Journalism/Broadcasting

Freedom in the Media 2019: A Downward Spiral Pt. 2

I have some of my thoughts and disdain towards a lot of social media and believe it to generally be something that has been detrimental to society for the last decade. That being said, I can definitely recognize the power it has had in pushing media that I would have probably never seen before - for both good and bad - and I can appreciate it for that. This is definitely something that is more useful in authoritarian regimes, and while I have seen Cubans on Facebook, I know other apps are inaccessible without a VPN (and knowledge of this is already limited) and restricted for general usage. I wonder what someone in North Korea would be like using global social media in a similar way.

Freedom in the Media 2019: A Downward Spiral Pt. 1

Personally, I hate to say this, but I would like to claim for-profit news outlets for dominating the scene and leading to this deteriorating freedom of media. I recall the president of CNN saying that he wanted to make the news more like the NFL, and it is something I cannot find now. Good news does not sell, and there is a great feeling of disillusion with the media right now throughout the world. As pointed out by Dr. Davis earlier, practically anyone with a camera can be a journalist nowadays. Some guy with a YouTube channel can have more hits than Fox or CNN on their best day, everyday, and most certainly has a bias or agenda to push (as they all do really).

World Press Freedom Index 2021

I immediately went to go and check out this listing, and saw Japan at 67 in the dark-yellow and was not really surprised. Even less surprising is seeing my family's home countries being in red and black, and Latin America in general being very red. A lot of media has become very deceptive recently, and this works for just about anything imaginable. North Korea has infamously been caught lying about winning every FIFA world cup, and edit the information to make it look as though they are telling the truth. Even more than just soccer too. Being a bit of a history-buff, this definitely reminds me of the days of yellow-journalism, except this yellow seems a lot darker to me and I have been calling it "Orange Journalism" for some time now.

I wonder how this data stacks up compared to the same data collected on corrupt governments. This should not even be a thought, as this would be very obviously go hand in hand.

US Statement on Diversion of Ryanair flight and Arrest of Journalist

I have not been keeping up with [Central] European news in quite a while, so this case flew right over me. It is pretty damning of governments to jail and silence those who oppose them. Many times, the "Streisand Effect" occurs after they do this, and the ones they silenced and/or the issue they are trying to silence becomes more prominent than before.

The second half of the media work was interesting as well. It did a really nice job of explaining everything and didn't leave me to wonder.

Something that stood out to me early on, was that on page 19, it talked about hostility and how some journalists are treated so poorly. The article mentioned, "leaders signal that hostility toward journalists is permissible, including by standing

down in the wake aggression." Why is it okay to be mean to these people and be hostile? Exactly, it shouldn't be. The journalists are trying to do their job too.

The article continues with different "tool box" ideas and focuses mainly on this and the decline of popularity especially in government interactions. I look forward to going back and reading everyone's posts and seeing their point of view.

In the second half of the Freedom and the Media: A Downward Spiral article, they discuss the relationship between the media and the government. I found it interesting that in many undemocratic countries, leaders would "co-opt the media with the intention to stay in power." Media is a vital way to gain access to information which makes it important for a democratic nation to help counter illiberal tactics by governments. The use of media can give people more freedoms and can help bring more awareness to many issues (such as the environmental obstacles), but it is significant that governments work with the media.

The second part of this article discusses the rise of social media and how it has impacted the journalism world. While social media opens the door for people to have access to a ton of information the struggle lies in determining what information is factual and what is not. And this is part of why social media platforms are being restricted in several countries around the world, leaders and other government officials see articles that critique their work or are completely outlandish and they react in ways that can turn hostile. However, there have been efforts made to turn these social media platforms into a buffer space in countries where traditional media is limited. While this is a step in the right direction there still needs to be more done in countries where both social media and news media are restricted.

When one thinks of government suppression of the media, they typically picture the more heavy-handed measures we've often discussed this week. However, this reading showed that indirect methods can often be just as effective while creating less controversy. The leveraging of economic power through regime-friendly oligarchs, government ownership, and selective advertising has been incredibly significant in ensuring government domination of the media in Hungary and Serbia. Perhaps pressure by the EU could help make changes in these countries. Defamation against journalists also seems like a vicious tactic, and has been displayed even in nations that consider themselves liberal democracies. I think the article had an excellent point about how the profit-driven move towards "outrage content" has driven political polarization and mistrust in the media. Hopefully this trend subsides as other methods of fundraising become more utilized by media companies.

I think this article takes a balanced view of the impact of social media on our society. It can clearly be a good thing if it allows people to get the truth about recent happenings and debunk incorrect news reports. However, it becomes more difficult when governments use them to target dissidents. Social media companies can continue to reject government requests to take down posts and deny nations like China and Vietnam unlimited access to user's personal data to combat this. However, this obviously becomes more difficult if a country will ban social networks that don't follow these laws, as this forces the companies into weighing the good of the people there accessing their platform against the downside of aiding censorship. Regulating disinformation is another area that's a challenge, since it raises legitimate questions about whether regulators or social platforms should take on the role of the arbiters of truth. I think the approach of targeting bot networks or paid trolls has merit, as it can be plausibly argued that these do not represent authentic speech.

Concerning the second part of this article, I want to first start off by saying that the media and the government should work together, instead of against each other because this would just create more controversy. The media is the only way citizens can know what is going on in the United States, if the government helps with that, we would know that the news wouldn't be falsified. We need to use social media as a platform to spread collaboration. Honestly, I hate that different news stations are tailored for your political views. I wish they didn't do that.

I like how the article included a featured profile of a journalist in Sudan named Reem Abbas It is great that Abbas feels safer and is more able to work without facing practical impediments. She can now write freely and confidently. I am glad that the circumstances in Sudan are getting better, having this freedom to disseminate will be better for Sudan, making news readily available to their citizens.

Freedom and the Media: A Downward Spiral (p. 16 - 30)

Lack of trust between the government and the media can be one of the most dangerous things a country can face. Without lines of communication between the two, crucial information will get lost in the exchange, making it harder for the citizens to be up to date with everything the government is doing. In my opinion, using social media in places such as Sudan can only help the citizens as they will be able to freely express their opinions and beliefs (as long as the government respects that.)

Recently we all have been talking about journalism and the complications they face on a daily basis. The media has been deteriorating lately, and it shows, especially in these passages. It has even started affecting government and other aspects of democracy.

I keep asking people in the forums what they would change, recommend, or show to make the different situations better. The article has recommendations in it, this time. It said to ensure that different actions do not cause more panic and excitement then take decisive action against those that have wrongdoing, and to promote social media as another form of expression; doing these can help limit the issues and social injustice. I agree; especially about taking quick action. This is always better because it prevents the actions from reoccurringg in the future and always punishes them for their actions.

I also really like that there were different categories in different sections to read. The 1st one talks about media decline, while the 2nd one talks about China's government and media influence. I thought it was a great 1st half, and I can't wait until I read the rest of it.

The concept that is discussed is there is a lack of trust between the government and the media outlets. In order to save face, the government is willing to prove the media right by falling into their criticisms. Torturing them to the point that the journalists will change their turn of phrase. In order to change this, governments need to work with the media and understand that the media is an outlet for the people to understand what is going on in their country or state. In Sudan, utilizing social media had its pros and cons. Social media in the middle east has proven a benefit in the fact that it allows journalists to reach over borders and not pay attention to censorship.