Social Media And Its Effect On Our Daily Lives

In today's society there's a new update on how journalism is delivered and written. Through the power of the cyber world new context is being uploaded and videos are being uploaded to video websites such as YouTube. Three authors express their thoughts about this modern-day problem in a traditional way, via textbook. They discuss how social media websites deliver messages that are not very accurate and informative. These messages usually target certain groups to create a community of its own.

Robert J. Samuelson’s factual article, “Picking Sides for the News,” is an essay that describes the different views and opinions on American news by American citizens. Samuelson claims that most Americans see people in the news business as “sloppy, biased, and self-serving.” He states that the news industry is divided by political views; Republican and conservative, and Democratic and liberal. Based on your political standpoint, you may find different news stations more supportive than others. Samuelson shows support to his viewpoint that many news companies “make news rather than just report it.”

News has spread around through different means and has rapidly evolved in just the past few hundred years, from newspapers, to news channels, and now also through online media. The purpose of these news outlets is to inform the population on current events locally and internationally. Many people feel as if the news does a good job in captivating audiences and influencing them, but wonder if they are actually reporting the news accurately. In their article, “Pictures in Our Heads,” Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson thought the same, and made statements stating that the media does effectively influence the population and insinuating that the media does not always portray their coverage accurately; this

Thesis: Dissemination of news through social media allows for rapid distribution and incredible accessibility, but can lead to decreased understanding, stifled discussion, and even the propagation of fake news stories.

During this week I investigated many different news sources and different tactics they use. My research has shown the incredibly strong bias that the media has. To get a full grasp of the biases I had to use source diversity. My sources ranged from social media, to television, to web-based articles. Through my research, I discovered the effective and prevalent uses of loaded language, social media, sensationalism, bias in quotes, and the role of gatekeepers in media.

It is unfortunate that society is forced to live in a world where media bias exists but it is possible to find truth in journalism. Media sources are bias but generally swing either right or left on the political spectrum. Although there are different news sources with political opinions, most news sources are liberal making it harder to find a conservative point of view. Though it can be difficult, this difference in perspective makes it possible for an individual to infer and formulate their own opinion on an issue or current event. Getting a broad picture of an important event is usually impossible if the viewer only looks to one news source to get all the information needed. Looking to multiple news sources is a crucially important tool when seeking the truth in journalism in relatively bias media. In the article “Won’t get fooled again” by John McManus he writes “On broadcast networks, cable and the web, Americans can now construct their own news diets for the first time. Drawing on parallel but polarized universes of news and views…”. McManus is explaining that now more than ever

In today’s society, remaining connected and knowledgeable of current events and the newest trends is vital to staying ahead in business, education, and social standing. This information is supplied to everyone through the internet, newspapers, television, and radio. One can tune into stations such as CNN, NBC, Fox News, Al-Jazeera, and many others (“SQs of Media Outlets”). In order to meet the needs of viewers, readers, and listeners, the ideal media system would contain accurate, quick information, with a purely impartial view on the facts as they are known. However, this modern media system has not maintained an objective view, pushing opinionated and slanted reporting onto the population in order to create profit and gain customers. The exploitation of information media for personal gain has created a toxic and inaccurate present, constant in today’s society.

In the article “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Failing Our Culture.” suggests that the news today is more focused on personal bias and less on actual facts (Keen, 2007). Thus creating news to be distorted and geared towards personal feelings. If a viewer is to only access information on news events

Everybody in the United States has a certain way of getting information about what’s going on in the country. Some of the media giants in this country include CNN, Fox News, NBC, among many others, and nearly all of them have been criticized for being biased and promoting “hidden agendas.” Today, the clear majority of the public get their news very quickly, so people prefer television news or through apps or websites on their phones. Connor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic took note of this in an article he wrote titled “Why Does the American Media Get Big Stories Wrong?” He states that the media has shifted to less informative methods of reporting on stories and that today’s media is ripe with flaws, many of which are easily identifiable. Opposed

Based on one’s beliefs, news can have many different definitions. When determining how news is published, editors take four factors into consideration; Universal News Drivers, Editorial and Audience Judgment, and “Bad” News. When determining which factors apply to articles, one may examine the characteristics of these articles and then make an informed decision about which concepts apply and why. On October 15th I visited the newseum.org website and examined the front pages from three separate newspaper’s. All of the different front pages featured different headlines. The stories from these headlines featured information that I could use to apply the previously mentioned concepts.

In his article, “Learning to Love the (Shallow, Divisive, Unreliable) New Media,” James Fallows admits there are many problems with today’s digitized media coverage, but modern media has the potential to become better than ever before by giving more diverse information with an individualized approach. In previous decades, people generally received their news by fact, with no bias involved. That generation decided choosing what a viewer wanted to see would disrupt their understanding of current events. Humans, by nature, are typically prone to choose a story about the latest, short-term gossip rather than an educational topic. Fallows agrees that this minute-by-minute interpretation of the news diverts viewers from more important news, but he

In “Learning to Love the (Shallow, Divisive, Unreliable) New Media,” James Fallows studies the use of social media, opposed to the archaic news of print and television, as a journalism tool. Over the past two decades, the general public’s intake of news has changed drastically. The headline newspapers severed a major decline in audience, but the Internet held a new location to store a “more market-minded, profit driven journalism.”

Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are web-based activities that provide individuals access to build a public or a semi-public profile within a confined system, connect and find users that they share a connection with as well as view and navigate the list of connections that are made by other participants of the systems (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Social media is widely used by young adults contributing to about 84% of the total usage (Smith, 2011). Some of the popular reasons for widespread use of social media are staying in touch with near and dear ones especially with friends and family, making new friends, following famous politicians and celebrities and also in search of potential relationships (Smith, 2011). However as the use of social media becomes more widespread, we cannot help but express concerns over the effects that social media usage may have on our behavior. Over the past couple of decades, research has strongly linked social media usage with negative behavioral outcomes and is known to affect one’s overall well-being. This essay will begin by discussing some of the behavioral issues that result from social media usage, followed by criticisms of this argument. The recommendation will then highlight some ways by which the behavioural problems could be dealt with, acknowledging that self-monitoring and self-regulation are the main ways to tackle the issue.

The recent surge in popularity of social media comes with a price: fake news. Fake news is defined as news or media that has been altered or modified. Journalists have begun to analyze why that fake news exists and why it continues exist. Two authors, Eoin O’Carroll and Kevin D. Williamson, both have written articles about fake news. Eoin O’Carroll’s article “How Information Overload Helps Spread Fake News,” discusses how the media has bombarded us with news stories, blurring the distinct lines between real and fake news. Kevin D. Williamson, a journalist for the National Review, writes in his article “‘Fake News, Media and Voters: Shared Reality Must Be Acknowledged” that the news is not fake; it just does not align with one’s personal beliefs. Both authors successfully appeal to their audiences’ emotions and feelings, but O’Carroll is more likely to succeed than Williamson in persuading his audience to try and combat fake news because the writer presents himself as someone the intended readers will more readily identify with and offers evidence that his readers will find more compelling.

More recent studies on the effectiveness of gatekeeping by Bruns (2005) argue in the digital age journalism is increasingly influenced from the outside. According to Bruns (2005) “the fourth estate is in danger of being overwhelmed by the ‘fifth estate’, the growing number of PR merchants and spin doctors influencing the news agenda undermining the reality of the gatekeeping process itself”. Furthermore, in this day and age 24 hours news broadcast results in journalists relying on material from the so called fifth estate rather than investing time and money on independent research (Bruns, 2005). The world wide web, however, has enabled consumers to be less dependent and reliant on what actually comes through the gates of the mainstream news organisations; they can go past these and enquire further at the source (Bruns, 2005).