Interesting Relationships and Terrible Drawings

When you start to think about all the differences and similarities among The New York Times and blogs, you find that The New York Times tries to expand upon the news of a second ago. However, blogs such as Big Government and The Daily Dish are always trying to update the news with a bias. The writers of these blogs are always rewording the news in order that their readers can relate to what they are reading. People like to know the facts of the second when they go to the Ney York Times.

After you have sufficiently read the news, you will undoubtedly be drawn to certain articles. Maybe, you even care enough to do more research on your own. Thus you would turn to a blog. Say you are following the political implications surrounding ACORN. Would you not wish to read from the site in which ACORN is a constant topic? Of course you would; it would be understandable that you would go to Big Government.

But how do all of these things relate to the “press sphere?” Well, when you start to realize that you are drawn to certain issues, certain articles of the day, then you begin to see that you are the controller of the “press sphere.” Whereas, in the past, the ecology of news in relation to you was more readily viewed as a funnel in which you get everything poured through the funnel for you,

now, you can decide what comes out of the funnel because you are engineering what is going into it. Have fun with that.

Sullivan The Builder

While Jeff Jarvis blabbers on about the facts of how news has changed, we are not given any type of opinion explaining whether Jarvis believes that this has helped us or not. No, rather we are just threatened by oversimplified charts that show that the world has changed from the old way of news gathering (directly from the press to us), and has evolved into a system of overlaps enclosing the “me-sphere” as Jarvis calls it.

But, did we not already know this? Of course. We have been reading similar issues for the past few months. So, I get to Sullivan. In what Jarvis lacked in sophistication, Sullivan made up for in opinion. Jarvis tries not to take any role in whether he agrees or disagrees with what has happened. Sullivan, on the other hand shows his views from the start. As I have said in class, I believe it would have been easier to write about Jarvis’s blog if he would have expressed some opinion.

So, what is Sullivan’s opinion, and why does it matter? Well, as we all know Sullivan thinks that the shift from the old ways of reporting, and news gathering to the new are a good thing. He even defends his view with: “To the charges of inaccuracy and unprofessionalism, bloggers could point to the fierce, immediate scrutiny of their readers” (Why I Blog). For those who would say that this shift toward the more internet based news makes the news that Americans see, unedited and unkempt, Sullivan would disagree. He says that the more internet based we have become, has helped the ways in which we can view the kinds of news we want. Therefore, is it not enough to say that, though Jarvis told of the change, Sullivan enlightened the community of what exactly was inferred?

Press v. News

At first I thought, “But, are not the press and news the same? Are they mutually exclusive?” At the beginning of Jeff Jarvis’s “The Press Becomes the Press Sphere,” I was wondering at what he would define press, and if that would be different from news. I would have to think that they are vastly similar, if not the same. However, through his writing, I see what he is trying to say…I think.

Jarvis is attempting to say that though what we used to think of as the press relationship in news is still there, we have opened into another world where news is now influenced upon us through the uses of our peers. Now, we read what we believe to be news, but what, in all actuality, may not be related to the press at all. Our friend says to read something on some website, claiming it is news. We read it because we trust our friend, but what we read has no interrelationship with the press at all.

So, why is this bad? Well, if the press is not related to a specific “news” website, then such a website was not edited. But, what does that matter, you ask? Well, if a publication is not edited by a professional, there is no way of knowing if what you are reading is just some rogue opinion. You do not know if you should trust what you read. So, as Jeff Jarvis says, “if the news is important, it will find me.”

The News is no Better than the Tabloids

Is it the New York Times, or should it be called the new world stories? The New York Times has undoubtedly become a mainstay for the social intake of news in the world today, especially in the U.S. It is very easy to see that The NY Times has influenced many Americans in how they view the news.

Take this class for example. We are given to read The NY Times every day. Why? To make us more socially and politically active? Maybe. However, I cannot see where reading a news story about how a little boy supposedly was trapped in a flying saucer shaped balloon that could not have carried him in the first place has anything to do with the good of the people.

So, then, we ask ourselves why exactly we are being given such an unimportant subject to read. There is a simple solution. We are given such things to read because those are the kinds of things that we like to read. The newspaper would not make any money if it did not have advertising. Advertisers look for a popular news site that offers its viewers what they like to see. So, therefore we see the unimportant because we like to see the unimportant.

As I have said in past posts, newspapers are very similar to tabloids, in that you read the tabloids for a certain subject: gossip. Now, we have begun to read our newspapers with the same idea in mind. We want to read that which is entertaining.

So, how do I think I have changed? Well, I still view the newspaper as a factual subsidy for news, but now I also see it as another entertainment website, made for the pleasure of its viewers.

Wait, You Don't Really Care, Do You?

Discourse, from the Latin discursus, is defined by Wikipedia as the written or spoken communication or debate. How then can we relate that to a discourse community. Simple: a discourse community is a group of people who discuss and debate on certain issues. In our class we have been focusing solely upon debate through news. But how can we be sure that the debates and communications are truthful? How can we trust the author who writes for our behalf, so that we may know the news of today?

One way is to take into consideration the amount of popularity the blog/news site has. Most of the time, but not all, the website’s popularity may be a good indication of how much viewers trust what they are reading. Of course, there are instances in which viewers are seeking out the bizarre and potentially untrue, like for instance in the tabloids. But, I believe it is safe to say that a viewer would not be inclined to trust a site if its main heading was that aliens landed on the planet or of what color underwear your favorite celebrity was wearing. Usually we would uphold the idea that celebrity news and world news are mutually exclusive.

So, what do we care? Well, we wonder at how accurate our news coverage is, and we wish it to be strictly facts. We even seek out the author’s background: prior work, knowledge about the field of study, and the like. However, we seek out the controversial headlines. Each of us is drawn towards the upsetting. An example is an article in Big Government entitled, “Rush or Reverend Al?...Will the Real Racist Please Stand Up?” I was drawn toward reading this article. Why? Because the title hinted at a very controversial subject, controversial and thereby entertaining.

Thus, I wonder if it really does matter that a news source be truthful. Would we care if the author of a tabloid had gone to prison for four years, or would that just add to the effect? Yet, we couldn’t stand the idea that a reporter for a strictly news source had even thought about putting his beliefs into a news story. Why?

Blogs I Shall Read

Well, I guess I have decided on Andrew Sullivan's blog and Big Government. I found that both of these suit my conservative views, while still giving me the news. I hope that each will help me to become better informed.

Jaded News

Desperately I yearned to hear that I was not alone. Could it be true that others, too, don’t watch the news as much as I? Haven’t we all heard that only the uncultured do not watch the news? Frankly, I do not in the least believe that garbage. How can we say we are cultured just because we read/watch the news? We cannot.

No, actually, I feel like the news has become almost an inconvenience to us. After reading some of the blogs in the class, it has registered in my mind that each of us receives news, but also that we each have a unique way to attain the news, apart from everyone else. Some people are quick to go to their favorite website. Some hear about the news when it is not new, but rather from word of mouth. Some read the newspaper. And some watch the news on their TV. However, no matter how much we try to get the news just as it is happening, we can never fully see it happening. Actually, no matter where we get our news, that news has been broadcasted and therefore has the potentiality to be jaded. If you read your article from the internet, someone with a brain and opinions wrote it. If you watch the news on TV someone has told you about the news through their point of view.

Am I saying that it is all a conspiracy, and that the FCC is controlling our minds to see what they want us to see? No. But, what I am saying is that we all are in a desperate search for the true news, but, in reality, we may never find it.

Who News?

Mostly, it would be safe to say, I don’t know what is going on. Usually, I do not bother myself with the “news” of the world. What is the world, but a rotating globe of depressing news? Well, perhaps it’s not that bad. After all, we all need to know what is going on in the world today. However, I have known people to seek out the news of today. That aspect of being informed has never really seemed important to me. If I wanted to be informed, I would just ask my Mom. She always has the kind of news I want to hear. Well, did you hear about so-and-so? He went to the hospital for this particular thing.

Now, I am not saying that I agree with gossip. Gossip is such an ugly word. I prefer to think about it as news. After all, how did news start in history? With the passing of thoughts and with the passing of stories. Now, we see news as being very factual, or, rather, we hope that our news be completely factual. However, my primitive means of news are very important to me. Without local news, how can we coexist with the people around us? Not to mention the fact that I know the local people. I hope, since now I am away at college, to still hear and know how each of my friends is doing.

Thus, I wonder as to how people can say that I cannot function in society, because I do not know the world’s news. I don’t need to know what is going on in the world, but I do need to know what is going on in my world. Thus, I do not have a definitive answer to the question of where I get my news, if you are considerring the world's news, but I get the important news of today from my mom.

The Literacy Revolution - Edited

Here is my 105 paper, revised and edited.