HP Introduction

HP Introduction Hewlett Packard popularly called HP is a company that provides technology solutions to consumers, businesses and all forms of institutions worldwide. The company later expands its operations to IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing services. The company is known throughout the world by operating in more than 170 countries around the world. The mission of the company is to facilitate how technology and services can assist individuals and institutions in addressing their problems and challenges so as to realize their dreams. The company applies new thinking and ideas come out with basic and valuable experiences with the technology with her IT corporation headquarter in Palo, Alto, California, USA. The company has been maintaining a lead among her contemporaries due to the effective strategic planning of the company and this has been jealously guided by the company in virtually all her businesses. Background of HP Company The initiators of HP Company are Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard who were classmates at Stanford Universities. They established the company in 1993, seventeen years ago. The first product of the company is called audio oscillators, an electronic testing instrument used by sound engineers. The product is developed in Palo Alto garage. Walt Disney studios were the first HP customers that bought a number of the audio oscillators for testing a new sound system. The company has gained enough popularity in so many countries of the world to have become the No 1 infrastructure support services revenue in 2003 among many world top support services providers. HP as a company always rise to challenges when it comes to IT-related issues, this is manifested in so many ways, the company offers one of the tech worlds most comprehensive portfolios of hardware, software, and services. The products range from personal computers, servers, and sophisticated storage devices, variety of printers and series of networking equipments. Asides this, the service unit of HP still offers series of IT and business outsourcing, software application development, IT consulting, and other IT-related services. The company has produces series of software such as carrier-grade communications applications, information management business intelligence and enterprise IT management among others. The coverage of her business are covered in consumers, business, government agencies and educational organization and such has been spread to more than 170 countries of the world. HP as a company believes so much in working towards achieving her set objectives and that has been the corporate values shared by all the employee within the organization. This is confirmed by the quotation of Dave Packard, co-founder of HP as follow: It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained. Dave Packard The company has always been careful in following the pathways to achieving its set objectives based on the organizational values.Table 1 below summarizes the HPs corporate shared values and corporate objectives. Table 1: HPs Corporate values and objectives HPs Corporate Shared Values HPs Corporate Objectives Passion for customers Customer loyality Trust and respect for individuals Profit Achievement and contribution Growth Results through teamwork Market leadership Speed and agility Commitment to employees Meaningful innovation Leadership capability Uncompromising integrity Global citizenship Information Technology in HP HP company has been maintaining a lead in Information Technology (IT) which is evidenced as contained in the following discussions. To start with, it is revealed from the analyst firms report that HP recorded a tremendous increase in the infrastructure support services revenue from $7.889 billion to $8.028 billion between 2002 and 2003. This accounts for over 6% of the world infrastructure support service market. This marks the second year of the company (HP) leading the IT industry in support service revenue. Among the identified 450 IT service providers which is finally categorized in to the following four categories: Major service (Hardware maintenance and support, software support) Platform (Computing and connectivity) Industry Major geographical region and country HP maintains the lead in all the categories. HP is identified as one of the largest IT companies that operate in nearly every country. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, networking and its hardware infrastructure, software design and rendering support services. The impact of Information Technology (IT) on the achievement of HP is not limited to the technological aspects but also the soft skills and expertise which are unique to HP software crew. Malan, Coleman Letsinger (1995) in their study conducted to explore the current state of object-oriented practice. The findings of the study revealed that the best practice is derived from lesson learnt from HP. This means that HP is maintaining a lead in this regard. Object oriented programming approach is the most competing approach and any organization with required expertise in this area will make its ways in the competitive environment. This part of what strengthens the IT proficiency of HP company . Therefore, the success of HP cannot be a surprise since IT is now considered as the hub of every business. HP as an IT-based company has always been ready to assist serious-minded organizations in solving their IT-relate problems and such has been a plus to the company. A good scenario in this regard is how HP came to the aid of St. Peters Anglican Primary School with 560 students in both the K-6 and pre-kindergarten classes. The leadership of the school so much believe that the creating a computer-assisted learning environment for the children will serve as a good motivation for them to learn, in their quest to achieve this, the school can only afford desktop PCs due to budget constraints. The desktop PCs were found to be very slow in network operation and some were even too old to work which affects the realization of the schools goals. An introduction to HPs channel partner Somerville, and HPs Consolidated Client Infrastructure (CCI), made St Peters to begin a complete overhaul of its IT infrastructure that would bring a new flexibility and efficiency to its entire computing platform. In doing this, HP plays a significant role in addressing this problem. HP implemented a Consolidated Client Infrastructure based on a series of blade PCs for St Peters. This system meant that when a blade PC went down, another would pick up the active session, immediately minimizing disruptions to users. In a Consolidated Client Infrastructure, desktop PCs are replaced by thin client terminals, which are then virtually connected to HP blade PCs stored on a blade rack enclosure in a remote and centralised location. Each blade PC has its own CPU, RAM and hard disk. A HP blade enclosure can contain up to 20 blade PCs in a 3U rack enclosure, allowing up to 280 blade PCs per 42U rack. Blade PCs are then accessed via the Microsoft RDP, Citrix ICA or HP RGS protocols and displayed on thin client devices. Only screen updates, keyboard strokes, mouse actions, audio and peripheral data travel over the network, all the processing happens on the blade PCs. Users are connected to blade PCs either statically or through a broker such as HPs Session Allocation Manager, thus allowing the creation of a concurrent pool of resources and lowering the amount of IT administration required. This among others repositioned HP within organizations in terms of IT support. Information System in HP The company does not limit herself to only the IT aspects but also doing well in information system. A good testimony to this is the HP being announced as the as the support company for the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) with the company tapping from the HPs software for optimizing the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to deliver a reliable kind of interoperability capable of servicing all US defense departments. SOA is a technique of delivering IT services in a secured and manageable manner by using flexible, reusable and standard technology that can easily be adjusted to take care of any unplanned changes that occur in the business plan. The HP systinet SOA (HP business technology) is very good in this regard as it assist business organization in building a kind of information system (record) to manage the services rendered throughout the cycle of that service. This is to explain how far HP as a company has gone in terms of information systems to have provided DISA which is solely used for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting IT solutions capable of serving the U.S president, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and all departments of US defense. This has earn HP series of awards from 2005 to date. HP offers SOA services to help customers at any point along the SOA lifecycle, including the design, build, integration, management and evolution of their SOA environment. HP Services also collaborates with technology partners such as BEA Systems, JBoss, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to offer customers choice and flexibility. Competitive Advantage Introduction about Competitive Advantage First of all, it is important to briefly define what is competitive advantage? Competitive advantage is a feature exhibited at the expense of the firms rivals or competitors. It is a state where a firm sustains profits that is more than the industrial set average profit. Primarily, it is the dream of every business organization to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. According to Michael Porter, cost advantage and differentiation advantage are identified as the two basic types of competitive advantage. Cost competitive advantage A business firm/organization is considered to achieve cost competitive advantage if she is able to offer a better service or products to customers at a relatively reduced cost compared to her competitors. For example, HP has achieved sustainable cost competitive advantage over all her competitors by being able to produce highly quality laptops at a cheaper rate. Differentiation competitive advantage Differentiation competitive advantage is gained or achieved by a firm or an organization if she is able to deliver services or products of better values compared to those offered by her rivals or competitors. With the explanation of the two types of competitive advantage, it can be described as a way of getting more values for the customers and getting more profits for the company. Figure 1 below describes a competitive advantage model. As can be seen from the model combination of the organizational resources (human and material) and capabilities forms the distinctive competencies that makes the organization to be able to make a difference with respect to either cost advantage of differentiation advantage which eventually creates values for both the organization and the customers. This is in line with the resource-based theory that for a firm to attain a sustainable competitive advantage, such a firm must have superior resources and capabilities compared to her competitors. How Competitive Advantage helps HP Company HP Company being one of the world largest IT companies with a quarterly revenue of approximately $97.1 billion is able to maintain such a wonderful record through the sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. The sustainable competitive advantage has benefited the company in so many ways that she has no other choice other than sustaining such record. The gained competitive advantage has increased the companys revenue tremendously. In year 2006, HP recorded a much better revenue of $91.7 billion against the rival, IBM with $91.4 billion. In year 2007, the annual revenue of the company was jacked up to $104 billion to become the first IT company reported to have a revenue of more than $ 100 billion, it doesnt stop there, acquisition of the EDS in 2008, also jacked up the revenue to $118.4 billion. All these achievements in terms of boosting in the revenue are products of the gained competitive advantage. The competitive advantage gained and sustained ever since by HP can be also attributed to her leadership position in the world technology with groups strategically assigned to drive industry leadership in main technology areas. The Personal Systems group are responsible for the lead in the business and consumer PCs, mobile computing equipments and work station. In the same manner, the imaging and printing group is responsible for the successes recorded in all forms of printing devices (personal and commercial printing), printing supplies and the enterprise business group is in charge of all business products. The performance of each of these groups among others is what makes HP what it is today among her equal. In addition HP became the largest world seller of personal computers as a result of her competitive advantage. In January 2010 a report from Gartner and IDC (Market Research Firms) shows that there is a wide gap between HP and Dell with HP taking 8.3% market share lead at the end of 2009. It was equally reported that HP is the 6th largest world software company. HP Company is equally reported in year 2008, to have retained the global leadership position in Jacket, laser, large format and multifunction printers market and at the same time the second IT service provider throughout the world. All these benefits/achievements do not come by chance it is as a result of being able to maintain some degree of superiority over the competitors. This results in to competitive advantage and the benefits being discusses the created values based on the competitive advantage. Analysis of Competitive Advantage in HP Company HP is able to achieve and sustain competitive advantage with her distinctive competencies. First of all, the company is committed to simplifying technology experiences for all its customers. This is applicable to all the services rendered ranging from printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. This is very important since it assists in making virtually all the HP products usable by the intended users by putting the customers first. There is no way one can analyze HP competitive advantage without discussing the HP values; HP values is associated with the complete adherence to the ways or paths set out by the founding HP leaders. These unique ways account for the decision-making and the firms advancement since it is just like a roadmap. Also, HP pioneers based the corporate culture on the integration and reinforcement of critical opposites. This is achieved by simultaneously creating an environment that both celebrates individualism and at the same time supports the team work. The beauty of it is that such a practice will allow the company to tap from the benefits of both approaches as the case may be and also to neutralize their associated risks. Another way by which the competitive advantage of HP Company is sought is through her concept of developing cross functional individuals. Unlike other companies that just hire staffs and train them for a specific job requirement to be assigned to such staffs throughout their stay in the organization, HP makes sure that all her employees move more than 4 to six functional areas within the company to allow them to work in more than one departments of the company and thereby effectively managing the organizational knowledge through effective sharing among her staffs. It has been widely agreed that in this knowledge era, effective knowledge management will surely lead to achievement of competitive advantage. The quest for developing employee has always been the strength of HP company in attaining competitive advantage since this makes the company to achieve effective organizational change considering the rampant changes in the business organizations. Miller (2004) revealed that since 1980, HP has been engaged in extensive employee retraining program called Software Job Skills (SJS). Personnel who might ordinarily be laid-off underwent serious retraining the complex set of required skills and techniques. This makes the company to be able to sustain her competitive advantage since the employees always continue to be relevant and compliant with the new trend organizational need and employee are considered important in the performance of every organization. Organizational competitiveness is derived by the implementation of knowledge management and its associated benefits. Knowledge management helps in reducing the production cost as a result of the possibility of reusability. This allows the organization to be able to offer services of the same quality or even better than that of its competitive at a relatively low cost. This is an important way of gaining competitive advantage. In addition, the implementation of knowledge management brought about enhanced employee productivity and coordination which has a resulting positive effect on organizational performance. Another important factor is early delivery or ubiquitous service deliver powered by the real time communication facility. It is a wise saying of HP as quoted as follow If only HP know what HP knows! It means that the required knowledge and skills for solving your problem resides somewhere within the company. This means that the company has achieved a lot through effective communication. All these account for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. There have been series of academic evidences responsible for the early delivery experienced in the company due to regular improvement and enhancement of the supply chain. According to Lava, Feyhl and Kakourus (2005),full optimization of the business supply chain cannot be achieved using only the Operation Research (OR) approach in this demanding fast-paced ubiquitous business environment of the globalized era. Using OR alone will require a lot of time which might result in to delay in the service delivery and thereby negatively affect customer satisfaction. HP strategic planning and modeling (SPaM) came out with a more efficient approach which combines the optimization ability of OR and scenario analysis of the expert knowledge to arrive at an effective supply chain approach capable of solving complex supply chain decision problem for HPs imaging and printing group of company. the earlier the customers can get the required service the more satisfied they are, the efficient supply chain of HP has been of the secretes of the companys sustainable competitive advantage. It ha equally been argued that the risk associated with supply chain are related to product demand, component cost and availability uncertainties and they all affect the companys revenues and profits. According to Ngali, Hwang, Sanghera, Gaskins, Pridgan, Thuvston, Mackenvoth, Branvold, Scholler and Shoemaker (2008), procurement management group is formed in HP and they developed and implemented a mathematical model, business process and software to estimate and manage risks associated with supply chain. This has brought a lot of benefits to the company. To the extent that in year 2006, HP was able to manage $7 billion of her spending by saving only material cost of not less than $128 million. This really maximizes the companys profits and contributes to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. The products of HP are always better than that of her competitors and such are refined and rebranded from time to time to meet the changing technological needs of the customers. Just in November 2009, HP StorageWorks X9000 was introduced as the new network storage system which is primarily designed to meet the emerging trend of the explosive data growth and to enhance the performance of the file-based applications using scale-out network storage that has the ability to manage information efficiently using a single namespace. This has fetched the company more popularity in the networking society since such an innovation is needed in virtually all organizations that deal with large data. The StorageWorks is very efficient in storing data and it is known for relatively low down time. Conclusion From the discussion so far, it can be seen that organizational success cannot be easily achieved without adequately set certain outstanding objectives with pathways to achieve those objectives. From all the sources it can be deduced that the leading position maintained by HP company can be largely attributed to the aggressive ways of achieving the organizational objectives and that is only possible because of the shared corporate values among all members of the organization. No doubt such shared corporate values will make all members of the organization to have almost equal motivation to contribute to the overall organizational performance. Also, one value must always be guided to avoid being eroded and same holds for organizations. It will be difficult for any organization to beat the HP record as long as the corporate value is maintained.

Rabbit Proof Fence Speech Essay

Assessment Task- ) Good morning class, today I will tell you why it is extremely important for students to study texts that represent a variety of cultures. The films I have deconstructed to convey my points are â€Å"Bend it like Beckham†, directed by Gurinder Chadha and â€Å"Rabbit Proof Fence†, directed by Phillip Noyce. The cultural concepts explained in these movies are the early 1900s British culture and how dominant and cruel they were, the aboriginal Australians and how they were treated badly, the Indian culture and how much their traditions matter to them and the modern British culture which is carefree. These texts are important to study as they give us a better rounded, less biased education as students can be taught to understand and accept people are different and learn how different cultures were treated throughout history. It is important that we study films from a variety of cultures because students nowadays need to understand and accept that people are different. This is shown in a scene in the Rabbit Proof Fence where Mise en scene, there is the aboriginal tracker on the horse approaching the English man in the car when they had attempted to flank the girls. Technology defines this world and the huge step up from animal to machine shows a great difference in culture and should be noted. The film technique of aerial helicopter views greatly shows how much the aboriginal spirit birds mean to them and their culture as this signalled the bird watching over them and protecting. This is in contrast to most shots of the â€Å"dominant white males† being angled up at them to show their power and how their desire is to be the dominant race. This is a terrible attitude and students must learn that all people are equal and studying films designed to give empathy to the victims is a good way to teach that. Another difference in culture that is shown in a film is in Bend it Like Beckham when all the soccer girls are in the change room and one of the girls questions jess on â€Å"how she can stand getting married to someone just cause you are told to by your parents†. Jess responds with â€Å"it’s just culture†. Students need to learn that people and their cultures are different and I believe that watching films with people with cultures that are ever so different, living side by side, will better students and give them a sounder less biased education. Films that show a variety of cultures, I believe should be taught to students because i t help  students to have a better historical understanding of how people have been treated. This is important as student must learn from the mistakes of our elders who in the past have treated some cultures with total disrespect. The movie rabbit proof gives us a good insight into the way the aboriginal culture was poorly treated in the early 1900s. The film technique of a shot angled up at the protector, as he is talking to Molly when the two first meet, portrays the emotions of fear, hatred and hopelessness as there isn’t much Molly can do to him. This film techniques shows the fear and helpless ness of the aboriginals who in the past were treated very horribly by the British. Students should study films like this because it helps open their eyes to how people were treated in the past, These two reasons is why I believe that students must be taught films that represent a variety of cultures. Using the films Bend it Like Beckham and Rabbit Proof Fence I have provided examples as to how they can be useful. These movies can teach students to be more accepting of other cultures and teach them how some cultures were treated in the past. Thank you everyone for listening and I hope you’ve considered what I’ve said.

Political Economy and the Propaganda Model of Noam Chomsky

Using one of the case studies outlined by Chomsky & Herman in ‘Manufacturing Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media’, critically assess the main propositions put forward in their analysis of the mass media. Is the ‘Propaganda Model’ still relevant today? Noam Chomsky along with Edward Herman has developed the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Propaganda Model†Ã‚  of the media works. They helped develop the detailed and sophisticated analysis of how the wealthy and powerful use the media to propagandise their own interests behind a mask of objective news reporting. Herman and Chomsky expound this analysis in their book  Ã¢â‚¬ËœManufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media’. In their 1988 book, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s ‘propaganda model’ argues that there are 5 classes of ‘filters' in society which determine what is ‘news'; in other words, what gets broadcast by radio or printed in newspapers and shown on television. Herman and Chomsky's model also explains how dissent from the mainstream is given little, or zero, coverage, while governments and big business gain easy access to the public in order to convey their state-corporate messages. Noam Chomsky has been engaged in political activism most of his life; he spoke up firstly about the media coverage of Nicaragua. July 19, 1979 – the leftist  Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional  (FSLN/Sandinistas) rolled into Managua, Nicaragua leader of the insurrection that had finally succeeded in overthrowing the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Then there was the election in 1984. The American coverage for the elections in Nicaragua and el Salvador are a key aspect which Chomsky and Herman cover in Manufacturing Consent, and one which Chomsky spoke of on many occasions. The media covered both elections in both countries simultaneously the American media condemned the outcome of the election in Nicaragua as a â€Å"soviet sham† because the new Nicaraguan government were against the American puppet government and were a more socialist country. Because President Reagan's war created a need for a propaganda victory, in December 1983 the Sandinistas outsmarted Washington by scheduling their first post-triumph election earlier than originally planned— 2 days before Americans would decide whether President Reagan should continue to lead the country. The Media coverage up to this point had been little in the way of truth, and of the actual happenings of Nicaragua in the past. What they were trying to achieve, for many years, and most of all about the upcoming elections of the time. The American press seemed to try and protect America’s interest and perception by the people, then to deliver unbiased reporting. The fact that most of the rest of the world was opposed to Reagan's terrorist activities didn’t filter through to the Americans. Most of the Nicaraguan people, along with many worldwide had hoped that if the Sandinistas won as expected, Washington would accept the results and call off President Reagan’s â€Å"freedom fighters†. This was a naive hope, as Secretary of State George P. Shultz made clear: â€Å"with or without elections we will continue our policy of pressuring Nicaragua†. Nicaragua was in the news on election night in the U. S, but the story that was in the news was not one on Nicaragua’s election. The story was of soviet MIGs. As reported by CBS Evening News on November 6, 1984, the soviet freighter Bakuriani was on its way to Nicaragua with MIG 21 fighters aboard. The ‘sham election’ story was succeeded quickly by the security threat story. The overwhelming majority of objective observers concluded that the election was conducted competently and fairly by the Supreme Electoral Council, and that all Nicaraguan political parties had been given ample opportunity and resources to campaign and get their messages out to the people without serious hindrance from the Sandinistas. While all this was going on, the American government stated on the complete flipside that the El Salvador election, whose victors were against the socialist uprising, was a victory for democracy. The Americans supported the oppressive party and condemned the socialists because it suited them and they could easily pass off the socialists as communists. The American government continued to support and fund the tyranny long after this travesty. â€Å"Only the naive believe that Sunday's election in Nicaragua was democratic or legitimizing proof of the Sandinistas' popularity. The result was ordained when opposition parties tamely accepted terms that barred them from power. This plebiscite will not end the struggle for pluralism in Nicaragua. But neither can it serve as justification for recent American policy. â€Å"The Sandinistas made it easy to dismiss their election as a sham. †¦ † Nobody Won in Nicaragua, Editorial, New York Times, Nov 7, 1984 pg. A26. â€Å"No major political tendency in Nicaragua was denied access to the electoral process in 1984. The only parties that did not appear on the ballot were absent by their own choice, not because of government exclusion. †¦ Opposition parties received their legal allotments of campaign funds and had regular and substantial access to radio and television. The legally registered opposition parties were able to hold the vast majority of their rallies unimpeded by pro-FSLN demonstrators or by other kinds of government interference. † (http://www. williamgbecker. com/lasa_1984. pdf)â € A member of the [opposition] Popular Social Christian Party, Jose Lazos said his party ‘recognized the percentage of the F. S. L. N. vote. ‘ ‘It was an honourable process', he said. † [Lazos also confided to the LASA delegation â€Å"We received the vote we expected†. LASA report, ibid. , p. 18. — B. B. ] â€Å"A team of observers from the Washington Office on Latin America, a church-sponsored lobbying group, said the electoral process had been ‘meaningful' and had provided a political opening in Nicaragua. â€Å"The group, in a statement prepared after the voting ended on Sunday, said the process had been ‘well-conceived' and had afforded ‘easy access to vote with guarantees of secrecy. †Ã‚  From  Sandinista Claims Big Election Victory, by Gordon Mott. New York Times, Nov 6, 1984. â€Å"However, [Virgilio Godoy, the PLI presidential candidate who dropped out the day after a visit from the U. S. ambassador] went on to compare favourably Nicaragua's election with presidential elections in El Salvador earlier this year. ‘If the US is going to try to be honest in evaluating these elections, it will be a real problem for the Reagan administration,' Mr. Godoy said. ‘If the US administration said that the Guatemalan and Salvadorian elections were valid ones, how can they condemn elections in Nicaragua, when they have been no worse and probably a lot better than elections in Salvador and Guatemala. ‘The elections here have been much more peaceful. There were no deaths as in the other two countries, where the opposition were often in fear for their lives. ‘† Nicaragua vote seen as better run than Salvador's By Dennis Volman, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor November 5, 1984, p. 13. Managua, Nicaragua  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Reviewing the history of the negotiations between the FSLN and the opposition parties since 1981, and especially during the current election year, Stephen Kinzer, the Managua-based correspondent of The New York Times, told our delegation ‘The FSLN gave in on almost all of the opposition parties' demands concerning how the electoral process would be run. Their stance seemed to be, â€Å"if any clause of the election law causes serious controversy, we'll modify it. † Most of the opposition's complaints about the process had nothing to do with the mechanics of the elections, but rather were more general criticisms of the political system†¦. What some of these groups want is a complete change in the political system: to abolish the CDSs (Sandinista Defence Committees), get the Sandinistas out of the army, prohibit [incumbent] government officials from running for office, and so forth. In short, they want Nicaragua to become a parliamentary democracy first, before they will participate. But this isn't Switzerland! ‘ † (LASA report, ibid. , p. 12. )†Suppose that some power of unimaginable strength were to threaten to reduce the United States to the level of Ethiopia unless we voted for its candidates, demonstrating that the threat was real. Suppose that we refused, and the threat was then carried out, the country brought to its knees, the economy wrecked and millions killed. Suppose, finally, that the threat were repeated, loud and clear, at the time of the next scheduled elections. Under such conditions, only the most extreme hypocrite would speak of a free election. Furthermore, it is likely that close to 100% of the population would succumb. â€Å"Apart from the last sentence, I have just described U. S. -Nicaraguan relations for the last decade. † —Noam Chomsky, The Boston Globe, March 4, 1990El Salvador in 1982 and 1984, and Nicaragua in 1984, provide a virtually controlled experiment in media integrity or submissiveness. The U. S. government promoted the Salvadoran elections as marvels of democratic advance, under adverse conditions, while trying to undermine and discredit the Nicaraguan election as a sham, even though facts did not support claims of superiority of the former election. In the case of El Salvador, the U. S. government agenda stressed the importance and excellence of the election. They focused on the long lines of smiling voters, the size of the turnout, rebel opposition and alleged efforts at disruption. Additionally, they downplayed the absence of fundamental conditions of a free election, such as the freedoms of press and assembly; the ability of all groups to run candidates; and freedom from state terror and coercive threats. The idea that the American press was so quick to praise one and condemn the other is what Chomsky refers to as the ‘propaganda model’ of the mass media. The American government dictates the press into writing about what benefits the American government more so than writing about the truth. Is the Propaganda Model still relevant today? In their propaganda model, Herman and Chomsky present a series of five â€Å"filters† to account for why the dominant U. S. media invariably serve as propagandists for the interests of the elite. Only stories with a strong orientation to elite interests can pass through the five filters unobstructed and receive ample media attention. The model explains how the media can conscientiously function when even a superficial analysis of the evidence would indicate the preposterous nature of many of the stories that receive ample publicity in the press and on the network news broadcasts. However, what, if any of what Chomsky and Herman presented is still relevant today? The model was dubbed a conspiracy theory by many critics on both left and right although Herman says he and Chomsky had looked for structural factors as the only possible root of systematic behaviour and performance patterns. In defending ‘Manufacturing Consent: Political Economy of the Mass Media’, Noam Chomsky's collaborator Edward Herman says; â€Å"Institutional critiques such as we present in this book are commonly dismissed by establishment commentators as ‘conspiracy theories,' but this is merely an evasion. We do not use any kind of ‘conspiracy' hypothesis to explain mass-media performance. In fact, our treatment is much closer to a ‘free market' analysis, with the results largely an outcome of the workings of market forces.   Herman goes on to further explain how the model is not a conspiracy theory and relevant: â€Å"The propaganda model describes a decentralized and non-conspiratorial market system of control and processing, although at times the government or one or more private actors may take initiatives and mobilize co-ordinated elite handling of an issue. † The â€Å"propaganda model† has as little in common with a â€Å"conspiracy theoryâ €  as saying that the management of General Motors acts to maintain and increase its profits. As Chomsky notes,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"to confront power is costly and difficult; high standards of evidence and argument are imposed, and critical analysis is naturally not welcomed by those who are in a position to react vigorously and to determine the array of rewards and punishments. Conformity to a ‘patriotic agenda,' in contrast, imposes no such costs. †Ã‚  Meaning that  Ã¢â‚¬Å"conformity is the easy way, and the path to privilege and prestige†¦ It is a natural expectation, on uncontroversial assumptions, that the major media and other ideological institutions will generally reflect the perspectives and interests of established power.   [Necessary Illusions, pp. 8-9 and p. 10] So in totally ruling out the ‘conspiracy theory’ label, Herman writes that â€Å"the dramatic changes in the economy, the communications industries, and politics over the past dozen years have tended on balance to enhance the applicability of the propaganda model. The first two fil ters–ownership and advertising–have become ever more important. The decline of public broadcasting, the increase in corporate power and global reach, and the mergers and centralization of the media, have made bottom-line considerations more influential both in the United States and abroad. The competition for advertisers has become more intense and the boundaries between editorial and advertising departments have weakened further. Newsrooms have been more thoroughly incorporated into transnational corporate empires, with budget cuts and even less management enthusiasm for investigative journalism that would challenge the structure of power (Herman and McChesney, 1997). † What Herman is saying is that the journalists own voice has been reduced. The Internet and new communication technologies are breaking the corporate stranglehold on journalism somewhat and opening an unprecedented era of interactive democratic media. Some think that they permit media firms to shrink staff while achieving greater outputs and they make possible global distribution systems, thus reducing the number of media entities. Herman states â€Å"there are, by one conservative count, 20,000 more PR agents working to doctor the news today than there are journalists writing it. †Looking for more modern examples to see if ‘The propaganda model’ still applies Herman uses the media's treatment of the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the subsequent Mexican crisis and meltdown of 1994-95. He states that â€Å"once again there was a sharp split between the preferences of ordinary citizens and the elite and business community, with polls consistently showing substantial majorities opposed to NAFTA — and to the bailout of investors in Mexican securities — but the elite in favour†. Media news coverage, selection of â€Å"experts,† and opinion columns were skewed accordingly; their judgment was that the benefits of NAFTA were obvious, agreed to by all qualified authorities, and that only demagogues and â€Å"special interests† were opposed. Labour has been under siege in the United States for the past fifteen years according to Herman, â€Å"but you would hardly know this from the mainstream media. † Using the example of the long Pittston miners’ strike to show â€Å"the propaganda model’s† relevance in a similar way to Nicaragua, Timor, Jerzy Popieluszko and so many of Chomsky and Herman other examples the strike was afforded much less attention than the strike of miners in the Soviet Union. The more recent examples to think of would be the American media coverage of the whole â€Å"war on terror† compared with most of the world’s media. Much of the world opposed the Iraq war and Americas invasions. In conclusion, the propositions put forward by Chomsky and Herman, such as the ‘five filters’ and their theories of mass media compared with worldwide media seem to be based on very solid ground, with a good foundation of case studies and research. The case study of Nicaragua being a prime example that backs up their studies in Manufacturing Consent. It is quite clear to see how the American media has filtered different stories and overall tried to sway people’s perceptions on the issue. The fact that the similar situation in El Salvador was so comparable proves a great basis to highlight Chomsky and Herman’s theories. Also when talking about if ‘the propaganda model’ is relevant today in which Herman talking on whether it is still relevant claims that â€Å"The applicability of the propaganda model in these and other cases seems clear. I agree that ‘the propaganda model’ is most certainly applicable today. To what extent remains to be seen through research, though I disagree that the internet has brought on an even greater level of control to mass media, although it is worth noting that the internet was a lot different back in the 90’s when Herman talked about it. | Bibliography http://www. chomsky. info/onchomsky/2002—-. htm http://ics. leeds. ac. uk/papers/vp01. cfm? outfi t=pmt&folder=30&paper=1227 The Social and Political Thought of Noam Chomsky  by Alison Edgley http://anarchism. pageabode. com/afaq/secD3. html http://www. chomsky. info/onchomsky/20031209. htm http://www. williamgbecker. com/nicaragua_1984_election. php http://www. chomsky. info/onchomsky/198901–. htm Washington's war on Nicaragua  by Holly Sklar http://www. williamgbecker. com/lasa_1984. pdf http://www. fifth-estate-online. co. uk/comment/Mullen_paper_FEO. pdf http://www. llc. manchester. ac. uk/research/projects/etrist/conferences/fileuploadmax10mb,169799,en. pdf

Biography of Isabella dEste, Patron of the Renaissance

Isabella dEste (May 19, 1474–February 13, 1539) was a patron of Renaissance learning, arts, and literature. She was actively involved in political intrigues among the nobles of Europe. Isabella left behind a voluminous correspondence of more than 2,000 letters, which provide much insight into the world of the Italian Renaissance. Fast Facts: Isabella d'Este Known For: Patron of the Italian RenaissanceBorn: May 19, 1474 in Ferrara, ItalyParents: Ercole I dEste and Eleanor of NaplesDied: February 13, 1539 in Mantua, ItalySpouse: Francesco Gonzaga (m. 1490-1519)Children: 8 Early Life Isabella dEste was born into the noble Ferrara family of Ferra, Italy on May 19, 1474. She may have been named for her relative, Queen Isabella of Spain. She was the eldest in her large family, and, according to contemporary accounts, was her parents favorite. Their second child was also a girl, Beatrice. Brothers Alfonso—the family heir—and Ferrante followed, and then two more brothers, Ippolitto and Sigismondo. Education Isabellas parents educated their daughters and sons equally. Isabella and her sister Beatrice both studied Latin and Greek, Roman history, music, astrology, and dancing. Isabella was accomplished enough in politics to debate with ambassadors when she was only 16. When Isabella was six, she became betrothed to the future fourth Marquis of Mantua, Francesco Gonzaga, whom she met the following year. They were married on February 15, 1490. Gonzaga was a military hero, more interested in sports and horses than in arts and literature, though he was a generous patron of the arts. Isabella continued her studying after her marriage, even sending home for her Latin books. Her sister Beatrice married the Duke of Milan, and the sisters visited each other often. Isabella was described as a beauty, with dark eyes and golden hair. She was famous for her fashion sense—her style was copied by noble women throughout Europe. Her portrait was painted twice by Titian and also by Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna, Rubens, and others. Patronage Isabella, and to a lesser degree her husband, supported many of the Renaissances painters, writers, poets, and musicians. Artists with whom Isabella was associated include Perugino, Battista Spagnoli, Raphael, Andrea Mantegna, Castiglione, and Bandello. Also part of the court circle were figures such as writers Ariosto and Baldassare Castiglione, architect Giulio Romano, and musicians Bartolomeo Tromboncino and Marchetto Cara.  Isabella also exchanged letters with Leonardo da Vinci over a six-year period after his visit to Mantua in 1499. Isabella collected many pieces of artwork over her lifetime, some for an art-filled private studio, essentially creating an art museum. She specified the content of some of these by commissioning particular works. Motherhood Isabellas first daughter Leonora Violante Maria was born in 1493 or 1494. She was named for Isabellas mother, who had died not long before the birth. Leonora later married Francesco Maria della Rovere, the Duke of Urbino. A second daughter, who lived for less than two months, was born in 1496. Having a male heir was important to Italian families in order to pass titles and lands within the family. Isabella had been given a gold cradle as a gift at her daughters birth. Contemporaries cited her strength in putting aside the cradle until she finally had a son, Federico, in 1500. A Ferrara heir, he later became the first duke of Mantua. A daughter Livia was born in 1501; she died in 1508. Ippolita, another daughter, arrived in 1503; she would live into her late 60s as a nun. Another son was born in 1505, Ercole, who became a cardinal and was nearly selected in 1559 to serve as Pope. Ferrante was born in 1507; he became a soldier and married into the di Capua family. Arrival of Lucrezia Borgia In 1502, Lucrezia Borgia, the sister of Cesare Borgia, arrived in Ferrara to marry Isabellas brother Alfonso, the Ferrara heir. Despite Lucrezias reputation—her first two marriages did not end well for those husbands—it appears that Isabella welcomed her warmly at first, and others followed her lead. But dealing with the Borgia family brought other challenges to Isabellas life. She found herself negotiating with Lucrezias brother Cesare Borgia, who had overthrown the Duke of Urbino, the husband of her sister-in-law and friend Elisabetta Gonzaga. As early as 1503, Isabellas new sister-in-law Lucrezia Borgia and Isabellas husband Francesco had begun an affair; passionate letters between the two survived. As might be expected, Isabellas initial welcome to Lucrezia turned to a coolness between them.​ Husbands Capture In 1509, Isabellas husband Francesco was captured by the forces of King Charles VIII of France and was held in Venice as a prisoner. In his absence, Isabella served as regent, defending the city as commander of the citys forces. She negotiated a peace treaty that provided for her husbands safe return in 1512. After this episode, the relationship between Francesco and Isabella deteriorated. He had already begun to be publicly unfaithful before his capture and returned quite ill. The affair with Lucrezia Borgia ended when he realized he had syphilis. Isabella moved to Rome, where she was quite popular among the cultural elite. Widowhood In 1519, after Francesco died, Isabellas eldest son Federico became the marquis. Isabella served as his regent until he came of age, and after that, her son took advantage of her popularity, keeping her in a prominent role in the governing of the city. In 1527, Isabella bought a cardinalate for her son Ercole, paying 40,000 ducats to Pope Clement VII who needed money to face attacks by Bourbon forces. When the enemy attacked Rome, Isabella led the defense of her fortified property and she and many who had taken refuge with her were spared. Isabellas son Ferrante was among the Imperial troops. Isabella soon returned to Mantua, where she led the citys recovery from illness and famine that killed almost one-third of the population. The following year, Isabella went to Ferrara to welcome the new bride of Duke Ercole of Ferrara (son of Isabellas brother Alfonso and Lucrezia Borgia). He married Renà ©e of France, daughter of Anne of Brittany and Louis XII. Ercole and Renà ©e had been married in Paris on June 28. Renà ©e was herself a well-educated woman, a first cousin of Marguerite of Navarre. Renà ©e and Isabella maintained a friendship, with Isabella taking a special interest in Renà ©es daughter Anna dEste. Isabella traveled quite a bit after her husbands death. She was in Bologna in 1530 when Emperor Charles V was crowned by the pope. She was able to convince the Emperor to raise her sons status to that of duke of Mantua. She negotiated a marriage for him to Margherita Paleologa, an heiress. They had a son in 1533. Death Isabella became ruler in her own right of a small city-state, Solarolo, in 1529. She actively governed that territory until she died in 1539. Legacy Isabella is best remembered for her support of numerous now-famous artists, including Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Raphael. Artist Judy Chicago—whose work explores the role of women in history—included Isabella dEste in her famous piece The Dinner Party. Sources Bonoldi, Lorenzo.  Isabella dEste: A Renaissance Woman. Guaraldi, 2016.Marek, George.  The Bed and the Throne: The Life of Isabella DEste. Harper Row, 1976.Julia Cartwright. Isabella DEste, Marchioness of Mantua. E.P. Dutton, 1903.