Blog Post #1

 TOP FIVE SOURCES OF NEWS AND INFORMATION

Friends and Family

    When it comes to getting my daily news, my number one source is definitely my friends and my family. My mom is someone I talk to on a daily basis and she is also someone tied to the news channel as there is a war happening in Israel right now and our entire family is there. She’ll update me on Iran’s movements, the UN taking over Cyprus as basically a naval base, and how my grandmother and aunts are handling it all emotionally. 

    My dad is also a news source that I have that I trust slightly less, he gets a lot of his news through TikTok and whatever comes off that app that he sends me is always a little bit extreme and to me not as trustworthy of news sources. 

    I get my news from my friends not about world politics / issues but about their lives, what’s going on on-campus, the latest gossip, what’s going on in their hometown. This could be in-person with an "Oh my god, guess what..." or a simple text updating me on life. Either way I especially appreciate this news source as it's not only informing me but creates an open dialogue around big or small issues.

TikTok

    My news from TikTok varies on what my For You Page is feeling that day. Sometimes it's flooded with news about the Middle East, sometimes American Politics, but often it's a news story or snippet on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour or an edit of my favorite celebrity. 

    I'm definitely a person that loves to use the app, but not necessarily for news purposes or posting purposes. I love watching videos that revolve around the other content I consume daily, hearing people's thoughts on outfits celebrities wore, or the controversy around Blake Lively during the It Ends With Us press tour. I also use it as a form of communication between my friends, its a nice way to connect and send someone a video to let them know you're thinking of them even when you have nothing to say.  

    I think TikTok has the platform and the usage network to become a main news source outlet, lot of people use it that way already. But, I think what's prohibiting that is the inability to mark what is real news and what is propaganda. I know the idea is for the consumer to decide what content they believe but I think it's extremely difficult to understand real world issues when it's boiled down to a 30 second video from one singular perspective. It's unlike traditional news networks where you know the bias and have the ability to switch between channels to gain a full picture. That's much harder to achieve on TikTok. Another issue I have with it being a main news source is that I always need to fact check the video I'm watching before I make a claim to make sure it's real. This isn't even about politics or war, they lie about pictures of celebrities, relationship stories, and the most random stuff ever. 

News / International News Networks

    When it comes to watching the news it's what I usually do when I'm home, I don't much like it when I'm on campus because it stresses me out too much. Usually, my family has FOX News on ad we enjoy the segments by certain personalities, but we are also often watching the local news to understand what's going on in our area. I have vivid memories as a kid watching the local news religiously whenever there was a a fire in California praying it doesn't make it to us. The one time it did, we had evacuated our home and within minutes everyone we knew was calling us telling us our house had burned down and they saw it on the news. This was untrue! Thankfully, but it's another way to show how not all news sources are reliable and to be a properly informed individual you need a multitude of outlets to understand the reality of a situation.  

    International News is new to this year, Oct. 7th, 2023 has forever changed how I view news networks. In my house FOX News has subsequently been replaced by just about every single Israeli News Channel, on constant loop whether they're giving updates and hosting their version of SNL. We found it's the quickest and most accurate way to get updates on the war going on between Israel and Gaza and it's extremely important to my family that we stay informed. I understand not everyone has the ability to do this though, I'm bilingual and that gives me an edge when it comes to information gathering because I don't just switch between channels, but languages ad cultures. I honestly, severely dislike watching these channels. It depresses me, makes me feel as if I don't speak the language simply because of the rate of speed they talk at, and listening to how they interpret American politics gives me a headache. 

Class

    Being in class is also one of the main ways I stay updated on what's going on in the news. I'm a political science major, so majority of my classes revolve around American Politics, naturally. This semester especially, one of my classes starts off with a class update on what's going on in the news. This class, Campaigns and Elections, focuses on mostly on election news. who's running, who's dropping, who's doing better in polls. It's quite interesting, and I like hearing it in class rather than a news story because we get to talk about it and discuss our opinions on what could've affected certain changes from the prior day. 

    I'm also taking a different class. Interest Advocacy, that revolves around legislation and lobbying; in that class we talk and research a lot about bills going in and out of congress so that we can find ones we support. Overall, I think getting news from the classroom setting is very beneficial and has the uncommon opportunity to hear many different perspectives and opinions on singular issues in one place.

Instagram

    Instagram is my favorite source, mostly because it combines all the different kinds of news I like to get. I follow all of my favorite artists, actors, etc. and get the soonest updates about their tours, albums, tv shows, movies, just as their releasing all the information. It keeps me super informed on the things I'm super interested in which is exciting. It also keeps me up to date on what's going on in the lives of my family abroad, my friends here, my friends from high school / childhood. My brother also has a pretty big account on instagram for his soccer, so it's a fun way for me to support him and see him play when I can't be there physically. 

    Instagram is also a way to see what people are passionate about which I find interesting. Story posts have opened up a world to quick posts to put up about politics, favorite songs, human rights issues, or just a cute photo from that day's activity. Instagram is probably my favorite way to consume my media just because of how broad of topics I can hit at once. 

    It's my favorite platform to personally post, I rarely post on TikTok, so Instagram is my place to shine. I love posting on my story, especially my close friends story, and having a feed that conveys how I see myself. I love staying connected with people this way, and occasionally seeing a comment from my grandma on a post when I forgot she knew how to access the app.