This whole Fox News thing is like a scene from the 1780’s. How can the White House really openly criticize a legitimate news outlet? In what way is that going to alleviate tension? It’s almost as if the White House is forgetting that it needs the media to push it’s agenda on the public in the first place. At this point it almost seems as if the White House should take a page out of George Steinbrenner’s book and just start their own television network. Then they could cut out the conservative pundits that are always close-mindedly unfairly attacking their policies and directly indoctrinate the public.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really on either team here. I’ve never taken one of those “political compass” quizzes on facebook, but I’m pretty sure I’m more liberal than Fox News and less liberal than Obama. In Provo people think its cool to compare Obama to Hitler and Stalin for some reason so I feel tame in comparing him to Chavez, because really, trying to quit the media is a really naughty thing to do. What would I like to see the administration do? Apologize, and just accept that you can’t please everyone.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Balloon Boy, Defony style
There is a division amongst the members of society. That division is not between black and white or mutant and human, but between those who use twitter and those who do not. This has never been clearer to me than in the aftermath of the events surrounding balloon boy. This is my story
I was actually in my new media class watching live on the internet as the balloon flew over the river and through the woods of Colorado. The MSNBC feed was actually 6 seconds faster than the CNN feed, but I don’t understand all the symbolism inherent in that. I watched as the police officers approached the vessel, War of the Worlds style, only to find no child at all. I then watched as tens of thousands of people tweeted about the incident. Seven of the top ten trending topics were about the story, I followed #saveballoonboy as comments ranged from the wife swap discovery to disgust that we as a country would care about this in a time of war and health care drama.
Then class ended and I went to work. I brought up balloon boy at a down moment during work and nobody knew what I was talking about. Eight hours later I went home and asked my roommate what he knew and he said he didn’t know the story, just the resolution.
The point of my story is to illustrate that twitter isn’t a real thing yet. Twitter is for journalism nerds and people who want to appear trendy. Normal people don’t tweet. My dad will never get home from work, put his feet up and check his twitter account. I’ve tried various times to explain the glory of love and the glory of twitter to my roommates, but they just don’t understand. I think twitter is cool and a transcending idea, that separates the tweets from the tweetnots, but for now twitter just isn’t in the popular stage.
I was actually in my new media class watching live on the internet as the balloon flew over the river and through the woods of Colorado. The MSNBC feed was actually 6 seconds faster than the CNN feed, but I don’t understand all the symbolism inherent in that. I watched as the police officers approached the vessel, War of the Worlds style, only to find no child at all. I then watched as tens of thousands of people tweeted about the incident. Seven of the top ten trending topics were about the story, I followed #saveballoonboy as comments ranged from the wife swap discovery to disgust that we as a country would care about this in a time of war and health care drama.
Then class ended and I went to work. I brought up balloon boy at a down moment during work and nobody knew what I was talking about. Eight hours later I went home and asked my roommate what he knew and he said he didn’t know the story, just the resolution.
The point of my story is to illustrate that twitter isn’t a real thing yet. Twitter is for journalism nerds and people who want to appear trendy. Normal people don’t tweet. My dad will never get home from work, put his feet up and check his twitter account. I’ve tried various times to explain the glory of love and the glory of twitter to my roommates, but they just don’t understand. I think twitter is cool and a transcending idea, that separates the tweets from the tweetnots, but for now twitter just isn’t in the popular stage.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
I get my news from facebook
I get my news from facebook. I wish I didn’t. I wish I watched CNN and checked ksl.com, but I don’t have time. I do have time to see the latest pictures from the last ward activity and to check if that girl in my finance class is single. And it just so happens that in checking the “essential” things in my life I come across news like the unfortunate happenings with American Fork High School Band or the result of the Dodger – Cardinal game.
I don’t really like my facebook news consumption habits. I like the serendipity that can be found in actually pursuing news at news outlets. Many critics believe that most of serendipity is lost as newspaper readership dies. Media consumers can’t just stumble upon news because of the layout of a bi-fold anymore. Still, when looking at a legit news site it’s easier to accidentally find information than it is if I interrupt my facebook time because of a trusted referral to read something.
I feel like facebook limits my news grasp. Anyone anywhere can post anything they want on facebook, so the filters seem to be limited. Yet, so few people do post about news that I’m restrained to the same few voices or an estimated one percent of my friends. Being male and in the 18 to 30 demographic a large portion of my friends are interested in college football, so many times my news consumption is limited to news about Missouri or BYU football. Which is ok by me, its just not going to expand my horizons and make me a more knowledgeable citizen.
I don’t really like my facebook news consumption habits. I like the serendipity that can be found in actually pursuing news at news outlets. Many critics believe that most of serendipity is lost as newspaper readership dies. Media consumers can’t just stumble upon news because of the layout of a bi-fold anymore. Still, when looking at a legit news site it’s easier to accidentally find information than it is if I interrupt my facebook time because of a trusted referral to read something.
I feel like facebook limits my news grasp. Anyone anywhere can post anything they want on facebook, so the filters seem to be limited. Yet, so few people do post about news that I’m restrained to the same few voices or an estimated one percent of my friends. Being male and in the 18 to 30 demographic a large portion of my friends are interested in college football, so many times my news consumption is limited to news about Missouri or BYU football. Which is ok by me, its just not going to expand my horizons and make me a more knowledgeable citizen.
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