"We Media" and democracy

Research over the summer - By Ryan Parsons

 



During the six week holidays, I have studied a different amount of news sources such as the BBC and Sky news and have gathered different stories which have dominated the headlines and these are a few of the stories which I have analysed for the “We media” theory.

The first story in which I had analysed over the summer holiday was that of the Migrant crisis, which still dominates the headlines today. Throughout the summer, news sources such as the BBC news app have shown the general public the extreme lengths that these people will go to in order to reach European countries such as England and Germany. The significant part of the story however was the death of a three year old child who had drowned and was washed up on the Turkish coastline. The images of the grief stricken father holding his lifeless child went all over the globe and shocked many nations. This served as a wakeup call for many governments such as our own to help these people. Throughout this coverage there has been different opinions which had caused debates throughout Europe as many want to help these people to rebuild their lives which had been taken away from war and death, while the select few believed that these people are only doing this to gain publicity and access to our country. My opinion of this is that our government needs to help these people from turmoil and the harsh winter which is approaching and is threatening many lives. I do trust the source which this news story has come from as there was and now is major coverage of this crisis and have done much analysis on the effects on these people and Europe in accepting the migrants. This story had a dominant meaning in the effect that many people and governments, and even the news reporters and organisations had been majorly concerned over the migrants health and had since been woken up and had shown sympathy of the migrants over the death of the three year old, which resulted in many governments taking action and has led to thousands of migrants being accepted in to Europe. This is one example of the power of “Big Media” within our society today as it allowed many people to give an honest opinion of the crisis.

Another Major news story which had dominated over the summer holidays were the bombings in major parts of china. These were covered by the major news channels such as Sky news whom covered this story for two days, as many innocent people were injured by the terrorist bombings and caused major damage. This was an example of “Citizen Journalism” as Sky news and the BBC had shown footage of an explosion captured by a holiday maker in China and does add reliability to the story. Even though this was a major story, this did not last long to be an important story, but this was shocking as China has not experienced a big terrorist plot such as this and has worried many. As this story was not analysed by the “Big media” then it lost interest, and that is the power of the media and there owners such as Rupert Murdoch whom is wealthy and invest in the stories reported that will catch the General public’s attention.

The Journalist shootings in America was another story which aroused my interests and I looked in to this story in more depth. The murders were committed by an ex journalist live on air in which 8 shots were reportedly heard and screams. As the camera fell from the cameraman, the killer was filmed holding a handgun while walking. Unfortunately both the Journalist and the cameraman died. The killer was chased by the police but then committed suicide. This was reported on every major television news channel and was in every single tabloid with analysis on why the ex-journalist had killed two innocent people. Many people whom I know on Facebook and Twitter shared this story and got many reactions. The media’s analysis found out that the killer did this on an act of revenge against the TV station because he claimed he was fired because of his sexuality and race. In my opinion as a viewer of the “Big Media”, I believe that this was an excuse to be in “The spotlight” of international media and did work. The video captured by the cameraman was shared on social media and has been on YouTube. The General public had access to this footage and had been viewed by many, which sparked outrage and mourning in the American media. This is different from everyday media as this type of event is rare to hear on the news and this makes the story different from any other story that I have analysed. This did raise debate within my family over the tragic event whom were all horrified over the reasons why committed these murders on innocent people.

The final story in which I observed over the holidays was shared on social media by a friend was that of a bacterium found within the water in Lancashire. This was also covered on the “Big media”, but to be honest this story did not bother me because this did not affect me, and in the end of the story no one had died from this bacteria. I know that if had spread to Derbyshire then this would definitely gain my attention as this now would affect me and my family, as well as friends who I know and many others.

Overall, over the six weeks, these stories have captured me and allowed me to see a different view on the world. In looking at the Theorist Dan Gillmor whom suggests that “The spreading of an item of news…., will occur – much more so than today” Which is very true as now the  citizens whom consume the news now can partake in creating the media and allowing the news corporation’s to advance and analyse the stories.