Week 6

TOPIC 1: NEWSPAPERS

I have never really been one to watch the news, read the newspaper or spend my free time searching for different news articles. I never really found news interesting and always found most news articles or news stories pretty depressing. Now that I have social media and now that Twitter has "What's Happening" page, I have caught myself being more and more interested in everyday news articles and actually keeping up. Bellow is a screenshot of my current "What's Happening" page. As you can see it shows what type of news it is, the time it was posted and a title along with a photo to give you an idea of what you will be reading about. It is not exactly a news article and instead, it gives a brief summary of what it is about and then followed what a variety of tweets talking about this topic. I do love twitter and I go on it quite a bit. I feel like this strategy of taking a news topic and then showing a variety of tweets compromises for those who don't like reading news articles and would rather just scroll through Twitter. It is a win-win situation.  

I also get my news from word of mouth. Usually, if a news topic is very popular there is a very likely chance that others will be talking about it. Of course, this could lead to fake news. It is like playing a game of telephone. One person hears it, tells another person, who tells another person and it spreads on and on. It is almost inevitable that the story won't change at least once when it is being passed down, which results in fake news. Something we need to be careful about. 

Like I said earlier, local news is not very important in my daily life. I know it should be and I have been working on reading more/watching more news, I just really have never found an interest in it. 

I think there is a lot of fake news that comes to the surface on a day-to-day basis especially these days. It is hard to know if what you are reading, hearing and seeing is real and credible. The one thing you can do to make sure it is accurate is checking the source it is coming from. If it is a website such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fox News, CNN, and NBC. News channels like these are very dependable whereas if you were to just see a random post on twitter or facebook it would be important to do more research on the topic to make sure the information is reliable. 

I personally do not subscribe and I am not willing to pay for publications with a paywall. I understand that it helps their business gain a little more money but at the same time, I believe it makes them lose visitors and readers. There are many people who aren't willing to pay just to see a certain businesses website or broadcast and soon people who aren't charging visitors are going to skyrocket in business opposed to those charging a monthly fee. I don't believe it is worth it to pay for a news subscription when you can find the information else ware for FREE. 

On a scale of 1-5, 5 being most information about current events I believe I am probably a 2.5. I've stated a lot that I don't really follow up with news articles. The only reason I believe I am a 2.5 and not a 0 is because I am pretty well informed about sports and movies which are two things that I love. I watch a different movie almost every night and I grew up in a family who loved sports and always went to sporting events. I definitely keep up with sports news and always check up on the latest movies coming to theaters. I do think that it is important to be informed about different types of news and I myself need to work on that more whether it be learning something new in the news every day or turning on a news channel for at least an hour in the mornings, I definitely need to work on being more educated when it comes to current events and this class has definitely helped me do so. 

Links I use for movies and sports: 

Sports News - ESPN

Movies - Fandango  

TOPIC 2: FAKE NEWS 

We've talked about fake news before and I think it is a very important thing to be aware of. In previous months, Donald Trump our president has acknowledge the amount of fake news we encounter on a day-to-day basis and has even tried to clear his own name from fake news reports. I found an article on New Yorker(Article)explaining a little more about this topic. In the article, it states that Donald Trump has been using Twitter to slam different news accounts. The website states: "The President’s tweets slamming CNN, the Times, NBC News, and other media organizations can be comical and weird, but they do serious harm." Personally, I don't agree with how the president deals with certain situations and I think his act of posting everything he disagrees with on twitter is unprofessional and childish. There are many alternative ways of dealing with situations that don't include slamming an account on twitter to get your point across. Although I don't agree with how Trump handles some situations, I do agree that fake news is taken too lightly and there needs to be a stop to it, even if that means confronting the news company. I can understand the irritation Trump may be feeling when fake news gets spread about him, as would anyone. Many people make up false stories and accusations about The President and fake news is one of the biggest contributors. Anybody would be frustrated if they were constantly hearing fake things being tossed around about them.

The First Amendment guarantees Freedom of speech, religion, press, peacibility and petition. Donald Trump's attacks on journalism and the free press make since. He is fed up with fake news but the First Amendment, in a way, states that fake news is not necessarily illegal and people can talk about and release anything they wish to, even if it is fake. Once again, I can see where he is coming from with his anger towards it but I do believe at the same time he is harming the First Amendment and doesn't have the right to lash out on people like he is doing. 

Trump 'tells it like it is' - Article (Washington Post)

There are many incidences on Twitter and all over the media of Trump telling it like it is. He is definitely a man who is not afraid to speak his mind. 

These are some tweets I pulled from Trumps twitter- he is definitely telling it like it is! He is not afraid to express anything that is on his mind and seems to think he is always right. It seems to me like right when something doesn't go his way or when fake news is taking over, he pulls out his phone and tweets about it to make sure everyone knows his side of the story; never wanting to be unheard. By the current state of affairs I 100% think our democracy is weakened regarding the media and journalism. I don't remember the last time everyone was satisfied. Someone always has an opinion or something negative to say no matter what the situation is.