M4A4 Reflection Blog

 This week's topic of Journalism and the impact of Social Media was fascinating. I have often, though, "rolled" my eyes at a lot of the reported daily news. When I hear a story or snippet, the first thing I find myself doing is checking to see who is reporting. Is it something from X, Instagram, Facebook, other social media platforms, or a news channel like MSNBC, CNN, or FOX? My thoughts are the same in all instances, including those coming from actual news stations. This is a known politically affiliated station; for example, Fox tends to be more conservative, and CNN is more liberal. Is it being reported with that kind of political skew? Is this just someone's perception of what happened or actual facts? Are there reliable sources I can research or verify?

It is truly a shame that things have become so politicized that I have to watch the same story from several news outlets or go to one with no political investment, like the BBC, to try and get a complete understanding of what has occurred without so much bias. I do not want the news or social media telling me "how I should feel about something." I would really just like to know the "something" and then allow myself to discover how I feel about it, I don't live, nor do I think anyone lives in a black-and-white world. We all live in the grays in between. Most people are good and want the same liberties, rights, and freedoms. However, we often feel pressured or forced by the news, journalism, or social media to "pick a side."    The problem lies when we are not given the information entirely about the issue but instead told if we believe in .... etcetera, we need to be picking this side and aligned with these people.

This creates too much divisiveness in society and the world, and people stop communicating effectively. People have even ended friendships with those who do not believe as they do, some family members. Society needs to agree to disagree and have genuine conversations over the issues, where active- listening, and respect are shared on both sides. We live in a world with social media where everyone can express themselves, but is anyone trying to understand each other?