It's Our World, It's Our Media...

It's true that the news is swayed by news reporters, producers, and editors. Despite how much those who report the news try to approach their reports with an unbiased attitude, the news always will be slightly influenced by their values or interests. It's unrealistic to think that the news will ever be completely unbiased.

The whole concept of citizen journalism seems to be a way to address this problem in news reporting. This movement allows the readers, everyday citizens, to interact with or become a part of the news reporting process. Citizen journalism bridges the gap between the news reporters and the viewers, readers, listeners, etc. And perhaps this is a good thing...or maybe it's a little bit dangerous...

I used to think that citizen journalism was just a little bit too risky for the news business. For example, companies constantly would need to check if someone posted anything objectionable or obscene online.

However, after reviewing the OurMedia Web Site, a Web site that relies on content from everyday citizens, I was relieved to find a sense of balance between freedom and security in the site's approach. OurMedia uses the slogan: channels of creativity. The Web site allows registered users, everyday people, to display their own work: video, music, photos, audio clips, and other personal media. This gives these users a way to promote their personal media to the public for free.

CyberJournalist has started to create a list of citizen journalism sites in order to try and keep up with this growing phenomenon. OurMedia was included on this list. CyberJournalist's description of OurMedia gave me a better idea of what the company was trying to accomplish...

OurMedia's goal is to expose, advance and preserve digital creativity at the grassroots level. The site serves as a central gathering spot where professionals and amateurs come together to share works, offer tips and tutorials, and interact in a combination community space and virtual library that will preserve these works for future generations.

The Web site's layout and content demonstrates these goals. On a side bar, anyone can sign up to become a member of this site. Only members can upload their work; however, everyone can view the video, audio, and photos. On the top of the page, people can choose whether to look at a specific channel, check out the producers (aka everyday people who post media to the site), and visit a variety of blogs. In the middle of the page, people can listen to any of the music streaming on the OurMedia site or hear any of the featured podcasts. The bottom of the page includes a section called Community Talk that allows users the opportunity to publicize a certain event or issue they think is important to share with the general public. In addition, the page displays on the side bar those users who are currently online along with how many guests are visiting the Web site. I was surprised that the people visiting the site were from all over the globe.

I think OurMedia has the right idea when it comes to designing a citizen journalism Web site. Not only does the site go beyond just publishing print, it encourages sharing all kinds of media with the world's community. Plus, OurMedia is attempting to monitor the content of the media published on the site by making sure everyone has to register as a member before they can upload anything. This provides OurMedia with a safety net to fall back on in order to protect the company if someone posts anything inappropriate or controversial.

I think it's important for everyday people to interact more with the media today, and OurMedia is giving the public this opportunity while using a safe approach.

Reality TV Doesn't Really Reflect Reality...

No matter how much I like to watch reality TV shows, my Mass Comm class has really made me realize that if you look closely at these shows, they don't really reflect real life.

Throughout the semester, we are reading Media Literacy by W. James Potter. In Chapter 5, the author makes the point that we live in two worlds: the real world and the media world. However, sometimes the lines become blurred between the two. As we become overwhelmed by a mixture of media messages, I think many people can confuse the two worlds as being the same. I think the quote below from the new season of the reality show Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites demonstrates one combining the real world with the media world.

During one of the early segments of the show, Alexis, a motivational speaker, on the Fan team said:

I think the fans versus favorites setup is the ultimate challenge because we have the favorites who have obviously played the game before, coming in here with experience. But at the same time you have us (the fans) and we know their game. We know not only their strengths but weaknesses too. So I think that puts us at a huge advantage.

Alexis is trying to inspire her team by giving them a glimpse of hope. She seems to believe that she knows the "favorite" players' strengths and weaknesses because she's a die-hard Survivor fan, who has seen all the episodes. Here is the problem...she doesn't really know these players like she thinks she does. She's never lived with them in the real world; she's only knows them through the media world. By watching Survivor, Alexis may have learned a lot about these characters, but the shows aren't accurate depictions of what really happened while the shows were being filmed.

Through the process of post-production, the show's producers are able to develop Survivor into what they think will attract the most audience members, into what is most exciting to watch. For all the hours upon hours of footage that is shot, only a small percentage is used in the actual show and shown to the public. Viewers do not get to see what really goes on "behind the scenes." In that sense, I don't think audience members can say they really know any of the "favorite" players well enough to understand their strengths and weaknesses.

The media would have us believe that we do know these past Survivor players. In today's world, television has become our "magic window" to the real world, or so we think. However, I think as long as we just rely on television as a source of entertainment and realize the real motives behind the show, we all will be fine. Unfortunately, you can't trust what's on television to depict reality...

Max Headroom...Is This How We See Media Today?

The show Max Headroom seems funny to us today…the clothes, the props, and the technology have an outdated look when compared with society’s current style. Despite its odd outer appearance, this short-lived science fiction show, which aired in the 1980s, still has relevance to today’s problems that we face when we encounter the media.

On January 30, my Mass Communications class watched one of the episodes, War. The episode shows a concerned Network 23 board, trying to figure out what to do to increase ratings during a sweeps period. The network is in competition with BreakThru TV, which boosts up its ratings by showing exclusive news coverage of a terrorist explosion. Meanwhile, Network 23’s ratings continue to fall as it shows dancing poodles during this critical time for the station.

Then the plot thickens as enterprising journalist Edison Carter, who works for Network 23, tries to uncover the truth behind the “news story.” He watches as BreakThru TV continues to push their exclusive coverage of this story, and asks himself, “Since when has news been entertainment?” The question describes one of the major issues dealt with in the show concerning media messages. This statement suggests that sometimes news station will start to blur the lines between different types of media messages, in this case, that of news and entertainment.

As the story enfolds, Carter eventually realizes that the whole story is a scam, a deal between an individual reporter and the terrorist group, plus that a Network 23 anchorwoman was already onto the story. However, Network 23 doesn’t know all this, so the board agrees to buy BreakThru TV’s coverage of the story in effort to increase ratings. A board adviser says it best, “Morals are one thing, but ratings are everything.”

Although everything is resolved in the end and the truth is revealed, what does the quote suggest about the media? The quote seems to question the motives of television executives when putting shows on the air. In order to become more media literate, it is up to us to see past the story and to see why the programmers do what they do, which is often times to get higher ratings and in turn make more money. Despite this show being aired in the 1980s, the portrayal of the media in the show is still relevant for today...we can't always trust the media.