In these past few weeks especially over the summer, I have taken much more of an interest in the news and the sources in which I gain knowledge in regards to news and current affairs/ happenings all around the world and this is due to reading ‘We Media’ and Democracy. However, I have always taken an interest in regards to keeping up to date with the latest news.
I have a very active lifestyle and am often on the go which means I very rarely get the chance to sit down at home and watch the news via the TV which is why the development of news apps means I can get the latest news to my iPhone which allows me to stay knowledgable about the happenings within the news yet still maintain my desired lifestyle. Many of the information I gather in regards to the news is via the BBC news app which I downloaded to my phone. The BBC is a proffered choice in source of mine as i believe like many others it to be a very trustworthy source and provides me with impartial view points as it is a public service and is funded by license fees. The impartial views are increasingly important to me especially in regards to politics and Brexit as it will be something which will affect me massively and I will be eligible to vote in the next election or even referendum, so its essential I know the facts from all parties before making such a colossal decision which will be sure to affect my future. Also in regards to using the BBC news app it means that I am able to choose what type of news information I get alerted about or the relevant articles appear; for example I opted to receive news about: Sports, World, Politics, Brexit and UK current events.
However, I also use some not so trustworthy sources of which I use in order to gain my news and this is via Social Medias following/ liking pages such as The LAD Bible. This particular page can be very informative yet in a light hearted manner which can sometimes make particular articles a much more enjoyable read and can be less daunting, as one of my main reasons for not reading some of the news is due to the content striking fear into me which can sometimes affect the way i judge/ react to certain situations, so in that respect I believe that sometimes not knowing is the better option. However The LAD Bible makes the more serious, devastating and fearful news less scary by turning it into a bit of a joke, but, this is not the case all of the time, they still use some very reliable and informative sources in order to relay the information back to us readers. Despite following the more reliable pages on social media due to the cookies I use and media 3.0 I receive/ see many relevant news articles to my interests or my viewpoints on a particular subject which can then provide me with false information and false articles. For example an article that appeared on my twitter feed and one that I viewed was quite clearly fake in regards to the information is was providing me with (article:
http://southendnewsnetwork.com/news/prince-george-sent-home-on-first-day-of-school-for-wearing-wrong-trousers/ )It was more humorous than truthful due to quotations they used to exaggerate the article. They often use provocative headlines as clickbait in order to reach their existing and new audiences. In my opinion I think this works on a lot of people, especially my very close friends who fall for these sort of things every time! Despite me knowing this article wasn't genuine it still made me share it with my friends as I found it rather humorous, showing that the clickbait does work. This makes me wary of news articles which are on social media as they aren’t trusted compared to news providers such as the BBC.
This idea that we are using more social medias to gather our news instead of what Dan Gillmor calls ‘Big Media’ supports his idea that the development in media is allowing for more perspectives to be heard which in turn makes the media more democratic and representative of the people. Which explains why there is such a shift in the way we gather our news content through new and more accessible mediums.
As I mentioned earlier I am often out of the house so the programmes that I do want to see often means I have to record them so that I can watch them at a more convenient time where I can sit down and fully engage with the programme, however, this means that during the commercial breaks where news is often talked about I just fast forward straight past them so that I can immediately resume watching my programme, which can result in me missing very important headlines which I later discover at a later date, which isn’t always ideal especially if it is something that will have a direct affect in regards to me.
Overall, I think that its pretty evident that there are multiple ways of gathering the news via the ever expanding media links, granted, some more reliable than others; but each individual has there own proffered method and for people amongst differing generations will be more ‘stuck in there ways’ in regards to how they access the news. I myself have my preferred methods which works well for me and ties in well with my lifestyle, which is very much so a win win situation for myself, so I intend on sticking to my methods. Such as using the BBC news app and vaguely relying on information that circulates around social medias as the more news circulates the more people that have the opportunity to change/ twist things in various different ways which can often lead to the retention of false news.
Excellent reflections on your own media use, how it fits with your lifestyle and the 'state of play'. It is interesting that you see the BBC as most trustworthy. In a news climate where a lot of providers will struggle to survive many, such as the journalist Jon Snow, believe that PSB (public service broadcasters) will become even more important as a way of navigating through the paid-for clickbait articles, fake news and poorly researched pieces. You are right to be sceptical about your sources and although satirical sites such as the Southend News Network may fool some people, other sites such as LADBible have kind of blurred the lines between relatively serious/true stuff and humour/jokes which arguably makes the job of the reader even more confusing.
ReplyDeleteConfusing times, we need to be more news/media literate than ever before.