Leprachauns Around the World

Alex Thomas

The News media seems to have gone crazy!!!! Somebody told me about this video on YouTube that I decided I have to see for myself- it is about a leprachaun sighting in Mobile, Alabama. You have to see it! The video was posted March, 2006 by a user called “botmib”. The video has been seen by millions of viewers, and commented on by thousands. As I was watching, it occured to me that the reporters were actually serious, they were reporting on a leprachaun and the people were not actors. This video makes me wonder why the news shows the things it does. The news is meant to supply the local citizens with information that in someway affects society. Lately, celebreties like, Britney Spears and Lydsay Lohan have been appearing on major news stations, like CNN. What can possibly be so interesting in their lives that it can appear on a station meant to share world and the most important news? Although the video was extremely entertaining I wonder whether it would have been as funny seeing it straight from the news. No matter what, people chasing after a Leprachaun in 2007 is funny- I apologize to any Leprachauns reading this. I think that with the help of the internet and sites like YouTube, the news is intrepreted and spread in different ways.

The message the media is trying to convey with the video is to express to the viewer that there may be a leprachaun on the loose. The media shows celebrities and their latest scandals, violence, and anything that is at all shocking. Is the media just out to get ratings? What really entertains people and encourages them to watch news like this? People seem to be entertained by things that are negative or make them feel better about themselves in some way. I guess people are able to watch TV, or a video on You Tube, and laugh or cry and get an immediate inner satisfaction from it. The Leprachaun video is a great example of this. The only reason the news station could possibly have broadcasted such a video is so that people can see how ridiculous other people were being. It was all for a good laugh. With the video being embeded on you tube, people all over the world have the oppurtunity to make fun of the video. I think the video is great, but had someone else not told before hand how funny it is, I am not sure whether I would have thought the same way. I think that this is an example of how things become part of popular culture.

The method, or how the video goes about saying the news, is through the anchors of the Mobile, Alabama news station. The anchors open by giving a brief preview of the story and show video of people talking about the latest Leprachaun sightings. People speak about how they are reacting to the recent occurences and how they are going about protecting themselves. One man tells the audience that he just wants to find the pot of gold. The new station gives a vivid picture of what is going on, but the subject is just absurd. The video clips of the people out searching for the leprachaun and giving their opinions was a very effective way of explaining the situation further. The anchors joke together after they deliver the story. Some people in Mobile also seem to find some humor in the situation. The anchors assume that the audience feels the same way as they do about the leprachauns. They are showing the “lighter side” of the news, I guess.

The reason why the Leprachaun story was delivered in the way that it was, or the medium, is because it was meant to appeal to its local audience in Mobile, Alabama. The story was not intended to be seen across the nation, or the world. YouTube made it possible. Had the internet and YouTube never come around, the story would have never been taken the way it was by so many viewers. Also, the media has a way of setting a story up so that it seems more interesting or dramatic than the event actually is. Robert Atwan, the author of Convergences, says: “When we watch a breaking story on a news program, we are not witnessing the actual events- cameras and competeitive news teams frame and select what we see and hear…we must develop an awareness of how media penetrates nearly everything we see and hear” (Atwan, page 12). The news is delivered in a way that makes it most appealing to the people watching. I think that if people would stop watching reality TV shows, and started watching more of the Discovery Channel, people would be smarter but probably not nearly as entertained. It is so easy to get sucked into drama in the TV. We do not get to see crazy things happen everyday, unless we see it through the TV or the internet.

The Leprachan video is just an example of the influence that the media has on our society. That one video, just because it was embedded onto You Tube, has spread greatly. I randomly asked a friend if they had ever heard about the Leprachaun video, they looked at me like I was nuts because I had not seen it before. Simone Grose of the Canberra Times in Australia explains: “The emergence of online media may have democratised global communication and information, but convergence with methods and safeguards developed by old media is essential for new media to survive” (Grose, News Media). Television is a media that can be built on and used with new technology to come up with new ways of influencing our culture. YouTube alone has influenced this generation so much. If I asked my mom what YouTube is she would probably say “ask your dad or go to Home Depot”. Our culture is changing quickly, first google, then YouTube. Who knows what is next? Maybe the Leprachauns really were real, I guess no one will ever know. For the meantime check it out on YouTube. While you are at it you should go see the Numa Numa guy if you have not already! J Peace!

Bibliography

Grose, Simon. “New Media needs to look to old, acadmeic says.” Canberra Times. 21 August 2006.

Atwan, Robert. ­Convergences: Second Edition. Bedford/ St. Martin’s: 2005.