Week 6 Media Forum

TOPIC 1: NEWSPAPERS -- One of this week’s themes is how newspapers, even with their financial struggles, continue to provide a great deal of the local news and investigative reporting that many people view as essential to democracy and society in general.

I used to get most of my news off of Facebook. I think that is rather gross to admit, and sometimes I did fall for some false information. But, I deleted my Facebook account because I realized I did not need one, and it was not for me anymore. I also do not own a T.V, and I have not owned one since I was about 17 years old. I guess I could say that I am not in the loop when it comes to news. When it comes to politics, I connect with my grandma. I trust her, and she has invested a lot of her time into politics. She keeps up with it. I also reach out to C-SPAN. I think that there is no better place to go than this because it is where they pass laws. If anyone wants to know what is going on, it is one of the places to look. I think one can get a sense of who cares for the people, and who does not. They film everything, and then they most it to their website. One could even watch it live. As far as anything us I read, I don't think the stuff I read in the past on Facebook was credible. It was a mistake that I have made. Local news is not very important to me in my daily life because I would not know how to find it. I do listen to OPB new, and I think it is important, but it is not local news. It is another political station. Sometimes there is local news on there, and I think that it is credible. But, I wouldn't know if it is a credible source. I trust in my gut that they are. They seem like they are honest people who are trying to get the news out. I think that journalists are involved in that station. I would like to think that they have integrity, and I am hopeful. 

https://www.c-span.org/

• Many publications, both local and national, now have paywalls/online subscriptions to support their business and reporting operations. Do you subscribe to any online news sources? How much do you pay? Why is it worth it to you? Or discuss why you aren’t willing to pay.

Unfortunately, I do not subscribe to any newspaper. If I were to subscribe, it would be The New York Times. I do not have to pay for it  though because I can go thru the school system to look at their articles. The reason why I would be willing to pay is because I trust them. It is one of the few that I do trust. I am not exactly sure why I trust them, but I just do. It is hard to get me to trust something or a person. This is a big deal for me to admit that I trust The New York Times. It could be a bad thing. If anyone ends up reading this, please tell me what you think. Other reasons why I wouldn't be willing to pay is being a college student. It is hard to get by off of college tuition. There are plenty of other things I need to spend money on before putting my money towards this. If life were to be a whole lot cheaper, i would consider donating money to the newspaper. Finances and trust would be the two reasons that make it hard to pay for the newspaper. 

https://www.nytimes.com/

• On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being “most informed”), how confident are you that you are well informed about current events (e.g. pending legislation, actions by your elected representatives, general community information, new movies, sports) and what’s going on in your community and society? How important is it to you to be well informed? Cite some examples.

1 meaning that I am not informed at all. I have lots of other things going on in my life before I can focus on bigger things. I know that I should be at least a 3, but I just have a lot of personal things going on. I would say that I am at a 4 when I want to be. I say a 4 because I could always be more informed. During these times I keep up with a lot. I check in with my grandma to back up what I am finding out. These are also the stressful times to. I get so heated the more that I dig into everything. I cannot cite examples because I absolutely do not have any right now. I am not keeping up with anything. This class is the closest connection that I have with any media. 

TOPIC 2: FAKE NEWS -- President Trump has made “fake news” a daily topic for discussion. But the president’s definition is different from the textbook definition, which used to refer almost exclusively to satirical TV shows such as “The Daily Show” and publications such as The Onion.

When it comes to the "Russia election meddling", this is one of those things where I have lost trust in our country/government. They have showed us that money has more value than a life. I don't believe that Russia messed with the elections.The question is what do I think when Trump labels things like "Russia election meddling?" I quickly think of lies. I think that it's something to distract people from what happened during the election. No one talks about how the DNC bought out Hillary, so that Bernie Sanders couldn't be president. It was a hot topic that angered a lot of people. I hear nothing about that anymore. If Russia did do anything, why do we not have a re-election? For me, it just doesn't make sense. I don't see what purpose that would do for Russia. This is also a story that I hear over and over again from everyone. It would at least call for a re-election. Below I have listed several reasons why I don't believe anyone. The truth is Americans have a hard time believing their own government. They have hurt many people, and they have lied to them. The video Collateral Murder is a good example of why no one would trust the government. I wish that I could trust the government, but I just cannot. My grandma and I were just talking about this the other day. She asked me if I believe that a person has the ability to love more than one person. After that she asked me if I believed our government had the ability to care for more than one person. She has a point, but I just can't trust them. 

There are two people I trust involved with the government. Those people are Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/us/politics/clinton-dnc-russia-dossier.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/2/16599036/donna-brazile-hillary-clinton-sanders

https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/04/politics/bernie-sanders-2016-election-donna-brazile/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/politics/donna-brazile-dnc-book/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2017/11/03/561976645/clinton-campaign-had-additional-signed-agreement-with-dnc-in-2015

I have always been a person who thought "Live and Let Live." But, I have one rule to that. A person should be free to do that as long as they are not hurting anyone or anything purposely. I believe that Trump has hurt many people by the things that he has said. It shows who he is a person. I am often noticing that many people look passed his harmful words. I know that he has talked about getting rid of the "fake news." Not everything is fake news even though earlier I stated that I do not trust people. If Trump wipes out journalism, he wipes out the potential truth. I think that harms people even more. I believe that people have the right to know whats going on. I would like to know what is going on. He also runs his mouth. If other people can't do it, why should he be able to do it? Just because he is the president? He should lead by example, and I don't believe this is the example that one should lead by. Again, who am I to say what another person should be doing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/04/trump-tells-it-like-it-is-thats-not-necessarily-a-good-thing-for-democracy/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0c3f769bb82e

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/07/26/trump_tells_it_like_it_is_127536.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/01/us/politics/trump-sessions-russia-investigation.html