We Media and Democracy

Media assessment

In this assessment I will be talking about the news, including my opinions on what I think to the news, how I hear about stories and whether I look into them or not. Over the summer we was set to keep an eye out about stories about anything which was to our interest. Here is my views and opinions of the news and how we hear about it.

Where did you get your news from? Do you think that they are a trusted source?

During the summer I found all types of news on multiple platforms such as TV, newspapers, phones and from family and friends through word of mouth. Looking into hearing news from TV I believe that this is a trusted source because the BBC have a right to inform the country about things happening worldwide. However I don't necessarily watch or pay attention to the news unless it will have an effect on myself, this is because I don't see it as anything that will change my everyday life. Since the start of the summer we was told to download the BBC news app and select categories that are to our interests, I chose Chelsea, UK, Sport and Television. As you can probably guess I am a person who loves their sports, I am not too fussed about news in the politics area or other worldwide news although it could have some effect on myself. If I did not have the BBC news app then I doubt I would use another type of news source simply because I am not too bothered about things in the news that isn't targeted to me.

BBC News App

As I previously said, I chose my categories which now inform me of news within these categories when they are released. It is a good way to get people to interact with the news and a better way to hear about news too. For people like me who don't pay much attention to the news it then makes them pay attention because it is on their phone. Most people in the current generation are on their phones, therefore in a way there is no avoiding the news as it will reoccur through notifications, even if they don't read into a story or article then they can at least see the headline. So people will hear of more news without trying or wanting to.

How did you access this information?

I accessed this information on my phone by downloading the BBC news app, this is easy for me to access as I usually have my phone on me so I can read any news that I want when I see an article that interests me. Most civilians my age (17) tend to access information through the use of social media as it is a big trend in recent years, however people like our parents and grandparents get their news from a different source. These sources can vary from newspapers through to word of mouth. The stereotypical grandparent is thought to be sat there in a big armchair with a newspaper from The Sun or The  Metro etc. Although not everyone's grandparents are like this, they could be as up to date as the modern teenager for all we know. Our parents or guardians are stereotypically known for gaining news off of the television which is a common source of gaining the news, however like the grandparent situation everyone's parents are different but the most common source of news is the TV if you are an adult. This reflects the 1950/60's in America when only 9% of Americans had a TV in the 1950's, the changes then happened 10 years later in the 1960's when 90% of Americans had a TV, during the 60's President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, this may have had a huge effect on the country wanting to know news like this. Over time things change and in this case there has been some reflection of these events just not nearly as severe. In the next ten years who knows how people will receive their news, will we be the stereotypes who use social media as a source of news whilst the new generation gain news a different way?  

People all have different opinions and views on certain things, to adapt to this, the media will know this and have to try to interact as well as to not offend their audience as it could reflect back badly on themselves. To do this the media as a whole specifically newspaper organisations must write useful and interesting stories which have appropriate wording so none of their audience feel like they are being manipulated or targeted. Sometimes this is avoided however on the rare occasion people can be offended which then leads on to more issues.

Example stories

One of the first stories I saw after I followed categories such as sport, football, Chelsea, UK and football transfers was David Luiz signing for Chelsea on Deadline Day for £30 million, this was the biggest news story on this specific day because it became a shock for the football world as it was an unheard of story before this time. For me it was a surprise as I didn't even think David Luiz would ever come back to Chelsea, however I was still extremely happy that he is back, he receives a lot of criticism from the media but he was one of my favourites before he left the club and now he's back nothing has changed.

Another story that I found on the BBC news app over the course of the summer was that David Cameron resigning from the prime minister role of the country, this came as a huge surprise to the country, some say they expected it after the other news story of UK leaving the EU, Cameron wanted to stay within the EU so after this decision he decided to resign. In my own opinion I was undecided on whether to leave or stay as I could not vote due to being under 18 therefore I didn't look too much into it. Therefore I only looked at the headline and didn't read the article.

As a whole I used the BBC news app to a certain extent where I would get my news from and then pass this information on later down the line. Here is my opinions and views on the 'we media and democracy' section of my media studies.