Being a Broadcast Journalism major, staying up-to-date with the news is my number one job. I read news on the local, state, national, and international level. I like to keep up with what is happening around Whitewater’s campus, but I am also very attentive to what is going on in the Milwaukee and Madison areas. I had an internship at WMTV NBC-15 in Madison over the summer, so I am very tuned in on the Madison news. During my internship I covered a lot of political stories and homicides and it was quite an eventful summer between Foxconn and a record-breaking number of shootings in Madison this summer. Although the political coverage is not particularly my favorite, I learned that it is very beneficial to know about your state legislature, even if it is just the basics.
My home town is Delafield, WI so there is not much action that goes on there. I usually do not pay too much attention to that area, but I do monitor the Milwaukee area which is about 30 minutes out of Delafield. There is quite a bit more that goes on in Milwaukee than in small-town Delafield. If I was interested in finding local news, there is a magazine and local newspaper that gets sent out.
I have news apps on my iPhone, so that is usually where I get all my stories from. If I do visit a news website on my computer, I always go directly to the specific site. I like to follow Fox 6 in Milwaukee, CNN, WPR/NPR, and NBC 15 Madison. I am well aware that particular news stations can be either right or left learning, so I am conscientious towards that. Most of the time I am able to pick out when a news source is leaning a certain way. I don’t think I particularly have a “favorite” news site, I just like to check multiple sources so I know I am getting correct and unbiased information.
If I do use Google to search for news, it is just to look up particular sites. I never rely specifically on Google or Yahoo! To provide me with accurate information because fake news is easily spread on the Internet.
When I consume news I mostly read text and watch news videos. I like to watch the news because that way you can see video and it is easier to see what exactly is going on, in my opinion. I also really appreciate the hard work that reporters do, so I like to give them the views they deserve. Watching the news is extremely important because not only is it explained in more detail and you can see videos, but you also get more information at once. It is one story after another, compared to visiting a news website you are just reading one story.
I usually do not interact with news by posting comments, because lately that has been leading to online arguments, but I do enjoy reading everyone’s comments and understanding where people are coming from and why they think the way they do. People have such radical views sometimes and it is extremely intriguing to try to understand why they believe certain things. Besides my internship, I have been on job shadows at Fox 6 with Stephanie Grady (my favorite news anchor), and I was able to see what her days consist of and how she does her job. During my internship I followed a reporter daily so I was also able to experience news first-hand that way.
Regarding social media, I follow news sites on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I do not follow random sites that claim they provide news. I always make sure I am following accurate and reliable sites that I know will give me correct information. Twitter is a good way to follow individual reporters, anchors, etc., and get quick and easy news updates. Facebook is good for news as well because they make it very easy to ‘share’ the exact news story. I do not read blogs or listen to podcasts, but I do plan to listen to WPR and NPR in the future.
I know the news I receive online is accurate only because I go straight to the specific sites, but a lot of times those sites will have ads at the bottom of their webpages that can be a little sketchy. I have read stories before that have been right and left learning, but I don’t think I have ever read a story that was completely false… at least that I know about!
