Approaching the Mediasphere

When we listened to our classmates present after my group in class I was most interested in what was said about the media sphere.  This group talked a lot about how we get our news which is something that I never really think about.  We live in a time when we can flip on our phone or the TV and see the biggest, smallest, or local news headlines.  There are now so many different sources for news and ways in which sources receive their information and it is now more important to know where information comes from, because anyone out there can say whatever they want and put it on the internet, and it is pretty scary.

There are different types of medias or platforms in which we receive our news.  I learned the the news that we most likely view such as newspapers, internet newspapers, magazines, and radio and television stations like CNN and Fox.  These are accredited sources and their information can normally be trusted.  It is especially important to be careful in todays times because these sources are being criticized for situations pertaining to this years election for example as shown in this, Washington Times Article, where it says 9/10 republicans have lost trust in mainstream media, although that trust can be restored.

Citizen Journalism including social media, also are looked to as news sources which is more dangerous.  Anyone could say anything online which is whats scary.  And when people have an idea and then they hear other people with the same idea, they can begin to think that they are right.  Alternative media such as news sites, video, street art, print, and audio are another big news source.  These are sources that may pick up on new technology info or may even be considered blogs.  

It is important that we know how we can distinguish our media sources.

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Smith-Mundt Act?

Propaganda has played a large role in war and the development of this country.  When the US passed the Smith-Mundt Act, they made it legal to give agencies the ability to lie about other countries.  This has had major implications on our country since its inception.  It was conceived as way for us to use propaganda in other countries as weapon to change what people think.

It becomes an even bigger problem in 2012 when the bill is changed so that the United Stated can now use propaganda and lie to its own citizens.  Essentially the government gained more power while the people lost a big piece of our first amendment rights and steps on our checks and balances system.  An example of this could be if something goes bad oversees and some civilians are killed.  Our military could lie or withhold the information, with no opposition.





https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659808426214

Online Presence

Everyone has an online footprint, and some people don't realize just how big it can be.  When looking at someones online presence people usually think about their accounts and what they post, but there are more things to consider.

Today, I currently have a Facebook, Instagram, and snapchat.  Personally, that is a lot of social media, but I know that there are people out there with way more, and are way more interactive than me.  I am the youngest child of 4 kids in my family, would definitely that I was the last of my siblings to be exposed to social media, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I didn't have a presence.  Even now, I find that most of the information on me (photos at least) comes from other sources close to me, whether it be my siblings, parents, aunt/uncle, or a friend.  There is this great article about this young girl who was 13 when she started using social media only to find that her family were already posting photos and such on the internet (I'm 14, and I Quit Social Media). Sometimes even school organizations or camps can post pictures student/campers online.

What other people are posting about you could give mixed feelings to different personalities, but the extent to which the information is out to the public is dependent on privacy settings.  Technically there is no way to make it so that people do not have the authority to post a picture of you online, besides if the one posting the photo has their privacy settings on.  Most of the time if a school organization or camp has a social media account, it would be private as to not give away personal information.

Another thing to look out for with social media is the amount of information that is being given to the specific website or company.  When making a new account with social media platforms it will ask for all sorts of information, such as age, birthplace, interests, email, they even ask if you want to give them your phone number now.  This information could be sold to for advertising, using information like age to find out what kind of stuff should be advertised to you.  If this sounds scary, just remember that you agreed to it.

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Google's Innovation

Technology has seen some of its most advanced and implemented advancements in recent history since possibly the development of some of the first tools.  The ways in which we use technology has drastically changed as well, for example we use communication outlets such as texting, email or social media websites such as Twitter or Facebook.  One of the biggest advancements made in the recent tech advancement timeline would have to be one department of technology in particular that could be associate with one company's name...  Google.

It is scary to think that there was a time when we couldn't just type in a question we had on our minds and instantly receive an answer, but such a time did exist and not too long ago.  The modern search engine market revolutionized how we can search for information, and Google pretty much dominates its entirety, and when I think of getting information online, it's the first place I'll go.

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Promote Innovation

The Eight Values of Free Expression in this country hold a very important place in our daily life and development.  Of all of our free expression values I have come to the conclusion that our stance to promote innovation is above all else the most detrimental not only to the development of the country, but potentially the world as well.
Innovation promotes a distinct and interesting community in which peoples ideas are filled with diversity.

China is a good example of how the difference in freedom of speech and expression are way more limited than the US.  In retrospect it may seem like they are incredibly innovative, but in all honesty they really are mostly making stuff.  In China it is harder to work on innovating as they have censorships in place making it more difficult for people to express themselves freely, which has a negative effect on everyone.

With our freedoms, we are basically able to make whatever we want making it way easier to develop new technologies that influence our everyday lives such as phones, computers, but also things such as guns and weapons.  This also has to do with why we are so advanced high up in the world when it comes to warfare and our military efforts.

Arguably though, the most important ideas to spawn from this freedom are the innovations to everyday life that make day to day living better and easier.  We wouldn't have such social media networks as Facebook or YouTube, news wouldn't travel as fast, and we may not be so interconnected with each other an information

My Favorite New Sources

Facebook

I use Facebook a lot.  When people think of Facebook they are probably thinking about using it to connect, or reconnect with people.  The main thing I love to use facebook for is news.  Being that its a constant stream of media and communication, there is constantly new information I am finding first hand off Facebook.  A lot of the news I find on facebook is usually links from other news sources just sharing their links through the social media platform which.  Although this technically makes it so that the new isn't coming directly from facebook but having a network where news is constantly passing between and getting their honest reactions is very innovative.
https://www.facebook.com

News 12

News 12 Long Island is my local news for optimum users in my area.  They're main priority is to get useful information to the people of the surrounding communities.  I like this news source because for one it is my go to news station.  The picture is high quality and the production as a whole is pretty high quality.  The station is also pretty quick about getting current local events out there.  They also have all sorts of different ways in which their media can be accessed, like television, a website, and an app.
http://longisland.news12.com

Variety

I love movies and my favorite website for getting information about what is going on in the industry is Variety.  They have other subjects they look into such as real estate and video games and such but they really have a strong focus on popular media, which is something I enjoy.  They often times have exclusive articles.
https://variety.com

Entertainment Weekly

For many of the same reasons I enjoy variety I enjoy EW as well.  Entertainment Weekly has a more well known name I feel like, and they are a very popular magazine.  The main reason I think EW is special is that often times they will give special looks at upcoming movies, or even first looks as well.  This is great as it's entertaining and it can make people feel that they are getting something they cannot get else where.
https://ew.com

ESPN

I'm sure that almost everyone has heard of ESPN.  This is the website to go everything and anything sports.  They cover every sport and most divisions that people pay attention to.  Going to the site is a breeze as they make it easy to navigate which sport you're looking for and being able to search or having the big breaking news right on the main page, and even show the scores of games.  They even have a great, well functioning app.
http://www.espn.com