Mediasphere

Before seeing my classmate's presentation, I did not realize there was a difference between mainstream and alternative media.

Mainstream media refers to that which we usually think of -- Fox News, CNN, USA Today, AP, etc. Alternative media refers to companies that are not mainstream (obviously), meaning that they are not owned by corporations. Alternative media companies do not focus on profits, so they do not have to worry about conflicts of interest in relation to objectivity. Because of this, some alternative media is pushed off as being full of "conspiracy theories" since anyone can come up with and publish their thoughts on their media platforms.

The Internet is a deep place that allows individuals to express themselves however they may choose. This gives individuals and groups the power to spread their opinions as far and wide as they can, even if what they are spreading has any level of truth or falsity behind it. As the students stated in their presentation, this could lead to issues of there being an overload of information that may not be the highest quality.

The targeted audiences is one of the biggest differences between mainstream and alternative media. While mainstream aims to satisfy a majority of the population, whether that is those who watch the actual news stories or those who use the Internet/social media to get the information, alternative media aims to portray information to a much smaller group. In some circumstances, alternative media outlets will be extremely polarized in their political or social views, or even how they view the business, sciences, or medical realms. Alternative media companies rely heavily on the Internet and sometimes radio as opposed to television.

This is where the importance of reliable sources comes in, since the idea of "fake news" is so prevalant today. The news' job is to report facts, not opinions. When opinions are inserted into news, that source is then "biased" and will input that bias onto the reader, making it bad news. It's vital to consider a source's facts, how they ensure that these facts are true, and if the language they use, whether verbal or written, portrays a certain bias, especially if it is political news. As previously stated, anyone can post their thoughts pretty much wherever they want to - it is up to the readers to be critical and analytical about what they are reading.

Interestingly enough, the student presenters found that The Economist, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times are among some of the most reliable sources, while CNN, ABC, the Huffington Post, and NBC are some of the least reliable sources.

That's all for now...
Lynds