We Media and Democracy - Emily Bicknell

We Media and Democracy

What have you learnt about your own media use and how you access news content?

Reflecting on the research I made over the summer into news stories, I found that I didn’t realise how much I actually watched the BBC news broadcast at 6pm. This is only out of routine of watching it with my grandparents after tea but I also found media stories through links on social media from well recognised news providers.

One of the stories that I found was about the two news journalist being shot and killed by an ex-colleague of theirs in the USA.  I heard about this story over a series of different days as it was a continued story which was broadcasted around the world. The story was plastered all over different media platforms, such as social media, radio, television. I originally heard this story from the BBC news at 6pm and went on to listen to the whole coverage of the story. I then saw multiple articles shared on my newsfeed on Facebook and Twitter, however I avoided these as I know they were not from a reliable source so I just stuck to listening to the updates made by the BBC, as these are a trusted source of news providers. I found the story to be very sensitive as two innocent journalists, at work, lost their lives to the reckless behaviour of another human being. As awful as they news story was, I was very interested into finding out all of the details from the news item. It was a very popular news story, as it shocks the public that a human can act in such an evil way. It had friends, family and millions of other people constantly talking about it for days on social media.

Another popular news story that made its way onto 6pm news and that covered every form of media, especially in the UK, was the tragic death of TV icon and singer Cilla Black. It was such a shock to the general public as there was no other stories which indicated that she was ill. She was such an iconic woman in TV and in the music industry, she had thousands of fans and people that looked up to her. I again heard about this on the BBC radio station, which is a trusted source of news, as I was on holiday at the time but as soon as I was able to connect to any internet connection, my newsfeeds were full of stories about Cilla Black. The celebrity world was overflowing with condolence messages for the star, as well as messages from her heart broken fans. Her funeral was broadcasted on the television and her family were surrounded by the people who were inspired by the presenter, actor and singer.

The next story that I saw in the media was Queen Elizabeth becoming the longest reigning Queen in the Monarch. This is a story that was projected over the media for a very long time, it was a very important story for the people of England. I first found this story on my Facebook timeline, from a link of a well-established news organisation (Daily Mail). I didn’t read into this story as much as other, which is quite unusual as I am a secret lover of the royal family. But as the story was broadcasted more and more, I was able to obtain more and more information from the articles. The sources that I read the story from were well trusted as they were either the BBC or well established newspaper companies. Like I have discussed, this was a popular story throughout England as it relates to the Queen of our country, it makes people feel proud to be in the 21^st century and have a Queen that has been ruling the country for the longest rein. Media companies go mad for any stories of the royal family, so this was particularly popular for media journalists to get their teeth into.

The final media story that I found was the on-going migrant crisis from Syria. This is a media story that is still being broadcasted to this day. This has been one of the most intense news items that has been broadcasted this year. The stories that are being broadcasted are endless and it just seems to be getting worse and worse for the victims. Stories such as small children drowning and other innocent Syrian citizens are losing their lives as they make an escape to countries in Europe. Stories about countries refusing access across their boarders and leaving refugees to find another way to flee from the power of ISIS. I can’t exactly remember where I first heard about this story, it was either through the 6pm news or on the front of the newspaper my dad buys daily. Either way, the source that I obtained the information from was very trusted and was not from a citizen journalist that had made an article from the comfort of their own home. The migrant crisis is a big issue for people living in Europe as they have to make the difficult decision of whether to accept the refugees or turn them away at the boarders. This has been especially difficult for people living in Britain, as we are only a small island as it is, we are limited for space for hundreds and hundreds of refugees to enter the country and start a life here. A lot of the stories have been about the Prime Minister and what his plan is to help the refugees out as much as he can.

Overall, I surprised myself over the summer. I never realised that I consumed media in the traditional way of waiting for the headline updates at 6pm on the BBC news. However, this does not mean that this is the only way that I gain information from news organisation. I do find a lot of news on my social media, but this tends to be of celebrity gossip which is always twisted to sound more dramatic, it is never always a trusted source- but the title of ‘gossip’ explains itself.