Headline: CyberJournalists Are Taking Over!

What’s happening today is that everyone is being bombarded by the news and media. Currently, the news consists of mostly shocking and upsetting news with maybe one or two good news stories thrown in for good measure. In fact, most of the time it almost seems as though people do not want to watch the news, or even read about, something good that is happening. Journalists really have it cut out for them in today’s society. They have to capture and hold the reader’s attention which is sometimes hard to do. Potter states that, “When we take a closer look at the news, it becomes clear that the news does not reflect reality. Instead, it is a construction by journalists. News coverage is triggered, of course, by actual occurrences. But what we see presented as news by the media are not the events themselves. Instead, the media present us with stories about the events, and those stories are constructed by journalists who are influenced by constraints that are largely outside of their control.”

Because of this, journalists are expanding their grounds. In most newspapers, or at least the ones I’ve read, journalists put the main outstanding facts in their story. This may cause the readers to have a tough time getting the whole picture of the story. This problem is slowly being solved by people known as “CyberJournalists.” These people can get their whole story out to readers with as many pictures and/or videos as they wish. CyberJournalists write for their own communities and their own stories. This idea is based on people from that specific community being able to report on what they know.

The Chicago Daily News, or Chi*Town Daily News, serves just this purpose. This online newspaper is written not only for, but BY Chicago’s own residents. Chi*Town Daily News is different from Chicago’s other media outlets because it is owned by a non-profit corporation based in Chicago, whereas the other outlets focus more on profit than news. This online newspaper actually encourages readers to help write their stories and also make the appearance of the site better by adding pictures, movies, etc.

I have to hand it to them - The Chicago Daily News is quite the online newspaper. Their homepage has everything ranging from headlines to videos which are all posted by residents of Chicago. They have every necessary navigational link which serves readers well including: Local News, Culture, Sports, The Big City, Events, Blogs, Updates, and Special Reports. As anyone would be able to see by visiting this site, The Chicago Daily News is very developed and successful. Residents of Chicago have their own place to turn when they witness or hear about a story. They can simply report it into this website for others to read about. As mentioned before, this newspaper is solely dedicated to what is happening in Chicago.

I was extremely impressed with this site. Compared to other similar sites, this one was by far one of the nicest and most developed. I found myself reading about things that do not even concern me, but they caught my eye anyway, which is impressive to say the least. The residents of Chicago definitely know what they are doing and I hope they continue to keep this site going. If I could give an award, this site would easily get it. Not only is it organized and easy to read, but it catches and holds the reader’s attention.

I hope CyberJournalists continue to write and develop new sites. This is a great way for members of specific communities to stay in touch and have a chance to give back to their communities. Its things like this that make people feel important or like they’re able to express their knowledge and feelings. Keep it up!

Survivor: Fans v. Favorites

I must admit, Survivor has never been one of my favorite shows. However, I found that this new twist on the show has sparked my interest. To this day, I have only seen one – maybe two episodes of Survivor. The one thing I noticed as I was watching it is that we, as viewers, only get to see the most dramatic and competitive activities that happen on the island. In class, we discussed how we do not get to see every aspect of a specific show – only the ones that would make us want to watch it and keep coming back for more. Survivor is just another great example of the excessive amount of editing going on behind the scenes.

The fans versus favorites setup is just asking for massive amounts of drama. Many people could argue that it was solely set up for the purpose of attracting viewers through drama and excitement. Think about it: What Survivor fan wouldn’t want to watch their top favorite players battle against normal, everyday fans like themselves? My point is, is that there are many happenings which occur behind the scenes that we, as viewers, never get a chance to see. We don’t get to see them because they are simply edited out, which is due to the fact that these scenes are not dramatic or exciting enough to attract and hold the viewers’ attention.

This new twist on Survivor will most likely be a success because it offers quite the competition. Alexis mentions how they, as fans, know the “favorites’” strengths and weaknesses. This statement alone is enough to spark the interest of viewers – especially diehard fans. But what most people don’t realize is that they are only seeing a small fraction of what is really happening on the island.

Max Headroom: Exposure and Attention

There are many different media messages in Max Headroom's episode entitled War. The main one that stuck out to me was that of exposure and attention. The two news channels, Network 23 and Breakthru TV made it possible for everyone to be exposed to the set up terrorist attacks on the news. As stated in the textbook, a person cannot attend a message without being exposed to it. Exposure and attention go hand-in-hand in this episode because there are many messages being exposed. Therefore, the people who are being exposed to the messages are also attending the messages if they want to see what is going on.

The men at the beginning of the episode were being exposed and attending to the message coming in over the webcam. Also, every time a person was watching something on a monitor, they were being exposed and attending to that specific message. These are just two of the many examples of exposure and attention in this Max Headroom episode.