kaymart18

[kaymart18]

REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT -- JOURNALISM, FAKE NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA FINAL

The video on the show Cops was a pretty interesting one as I’ve been a fan of that show, as well as the show Live PD. In the video, we learn about the history of both of these shows, and we also learn about the behind-the-scenes aspects. The show originated with the launch of the Fox TV channel. At the time, there was other writers' strike, and the CEO of Fox at the time introduced cops as a great idea as it didn’t require actors, nor script writers and all.

Over the years, the show was been criticized for showing negative stereotypes and being a device for cops in different cities and states to advertise their department or as a way to clean up an image when there is controversy. For example, when the Rodney King video came out in the 90s, the use of the show cops to film the LAPD was finally approved after years of trying, it was used to make LAPD look better. Many other police departments followed and did the same.

Live PD uses the same concept as Cops, it’s just less polished as opposed to Cops and actually shows rawer footage. At the end of the day, these two shows don’t need writers whatsoever and follow the same strategy for every episode. Both of these shows are significant to the audience, as it shows a glimpse of the real world when it comes to law enforcement. Both of these shows follow police officers around responding to calls on their radio, doing heavy investigations, as well as talking to the public, and interacting with normal people who aren’t criminals. Capturing these real-life events is quite interesting to me, even though I have no desire in going into law enforcement, it’s still pretty interesting to see.

The video about the false flaggers was interesting as well but for the wrong reasons. We see in the video that these people go on from different cities or states to harass others debunking situations such as shootings or other heretic events, completely shutting victims and survivors that these situations never happened and that it was fake and everyone involved is paid crisis actors and there is no significant evidence that these events never took place. The vocabulary used by the false flaggers was disgusting and very childish, as these two are clearly out of touch with reality.

To answer the question, visual journalism evolved and been different in today's world, a lot of these news outlets have been relying on videos and images to tell stories. With the rise of these conspiracies and hoaxes made up online, especially AI, with these deep fakes, it has been very difficult for journalists nowadays to have their visual media as effective. The example for the show Cops comes with how the police are made out to be, many have said that these shows glorify police violence and show negative stereotypes for POC, which can be an issue for visual journalism. Journalists will rely on the visual content that is put out on cops and they will think that these stereotypes are true and will most likely contribute to reporting bias.

Just like the issue with cops, these hoaxes that are shown on social media, as well as other platforms give a negative impression for visual journalism. These false flaggers are notorious for using videos and images to spread their wild views and crazy conspiracy theories. It makes it hard for journalists to fact-check and verify these things when they go viral and create mass panic among the public. I don’t want to get political, but most Trump Republicans are like this, they spread misinformation and cause mass panic with these wild ideologies.

With these issues, it brings up the idea of Critical thinking and the whole aspect of fact-checking when it comes to visual journalism. Journalists now have to be extra careful when trying to verify a piece of information and find out the legitimacy of what they’re seeing or reading. Journalists always have to remember to be aware of stereotypes and biases that they might add to their work/content. With these extra precautions, journalists can make sure that everything they put out is legit and accurate, and their visual media can be very effective when reporting their stories.

As a journalist or a communications expert, there are a few things that can help the audience gain more knowledge of the actual importance that is media literacy, with also promoting ethical journalism. Fact-checking our sources, as well as avoiding sensationalism that will make our biased sides come out. Things that will help are instructions on how to identify fake news and legit news, as well as teaching the difference between a hoax and a conspiracy. Overall, these two stories with behind the scenes of Cops and the video of the false flaggers were quite interesting and very informative.

[kaymart18]

The debate about Critical Race Theory

The presentation about Critical Race Theory was quite interesting as it's something that is going on in the news at the moment and raising many questions, most notably when it comes to Florida. With the policies and bills that Governor De Santis is passing, CRT has been a controversial topic, and I'm glad this was a topic we were presented with in class. 

They kick off the presentation by giving us a brief description of what CRT really is, which is pretty much a point of view of how racism and race correlate with these social issues and structures for inequality and oppression. Pretty much exposing the side of America that they do not really teach you in school and answers and gives more perspective on these issues. The idea of CRT has been around for 50 years, and it is getting way more attention now than ever, the conservative Republicans think this matter is bigger than it is, as it is an attack on America and giving our ancestors and country, a bad reputation, even though most things America has done in the past was pretty wild.  

From the presentation, we learn that this matter is gaining more attention in the media, with many blaming Trump for CRT being as controversial as it is, but it is not really his fault, he hasn't attacked this issue, nor made any plans to ban CRT from being banned in public schools. CRT was founded by Derrick Bell back in the '60s by social and political movements. As of recently, the governor of Arizona Kate Hobbs is to veto the bill for teaching CRT in Arizona. CRT doesn't really mean just the idea of showing the bad side of the USA, but it could also mean the teachings to young kids about gender identity and sexual orientation. It was a great presentation overall. 

[kaymart18]

REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT -- THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM & SOCIAL MEDIA -- FILTER BUBBLES

There are a few things that the TED talk talked about, it gave us an introduction to what a filter bubble is and how it affects us in our everyday lives and gives us these unintentional consequences. I know that the ted talk video was a little outdated, as it was from 2011, but may I say, it doesn't feel that much different from what is going on at the moment. The quote about Zuckerberg was an interesting one, as he explains how everyone would pay more attention to a dead squirrel in front of their job rather than social topics going on in Africa, it was something along those lines. I found that quote rather interesting and can't really make out what it really means. 

During the TED talk, the guy speaking is Eli Pariser. He describes what a filter bubble is, which is just filtered algorithms that we see on the internet and social media. It tracks all of our interests and things that we may like, so it gives us an echo chamber of those things. The argument that Pariser makes is that he thinks that these filter bubbles are creating some type of echo chamber in society. The data shown on our social media, especially when it comes to politics, we aren't shown information from the other side of things. For example, just like Pariser, I am also a progressive Democrat, so I like viewing stories from both sides of the story. I follow some liberal figures, as well as conservative ones, but since I lean a little more to the left, all I get on my feed are liberal ads and posts from Democratic politicians. This is most notable on Twitter, as I get a lot of my news and content from that application. It happens a lot on Twitter and Instagram for me personally.  

Pariser goes off in the TED talk that we are being tracked by these filer bubbles through our search history, behavior, and activity we have on social media, and track our locations as well. I feel like that's the only part that concerns me when it comes to filter bubbles, the tracking part. There have been some moments where I felt that happen, an example of this is when I went to Arizona and I remember my fiance telling me about this fast food spot over there called Culvers, it was great, but I was getting ads on my Twitter of that place when I was over. As soon as I was back in California, I haven't gotten anything showing that spot, almost as if it knows there aren't any culvers here in California. Pariser made a good point in suggesting that these filter bubbles play a big role in polarizing the way politics work in today's world and society. People are not getting information they don't agree with. Almost everything they see is something they would totally agree with, rather than seeing things they might not agree with, so they have no way of seeing the real world for what it is, through multiple perspectives rather than just one that favors the individual's beliefs. This pretty much can cause more extremism that will raise more hate speech in this world, as if the world wasn't already filled with enough of them. This will eventually lead to people having little to no empathy, and no understanding from different viewpoints. 

Somewhere along the TED talk, he mentions how it'll affect individuals in their personal growth and leave a negative impact, as we do not challenge beliefs with the issue of these filter bubbles. 

It is obvious how social media has changed so much over the years, with these filter bubbles becoming a bigger problem than ever before. We get a lot of content on our feed that is pretty much personalized to our likes and interests, especially with ads. Of course, it has made it easier for us as the individual to use social media with content we would love to see. Because of this, it has led to more engagement for people on social media to grow a bigger fanbase for their channel, or platform. I can see this being one of the positive effects of filter bubbles, as it will help someone who is running a youtube channel or tik tok account, attract more followers because it is stuff based on what they will like to see. This has helped the growth of audience engagement through these platforms. It sure has helped me as well, as a lot of the people following my band page are people who we don't really know, but are in that scene, their personality and style are exactly the type of audience that we catered to, and it wasn't even intentional or anything. Another negative thing about filtered bubbles is that it makes debate topics and arguments less amusing, as some people wouldn't really know what to argue on with the other side of the story, as they have no knowledge of what they are against. I can somewhat relate to this because I argue with my friends about certain topics, but when it's the other way around, I have nothing to say, as I have no knowledge of how to back that up. 

[kaymart18]

Blog Ch. 8 Mobile and Social Media In Your Career

Some things that we learned in this chapter are why mobile and social media is important to a journalist's career, as well as getting more knowledge on data about skills that most jobs are looking for. We also get more insight as to the increasing number of newsroom positions that is pretty much dedicated to social media. This entire chapter is based on the importance of social media. 

Social media nowadays is important for journalists because it allows them to connect with their audience, share their work more widely, and stay up-to-date with news and trends. Social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.. provide an opportunity to reach younger audiences who may not consume news through traditional media outlets. Additionally, social media can be a valuable tool for journalists to discover sources and story ideas. However, journalists must also be careful to maintain their credibility and avoid spreading misinformation.

There are certain qualifications needed in the newsroom in today's world. Many newsrooms are looking for journalists with experience in multimedia storytelling, data journalism, and social media. It's also important for journalists to be adaptable and able to work in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment. We learn in this chapter some of the things that employers may be looking for, this includes Social Media distribution, Visual storytelling, particularly in social aspects, social/engagement reporting, user experience, audience development/user data and metrics, computer coding, and development. When asked about what an important factor to being a journalist when reporting, a tool everyone had said they used is their smartphones. A way that I will be using social media in my career will be with a lot of research through my phone. There is always breaking news and it's kind of a competition of who gets the story out first nowadays. I feel like that isn't a way to go about things because I want to post something that is official and not just rumors before I publish anything. I have the desire to be a sports journalist somewhere down the line in my career. Most notably for soccer. Some important tools that I will need for this profession are pretty much my phone and social media, as social media is like a jungle, you have to go through so many things to get to what you're looking for, and things are always being reported the second of, such as transfer news or rumors of a player wanted to leave. I'm speaking from a Soccer context. Fabrizio Romano is a great example of this because he reports very accurate information when it comes to the soccer world, most specifically soccer. He does not post or publish anything until it is 100 percent confirmed and that is what I am trying to do. I am aware that social media will only continue to get bigger and it is pretty much the future, there is no escaping it. so I feel like social media and my phone will play a big role in what I do in my career. 

[kaymart18]

REFLECTION BLOG POST -- The Image of a President. How photographs from President Obama's White House Photographer and President Trump's White House Photographer and how are they different?

The presentation on Presidential photographers was an interesting topic that I haven't really thought about, nor has the media put much emphasis on this issue. I didn't know each president had their own photographer or had any picture taken at a specific angle, time, or function. There were slight differences when it came to Obama and Donald Trump, Obama's pictures, were always taken with a light tone, kind of bright in a way, and shown through a positive perspective, as opposed to Donald Trump, as he doesn't really have many pictures that can be found on google from his photographer Shealah Craighead. His pictures were often taken in a sophisticated manner, where he was busy, or looking under pressure. His pictures were often taken in a dark tone and there were only limited shots of what the photographer can take. Obama's pictures were shot more freely. I loved the introduction of Obama's photographer Pete Suuza, as he has been around for a while and is known in the photography world. If I'm not mistaken, he was also a photographer for Bill Clinton as well. Some questions that were asked in the presentation were if we felt like some shots were either personal or political with the images Suuza put out on his Instagram, I would say it was kind of personal as he threw some shade at Donald Trump with the picture of the white house under a dark cloud. I forgot what the caption said, but it was pretty personal rather than political. Another question asked was what narrative we think these photos side by side tell, between Suuza's images and Craigheads. As mentioned earlier, Suuza's pictures of Obama had a warmer positive tone, unlike Craighead's images which only caught handpicked moments that Trump wanted in his gallery. There's a reason why it is pretty difficult to find images of her time with Trump 

[kaymart18]

Blog Ch. 7 Social Media Ethics and Policies

There were a good amount of main points in this chapter on media ethics and policies. From the start, we learn about ethical dilemmas journalists and reporters are confronted with before social media was a thing. With social media nowadays, any information put out can spread like wildfire if the topic is sensitive enough. Some of these topics are taken as bait sometimes, with misleading information and downright misleading headline. It's been a bit common for these journalists to fall for this bait and end up sharing misinformation and disinformation they gather from social media. From the reading, we learn that a main thing that many journalists have experienced in their profession is balancing the pressure to publish as fast as possible when there is breaking news. Speed versus accuracy pretty much. Gathering sources and information takes time. Amongst some of this busy world of journalism, traditional values and ethics of a journalist, verification, and accuracy have never been so important than now with the world of social media. The significance of social media by journalists has been difficult to hold traditional and professional dilemmas as discussed in this chapter. There is a blurred line when it comes to professional and private social media lives. 

Another main point from the chapter is the in-depth topic of journalism ethics when it comes to social media. Newsroom managers and journalists navigate these news dilemmas that are ethical. Some things that are acceptable can often seem ambiguous. In these moments, that's when these ethics play a big role in making these decisions. The point of journalism plays on the key ethics laws, these may include being verified, showing fair and balanced coverage, as well as telling the truth at all times, and also avoiding conflicts of interest as much as possible. It seems as if a lot of news media tends to forget these things. The decision-making of ethics should be happening at every step when it comes to the process of journalism, such as news gathering, audience engagement, as well as distribution of news. I can understand these ethics, as many professions come with a code of ethics. Very informative chapter to be quite honest. 

[kaymart18]

Reflection Blog Post --Gun Culture & Visual Journalism

The presentation that Jenilee & Max did on gun violence was put very well, as it shared many questions and perspectives on this issue. We know that gun violence in the United States is ridiculous, as we just had one two weeks ago in Kentucky, and not too long before that, we had a shooting in Tennessee with a transgender woman. This topic has gotten out of hand, as the United States is very infamous for it. 

One of the questions that were asked in the presentation was why aren't graphic images of school shootings displayed in mainstream media and will it affect politics in pushing for more aggressive gun laws. I feel like the reason why these images aren't shown in mainstream media, is because it will be a bit disrespectful to the victim's family, but I do agree that people need to be more demonetized and look at heavy images that depict reality. Just like with the other presentation about showing these types of images, not everybody can handle these images. I feel like it will be effective, but not too effective, as these Republicans are unpredictable at times. I can see why it would work though. 

Another question that they had in the presentation was if there were any subtle ways the media projects an anti-gun bias. There is, but it all depends on the media outlet. If it were a station like Fox News, the push towards gun reform will be insignificant, praising other right-wing politicians for pushing for laws doing the complete opposite. Look at Ron Desantis for example. With all of these shootings going on, he went and did the opposite and made guns easy to obtain in Florida, as well as pushing for concealed carry with no gun training or anything. Kind of what Governor Abbott is doing in Texas. These politicians all share a bias in their views on guns. 

[kaymart18]

Reflection BLOG Post- Jan 6th and Domestic Terrorism 

The presentation of Clara and Maiya was very interesting and quite educational with the insurrection that happened on January 6 and the meaning of domestic terrorism. I learned that George W. Bush had signed an executive order on domestic terrorism, and given it a clear definition. What we saw on January 6 was a disgrace in the history of the United States. The presentation went in depth with the scenes that happened during the insurrection, explaining how it came to happen, as well as showing us footage of the people storming inside the capital and ambushing that one police officer. 

Over the years there have been threats of domestic terrorism, mainly having to do with Qanon and Antifa. Every time a popular political figure is going to talk at a big event, or some big news happens to a figure such as Donald Trump being indicted on 34 felony charges, there is always a threat of a crowd ready to protest and riot against the cause. This time around, they had New York heavily secured, avoiding another event to happen such as the insurrection. From the presentation, we learned that about 140 police officers were assaulted, with many foreign leaders, diplomats, politicians, and institutions expressing shock, outrage, and condemnation of the events. Multiple world leaders made a call for peace, describing the riots as "an attack on democracy". 

Clara also mentioned the current threat level in the U.S., as we are yellow tier at the moment. It is the highest that it's ever been. Conspiracies have also become a big threat in the United States, most notably in politics. A study conducted by NBC News stated that one in 5 Americans believe in the Qanon conspiracies. Many like myself also believe in a few conspiracies as well. I do believe in the conspiracy with Aliens and UFOs. The 9/11 conspiracies do make me wonder as well. Overall it was a great presentation with a lot of interesting key points. 

[kaymart18]

SINCLAIR BROADCASTING & BUSINESS ETHICAL SCENARIO

I wouldn't really call myself a liberal, or a conservative. I feel like I'm kind of in the middle, but if I were to get an opportunity to work at Sinclair Broadcasting, I will take it, to be honest. I will get the advantage to get my own place and be set. I mean, yeah I might be leaning a little more toward the left, as I'm a progressive Democrat, but I think I will make a sizeable conservative political PAC. I'm aware that this will help out more conservatives and other organizations across the nation, but with an offer like that, I will go for the money.

Personally, I wouldn't donate to any political campaign, but with the opportunity that I will be getting with Sinclair Broadcasting, I will only have to make a one-time donation in order to get a raise, and I will be pretty much set, as I'd have a place for my own and won't have to worry about anyone complaining that I did, as I'd be on my own. I understand that it is not really ethical for me as I come from a very liberal household despite the conservative party and politics for that matter, the people that I live with will have a problem with what I'm doing. That's why getting my own place helps. Who knows, maybe it can be a wonderful organization with great people with different views from mine. I think it is ethical because we aren't doing anything wrong or illegal, just supporting an organization with different views. Many companies and brands donate to questionable organizations too, and they still end out being just fine. At the end of the day, all I see is just money waiting to hit my bank account. May sound pretty shady of me, but ethical or not, I'm still getting paid by a big company. Even if it hurts my chances of another job, I can always try and work for other conservatives and get as much money as possible. The world doesn't have to like me. 

[kaymart18]

Blog Ch. 6 From the Field: Social Media Engagement and Audience Analytics

One of the key points that we learned in this chapter is what to do while reporting. Journalism is what it use to be, as this ever-changing world evolves each day, and the media changes how they report on things. The stories that we cover are pretty much just ongoing conversations with the audience from social media. Storys change as time goes by, and with social media and technology in this modern era, we have gotten comfortable with finding out pieces of information about a story throughout the day, hence why sharing info during the news reporting process is so important. In a way, I found myself relating to this chapter, as it mentions how we have to view our social media feed as a faucet of information. I tend to get my news and updates from multiple social media pages. We get provided drips of information throughout the day and all of that helps us be engaged as the audience to these news outlets and social media pages. 

The pages that I follow are consistent and pretty reliable for the most part. If one page doesn't post, another one will. Instagram and Twitter are my go-to outlets to get my information when reading about news or politics. A consistent page will go a long way. 

We also learn about Social Media Graphics. A way to get engaging social media posts is by using social media graphics, as it is eye-catching and in a mess of posts, and allows us to use more information than is possible from a single tweet. Outlets such as NPR and The New York Times use social media graphics all the time with a quote from the story. Canva and Adobe Spark Post allow users to create these visuals and make it easy to tell a story with the necessary information. The tool of tagging and mentioning social media posts has been an advantage as it grabs attention and put things into context when posting these social media posts. Tagging the location of the event can be helpful when others are doing research, as it helps them gather information on that particular place. This helped me when researching this venue I had to attend and see what other artists performed there. 

[kaymart18]

Reflection, Qanon and Antifa

The presentation from Pablo and Fatima was quite interesting, as I’ve been following this topic a bit for quite a while, I say probably during the pandemic when the presidential election was going on between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I was assigned a few tasks in class about this topic too so I was really engaged with the research they did. In their presentation we learn what Qanon and Antifa is and how they originated. One thing I didn’t know was the suspected founder of Qanon which just looks like a regular dude, and he also ran for congress or mayor in his community, I forgot when, but he lost anyways.

As the entire nation saw, Qanon  made an impact and likely caused the insurrection back in 2021. Even before the insurrection, they went around the country to trump rally’s to show their support, as well as harassing people. In a way, Antifa is kind of like Qanon, but an intense liberal version of it. After all, it does stand for anti fascist. A problem there was during the insurrection was that the right conservatives were blaming Antifa, saying they were disguising themselves as Qanon and made a mess in the capital, it’s kind of hilarious with the excuses the right makes for their party. 

The goals for Antifa is to take a stand against fascism and protest against the trump rally’s, bumping heads with Qanon and posting nonsense online. Personally I don’t agree with either organization, nor I think they’re terrorist. I just see them as very extremist who care too much about politics.

Overall I really liked their presentation as I am really interested and familiar with this topic. I am still trying to get a better understanding of politics, but I won’t get caught up too deep in it like some people. Seeing who the founder of Qanon made me realize that anyone can make a cult or organization easily online and that some people follow each others crazy beliefs. I really enjoyed this presentation. 

[kaymart18]

Blog Ch. 5 From the Field: The Mobile Journalist

In this chapter, we learned a few key points. One of the first main points that this chapter goes over is the advantage we have with our iPhones, and having the difficulty of carrying bulky equipment and being tied to a physical newsroom. We pretty much have a lot on our hands.  A voice recorder, a camera, a notepad, and access to the internet. These things all made it a bit difficult back in the day for journalists, but now it's really easy, that a journalist used an iPhone to record video and broadcast live reports from the 2017 U.S Presidential Inauguration. 

Another main point from the chapter gets in depth is the digital-first mindset, which pretty much just means mobile and social media first. This approach requires the journalist to rely on their mobile device to connect with their audiences on social media before posting anything else on other platforms such as websites, or news media. I like to think of it as breaking news, very raw as it is coming straight through a social media platform. We go through the topic of planning your story, the digital-first story pitch, with the chapter giving us some important tips on story focus, and what our target is so our audience will understand. The news peg is explaining why your story is important by adding emphasis to the importance at that point in time. Sources as well, as our pitch provide a comprehensive story with the mix of sources we've gathered. 

The chapter also gives us advice for budding journalists. There are many different ways to tell a story. Social media can be a great way to build your brand and tell a story in a unique way that will keep the audience engaged. They gave us examples, but pretty much make your story unique and keep the audience invested. An example is visiting a historic site and sharing great closeups of what you think the audience may want to see more of, and making the pictures aesthetic by making them black and white to fit what you're trying to share with the audience. 

[kaymart18]

Reflection Blog Post (Jannyce and Joseph Presentation)

The presentation that Jannyce and Joseph did on desensitization in the media was quite interesting. A few things in the presentation were not really that bad, to be honest, it was a little shocking, but nothing that made me feel like I have to look away and I feel like that is a big problem that we face today's world. Personally, I feel like being desensitized is very important when becoming a journalist. We need to train our brains to handle violence and other gruesome things that we might see in the future. This presentation showed examples such as news coverage of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. It was interesting seeing the people jump to their deaths in the attacks, it’s a shock to many of course, who wouldn’t be? But one thing I can’t stop thinking about is if there’s any footage or photos of the aftermath. Some pretty crazy stuff. 

Another video that was shown in the presentation was the attacks on the war against Ukraine and Russia. It almost seems as if the spotlight on this war has faded away, I forget about it sometimes, but watching the footage Jannyce and Joseph shared got my attention back toward the war between Ukraine and Russia. They showed news coverage that had mild explicit footage. It also spread light on a few reasons why some things aren’t put out for the world to see, to anyone else, it’s just a lifeless body on the floor, but to someone else, they’d not want to see their loved one die in front of the newspaper or headline online. These are some things we have to think of when wanting to desensitize news media for the world to see all these gruesome images. 

Most of what was shown in the presentation were pretty sad, but one thing that got me the most was the father explaining how he found out his family had died by seeing the front cover of this news coverage. “I instantly recognized the clothing, even the belongings and dog on the front cover. It was my family” said the person in the video. Overall it was a pretty great presentation on desensitization and opened the debate on whether news coverage should show more explicit footage or keep it the way it is. I personally feel like it should be more explicit, especially to Americans, but it should stay respectful and mindful of the families. 

[kaymart18]

Blog 4 Ch. 4 Mastering Social Media and Mobile Apps for Reporting

One of the main points that I got from Chapter 4, is the concept of crowdsourcing. Many journalists crowdsource many different stories from long-form investigative pieces to general assignment reports. A benefit of crowdsourcing is that the audience can give more information from different angles and get suggested angles to the story, as well as sharing opinions, they can provide exclusive information that would be difficult to locate. We learn that ProPublica journalists often use this method, even using crowdsourcing before publishing a story when it comes to medical errors.

There are 6 different types of crowdsourcing. Voting, as it prioritizes what stories reporters should talk about. Witnessing, as you share what you experienced and saw in the news event. Sharing personal experiences, telling what you know about your life experiences. Tapping specialized expertise, contributing relevant knowledge and data. Completing a task, help create a news story by volunteering your time and skills. Engaging audiences, joining in outcries that can range from informative to playful. 

The other few things that we learn from this chapter is Mastering social media and application programs for reporting. We take a closer look at the most social media platforms that journalists use such as Instagram, Twitter, and in some cases, Facebook. It teaches us how to do the basics, such as how to use handles, hashtags, tagging, geolocating, etc. It also teaches us about Twitter and how the threads work and how you can only tweet 140- characters at a time. We learn how to embed social media posts into an online store. We also learn how to use Facebook and how Signal is Facebook's discovery and curation tool for Journalists. Signal is a lot more powerful than regular Facebook general search functionality, which just anyone can access. Signal is designed for Journalists as it drills down more specific search criteria. Journalists also use other apps such as Instagram and to my surprise, Snapchat. Instagram is used by journalists to share a story through visuals, as a single photo can speak volumes about a story. Even though you can't share links on a regular post, journalist uses links in stories to engage with the audience.   

[kaymart18]

Ch. 2 Blog Managing Change: The Mobile-First Newsroom

In this chapter, we learn about a few main points of this reading. For one, we do get more insight into the ever-changing business models of journalism. There are pretty much a few factors to this, as we get an understanding of how media companies make money they seem to use multiple business models to generate finances for what your company is gonna make. Some of these business models include subscriptions, transactions, content marketing, advertisement, and licensing. We learn that most of this vocabulary can fall into the category of Marketing, which also involves business models that emphasize more on franchising, and direct sales, as well as hybrid business models that pretty much combine retail with online brick-and-mortar stores or with sporting organizations like the FIFA or the NFL. Some of these elements include identifying your value chain, mobilizing your resources, identifying your target market, and keeping your business model flexible. 

Another main point that we learned from this chapter is the definition of Mobile first which involves designing a desktop site starting with the mobile version, which is then adapted to larger screens. The mobile-first can also mean thinking about web design, application design, etc... Its purpose is to optimize presentations for smaller devices such as mobile devices, and create other methods that'll fit the screen sizes of other devices.  The purpose of this method is to ensure that the websites that are being run are running responsively so users can access any website through any device. This method pretty much compresses and simplifies the information down into a much more manageable way to view things. This is rather important because the world is pretty much run on mobile devices which is a primary resource that individuals use on a daily basis. I've experienced this firsthand in a way because everywhere I go, everyone is pretty much working on their phone, or using it as a tool to get through their everyday lives. I've seen students work on homework through their phones, as well as take exams which I don't really recommend. The mobile-first method is legit. 

One of the last important methods we've learned relates to the second method, as we develop a mobile-first mindset that will help you plan news coverage that fits the target audience.

[kaymart18]

Blog: Ch. 1 Forces at the Gate: An Active Audience

One of the main points of this chapter is the way we find out how much this new technology and social media is different from past technologies such as media, television, and the printing press. The thing with technology is that it has gotten very advanced throughout the years, with many journalists always finding ways into documenting their everyday lives and live news coverage. One can gain a huge following on social media, and that much support behind them, such as Hallie Jackson, an NBC Correspondent who covered the 2016 presidential election and had support through social media, as opposed to going to news outlets and making appearances in order to get support, let alone an entire following.

Another main point of this chapter is how social media has led to the public's active role in the news production process and how it changed the way people consume information. Nowadays, there are many ways to consume news, and many such as myself have to consume news through social media, such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Every morning I wake up, I don't really think about turning on the television like back in the day, or having a set alarm time to watch the news. I just pretty much look at my phone and already have spam notifications waiting for me to view. Technology today even went the extra mile, as we are able to consume news from around our area, just miles away when something happens. That "Citizen" application has really been a game changer for most, as local news does not really report every local crime that happens or any live coverage of hazards and warnings. Anyone can report anything, and many people from around that area will get a notification of the event that had just happened. Extremely fast news coverage in a way. 

We also explore the three areas where mobile devices and social media have impacted the work of journalists and how they gather news and distribute it to an engaged audience. It's not just news journalists, but sports journalists and music journalists as well. We look at social media and get involved with their personal lives.