Media Law Post #1

 Ryan Smith

In recent times, I've tended to stray away from current events and I don't seek out news and information. A lot of this behavior has stemmed from the past year and a half, but the Coronavirus actually isn't a huge reason why I've been avoiding news. Sure, it contributed a bit, but there was just a bunch of other events during that time-frame that really made me sick of current events and made me completely disconnect. I don't use any kind of social media either, be that Twitter, Instagram, etc. It's because of that that the sources of information I do have are sources that I don't necessarily want, but can't avoid.


#1 - Word of Mouth

This one is pretty obvious, but of course due to the nature of the source, there's no real way to reference or link it. A lot of the time, someone will just come up to me and say "Hey, Ryan! Did you hear about ___?" Yes, there may be a bit (or possibly more) bias coming from the person giving the information, but nowadays bias is almost expected to come from an information source since almost nobody can give information straight as it is anymore. Whether I actually wanted to hear about the topic or not, I'm still absorbing the information, and why I think word of mouth is still a very common source of information to this day that has not died yet.

#2 - Google Chrome Suggested

On the Google Chrome mobile app, there are suggested articles on the home page below the search bar. These are impossible to miss and they cater to what they think you might like (key words: what they think). I normally only see the headline and don't look at the articles themselves, but there have been rare instances in which one has piqued my interest.

https://www.google.com/chrome/go-mobile/

#3 - YouTube

YouTube is super interesting because anyone and everyone can post something on it, meaning there will be a huge mix of high and low quality content. Individual people will post videos, but corporations can as well. Some maintain a channel for money, but others just do for fun. Unlike most other websites that only focus on one topic, you can find virtually anything on YouTube, for better or for worse. This also pairs very well with the 5th source of information I have listed.

https://www.youtube.com

#4 - HPU Online Library (Jstor, Proquest, etc.)

While this is a very much less common source than all of the previous ones since I only use it when I have to write school papers, it does come in handy despite its niche since there really aren't many other sources that can do its job. You can always check what articles are peer-reviewed to see what will be the most reliable information to put into what you're writing.

https://www.highpoint.edu/library/

#5 - Advertisements

This one may be cheating, just because it isn't locked to just one medium. Advertisements are absolutely everywhere, on billboards out on the road, on TV, on the internet, you name it. While for me personally ads don't do too much, they do a lot for others judging on how a product or service's sales are impacted by them, not to mention the sheer number of them as well. You can't really "recommend" someone to advertisements because they're a precursor to what you're trying to actually get to, and that's the genius of it. 

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