During the past 24 hour period, I consumed media through many different sources including, television, music, reading, and social media. I began to consume media through television, viewing a comical television series, but as the morning progressed, I viewed some snippets of the daily morning news of NBC’s Channel 4 News Los Angeles that covered the new event of fire hydrants being broken by nearby homeless people, as well as a continuation on an exposé of a drug dealer being sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Throughout the afternoon, I was listening to a variety of music through the Spotify app as I drove around town for work, and then when I returned home, I spent time on social media, specifically, Instagram and Twitter, using the services to supply me with trending topics of today’s news such as Women Equality, VMAs, and Dave Chapelle concerning his new stand-up special’s content. Later that evening, I decided to consume reading material associated with my photographic interest that connects the perspective of Taoism with the craft of photography. The selection includes methods in which the two relate through the use of pre-visualization and mindfulness to achieve a calm alertness that would allow photographers to be the most prepared for spontaneous moments. Lastly, I was viewing music videos from artists, focusing on their lyrics to gain a better sense of the narrative.
I think media has left a dissatisfying impression given its current state of mistrust, and the surplus of misguided information that leads many false claims and suggestions. My use of media is geared towards the stereotype of how my generation receives their news information, mainly through use social media, and although it serves more of a mass communication to allow the possibility of false information, many people debunk the fake news in a timely manner. My use of social media as a tool to gain informative information, I find not completely credible, is usually sustained through quick corrections over the period of a few minutes. The use of television news seems to be more relevant news in the local area, but given the visual media’s lack of credibility in certain areas, it is hard to assume it is trustworthy in some situations where skepticism should be obviously used. The use of music videos can infatuate the scenario represented when correlated with lyrical description, but it is unaware to the listener as to whether the story told is more for entertainment purposes, or if it meant to be taken as factual evidence given personal experiences.
The ranking of the following news outlets:
NBC Channel 4 News Los Angeles- 7
Although, a “reliable” news outlet to the status quo of society, there is a stigma associated with the news feeding us government based information for favor of a personal agenda, whether that be for money, ratings, or entertainment. With that said, it still has much trust given its long time existence in the television medium. There are some stories that will seem more skeptical than others, and I believe that has to do with more dire situations that concerns a national phenomenon versus a local event.
Twitter- 8
I gave Twitter a much higher ranking on the scale of news outlets, because it is commonly used to talk about trending topics, most of them including, news related sources. Although, Twitter does have its discrepancies concerning its factual information on each topic, it is usually corrected by other informed citizens that did more follow-up research to check the claim.
Instagram- 3
Instagram had the lowest ranking given that it is probably the most used social media platform of the current day, and that advertisements and false promises are made daily on the site to encourage others to pay money for a fictitious following to gain a sense of entitlement.
Tao of Photography Book- 9
This served as a higher ranking given the execution between relating the two subjects based upon its fundamentals. The information is reflected through the use of professionals of the craft, while also relying on a two-thousand year old text that provides insightfulness to its readers.
Music Videos- 5
I chose the lower rank of five, because I believe that although much of what is said can be from personal experience, there is usually an exaggeration given to the context to make it more enjoyable to the audience.
