Nick W’s J347 Blog

Jump to Comments

Today, news is relayed in many forms. No longer does one have to rely on a black and white newspaper with thousands of tiny words, flipping page after page to receive pertinent information. Nor are they subject to block programming, bound to dedicated viewership, tying them to the same time-slot night after night in order to hear from their favorite team of anchors. Most people are now able to view news stories, segments and features anytime, anywhere. From stories in full text to interactive diagrams and videos, the search and consumption of world, national and local news stories is easier than ever.

I must admit, I have a difficult time staying fully engaged for a long period of time while consuming news of any form. My main news consumption comes from watching videos and listening to news reports online. Watching and listening to news broadcasts allows for my eyes and mind to wander if needed, a luxury not offered when reading a full text article. I find it growingly difficult to enjoy a website providing countless ads and graphics to gaze upon. Often times I will read through a full news story and completely forget what I’ve just read because of the inability to stay focused. That being said, I certainly do read articles far more often than I view photo slide shows or engage with interactive graphics. 

I have not followed many stories as they develop as I often hear about or see a story and move on to the next one, completely forgetting about it until the event has reached its conclusion. In which another piece is created to cover the story again. I tend to get breaking news from the local or state level after a Google search or a conversation with my parents. I do not follow the news from my hometown and neither do my parents, as we no longer live there. The small town does have a Gazette, that provides news. However, they do not have a website to provide supplemental information.  I mostly visit NPR and Vice on-line because they offer many mediums of media and their websites are clean. However, I do end up visiting many different sites due to the non-linearity of the web.

I am more interested in national news stories. I do not have cable television and I do not use social media often. Social media apps tend to provide ads that link news stories from tabloid businesses like Buzzfeed. In which I do not tend to engage. I know many people who use Twitter as their main outlet for news consumption. Many people prefer Twitter because they are able to consume unfiltered and unbiased accounts from all over the world immediately. There are certainly pages constructed in order to deliver biased stories, however, one is easily able to consume content from the primary source without the filter during the relay of information from a news company.

Cable television is not a luxury I have. For background noise, I usually have Joe Rogan’s or Marc Maron’s podcast streaming through my laptop or PlayStation. I always double check their accounts of news stories. Many podcasters are paid to talk and most of them talk too much. They often forget where they read or heard something, causing me to look into the story because they do not always provide a source. If I am reading a story from NPR or a reputable news outlet, I always assume it to be factual. I may look into it deeper for more information, but it is never as an attempt to fact check.