Back in the day, there were only trusted sources where we could go to get our information. Newspapers, magazines and national/local news were where we went to find out what was happening in our world. And with these trusted sources came those professionals who told us what we thought we needed and wanted to know.
Now, in the age of blogs, You Tube, gossip sites, and social media networks, we can learn about important news before it's even a blip on our TV's. And I think that's great...to a point. One of the issues I have is people posting things that they think are true, but they don't check the facts before putting in on the Internet. That may not matter to most, but I still feel that facts are very important. Not only does it help with credibility, it can also increase readership/followship (I know that's not a real word, but you understand what I'm saying.) I guess that's why I still get the majority of my news from BBC World News, national news broadcasts, and yes, the local news.
There's nothing wrong with getting your news from the Internet, but you shouldn't make that your end all to be all.
True! We should welcome the new internet platforms of news coverage - to a point, as you stated. What if TMZ had accidentally been wrong on Michael Jackson death back in June 2009? Well, that might not have done the reputation damage it would have done to a high-credibility source such as the New York Times. But poeple took it for real, with respect to the LA Times news updates that day. From "Dead" to "Reportedly Injured" to "In Hopital". To a certain degree, the mass amateurization (everybody can be a paparazzo) erodes the time-tested credibility of old media. Sometimes for good (bypassing the gatekeepers to increase news outlet), sometimes for bad (spreading hoaxes)...
ReplyDeleteJulian Ebert
The web is a great way to get news, but let's be honest, anyone can post anything. I can make a post saying Dr. X accidentally killed celebrity X and a whole media storm would explode untill its disproven.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally. The internet has become a crutch in a way. We depend on so much of our information from the internet without knowing if the facts are 100% true. It's important to use the most reliable and credible sources and not just believe any and everything that's out there.
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