Throughout the holidays, whilst hibernating, no major news
could reach me under my rock, however, Premier League and League of Legends
results did. The odd news of refugees and Dismaland did too through Facebook
and Twitter, just enough to satisfy my cultured needs.
I wasn’t really too bothered about the news in the holidays, until my homework relied on it and I was a bit stuck as I didn’t realise how much news I received second hand through Twitter and my other social circles. This is very scary. All the news I was receiving has already been consumed by someone and they’ve already reposted it with an influencing subtitle such as ‘OMG I can’t believe he got away with this!’ or something along those lines.
I wasn’t really too bothered about the news in the holidays, until my homework relied on it and I was a bit stuck as I didn’t realise how much news I received second hand through Twitter and my other social circles. This is very scary. All the news I was receiving has already been consumed by someone and they’ve already reposted it with an influencing subtitle such as ‘OMG I can’t believe he got away with this!’ or something along those lines.
On Twitter I can follow who I please and happen to follow a
lot of e-sports aficionados (I get it I am a loser) so the news I received was
all based on the e-sports, I wasn’t receiving much general news so I went onto
Reddit, a website that I go on a fair bit and looked at the news subreddit. It
was global news but focussed on American news due to the website being made by
Americans. I glanced over some news and some news grabbed me, I was already
being selective with the news that I receive on multiple different levels, 1)
personally just scrolling past news that didn’t interest me, I couldn’t give an
example because otherwise I would be discrediting my own word. 2) the website
bases its hierarchy of news based on the amount of overall ‘up votes’ (likes)
compared to the overall ‘down votes’ (dislikes). So, if the audience of Reddit
don’t like a news report then first it probably wouldn’t get posted there and
3) it would get down voted to smithereens, however I enjoy the website and am
familiar with its sense of humour and a large majority of it is common with me,
interests and audience.
A lot of the news I also received was on Twitter and
Facebook, social media sites that are obviously tuned to my interests, for
example, if I follow my parents or certain celebrities then I will listen to
the same things they do and read the same news, we will all become
indoctrinated by similar things, one example is this, I initially followed
Leonardo DiCaprio on Twitter because he is a great actor, no doubt about it,
his bio is “Actor and Environmentalist” and his content, retweets and such are
all very much based around “saving the planet” and “#SeaworldSucks” he then
tweeted about the new documentary titled “Cowspiracy” that was about the meat
industry and how it is destroying the world. This documentary is on Netflix and
I chose to watch this documentary. All media is biased, especially
documentaries. Editing conveys meaning to the film and in a passionate
documentary about a subject I already feel strongly about, as a vegetarian, I
will actively seek information about it and try to take more of a role within
it.
I also read some news on Facebook about refugees and other
global crises, however, their accuracy and reliability is always at stake when I read them on "Britain First" or my Auntie Sally claiming that "refugees are taking our benefits". I've come to the conclusion that I don't know what to believe anymore, Big Media lies, We Media lies, no one is honest.
"History is written by the victors" - Walter Benjamin
History is no longer written by the victors but also by Citizen Journalists. Democracy seems to be nearly reached with an extra perspective, not only the viewpoint of Rupert Murdoch's writers but now everyone in fact, Gilmore says that now everyone is a journalist, everyone has the capability to change the world because the internet. The internet allows us all to post what we like, we can report on what we want but with this prospect also comes great responsibility, with the high abundance of news stories the credibility is being sacrificed.
One news story that I initially saw on the 10 o'clock news but then saw a tweet about the next day and then read over the holidays was about the subverted art exhibition of Dismaland - the bemusement park. Within it there was an exclusive interview with Banksy himself from The Guardian, The Guardian's audience is 80% Labour Supporters according to Wikipedia and throughout the interview Banksy is asked whether he voted Tory, his reply was "no". A very blunt answer that The Guardian, due to their political stance are more than willing to post about.
Banksy's art all have evocative and controversial political messages that most Labour supporters would agree with, I think the credibility of this piece is fine, no lies would have been told in this article as the purpose of it is really just to increase the publicity of Banksy's new art exhibition. I retweeted the news article as I am followed to a Banksy fan page as I am interested in contemporary art, especially Banksy after watching a few documentaries focussed on him (Exit Through The Gift Shop). I enjoyed the interview as Banksy was pretty comical in it and I am very interested in Dismaland, the take on Disneyland and the mockery of the Bourgeoisie it seems to hold sounds very funny and relatable, the positive piece on street art as a whole made me appreciate Banksy and see him as a mouth-piece of the proletariats.
Another news story I read on Reddit was a pretty enticing headline from Businessinsider.com titled 'Denmark to refugees: Don't come here. I found this very interesting and shocking, how a country can just say that. I initially thought that the truth had been stretched a lot and maybe someone's quote had been changed drastically but it seems that they had put an advert in a newspaper saying that they didn't want any refugees for many reasons, such as the fact that they are cutting social benefits asylum-seekers by 50 percent, a language requirement to gain residence, and at least a five-year waiting period. It was truly shocking that at this moment in time, a country's government can be so inconsiderate and morally unjust towards the refugees. However, I still think that the news report has been changed in order to make it very entertaining to read. - Oliver
"History is written by the victors" - Walter Benjamin
History is no longer written by the victors but also by Citizen Journalists. Democracy seems to be nearly reached with an extra perspective, not only the viewpoint of Rupert Murdoch's writers but now everyone in fact, Gilmore says that now everyone is a journalist, everyone has the capability to change the world because the internet. The internet allows us all to post what we like, we can report on what we want but with this prospect also comes great responsibility, with the high abundance of news stories the credibility is being sacrificed.
One news story that I initially saw on the 10 o'clock news but then saw a tweet about the next day and then read over the holidays was about the subverted art exhibition of Dismaland - the bemusement park. Within it there was an exclusive interview with Banksy himself from The Guardian, The Guardian's audience is 80% Labour Supporters according to Wikipedia and throughout the interview Banksy is asked whether he voted Tory, his reply was "no". A very blunt answer that The Guardian, due to their political stance are more than willing to post about.
Banksy's art all have evocative and controversial political messages that most Labour supporters would agree with, I think the credibility of this piece is fine, no lies would have been told in this article as the purpose of it is really just to increase the publicity of Banksy's new art exhibition. I retweeted the news article as I am followed to a Banksy fan page as I am interested in contemporary art, especially Banksy after watching a few documentaries focussed on him (Exit Through The Gift Shop). I enjoyed the interview as Banksy was pretty comical in it and I am very interested in Dismaland, the take on Disneyland and the mockery of the Bourgeoisie it seems to hold sounds very funny and relatable, the positive piece on street art as a whole made me appreciate Banksy and see him as a mouth-piece of the proletariats.
Another news story I read on Reddit was a pretty enticing headline from Businessinsider.com titled 'Denmark to refugees: Don't come here. I found this very interesting and shocking, how a country can just say that. I initially thought that the truth had been stretched a lot and maybe someone's quote had been changed drastically but it seems that they had put an advert in a newspaper saying that they didn't want any refugees for many reasons, such as the fact that they are cutting social benefits asylum-seekers by 50 percent, a language requirement to gain residence, and at least a five-year waiting period. It was truly shocking that at this moment in time, a country's government can be so inconsiderate and morally unjust towards the refugees. However, I still think that the news report has been changed in order to make it very entertaining to read. - Oliver
This is a great piece. Very much personalised, and you're a lot more open to what you like than I really was with mine. You also go into detail with how you got your news and why that is so important.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brad, appreciate your comment. If you also have any criticism on my news gathering habits then I'd more than welcome it.
DeleteThe documentary story kind of grabbed me in the reading.
ReplyDeleteSurely, any story about vegetarians and saving the planet is pretty much identical in content, so why do people keep watching if they already know what they'll see? In your opinion.
I don't think they're identical. It is however a rising topic that requires iterative updates with such big companies fighting for more awareness and for some action, I don't think everyone realises the brutality in which animals are put under just for food. This documentary in topic doesn't just address the animal cruelty but actually more of an environmental take on it, the extinction of certain fish could have a domino effect on other species and then cause a decrease in other species' population.
DeleteOnce again, I don't think they're identical. When comparing documentaries such as Blackfish, The Cove and now this Cowspiracy they aren't even similar. The Cove focussing on the murder and mistreating of Whales in Japan, Taiji and Blackfish focussing on SeaWorld. The meat industry is a very secretive industry and if everybody knew how bad it was, ignorance isn't bliss, the more information you have on a subject the more clued up you get, the more passionate you get about it. The documentaries are all individually heart breaking and break new boundaries as the information they reveal is not being covered by many news corporations.
If you get the chance, watch the films I have referred to and sorry for going on a big rant.
Any more questions I am willing to answer, thanks Max!
I disagree with the point that both the 'Big media' and 'We media' lie. They don't lie as such, but rather they omit certain points and bend the truth to suit their needs.
ReplyDelete'Big media' has many flaws including that they are run by 'media barons'. This means that they often put opinions and political beliefs into their reporting. To do this, reporters and articles may have to bend the truth slightly or portray something in a particular light - whether this be positive or negative. This means that 'big media' often has a bias but it does not mean that they lie.
'We media' is much the same in terms of not lying but in a slightly different way. The fluidity of 'we media' means that anyone can produce content making much of the population 'prosumers'. These types of news sources, like the Reddit you mentioned, are produced by average people meaning they have their own opinions and expresses themselves through the media they produce. This does not make them to be lying. Sources of information may be inaccurate or accurate. The media produced by 'prosumers' is not media that is lying but is an individual's version of the truth.
Due to this I believe your comment of 'Big Media lies, We Media lies, no one is honest' is slightly inaccurate but I can understand your point of view. After all, my version of the truth and my opinions are very different to yours.
I was just saying I don't know who to trust with all of these dishonest news corporations, whether its a citizen journalist or The Guardian, as you said, they all "bend the truth" and its forcing me to fear that they lie. For example; the recent David Cameron Pig story, it was an inaccurate news story but the majority of news suppliers ran away with the tale. Even I posted on Twitter about it because its funny.
DeleteIf everyone is "bending the truth" (lying) then who do you trust. This is only my opinion but we can not ignore the blinding truth that the media has so much power and they aren't using it as sincere as they should be.
There is only one version of the truth, every other version is a lie.
Even though I said they all lie I understand that they don't explicitly lie.
Thanks for the response though, very thought provoking and I agree that their opinion is a valuable resource and it does influence the media that they produce.
I enjoyed reading this piece, like Brad had said, the personalization in the first paragraph was quite amusing and made it more enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteI noticed though, and I'm sorry for sounding picky, that you put "2" again instead of "3" in the second paragraph when you're talking about how you get your news. That was it that I had to pick out and that really bugged me, sorry about that.
But on a different note, I had to agree with your "Big Media lies, We Media lies, no one is honest" statement - mostly because many people's different views and statements has created inaccuracy in the case for the immigrants issue and such, it's as though what people have said have created a whole new idea of what they call the 'truth'. I also thought it was a good point overall simply because it was short yet straight to the point.
But overall, I did find this to be a good post to read.
I didn't even notice the 2) mistake, sorry!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Miss Picky :-)