Podcast Activity

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Podcast

Can we trust the News anymore?

After 80 years of publication, Newsweek officially announced that all formats news will be exclusively online as oppose to the traditional print that readers grew to love. Some such as at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication Assistant Professor  Shayla Thiel-Stern we’re displeased by this announcement because of the endangerment the internet has on journalism. "There's often a negotiation happening when they do; if a story is not verified with reliable sources, should they break it on social media, for example?”, Stern claims. This announcement has incorporate toward the ongoing debate of social media having an effect on journalism has played a monumental role on the world since the Internet's first association with humanity in the early-half of the 21^th century. But now, the debate has finally become obsolete. 

This is because society has welcome social media as an integration with the journalist system based off its simplification when broadcasting the news. It can be agreed upon through debate that the Internet has made reporting the news easier because accessibility of tools such as Facebook and Twitter being used to spread the word on major social events occurring either as or after it happens. New media has also created an open field of convenience with our mobile devices being integrated within the news system when reporting the news. Now at any given moment, anyone can be a journalist by capturing events as they occur, a feature that would not have been possible as little as 20 years ago because of the advancement in technology.

 Repeatable news sources like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post have broken the barrier of traditional printing to publishing online for its effective momentum. In fact, according to an article published in The Huffington Post website, the emerging of typing is becoming more heavily active in the classroom rather than conventional writing. Senior lecturer of the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism Robert Quigley reports that professors are even requiring students to create a Twitter account to interact on current events as assignments. "It's important for students to be on top of this because the media industry has embraced it... Students who are comfortable with using social media in a journalistic way have a serious leg up,” Quigley states.

It Is the Audience!

It’s the Audience, Stupid!

1.What is the new approach to storytelling and how is it being used to broaden audiences?

As a test, Italians were asked what they wanted to have expressed when storytelling. And to no surprise because it’s a social issue,   unemployment, illiteracy and amount of waste humanity produces were among the prime factor in what was popular. This broadens audiences because they are social issues that affects the global world as a whole.

2. How is digital media being used to engage audiences?

Simplifying the material that we expose and using the technology to expand our coverage of the world. When we see the social issues that are around the world, it unites us to find a solution together by coming to a conclusion.  

3. Give three specific examples of how you can incorporate storytelling into an article you write?

• It’s the audience, stupid! Meaning relate to the issues that connect to the audience and seek their needs in order to target and win over the audience like the issues that Italy faces and how word of mouth causes change.
• Wider interest in international news exists than much of the mainstream media assume. Make the international problems effect the world as a whole. For example, in the article it mentions how the Health Care system in Britain and Canadian is superior to the United States Health Care System and we’re using both countries as a model for how to shape ours.
• To paraphrase my high school principal, “more humility, ladies and gents of the media!” The public’s lack of interest in international news could (just possibly) reflect the quality of our journalism rather than the topic itself. The article examines how bullying is a serious issue that has gain attention because of how journalist have covered it in the past couple years and how digital technology has effected the problem.

All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate

4. What does aggregation mean?

While essential an editor, Aggregation are powerful intellects who shares their information with other editors to expand the sense of the knowledge.

5. Why does the author describe Arianna Huffington as “the queen of aggregation?” 

Arianna Huffington uses unpaid blogs along with celebrity gossip to expand her network which is how the Huffington Post became so powerful, by using other sources to make her’s superior and reputable.

6. Go to the Huffington Post and provide an example.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/ryan-reynolds-daughter-james_n_6908952.html?ir=Entertainment

Ryan Reynolds now a newly father revealed that his daughter’s name is “James” which could be played as a hoax but has gained controversy by the Huffington Post by not being a feminine name.  

7. Is aggregation a threat to professional journalism – why or why not?

I believe aggregation can be seen as a threat amongst each other because news networks, papers, and other forms of media always fight to get the latest story or scoop first. The first to expose it to the public usually has the power because they’re credited with being the first to report and that attracts viewers. So aggregation is a system that will corrupt as a whole.

Photojournalism in the Age of New Media

A professional journalist receives a photo captured by a citizen journalist….

 What are the positives?

Technological benefits to reach crisis zones normal reporters could not access, expanding the broad horizon of the world,  social media can be uses to spread the world and cover stories at a faster pace.

 Why does the professional journalist need to be careful?

If the original source of the photo cannot be verified, it loses its rehabilitee as a whole, copyright issues for who owns what, and hard to trace the original source when it’s “shared” or “retweeted” on Facebook and Twitter.

 Why might the content of the photo be called into question?

Verification and where the photo came from can be asked into question because it needs a source.

 How does citizen photojournalist impact the job of the professional photojournalist?

Photojournalist captures the realism in the situation that gets covered. The image is able to connect to the audience in a way the traditional print can’t because each person has a different emotion on the same image which makes photojournalist impacting to the citizens.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0 (also known as semantic web) is a topic or discussion where the web content is able to reach a large amount of people. Social media plays a huge role in Web 3.0 because it's information spans on  a social level that reaches the public such as Google. Recently, there was a debate amongst social media that started on a Web 2.0 level with the debate if a women's dress was Blue and Black as her eyes saw the dress or White and Gold as her boyfriend saw the dress. This expanded through social media and reached to become a phenomena of the day. But how does Web 2.0 reach a 3.0 level?
Web 2.0 is simular to bringing a dish to the dinner table. One user will post something or a topic (like a post on Facebook) and others within the user's span (such as their friends on their page) will comment to interact on a social level in media. When a topic becomes popular amongst it's peeps as people spread the word, the subject soon becomes the talk of the day from a media standpoint. This isn't the first time a Web 3.0 has converge through media to remain as a social level. This past summer the "Ice Bucket Challenge" in association with ALS disease reached a social level which started as a Web 2.0 but has now been branded in social media permanently within a Web 3.0 level which has it's own website sponsored by ALS. While the recurring trend of Web 2.0 becoming Web 3.0 seems unlikely because it's the though of a "genie in a bottle" that comes at random, we can't ignore that Web 3.0 plays a huge role in social media.

Homework Exercise # 1

CNN reported that Congress in Alabama approved same-sex marriage and joins the 37 out of 50 states that have legalized same-sex marriage. Since Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, multiple states including North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida have all accepted same-sex marriage within the past year. This shocking revelation that ultimately would not have been possible 50 years ago because same-sex marriage was unheard of in society for it’s nature of being seen as a vulgar poison that effects people which is against God’s vison of happiness. I still believe we live in this society as some individuals still feel this way. To enlighten this theory, a quote from the same CNN article states that “UCLA think tank, in only seven states do a third of residents or fewer approve of same-sex marriage”.  One state from the south that is currently fighting the rights of same-sex marriage is Texas as Supreme Court Attorney General Ken Paxton states that he will make it his life goal to void out same-sex marriage across the country.  

Same-sex marriage is no different than interracial marriage in society during the Civil Rights Movement. The infamous case of Ruth Williams and Seretse Khama of 1956 brought attention to the media because they were the first public interracial couple and as a result of their love for one another, they were exiled from society. But now almost 60 years later, we live in a world where is commonly heard of for another race to marry outside their own because we are all people and the color of our skin should not restrain us from happiness. So why should our choice for who we want as our spouse matter if it’s our God given right?

One advantage that we have in this day and age is the power of social media to view that there are others who are proactive toward same-sex marriage along with activist groups to expand and share our views. During the Civil Rights Movement, the human voice could only go but so far because we were restrain to television and radio as our only news source and it was almost always an biased view of the given situation. We also can now see the struggle that those go through to fight for their voice to be heard which is why the United States is more lenient on Same-Sex Marriage. Here’s hoping the other 13 soon join the party.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/us/alabama-same-sex-marriage/

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/britain-meddled-in-forbidden-love-affair-between-ruth-williams-and-seretse-khama/story-fnb64oi6-1226728576121

http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2015/02/19/texas-state-leaders-step-in-to-stop-same-sex-marriage/23704309/

“Can Blogs Revolutionize Progressive Politics?”

1. Why do the Democratic leaders embrace blogging as a potential political communication considering the traditional media landscape in politics?

The progression of Netroots usage since 2004 has caused the Democratic Party to enable more usage of social media, email, message boards, RSS feeds and blogs to promote the political party. Netroots used for the Democratic Party have also made it easier for Politicians to tackle issues quicker, cheaper, and interactive with voters and becoming more involved in their daily life which is impossible to do with simply promoting using television or newspapers.

2. Blogging encourages a participatory culture. In what way does the participatory culture in blogging expand digital media convergence?

Because a large segment of the American public turned to the Internet to speak for themselves, we turn to blogging about social issues that affect us as a whole, more people from across the globe on other sides of the world can gain support in your favor. When it comes to digital media convergence, blogging about an issue like a local gang in the city terrorizing pedestrians can make headlines in the newspaper and create support groups to prevent them on social media like Facebook.

3. In the article, the author says: “The ability of the Internet to erase geographical distances can become a structural weakness in elections where district lines and eligibility are key.” How can blogging counter this weakness in the process of turning the net roots to grassroots?

Though we can blog about issues that affect us and larger issues which will gain a following, in order to become grassroot, we must call to action otherwise a voice still remains as just a voice.  A quote from the article by Pew scholar Michael Cornfield sums up the meaning of grassroot when he states that, “raising money at a nationwide level for a special election is one thing, but raising it and developing a core of activists and all the ready-to-respond messages when you have to run hundreds of races simultaneously–which is what will happen in 2006–is another thing.”

4. The author spends the second half of the article discussing the lack of diversity in current blogosphere dominated by elite bloggers. Please use the concept of digital convergence to explain how blogs can become the real bearer of freedom, democracy, egalitarianism, and participation in the new media communication?

In my personal opinion after reading the article, the best way to tackle these issues on a new media convergence level is by creating organizations, pages on social media, and posting awareness for the issues along with hosting events. Thinking that every “like” on your page acts as a new customer and we have to sell our idea like a vender in order to get the consumer to buy our product. Communication is also key because we should all be able to discuss issues and agree based on a diplomatic solution as a democracy. 

Virtual Revolution

Questions for the documentary “Virtual Revolution” part 1, 2, and 3.

1.       The web is celebrated as the revolutionary technology that is great leveling of humanity creating equal opportunity, equal access, and equal potential. However, there are only a quarter of people on the earth who can use it. How do you explain the controversial argument here?

1.As mentioned in the beginning of the documentary, there are countries in Africa like Guan have finally been introduced to technology to convergence with the World Wide Web which was not available beforehand. They join the other 80 to 75 percent of the world who does not have access in the opportunities that society in the UK and the United States have because of funding for technology. The argument is that there’s an entire population that does not have access like the 2 billion because they lack the resources to do so. It’s our job as the 2 billion who are able to enable the Web to expand to everyone for the sake of knowledge we can all enrich.

2.       How is Wikipedia the best example to implement the leveling ideas of the Web rooted in the cultural revolution of 1960s, namely the Libertarianism in the counter culture? How does it explain some of the digital convergences?

2. In the 1960’s, there was a mixture of Left and Right-Winged ideas based of the status of the United States and the role our country plays in society. Within this period, humanity gained a sense of freewill which carried over years later during the early days of the internet which gave people a place to resent opinions, have their own views on controversial topics, and define oneself which led to the revolution that shaped what the internet is today.

3. How does the Web make it possible for different kinds of digital convergence?

The Women from Kenya was able to document the revolution and protest during their countries election and expand the struggle on a global stage which would not have been possible without the aid of digital convergence of combining traditional journalism with the internet using her site to share her voice.

4. How can the Internet become a challenge for traditional authority? Use the political landscape changes in some counties to illustrate your answer.

The internet challenges the amount of interaction we have when industries look to hire which hurt us but also advantage us by opening doors to a larger world so business are able to hire a professional in other country for the same job offered in the opposite country. Job opportunities have also open because of the internet because we live in an age when salary can be strictly based on what material you release to the public online (YouTube).  

5. Do you believe that getting information free can set us free eventually? Why or Why not? Do you see any concerns of the complete freedom or self-expression without limit on the Internet? Why or why not?

Wikipedia is an empowering search engine that is offered for free but the site serves as a search engine that anyone can edit or change without rehabilitate which can hurt our way of thinking. It also makes us dependable of one search engine when there are other resources outside the internet that we gain access to and in some cases are easier to access outside the 25 percent. Self expression is also halted because of privacy acts that prevent free expression on social media sites.  A message that could be seen as slander or racist can be flagged and taken down at the social media request  which limit the amount of power we have.

6. In traditional media communication, it has the “vertical” authority. In the Web communication, it becomes “horizontal?” How do you explain the change? How does this create the possibility for digital media convergence?

The idea of linking everything as one to be connected and the ability and ambition to have information, equal access from multiple sites has made our web communication more horizontal than the traditional vertical view which only enables one source. The possibility for digital media convergence is also open because the web has become a part of our daily life in the news (Newspapers offer free subscriptions as oppose to buying a traditional paper along with the news constantly updating for the user)

7. Why is that the Web is free critical for the success of the Web itself? How does that clash with the corporate business ideology? How does that pose challenges for copyright issues at the same time? What will happen if the Web is not free?

The World Wide Web is free access without the interference of the government. We have an entire network dedicated to the freedom to gain knowledge and make profit even if it means illegal ways (downloading music, movies, online books, etc) which interfaces with copyrights and limits our expression. If the media and content was not for free, I guarantee the 22 to 25 percent who use the internet would be significantly lower.