being lost by the Administrations definition, showing another arm of the media questioning the legitimacy of the war. It is impossible, of course, to determine the actual effect of such reporting on public and elite opinion, but it is unwise to discount its impact altogether. This ignores the compelling visual evidence about the war that was offered to the American public. Culbert (1998) presents a quote from Peter Braestrup on the Loan killing that demonstrates this argument well: It was a kind of ultimate horror story that you captured in living colour. But in terms of information it told you almost nothing. This is a crucial point, and one that will be returned to in the following section, that viewers were left to fill the information void with their own meaning, drawn from what they saw. No context was given to the incident, giving the impression that it was a common occurrence. ABCs anchorman Howard Smith even resigned in February 1968 claiming the media did not provide any context for the Loan shooting or the violence of the Tet Offensive as a whole (Culbert, 1998). Many scholars have dismissed the claim that television had such a large impact on the American public during the Vietnam War. Among them is John Mueller (1971), who argues that the media followed a shift in public opinion against the war, which had actually occurred in the two years prior to the Offensive. Mueller cites rising casualties as the reason for dwindling support for the war, suggesting a similar pattern could be seen in Korea, where television coverage was minimal. Thayer (1992) notes that one survey in 1968, the time at which critical coverage is meant to have had the greatest effect, found that less than half of the television households watched the news on a given evening. This provides a certain amount of perspective for the argument that television news played a role in shaping public opinion. Nevertheless, in focusing on the violence, the controversy and the human costs of the Tet Offensive, the media contributed to turning what was a military success for the USA into a defeat for public opinion and elite consensus. Objective influence, and the vicious cycle The most important argument against Hallins assertion that the media had little impact on the course of the war is the role the media plays in the forming of opinions at home. Again, Hallin is correct in saying that the media maintained an objective stance, and his study is very convincing on this subject. However, the public shape their opinions based on the information available to them, and, as demonstrated above, the media reported stories that were politically very damaging. As Melvin Small (1987) suggests, if the media does not cover it, then it might as well not have happened, as far as the impact on the President, his advisors, the general public, and even other nations is concerned, and during Vietnam the various arms of the press resolved to provide all information about the war, whether positive or negative. This is clearly an objective position, but by reporting the negative side of the war the media informed the public that there was in fact a negative side, influencing the debate. Hallin (1986) claims that it is unclear whether the effect of public opinion would have been any different had the media been subject to censorship, but this is a weak argument. If censorship were enforced, the public would have received most of their news about the war from the government, which as it is often repeated, was painting a rosy picture of Vietnam. David Culbert (1998) claims that in a time of uncertainty, compelling visual evidence has a power denied it in ordinary circumstances. While this is true of television broadcasts, it can be applied to the media as a whole in a time of limited war. As Phillip Knightley (2004) argues, Vietnam was a war like no other, a war with no front line, no easily identifiable enemy, no simply explained cause, no clearly designated villain on whom to focus the nations hateà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and, therefore, no nationwide fervour of patriotism. Combine this with the credibility gap created by the military and the government the positivity about the war consistently presented at military briefings was at odds with what reporters in the field were seeing themselves, and this divergence became clear to the public and the media were granted an exceptional role in shaping public opinion on the war. It must also not be forgotten that multiple news sources can also influence elite opinion, and so indeed can the public, and this is the basis of the vicious cycle that played some role in ending the war. It is widely agreed that the Tet Offensive was the key period of coverage of the Vietnam War, as this was the start of the shift to more critical reporting by the media. This is important because negative coverage in mainstream news encourages opponents of government policy to speak out. Hallin (1986) agrees that the anti-war movement was given increasing airtime, but says they remained fringe voices. However, how these voices were presented is not significant Hallin proves they were not afforded any favourable treatment; it is the fact that they were aired at all that had the impact. Once mainstream media carries the question of the legitimacy of government action, the public and members of the Administration are free to consider it a credible response to the situation, and encouraged to question their own position. As William Hammond (1998) attests, the broadening of the debate affected the attitudes of network anchormen and reporters: Earlier in the war, Walter Cronkite had thought nothing of referring to the Viet Cong as the Communists. After Tet he did so rarely. Government officials beginning to discuss alternative actions publicly ensured this cycle continued. It is impossible to say which factor starts this process, which is why the theory of the media being the first in a domino effect is unconvincing. It can be said, however, that critical coverage encouraged opponents to speak out about the war, were given credibility by the media, influencing public opinion and forcing the Administration to carefully consider its actions with regard to public reaction. This was clearly evident in Vietnam. I concur with Hallin that it is impossible to be certain how news affected the audience, but we can be sure that the media had an impact on the course of the war in directly influencing military decisions. Hallin (1986) agrees that considerations of public opinion were partly responsible for the limitations placed on the use of military power. Many from political and military circles maintain that intensive bombing of North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia could have produced victory (Carruthers, 2000), but it was rejected because the media would have shown its human costs. Targets were limited because extensive civilian casualties were seen as politically damaging this was only the case because the media had access to the stories of civilian casualties, and would certainly report them. The media prevented the conducting of the war by what the military deemed as the most appropriate means. Conclusions Whatever the intention behind such relentless and literal reporting of war, the result was a serious demoralisation of the home front, was President Nixons assessment of the impact of the media in Vietnam (Robinson, 2010). Its impact is still widely debated due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to determine the exact effect of news coverage on the American public over its duration. It is clear that both public opinion and the breakdown of elite political consensus were decisive in the course of the war, and its end. What Hallins study and many that support it fail to recognise is that the news media play a crucial role in the shaping of these opinions. The potential impact of this role was increased in Vietnam due to the unusual circumstances of limited war, and the dramatic changes that were occurring in the US news media at the time. The willingness of high profile journalists and broadcasters to make critical statements about the war compounded this effect. The combination of these developments meant that the media had greater access to information both positive and negative about the war, but that the negative was more akin to the emerging style of television news. The media did not become an oppositional force, though some instances of critical reporting did directly question the legitimacy of Administration policy. In reporting, from an objective stance, negative views of the war, the media invited Americans to question the credibility of the war and their government, part of a vicious cycle that led to more negative feeling about the war.

Right And Wrongs Of Animal Rights And Experimentation Philosophy Essay

Right And Wrongs Of Animal Rights And Experimentation Philosophy Essay Animal experimentation is a controversial issue that has been debated for thrity-five years. In early 1970, a group of students of Oxford academics shared their opinions about animal rights by writing an article for the Sunday Times. One member of the group, Richard Ryder, wrote three articles in the Daily Telegraph stating his views concerning the wrongness of animal rights and scientific experimentation. After doing so, Ryder wrote a pamphlet titled Animals, Men and Morals: An Inquiry to the Maltreatment of Non-Humans, and in response to Ryders pamphlet, an Australian philosopher, Peter Singer, put forth his beliefs about animal rights. After Singer responded, he published a piece called Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals in 1975. This portion of work noted the beginning of the Animal Rights Movement, also known as Animal Liberation Movement. Many animal-rights activists, professionals, and philosophers argue that testing is morally wrong, while scientists , who test new products on our furry, little friends, argue that there is nothing wrong with it. This paper will explain the outlooks of those who are against animal experimentation and believe animals deserve the same rights as humans, those who are moderate, feeling that a middle ground should be established, and one who conducts the experiments and is for animal experimentation. Animal Rights uses each chapter to explain a persons beliefs concerning animal rights. The introduction begins by mentioning Peter Singer and explaining his arguments for animal rights. In Animal Liberation, Singer states People hold animals in a state of tyranny. This tyranny has caused and today is still causing an amount of pain and suffering that can only be compared with that which resulted from the centuries of tyranny by white humans over black humans (7). He argues that animals should be treated with the same rights as humans. He asks for humans to really question animal treatment and to give animals the same consideration as any other species, including humans (7). Four basic principles were outlined as a result of the animal rights movement beginning in 1975. First: Pain is bad, no matter whose pain it might beà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦This does not mean that pain is the only thing that is bad, or that inflicting pain is always wrong. Sometimes it may be necessary to inflict pain and suffering on oneself or othersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.But this is justified because it will lead to less suffering in the long run; the pain is still in itself a bad thing. Second: Humans are not the only beings capable of feeling pain or sufferingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Of course, the nature of the beings will affect how much pain they suffer in any given situation. Third: When we consider how serious it is to take a life, we should look, not at race, sex, or species to which that being belongs, but at characteristics of the one being killed, for example, its own desire about continuing to live, or the kind of life it is capable of leading. Forth: We are responsible not only for what we do but also for what we could have preventedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. We should consider the consequences both of what we do and of what we decide not to do (7, 8.). However, some animal-rights activists and organizations believe that Singers views were not enough. He opposed most experimentation if it was not for the benef it of science, when the argument should have been all experimentation. An individual introduced after Singer in Animal Rights, Steven M. Wise, is an author and a law professor who generally shares the beliefs of Singer, but he is one that agrees that the controversy that all animal experimentation is unacceptable. Wise argues that animals deserve legal rights just as the human race does, because, although many dont believe him, he thinks that animals are just as dependent as humans. Many humans believe that because animals are, most of the time, dependent on humans to take care of them, they dont deserve the basic legal rights, but Wise counters this argument by stating, Human babies, for example, do not act autonomously, yet they have rights (64.). He also counters the particular argument that animals lack the ability to think rationally, make decisions, and understand emotions such as the human brain and therefore dont deserve rights, with the growing evidence that some animals, particularly nonhuman primates, have extraordinary mental capabilities (6 4.) He continues to fight for and teach others about animal rights and experimentation. Contradicting the proposals of Singer and Wise, is the philosophy that animals lack souls and the ability to reason, justifying the use of animals for experimentation (122.) Animal Experimentation is used mainly in the Cosmetics Industry but also in the Drug, Food Additives, Supplements, Household Products, Pesticides, and Industrial Chemical Industries, and is still conducted in the United Kingdom and possibly in Universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and military defense establishments. Animal experimentation has been proven in many cases to improve medicine and science, and this is the viewpoint in which Professor Carl Cohen bases his beliefs that animal experimentation is necessary. Cohen argues that experiments on animals are necessary in order to safeguard and improve human health and well-being (128.) In saying this, he implies that without experimentation on animals, vaccines for malaria and polio would have never been invented. He feels th at none of the above industries could have advanced today without animals to experiment on. Frank Gannon is an individual who has quite a different opinion than Singer, Wise, and Cohen. Animal testing can be both beneficial and non-beneficial, and Gannon feels that a middle ground must be reached. Gannon published a journal article in EMBO Reports stating, The debate over whether and how scientists should use animal models has been inflammatory, and the opposing viewpoints are difficult to reconcile (519.) Animal-rights protesters argue that the use of animals for experimentation should be completely abolished. According to Gannon, Many scientists insist that some experiments require the use of animals and want to minimize regulation, arguing that it would impede their research, but most scientists try to limit experiments on animals. Gannon believes that society must find the middle ground-avoiding the cruel and unnecessary abuse of animals in research while accepting and allowing their use if it benefits society. He feels that in order for our society to flourish and beco me more medically advanced, its necessary to test on animals as long as its not flagrant abuse. New products have to be tested in order to be proven effective. William Hamblin, author of another online journal article, takes Gannons belief to the next step. Hamblin mainly supports animal experimentation by stating Animal testing is used in several areas of research. The three main areas are pure research, drug testing, and the testing of cosmetics, and many good things have come from experiments in these areas. Animal testing has played a very important role in medical advancement. Hes for it, because less than ten percent of house pets are used for experimentation. He speaks against the ethical argument pointing out that even though humans know animals experience pain, non-human subject suffer less due to their incapability to remember and anticipate pain. Hamblin supports animal testing, because so many advancements as an outcome outweigh all of the rodents that die, because most of the animals used in testing today are, in fact, lab rats and mice. An interesting viewpoint pertaining to animal experimentation, using Hamblins beliefs as a basis, comes from Tipu Aziz, a neurosurgeon in Oxford who is pro-animal testing and speaks publicly about using animals to test cosmetics products. Aziz disagrees with the host of writers in Animal Rights. Aziz said, People talk about cosmetics being the ultimate evil, but beautifying one has been going on since we were cavemen. If its not proven to reduce suffering through animal tests, its not wrong to use them. Aziz uses monkeys in his research in order to research improvements towards Parkinsons disease. Primates are very similar to humans, especially on the intellectual level. He isnt afraid to be a vocal supporter, according to interviewer for The Guardian, Jane Marshall, and would like to inform others that animal testing is necessary for medical and scientific advancement. After all, hes doing it for the benefits of the human race. His justifications for animal experimentation, along wi th those of Gannon and Hamblin, are that this is how we humans advance in industries, especially medical and scientific which are needed for our society to develop. He reasons that its not a fact that animals suffer from testing, and until proven, its acceptable to improve our civilization through testing. Testing helps researchers develop cures for diseases and save human life. The only way to learn about something is to test it, and as long as animals dont suffer, theres nothing wrong with it. After researching and reading various beliefs of professors and philosophers who are for animal rights and against experimentation, journal authors who believe in a compromise, and scientists who see no wrong in experimenting on animals, my argument for animal rights and against experimentation has slightly changed. I still feel that animals should have legal rights, just as humans, and experimentation is unethical, but I agree with Gannon and Hamblin on the fact that society must find the middle ground. As long as the testing that occurs isnt abusive, its important for our society to become more medically and scientifically advanced. The animal-rights activists need to accept within all reality that in the labs, its not proven that scientists are abusing animals. Scientists test new products on rats and mice for the improvement of human life. As long as animals arent being hurt and we are finding cures for diseases, there needs to be a compromise and the controversy should end.

Analysis of My Papas Waltz by Theodore Rothke Essay -- My Papas Walt

Analysis of My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Rothke My Papa's Waltz is by Theodore Rothke it is about a childhood memory written later in his lifetime. Theodore Rothke's dad was an alcoholic drunk. Theodore Rothke went through a period where he was depressed and mentally unstable. Theodore Rothke was fascinated by the nature of the world; many of his poems were about this subject. Some people who read My Papa&'s Waltz come to the conclusion that it is about a drunken abusive father. However, I think when he was writing this he was reminiscing about a good childhood memory from when he was around seven years old. Theodore Rothke?s life was anything but ordinary. Not only alcoholism but also mental breakdowns through out the middle and later part of his life troubled Theodore Rothke. Roth...

Ray Bradbury Biography :: essays research papers

Ray Bradbury Biography U.S. author, born in Waukegan, Ill., on Aug. 22, 1920. In his stories, Bradbury wove together the intrigue of changing technology with insightful social commentary. One of his best-known works was 'The Martian Chronicles’; a collection of interrelated stories concerning colonization of the planet Mars those attracted readers both young and old. In it, Bradbury portrayed the strengths and weaknesses of human beings as they encountered a new world. Ray Bradbury grew up in Waukegan and in Los Angeles, where he founded a magazine called Futuria Fantasia while in high school. He sold his first short story when he was 21 years old. His early stories were published in pulp magazines, but Bradbury later published stories in such mainstream magazines as The New Yorker, Mademoiselle, and the Saturday Evening Post. His science fiction and fantasy short-story collections included 'The Martian Chronicles', 'The Illustrated Man', and 'Dinosaur Tales'. Bradbury's 1980 collection, 'The Stories of Ray Bradbury', covers a wide range of topics, none of which is truly science fiction. His novels included 'Fahrenheit 451', Dandelion Wine, and 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. 'Fahrenheit 451' was made into a motion picture in 1966, and 'The Martian Chronicles' later appeared both as a motion picture and a television miniseries. In 1954 Bradbury was honored with an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters for his contribution to American literature. In 1956 he collaborated with John Huston to create the screenplay for 'Moby Dick'. In addition to fiction Bradbury wrote 'Zen and the Art of Writing' and also published such dramas as 'The Anthem Sprinters’, 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Pedestrian’, and volumes of poetry including 'When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed', 'Where Robot Mice & Robot Men Run Around in Robot Towns', and 'The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope'.

Study Guide Ap Bio Ch 16-18

Study guide for Ch 16-18 Chapter 16 †¢ Alfred Hershey and Martha chase answered the question whether protein or DNA was the genetic material by using Bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). o Bacteriaphages were good for the experiment because they only contain 2 organic compounds, DNA and protein. †¢ James Watson and Francis Crick were the first to solve the structure (structure=function) of DNA. †¢ X-ray crystallography( process used to visualize molecules in 3-D. †¢ DNA is a double helix- structure †¢ The nitrogenous bases of DNA are( adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). The 2 strands (the leading and the lagging strand) are antiparallel. o The leading strand goes in direction 5’ to 3’. o Lagging strand goes 3’ to 5’. Takes longer to replicate cause it’s built in fragments. †¢ Tip from the book(know these enzymes for replication: DNA polymerase, ligase, helicase, and topoisomerase. Know thi s enzyme for transcription(the role of RNA polymerase. †¢ Replication(making DNA from already existing DNA strand. DNA replication is semiconservative (1/2 of original DNA and the other ? is from new DNA strand). This is used by humans! A group of enzymes called DNA polymerases catalyzes the elongation of new DNA at replication fork. The overall direction of DNA replication goes from the origin to the fork. o DNA polymerase adds nucleotides to the growing chain one by one; working in a 5’ to 3’ (DNA build strand (â€Å"new†) or RNA polymerase go 5’(3’ in the build strand). Parent strand DNA and RNA polymerase is 3’ to 5’. o DNA polymerase matches adenine with thymine and guanine with cytosine o The lagging strand is synthesized in separate pieces called Okazaki fragments (which segments in 3’(5’), which are then sealed together by DNA Ligase.Forming a continuous DNA strand. †¢ Many factors in replication: o Bas e pairing in DNA replication( A=T/ G=C. o Mismatch repair(special repair enzymes fix incorrectly paired nucleotides o Nucleotide excision repair. †¢ Tip****(know the difference between replication (DNA to DNA), transcription (DNA to RNA), and translation (RNA to protein). †¢ In Eukaryotic cells, DNA and protein are packed together as chromatin. o Heterochromatin(very condensed chromatin. o Euchromatin(loosely condensed chromatin. Telemer region(small fragment of DNA that is lost during replication due to enzyme’s inability to attach the fragment on to the end of the DNA helix. (This is our biological clock). Chapter 17 †¢ Gene expression(the process by which DNA directs the synthesis of proteins (or sometimes RNA). †¢ Transcription= DNA(RNA o Takes place in the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. †¢ Messenger RNA (mRNA) produced during transcription. It carries the genetic message of DNA to the protein making machinery of the cell in the cytoplasm, ie the ri bosome. The mRNA triplets are called codons (a codon is a mRNA triplet). o mRNA is read codon by codon. ? Start codons and stop codons are used in the build strand the protein coding segment is between the start codon and stop codon in the build strand. †¢ They are written in the 5’ to 3’ direction. †¢ More than one codon codes for each of the 20 amino acids. Genetic code includes 64 codons (4 x 4 x 4). o The group must be read in the correct groupings in order for translation to be successful o 3 codons act as signal terminators (UAA, UAG, UGA) o AUG always has to be start codon. RNA polymerase(enzyme that separates the 2 DNA strands and connects the RNA nucleotides as they base-pair along the DNA template strand. o RNA pol. Can add RNA nucleotides only to the 3’ end of the strand. REMEMBER†¦ uracil replaces thymine when base pairing to adenine. ==>difference betw DNA and RNA. o The DNA sequence at which RNA pol. Attaches is called the Promoter. o The DNA sequence that signals the end of transcription= Terminator. †¢ Transcription unit(the entire stretch of DNA that is transcribed into an RNA molecule. †¢ 3 main stages of transcription: from the book. Initiation (RNA polymerase that transcribes mRNA cannot bind to the promoter region without supporting help from proteins known as transcription factors. transcription factors assist the binding of RNA polymerase to the promoter, thus the initiation of transcription) Notes: o Elongation (RNA polymerase moves along the DNA, continuing to untwist the double helix. RNA nucleotides are continually added to the 3’ end. As this happens, the double helix re-forms. Notes: †¢ Termination (RNA polymerase transcribes a terminator sequence in the DNA, the RNA transcript is released, and the polymerase detaches. There a couple of key post-transcriptional modifications to RNA( the addition of a 5’ cap and the addition of a poly A Tail (3’). †¢ RNA sp licing also takes place in eukaryotic cells. Large portions of the newly synthesized RNA strand are removed. This is the parent strand. o The sections of the mRNA that are spliced out are called introns. o Sections that are spliced together by a spliceosome(exons. ? The new strand containing the exons is called the build strand, which runs in a direction of 5’ to 3’.Remember parent strand runs in 3’ to 5’. †¢ Small nuclear RNA (snRNA)( plays a major role in catalyzing the excision of the introns and joining of exons. o Ribozyme is when RNA serves a catalytic role. †¢ Translation: o 2 additional types of RNA play important roles in translation besides mRNA: ? Transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). †¢ tRNA functions in transferring amino acids from a pool of amino acids located in cytoplasm to a ribosome. These amino acids are incorporated into a growing polypeptide chain. At one end of a tRNA it loosely binds the amino acid, and at th e other end it has a nucleotide triplet called an anticodon (allows it to pair specifically with a complementary codon on the mRNA). †¢ rRNA complexes with proteins to form the 2 sub units that form ribosomes. o Translation can be divided into 3 steps ? Initiation, Elongation, and Termination (descriptions of these steps can be found on pg 129-130 I got lazy so fuck off) †¢ The review guide goes into mutations on pg 130 but I think that you’re better off reading the guide than reading my description. Chapter 18 In bacteria, genes are often clustered into units called operons. †¢ Operon consists of 3 parts: o Operator: controls the access of RNA polymerase to the genes, it’s found within the promoter region. ? Normally in on position. In a repressible operon. o Promoter: where RNA polymerase attaches. o Genes of the operon: the entire stretch of DNA required for all the enzymes produced by the operon. †¢ Regulatory Genes(produce repressor proteins th at may bind to the operator site. When a regulatory protein occupies the operator site, RNA pol. Is blocked from the genes of the operon. Repressible operon( normally on. It can be inhibited. This type of operon is normally anabolic. o The repressor protein produced by the regulatory gene is inactive. o If the organic molecule being produced by the operon is provided to the cell, the molecule can act as a corepressor, and bind to the repressor protein(this activates it. ? The activated repressor protein binds to the operator site, shutting down the operon. †¢ The lac operon is inducible o Controls the production of B- galactosidase an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis (break down) of lactose into glucose and galactose ?Inducible operon(gene expression B-galactosidase is stimulated by the presence of a co inducer, lactose. †¢ Turns the repressor gene switch off. o This is notes on gene expression on tryptophan. Next stuff is from book. ? Inducible operon( normally off bu t can be activated. This type of operon is catabolic, breaking down food molecules for energy. The repressor protein produced by the regulatory gene is active. †¢ To turn the inducible operon on, a specific small molecule, called an inducer, binds to an inactivates the repressor protein.With the repressor out of the operator site, RNA polymerase can access the genes of the operon. o 2 regulatory mechanisms used to turn on lac operon ? Presence of lactose as co inducer ? Low amounts of glucose. †¢ These 2 are the only way for this shit to work yo! †¢ Differential gene expression in eukaryotic cell gene expression o The expression of different genes by cells with the same genome. †¢ Histone acetylation( acetyl groups are added to amino acids of histone proteins, thus making the chromatin less tightly packed and encouraging transcription. DNA methylation( the addition of methyl groups to DNA it causes chromatin to condense, thus reducing gene expression. o With the help of phosphorylation next to a methylated amino acid, chromatin becomes loosened and thus encouraging transcription. †¢ Epigenic inheritance( the inheritance of traits transmitted by mechanisms not directly involving the nucleotide sequence. †¢ Transcription initiation is where DNA control elements that bind transcription factors are involved in regulation. Control elements( multiple control elements(segments of non coding DNA that serve as binding sites for transcription factors that help regulate transcription. o This is necessary for the precise regulation of gene expression in diff cell types. o Proximal and Distal control elements. ? Proximal control element has to be right next to promoter anything else is distal. †¢ Transcription factors( o Enhancer regions are bound to the promoter region by proteins called activators. o Some transcription factors function as repressors, others function as activators. Extra stuff †¢ TATA box is at the beginning of prom oter region.

Has OPEC been a Successful Cartel? Essay

A cartel is an organisation of producers grouped together for their own benefit. The most well known cartel in existence today is OPEC, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Its members are some (but not all) of the most important oil producing countries including Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Most cartels try to raise prices at the expense of consumers. The aim of this essay is to determine whether OPEC has been a successful cartel, this will mean I have to examine the strengths and weaknesses of OPEC which have been present throughout their existence of supplying oil. This should allow me to make an appropriate judgement on whether OPEC has been a successful Cartel. The brief history of oil prices show that oil was cheap in the 1950s and 60s. This was due to supply growing faster than demand. The early 1970’s saw a reversal of this trend, as demand increased faster than supply. This was mainly due to the world economy booming. Source: adapted from BP statistical review In November 1973, politics in the Middle East was to have a great effect on oil prices. With an existing tight market, the result was am explosion in the price of oil. The war was soon over but its economic downturn effect was not lost on OPEC. OPEC, whose members at the time supplied over 60% of world demand for oil, organised a system of quotas amongst themselves, fixing limits on how much each member could produce. By slightly cutting back on pre-1973 production levels, they were able to increase the average price of oil to around $13 (as shown in the table above). Price S2 As this demand and supply diagram S1 shows, as Supply decreases from S1 to S2, Price increases from P1 to P2. This P2 explains how OPEC managed to increase average prices of oil to $13 by cutting P1 back on supply. D Quantity QD2 QD1 However, this graph also shows that Quantity demanded for oil would also decrease. This would mean OPEC may well not be better of in terms of revenue as price increases and quantity demanded decreases (Price * Quantity =Revenue). However there was a fundamental reason why OPEC could successfully pioneer this massive price rise, this was mainly due to the fact that the demand for oil was inelastic in the short run. Price inelasticity assumes that demand is not heavily affected by a change in price. The reason behind oil being an inelastic product was due to the fact that oil consumers had invested heavily in capital equipment such as oil-fired heating systems and petrol driven cars. In the short term there were no cheap alternative substitutes. As a result OPEC would receive a higher revenue by increasing prices; hence higher profits. This could be considered a strength of OPEC as a cartel. However, in the longer term consumers are able to replace oil-powered equipment (substitutes). This would increase the elasticity of oil, hence an increase in price would have a more responsive effect on the amount demanded. As a consequence, when the demand for oil began to grow again in 1976,it was a slower rate than in the early 70s. In 1978, Iran and Iraq went to war. Iran was a major oil producer, and the  subsequent war severely disrupted supplies from these two countries. OPEC used this opportunity to tighten supply again. As a result rose again from $13 a barrel in 1978 to $36 a barrel in 1980. Total world demand fell once again. This gives an indication of OPEC being affected by external influences such as strains among their member countries. August 1990 saw another blow to OPEC’s strangle hold over the success of producing oil in a profitable manner. Political events in the Middle East saw Iraq invade Kuwait, as a result oil sanctions were applied to the output of both countries by oil consuming countries. Other oil producing countries feared of a major shortage in supply as prices rose from $18 to $40 a barrel; as a result other non-OPEC countries reacted by increasing production in oil. Prices fell back as overall supply returned to normal. Since the successful counter by the US to retake Kuwait, the price of oil has seen a steady drift downwards in price. This has also led to OPEC losing out due to more countries increasing production in oil; causing an increase in competition. Restricting competition is not necessarily easy. There are three potential problems that OPEC has to overcome due to it being a cartel. These are explained below: An agreement has to be reached The larger the number of firms, the greater the possibility that at least one key firm participant will refuse to collude. In the case of OPEC, this may well be difficult due to political disagreement that has regularly occurred during OPEC’s history. Cheating has to be prevented Once an agreement is made and profitability in the industry is raised, it would pay an individual firm to cheat so long as no other firms do the same. In the case of OPEC, with the increase in non-OPEC supply has led to strains among OPEC members. This has led to an increased incentive to  cheat(mentioned further on in the essay). Potential competition must be restricted Abnormal profits will encourage not only existing firms in the industry to expand output but also new firms to enter the industry. Firms already in the industries that don’t join the cartel may be happy to follow the policies of the cartel in order to earn abnormal profits themselves. However, in the case of OPEC, it would be hard for another competing country to do this as oil is a scarce resource and also OPEC already has the majority of the market within their own organisation. There are a number of reasons why OPEC has been one of the few international cartels that have survived over a long period of time, this is due to the following: No need for any buffer stocks or large amounts of financial capital If OPEC wishes to reduce supply. Member countries simply produce less and leave their oil in the ground. There are a relatively small number of members of OPEC Member countries are able to exert a high degree of control over the volume of oil lifted within their own countries. Oil production is not particularly affected by variations in weather Hence supply need not fluctuate widely and randomly from year to year as it does in many agricultural markets. OPEC countries supply a significant proportion of total world output. Because non-OPEC producers tend to produce at maximum capacity, countries such as USA and the UK are unable to exert downward pressure on oil prices  even if they wanted to. In real terms, oil prices today are little different from those at the start of the 70’s. OPEC countries increased their revenues substantially in the mid-1970s and again in 1979-80 but these were short-lived gains. OPEC suffers from three fundamental weaknesses: 1) Large increases in oil prices in the 1970s led to stagnant demand for until the mid 1980s. Consumers substituted other types of energy for oil, there was a shift towards much greater energy conservation. 2) Large increases in oil prices led to a large increase in supply from non-OPEC countries. The increase in supply has depressed world prices since the start of the 1980s. Hence, OPEC receiving a lower turnover as a result. 3) The increase in non-OPEC supply has led to strains amongst OPEC members. In any cartel there is an incentive to cheat. However, if countries cheat, then the price will fall rapidly. This occurred in the mid-1980s, when many OPEC countries exceeded their quotas, driving down the prices of oil. Which again would have an adverse effect upon profits made by OPEC countries. To conclude, I believe that OPEC has suffered many problems associated with being a cartel. As a result I believe OPEC will not continue to be a successful cartel due to individual countries ‘cheating’ in order to gain extra profits (as mentioned previously). There is also the effect of OPEC being able to maintain high levels of profit only on a short term basis, until free market forces take effect and these profits once again return to normal. It must also be mentioned that the increase in supply from non-OPEC members has also created a downward pressure effect upon prices, therefore decreasing OPEC’s control on prices. Hence, profit margins being damaged. The future for OPEC may well see more adverse effects occurring. As the problem of oil being a scarce resource becomes present, free market sources will look towards a substitute for oil. This may well see the demand for oil decreasing in the long term. Once again this will lead to OPEC losing its  competitiveness as a cartel.