WEEK 6 TOPIC 2

I think that President Trump’s labels about particular news stories and/or news companies is absurd. I shouldn’t be surprised given the things that have come out of his mouth thus far, but for him to attack some of these news companies is so ridiculous. I just watched this video from a segment on FOX news earlier this summer where CNN spokesperson says “ It’s a sad day when the president of the United States encourages violence against reporters….” To me, this is very sad because these reporters are just doing their jobs. I understand attacking or calling out sources who purposefully circulate fake news stories, however, I feel that Trump just picks a catchy phrase and runs with it. To me this seems like a deflection technique. Trump has always been the outspoken, blunt, no social tact that he is today, but I think when he has used the phrase “FAKE NEWS” in over 55 tweets this year he is merely trying to deflect off of himself and refocus people’s attention on things that don’t matter because as long as people are focused on this fake news rhetoric they aren’t looking deeper into his wrongdoings.

I am all for calling people out when you feel their actions are unjust or unfair, and I respect our rights as Americans to exercise free speech. For that reason I can not say he is doing americans a great disservice. I think that is one of the things that makes us a great country and is that we have the freedom of choice. We have the right to not only say, but decide whatever we want. The fact that he is using social media like a teenager is my opinion, that doesn’t mean I am right or that your views on the issue aren’t correct. It simply means that is the opinion I have formed with the information I have been given. While I don’t agree with Trump on the fake news issue, I have to give him credit for standing up for himself and for being passionate about what he believes. I think that the american people are more than capable of investigating these allegations by Trump if they honestly feel that their news is “fake”.

In my opinion, Social Media is the only component of media or journalism that is weakening our society. President Trump is telling it like it is, but I think he took it too far, in typical Trump fashion.

WEEK 6 TOPIC 1

I get my local news mainly by word of mouth. I don’t watch the news and I try to stay off social media whenever possible. I mainly hear people discussing current events or my mom will talk to me about something she saw on the news. If it is something that interests me or I feel like I need to find out more about then I will do research on it or I will go to the website for a local news channel to watch the specific story I heard about. I don’t count on anything I hear via a third party to be accurate, which is why I take the time to look into these news stories and other information on my own instead of just taking it and running with it as if it were factual.

I actually just purchased a 3 month subscription to USA today for my best friend in federal prison. He likes to stay current on news and it makes him feel like a part of society still despite his situation. Along with the paper being delivered daily to him, I also get a membership yo theor online version. I haven't even checked it out at all because I just paid for it last night, but I think I will take advantage of this perk since I have already paid for it. Altogether the promo price for USA today paper/online is $18. This is only a promo price, after the first 90 days the price is $90 for six more months. This seems ridiculous to me. It just seems so expensive and I feel like being at that price point a lot of families and people who would like to subscribe will look at that as a very unnecessary expense.

I know I am out of the loop on current events. I just don’t have cable and I don’t take the time to check the news stations websites on a regular basis. I would rate myself at a 2 only because I do hear things in passing and from people that I talk to. It usually is very important to me to be informed, but when I was watching the news daily I found myself getting worried, stressed out or disgusted. I feel like the media just beats things to death and thrives off of a fear and consumption model.