Blog Post Week 6

Where do you get your local news?

I do not subscribe to the local news, or newspaper because for one the newspaper is delivered to my work. And for two I do not dedicate enough time, or get enough enjoyment out of reading the newspaper to pay money to have it delivered to me each day and waste all that paper. However I do at times read online articles from various towns online. I feel living on a college campus, in a college town I see things shared and posted on a variety of social media platforms and I go from there. As well as I receive emails when something occurs on campus, and from there I can further research it if I so wish. When there is talk of an event or some situation that occurs on campus, I generally get as much information from the original source or person and then continue to further research that. 

Many publications, both local and national, now have paywalls/online subscriptions to support their business and reporting operations. Do you subscribe to any online news sources? How much do you pay? Why is it worth it to you? Or discuss why you aren’t willing to pay.

I fully see the value in having online platforms for online news sources. Not only are they environmentally friendly, but they are also portable for the on the go person which seems to be everybody these days! The idea of having people pay for online subscriptions is great, however to me I feel I can find the same high content information elsewhere for free. I fully think that someone who perhaps is more invested in news would benefit greatly from having an online subscription as well as the reliability that since you are paying for content, it would be good content. I once subscribed for a day (the daily subscription) to the Grants Pass Times. Because I had done some community service in a food bank there and wanted to see the picture and comment from myself that was published. Which really if you ask me since it was my photo and my statement, I shouldn’t of had to pay but that is besides the point. I am not willing to pay for say the Oregonian or the Corvallis Times because like I stated earlier there are free copies available to me and it is not a financially plausible investment for myself a this time. 

On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being “most informed”), how confident are you that you are well informed about current events (e.g. pending legislation, actions by your elected representatives, general community information, new movies, sports) and what’s going on in your community and society? How important is it to you to be well informed? Cite some examples.

I feel that I am right in the middle, at a 2.5. Which I know is a very impartial answer and some would even view that answer, as incomplete. However this is why I am saying I feel I am as informed as a 2.5. Because I am not oblivious. Contrary to popular belief, not all young people have their head in the clouds. I have a general idea of what is going on. BUT that being said, I certainly could not go of on a tangent, about any one popular topic. Nor could I give a speech or fully report on any current event topic. I feel that a 4-5 level of informed status would lead someone to believe that not only are you informed on the topic, but that you could also go so far as to voice your own opinion and to say something about it more then just what it is. 

•What do think when President Trump labels particular news stories (e.g. Russia election meddling) or news companies (e.g. CNN, New York Times) “fake news”? Do you agree with the president? Why or why not? Give some examples to support your point of view.

In my opinion Donald Trump is not only discrediting the term Fake News, but also ruining the true meaning of it. Like we reviewed earlier in this term, the term fake news was quite real when referring to the missing girls in Uganda. However his way of using it referring to stories in which he does not like are inappropriate. You cannot just sit there and say things that you don’t like because they are speaking about you or of you in a negative way. Things don’t work like that. 

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/
http://time.com/4883278/donald-trump-social-media-fake-news/

•Many journalists believe the president is doing the American public a disservice and harming democracy and the First Amendment with his attacks on journalism and the free press. What do you think? 

I agree with the journalists. His extremist takes and comments are the reason on why we should not have freedom of speech. He is the acceptation to the rules, of why it doesn't work. Not only is he questioning the credibility of nearly every journalist but he is accusing them of not doing their jobs which not only twists their words and credibility but his. Trump makes it hard to put trust in our country. I also think the things he feels are appropriate to put on the internet are un presidential.

•Use some examples that demonstrate that President Trump is just telling it like it is or where you think our democracy is strengthened or weakened by the current state of affairs regarding the media and journalism.

I was particularly searching for when trump said, "This is not a presidential account, this is a my public account." Or something along the lines of that. Which made me ponder the fact that, considering he is the president everything he does should be done in a presidential way. He gave up his social right to freely post everything or anything on the internet. Or so he should have, that is the social, expectation and a norm that has been upheld in the past. Here are some tweets I found in which he posted recently, that are in my opinion lashing out. He gets in twitter arguments with people of the country he is supposed to lead. How can you trust a leader when they bad mouth people on the internet, cyberbully and harass people. I cannot trust him to be the bigger on the internet, which is something I am proud to say myself as a 20 year old has managed to successfully do.