Everyone Is a Media Outlet & Publish, Then Filter

Discussion Questions: How long will it take for the newspapers to become totally depleted? Even though Lott was the majority leader for the Republican Party in Congress, is it fair for him to be penalized for something that he said around friends in a casual setting? How can you distinguish between broadcast media and communication media in a user generated situation such as Facebook?

Firstly, I think that the internet is a huge threat to printed newspapers. On the multiple news websites, a reader can find all of the articles that are found in the newspapers, plus hundreds more. On top of the news websites, a reader can get information of almost any kind on the internet. I believe that within the next 50 years the newspaper will no longer be an institution and the professionals will work to post stories on the online news. Next, I think that it is a shame that media takes people’s privacy away from them. Although I obviously do not agree with the seemingly racist statement made by Lott, I also don’t think that a person should always have to watch what they say for fear of it being presented to the public. Lastly, I think that all of the blogging and user generated content that you find on the web today is really too much. There is very useful information online, but there is also a lot of pointless information on different blogging sites and all of the other sites that have mostly user generated content. But at the same time, the internet now provides everyone with the ability to express their thoughts, ideas, feelings, etc. online with their friends, peers, and the world wide web, if they so choose. I am a Facebook user myself and I sometimes get annoyed with how much information is presented on it. Especially in high school people would get into fights through Facebook and it’s so silly and pointless. It takes the realness out of things and does not force people to have face to face confrontations but instead makes them wireless. People say what they are doing every hour, and how they are feeling about their boyfriends, and the “cool” stuff that they did last night. It almost seems too personal. But, hey, it’s a free country.