News Media
What if the news media found something in the hero pilot’s background?
Chesley Sullenberger, the pilot of the crashed plane in the Hudson River, has been hailed non-stop for his heroic actions. It’s good to finally see hero stories in the news media – seems they’ve been lacking for years – not that there haven’t been numerous ones especially in our military.
Did the news media do an intensive investigation into his background before they decided to tell his heroic story – because they would surely be embarassed if it turned out he was another Joe the Plumber.
Smoky – I’m not diminishing his accomplishments – read for comprehension ! I’m highlighting the hypocrisy of the news media – if they found out he was a big Bush supporter, they wouldn’t be making such a big deal of him, even though he would still be a hero. Much like all the US military hero stories that are ONLY seen on Fox News !
To me, it does not matter what they may find. We all have something we wouldn’t want the world to know about ourselves; but that doesn’t take away the fact this was a true Miracle to land a plane on water with no deaths. Both of the pilots and the crew and the rescue workers and even some of the passengers all should feel at peace for their parts in this miracle no matter what mistakes or bad things they may have done before this.
News Media
Tweeting News
Every minute brings an amazing moment being unfolded somewhere around the globe. With the advent of the new media, we can be part of such moments, supporting them during what could be one of the most pivotal points in the recent history, sitting anywhere in the world. Serving as a catalyst for the evolution of news judgment, Twitter is taking over the traditional media and journalism in a big way today.
What started as an in-house web application in an organization called Odeo, has spread across the world in a matter of three years, experiencing months and months of exponential growth. Within a short span of time, Twitter has become much more than a platform, where one signs up to stay in touch with his friends. It grew as a source of information, opinions and views about anything and everything one can possibly think of. The question has changed from “what are you doing” to “what’s happening”. Twitter, in other words, is continuously becoming a speedy news site, where anyone can be the reporter, with breaking news clubbed into the character limit of 140.
Statistics reveal that in a sample of a million accounts on Twitter, about 85 percent regularly post news related tweets. Another research also concluded that any piece of news was posted on Twitter first, before even CNN, which is one of the world’s most well known news channel, broke the news. Since, unlike other social networking websites, Twitter does not need another users permission to follow him, any kind of information spreads like wildfire.
So much is the influence of the social media in the life of many that renowned journalists from all over the world also feel that Twitter is solely responsible in making them a better journalist. They believe that Twitter makes its users more “media-literate” and hence increases the responsibilities that the journalists have, to give the users authentic information. Many media channels have also chosen to adapt and implement what the new technology has to offer. Twitter accounts of news channels including BBC and CNN have given rise to a whole new platform for them. The channels use the social media to post the various news feeds, along with broadcasting on the television.
Though some traditional media have accepted the new way of getting to the masses, some are still reluctant. Hard core paper journalists, even today feel that the role of the social media is to only to pass information to the masses in a very informal way, and its only up to the traditional news media to act responsibly and provide the viewers with the authenticity of the information, with its slightest of details. They feel that the baton has still not been passed to the social media, and Twitter still has a long way to go to be at par with the existing news mediums.
The question of whether Twitter is a social-networking service or a media outlet, albeit a new form of media, is a pertinent one, which will be answered in due course of time.
About the Author
Ricky P is a well known name in the arena of social media optimization and online reputation management. He has been a regular article contributor to various international online media forums. His articles and opinions have been widely accepted as the point of reference for respective subject matter.
why does the news media practice censorship?
In the news are stories about the US giving factual news to world wide news media. The American news media declares this to be very wrong. Why? The articles are factual but biased toward the US. The articles these same reporters submit are likewise “usually factual” but biased toward thier own views, but they are not wrong. Why? Is it because the American news media practices censorship, or are they simply pushing thier own agendas.
The American news media is more a form of entertainment than anything else. You may love ‘em or hate ‘em, but they’ll admit that not everything they report is 100% objective.
The media does not really practice censorship, because they are the ones reporting the news. However, they do choose what to report. So, if a right-wing media company doesn’t want liberal ideas being spread, they might not report interviews or news that support the liberal view. The reverse is true as well.
There’s a widely held belief that the American media is “liberal”, and there is some evidence to support this. However, certain news or radio stations are actually quite conservative. The point is, you can’t strictly depend on the American media to provide ALL of your news.
For opinion and editorial, the media can be great sometimes. For news, just think about what they’re reporting and look into it further to get all sides. Read news from multiple sources (Google has a great way to do this with their personalized home page).
Conclusion: Media companies are profit-making businesses that pursue what’s best for their shareholders and (arguably) their customers, which is sensational enternainment-journalism. It might be biased, but overall it still reports the basic news.
How the US news media fails us
