Hello, my name is Brody Methven. I was born and raised in Papillion, NE and I have just begun my second year at Creighton University. My freshman year I was taking classes in the Heider College of Business. I didn’t enjoy some of the classes that I took so I transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences, which brings me to why I chose to take this class. I’m taking this class because I am not exactly sure what I am going to major in yet. I do not have any experience in programming or HTML basics. My hope is that my choices will be narrowed down after taking this class. As of right now, though, I am deciding between Journalism or Computer Science.
I get my media from a variety of places, just like many others do now in this connected world that we live in. Whether it is on my phone or on my Macbook, I typically have some sort of screen in front of me throughout the day. I receive news and information differently depending on what kind of news it is. For example, if I want news about my favorite football team (the Denver Broncos), I have an app on my phone for that called Bleacher Report. They also have a website that I can access on my computer if I am not on the go. On the other hand, if I want local news or things of that sort then I will typically watch one of my local news channels, such as KETV, on television or I read the stories posted on their websites.
Free photo by William Iven from unsplash.com
I also get some of my news through social media such as Twitter and Instagram, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because I feel as though a lot of the news on social media is not actually news, it’s opinions. There are exceptions, of course, as there are verified users who have accounts that help report news and I do use those sometimes. However a lot of talk on social media about current events are biased opinions, not news. Some of the information on social media may be true, but there’s also a chance that it isn’t. That is the chance you take when forming views based off of social media. Unfortunately I think a lot of people do base their “facts” off of social media. This bothers me because it may lead some people to believe that someone’s opinion is actually a “fact”. This can lead to arguments that divide people rather than calm, rational discussions. I would have to say that this problem with news on social media would have to be my biggest frustration with media today.
That being said, there are things that journalists do well. There are plenty of journalists out there that get their information from credible sources and distribute it for others to see. I think this connection in a world that is immersed in media is both good and bad. It is great when the information in the media is unbiased and factual. However it can be problematic when biased opinions are handed out to thousands to see and believe as a fact.
Brody's Blog 