Waiting For Change

Now if we had the power 

To bring our neighbors home from war

They would have never missed a Christmas

No more ribbons on their door

And when you trust your television

What you get is what you got

Cause when they own the information, oh

They can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting

Waiting for the world to change

I was listening to the radio the other day and this popular John Mayer song came on and as I mindlessly sung along I finally thought about what he is really saying.  It made me think about how many people sing along and subliminally take in his message without really understanding what they are hearing behind the catchy tune.  Throughout this course we discussed the trust factor multiple times and how the number of people who trust what they see on the news is going down.  

I think that this stanza fits our class particularly well because it is our generation that is going to make the change he is talking about.  I don't know if I necessarily agree that all the information we see on TV is "bent" simply because they own it and they can do whatever they want with it but I certainly think that with the increase in online journalism and the exponential growth of online news sources it will become more and more difficult for the information that is given to be bent at all.  

This was interesting to think about how this change in media is affecting all the different industries and how people are choosing to speak out about it.  

video

the link didnt work for the YOUTUBE clip so here it is the old school way:
link

future

I appreciated the overview of various perspectives on the future of journalism. I found it especially interesting when the VP of google mentioned that the "atom" or basic unit of media has changed with the internet from albums to individual songs and from entire newspapers to articles. 

It was also interesting how those who worked for newspapers had a more negative view of journalisms future stating that citizens journalists where as credible as a friendly neighbor is in the field of social work. While the google lady seemed to see the change in journalism as a place of growth. 

All in all, however, it is all speculation. With so many kinks in the developing system as well as the constant necessity for profit, no one has a clear notion as to where the future is going. I found a video similar to the one you showed us that made alternate assumptions about the future. I think it is funny how boldly we as a society tend to make assumptions instead of accepting uncertainty. Many of the people that make assumptions about the future are not the one's actively participating in its evolution and i think this is frustrating. 

By far the most absurd solution to the financial crisis of the news industry is charging for online papers. As a young, broke college student, I would not pay to read online versions of the Denver Post or even the NY times, i would find my news elsewhere. 

Mainstream media poaching the Web

This is a fantastic Salon piece on how establishment media outlets poach stories from the Web. And with proof!

Reading For Monday

     I found the reading to be especially interesting because my paper is very much focused around what the future of news could hold, and how people today feel about media mostly being online. One link that I especially enjoyed from Jay Rosen's blog was Paul Starr's piece, "Goodbye To the Age of Newspapers( Hello To the Age of Corruption). It was very compelling.

Starr is not happy with the idea of losing newspapers. One reason he feels that way is because he thinks that one danger of reduced media news coverage is "to the integrity of the government."He writes that it is known that corruption is more likely to happen when people in power have less reason to be afraid of being exposed. 

    Starr also brings up the point that newspapers are laying off reporters that have exposed major scandals, so if good reporters are being fired, then there is less of a chance that scandals could be revealed. Eric Alterman, a liberal American journalist, as well as an author, media critic, and blogger, discussed what he thought of print journalism on a quick 5 minute video. He discusses it with Brian Guber. 

      Altmann believes that newspapers are moving online and there is not much that can be done about it. He does feel that their are going to be, and are, negative consequences to journalism and media going online. Alternman brings up the point that people are much easier to manipulate if they have bad information, and like most people already/should know, there is a lot of bad and false information that circulates online.

    Starr also brings up the interesting point that news coverage isn't the only thing that newspapers have given us, "They have lent the public a powerful means of leverage over the state, and this leverage is now at risk" (Starr). I know that I have never thought about how much newspapers have done for our society but Starr definitely made many arguments about how many positive things newspapers do for us and the balance of our society.

Overall it was a very interesting article. On the other end of the spectrum was an article by Steven Berlin Johnson titled, "Old Growth Media and the Future of News." Johnson related how much easier it is to be updated on magazines and the like than it was in 1987. The Internet has definitely made the movement of information faster and easier, but it is sad to think that newspapers could completely disappear. Jay Rosen connected many interesting articles to his post. All of the perspectives on the future, and current situation of journalism, were very interesting, and helpful, for me to read about.

Reading for Monday

Be sure to read the articles that are linked to.

Rosen's roundup of the future of journalism

My essay

Today's Discussion

So I still feel that I should clarify what I meant today when I said that I didn't think that every person was capable of being media literate. I do believe, cynical and horrible as it is, that some people literally can't differentiate and sort through information that they trust and agree with and information that they don't. This is separate from another issue which is that people don't really have the take, take the time, care to take the time, whatever, to become media literate.

Regardless of the general intelligence of a person, everyone can become aware of the world around them if they choose to. And I think (or at least hope) that this is something that people will choose to do more and more because of the networked journalism phenomena that is opening up media to such a great extent. Like Adrienne was talking about, people need to be able to relate to their news--either through content or form. I do believe--as cynical as I am about the intelligence of the general population apparently--that this is something that networked journalism can improve. Is improving. And will continue to improve.

This video is an excellent example of those people finding media literacy outside what is stereotyped as their comfort zones. It is also a good example of the fact that old people are adorable. :)