This is my informational blog about the laws that are used in today's media and how to interpret what they mean. I also will be sharing information that includes historical information about the technology we use today for media.
In this blog post, I will be detailing some inventions that my peers shared in their "Each One, Teach One" presentations. Just like my blog post about the telegraph, this blog post will be sharing new information I discovered from other pieces of technology in history.
The History of the Carrier Pigeons
Many people know about carrier pigeons being one of the first ways to communicate across varying distances. Little did I know, however, the origin of carrier pigeons and where it started.
According to the research one of my classmates found, the first instances of carrier pigeons was likely in ancient Egypt. This was the fastest way to get a message from point A to point B. In addition, carrier pigeons were also used during the Roman Empire; there was quite a large usage of them at that time. Initially, carrier pigeons were used only for the wealthy who wanted to deliver their mail faster than on horseback. At the time, it was a privilege to have a carrier pigeon deliver your message.
Carrier pigeons were also regarded in the Middle East, and were help in high esteem, calling them "King's Angels". Again, as you can see, they were used primarily for the wealthiest of citizens.
A fun fact about carrier pigeons is that pigeon racing became an official sport in the 1900s! Who knew!
The Invention and History of Television
Television is both one of the greatest and most astonishing inventions when it comes to technology. Before the television, there was Paul Nipkow, who invented the electric telescope in 1884, which was a spinning disk system that could 'scan' things. After this invention, years later, Philo Farnsworth demonstrated the first electronic TV system in 1927. This was technically the first ever invention of the television, the earliest and closest thing to a TV like the ones we have today.
The television helped revolutionize communication and fostered shared cultural experiences. Once it became a worldwide invention, majority of the population eventually had one and could experience real time events with other countries at the same time, which positively impacted communication between countries. It helped unite the world and brought people together when it came to watching favorite shows or witnessing live television broadcasts.
Of course, there are negatives with every positive. Concerns over televised violence, particularly on children, became quite prominent. One way children would find entertainment was through the TV, but unfortunately, there were times when there was no perfect way to monitor whether violence would pop up on the television. In addition, it sparked debates on content regulation and parental supervision. The issue rose that parents should be supervising their children when watching TV to help diminish the possibility of violence being displayed.
Obviously, television made it a very long way and better ways to monitor children while watching TV has become very advanced. For example, Netflix has the feature that allows children to only view child-approved content. In addition, on cable, there are many different channels that promote only kids shows which helps diminish the impact of violence on children nowadays.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the inventions that I chose to speak about are inventions that were necessary for technology to be as advanced as it is today. These inventions helped set in motion extraordinary creations that we could only have imagined back in the day.
My next blog post will detail The Progressive Era and I will be sharing my thoughts on antiwar voices.
In today's blog post, I will be reflecting on a few TEDTalk videos I watched that discuss how media platforms tend to invade our privacy with their technology. After watching four videos detailing how technology invades our privacy, I will be sharing my feelings about the overall arching idea of technology possibly being too powerful and actually having a more negative affect on our daily lives than we are knowledgable of.
Video 1: Juan Enriquez
In the first video, the speaker, Juan Enriquez, compares how platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, cell phones, GPS, and many more are like "electronic tattoos": they provide as much information about who and what you are as any tattoo would. With that remark, he is raising a very strong point. There is such a thing as a digital footprint; things posted, liked, shared, and commented on stay with you throughout the rest of your life with these platforms, whether you like it to or not. Not only that, but the main point Enriquez is making is that these platforms have so much information on you that they could create an entire portfolio just with a few slivers of information. How scary is that?!
In addition, he gives examples of the advancement in facial recognition--almost 88% accurate most of the time--and how with a simple picture, facial recognition technology can recognize those faces in the photo and identify each and every person there. A company named "Face.com" was sold to Facebook, and it contained over 18 billion faces in its system from facial recognition. It is terrifying to think that my face is located somewhere in Facebook's database and how many people have access to seeing what I look like and can identify me across numerous different platforms.
Overall, Juan Enriquez creates the absolute perfect comparison of our presence on digital platforms: Electronic tattoos. His video teaches me to be more aware and cautious about my presence on social media platforms and to be careful with what information I share, because somewhere out there, someone has access to that information and can easily profile me.
Video 2: Catherine Crump
In the second video featuring the speaker Catherine Crump describes how GPS locations allow the government to basically have a detailed portrait of who you are, what you do, your interests, and how you function in everyday life--just based on where you go. Crump states that "thanks to modern technology, the government knows way too much about what happens behind closed doors and local police departments make decisions about who they think you are based on this information."
Something that I had not even thought of are the cameras spread across thousands of streets across the country that are capable of reading license plates. While I completely agree with Crump's idea that police departments know too much about us, I view it as a form of protection. Because police departments know this information, I feel safer knowing that they can make a profile of me, especially since I am not the type to do anything illegal. Maybe for some who prefer to keep their lives private or maybe even those that prefer to be anonymous in order to commit crimes may feel very uncomfortable and unsettled by this idea.
However, coming from someone who feels safe with majority of police departments, I have to say I disagree with the idea that it is an uncomfortable contract that we sign as citizens in the United States.
While I disagree with the main idea that it is "unlawful" for police departments to hold onto information about everyday citizens, I have to say that it does make me uncomfortable that they have information on me, despite me doing nothing wrong. However, I am the kind of person who does not like the idea of the government having that information when they are not the ones that technically enforce the law like police officers do. Yes, the government is the one enforcing laws, but I view police officers as everyday citizens like me and you, but they just have more power.
I cannot explain it well, but I view the government as a more controlling power and police officers more checking citizens and making sure they are following the laws. I have never viewed police officers in general as negative and if anything, I view them as keeping the streets safe and preventing and resolving crime. Unfortunately, there are those police officers that are corrupt and abuse their power to take advantage of and wrongly treat citizens.
In the end, I completely see where Catherine Crump is coming from and I do not like the idea of police departments having technology that powerful and them having the ability to store data about me in their systems, but I have to say I feel less threatened by it.
Video 3: Christopher Soghoian
The third video is with speaker Christopher Soghoian, who discusses how surveillance has happened for more than 100 years, supplied by telephone companies that can wiretap into phone calls. He describes how telephone companies have built surveillance features into the very core of their networks.
The idea of this is quite horrifying, and come to think of it, I have always thought about how unsettling that would be if it were to happen to me. I know that I definitely disagree with the idea that someone should be capable of listening in on a phone call that is happening in private, especially if it is about information that me or someone else does not want to be shared.
Soghoian makes a good point that it does not necessarily have to be someone you know; it could be your own government or a different government, or even someone like a hacker, criminal, or stalker. The thought of this makes me uneasy to think that information I want to discuss in private and I believe is private may not be after all.
His video takes a turn, where he begins listing how Apple and Facebook have created encryptions that make it extremely difficult for anyone to wiretap into messages, phone calls, and Facetime calls. And after more than 100 years, the government finally cannot access information through wiretapping, which Soghoian says they are not happy about. According to Soghoian, "what upsets them the most is that the tech companies have built encryption features into their products and turned them on by default. It's the default piece that matters. In short, the tech companies have democratized encryption. And so, government officials like British Prime Minister David Cameron, they believe that all communications--emails, texts, voice calls--all of these should be available to governments, and encryption is making that difficult." From this statement, I can conclude that Soghoian is making an inference that the government is upset and enraged that it cannot monitor its citizens, and this seems to be a world-wide belief.
He then makes the argument that everyone uses the exact same devices and that there is no such thing as a seperate device that the government can intercept. Now, majority of people want the safety of the government being able to track down and stop hackers, criminals, and other threats, but if they were able to do that, then everyone would be at risk of the government's ability to tap into their devices.
To conclude, there really is no winning with this. If we do not allow the government to tap into all devices and monitor what is going on, then we run the risk of criminals, terrorists, and other threats getting away with their cyber presence. But if we do let the government tap into our devices, then we run the risk of the government being able to spy on all its citizens, not just the bad ones.
Video 4: Darieth Chisolm (unable to link video here)
In the fourth and final video, Darieth Chisolm, the speaker in the video, discusses how the internet, because of how vast it is, can have content on it that is on display against your will. She was a victim of "revenge porn" or as she calls it, "digital domestic violence," and through talking about this trauma, she makes the argument that the government needs to put more laws in place that protect and defend against acts such as this. Unfortunately, only 40 states in the US have laws that somewhat fight against this issue, majority of which are misdemeanor charges. Because of the lack of attention this worldwide issue has gotten, there are little to no consequences for those who commit this heinous act, and there are no solutions to stop it currently--without it costing thousands of dollars and countless hours of waiting. Even then, there is no true solution to this yet.
However, if the government can put in place laws that actually help protect victims against this crime and allows punishments for those who commit the crime, there may be some resolution in this. It is terrifying to think that not only would someone be capable of committing an act like that, but the internet having that content and millions having the ability to view it. Even once it is deleted or removed from the internet, it really is never officially 'removed.' Just like a digital footprint, there is some data somewhere that contains that content, someone may have downloaded it and can share it from there, and the fact that the internet was even able to take in that content should be criticized and a solution should be found.
Reflection
Overall, all the issues mentioned in the videos have been issues that have crossed my mind, especially the idea of wiretapping into devices. As a Sci-Fi novel enthusiast, the idea that the government could have as much power as they did in the book 1984 by George Orwell is horrific to think of. In the novel, the government has surveillance everywhere and can hear every conversation of every citizen through every device. If the government were to approve a law that allows them to tap into devices, I know I personally would be very concerned about my privacy and the government invading it. I know such things as data being stored in all types of different platforms concerns me for my family and myself because god forbid something were to happen to their information and they face the problem of identity theft or other major crimes that could affect their lives heavily.
For all these issues, I believe that the government should make laws that prevent others from, for example, having information available to them from data stored on the internet, as well as having the ability to post content about others against their will. I believe for both of those, there needs to be some way to monitor that and prevent it from happening.
I believe some ways to protect ourselves would be to simply not share personal information on the internet, make accounts private to only you and people you know, as well as not sharing pictures that may put you in a vulnerable state unwillingly. To be honest, there really is no way to fully and completely protect ourselves from these issues due to the ability that technology has. If we were to stop using technology all together--especially the internet--that problem would likely be solved. But, to no surprise, that will likely never happen, and definitely not happen anytime soon. Perhaps in the future, there will be some sort of solution to all these issues mentioned, but until then, we have to try to survive with these problems.
Conclusion
To conclude, all the topics mentioned in the TEDTalk videos really opened my eyes to not only how vast the internet is and how vulnerable we are to it, but how much of our privacy we really have. Majority of the population on earth no longer has that full 'privacy' and pretty much anyone can find information about everyone. Technology is a scary thing...
Next week, I will be sharing information about some historic inventions that my peers did research on and I will be reflecting on it.
For the "Each One, Teach One" presentation project, I chose to present on the telegraph, an extremely influential invention that many have likely forgotten today. Without the telegraph, many inventions that we use daily and hold great importance to were invented with the telegraph being its starter point.
In this blog post, I will be discussing the history of the telegraph and how it came to be the invention we know today. In addition, I will be mentioning the impact of the telegraph on society back then and how it has affected society today with both positives and negatives.
Before the physical telegraph product was invented, it had to have been created in the mind, and the idea of the telegraph was invented in 1798. This idea was simply a rough system that was first used throughout France. After the idea was invented, many others seeking fame claimed to have come up with the invention themselves. However, the first one to formerly claim it was Samuel Morse, who created his version of the working telegraph by 1832. With this physical version of the telegraph, he was able to claim the title of the invention of the telegraph and from there, the ways in which humans communicated only evolved.
So...how exactly did the telegraph work?
Well, the telegraph converted messages into electric impulses that could travel by wire to long-distance receivers, then converted back to readable text. This became known as "Morse Code," named, of course, after the man who not only invented the telegraph, but invented morse code which was used as the first formal way of communicating across long distances quickly.
Morse Code
Morse Code--created by none other than Samuel Morse--was used as the official 'language' of the telegraph. Instead of words being used to communicate, combinations of short and long 'tones' were used, and each sound represented a letter of the alphabet. At the time, there was no effective way to communicate through voice over far distances, so Samuel Morse came up with the idea of conversing through sounds.
Morse code was later put into use with the telegraph, which made the telegraph one of the most advanced pieces of technology at the time.
Samuel Morse built a huge telegraph system from Washington D.C. all the way to Baltimore, Maryland in 1843. Years later, it eventually extended to New York. In May of 1844, the first message sent on the telegraph said, "What hath God wrought?" which was an amazing accomplishment on Morse's part.
Years later, in 1864, the top telegraph company, Western Union, operated on 44,000 miles of wire and was valued at $10 million, which increased to $21 million the next year. By 1866, 100,000 miles of wire were placed around the country and Western Union reached its capital stock value of $40 million.
Flash forward 50 years, by 1910, the Mann-Elkins Act was put in place, which granted Interstate Commerce Commission regulatory oversight of the telegraph rates. By 1934, the Communications Act was created, establishing the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It regulated radio, telegraph, and telephone communications. Due to the advancement in technology at this time, the radio and telephone diminished the impact of the telegraph.
Impact of the Telegraph
The positives:
The telegraph had a pretty existential impact on the world, but before the telegraph, there was the printing press, which was invented in 1440. With the printing press, it took days, weeks, and sometimes even months to send messages across the country. However, with the telegraph, messages could be sent over long distances within minutes. This was a huge development in technology and advancement in how to easily communicate quickly.
The telegraph improved national and international news where countries could quickly spread news and information within minutes, which also helped contribute to world peace.
In addition, the telegraph made newspapers look like 'old news.' People found it less efficient to spread information through newspapers compared to quickly spreading information along telegraph lines. With that being said, the telegraph helped encourage the idea of 'instant messaging' and started the future creation of messages through phones.
The negatives:
Some of the negatives with the telegraph was the potential to spread misinformation due to rapid transmission of the messages sent. Those that sent and received messages had to know morse code like the back of their hand, and if you know how morse code is typically used, it is very quick and without lots of experience, it would be easy to miss the message or completely misunderstand it.
To add, telegraph lines that were placed were often placed in a manor that could disrupt the surrounding environment. It could displace habitats for animals and could potentially disrupt the living conditions of people.
Conclusion
Overall, it is clear to see that the telegraph was one of those inventions that helped start the snowball of technology as we know it today. It began the idea of the telephone, which eventually evolved into the cellphone, and finally into the iPhone. Without the telegraph, technology would not be as it is today.
Join me in my next discussion where I will be highlighting my views on the topic of 'Invasion of Privacy' and how I feel about some laws/rights having access to my private life.
In this next blog post, I will be reflecting on the Eight Values of Free Expression as how I personally view and interpret them.
According to the article published by Dr. Dean Smith on his Blogger profile, he lists out all eight of the free expressions as interpreted by different researchers: Discovery of Truth, Participation in Self-Government, Safety Valve, Self-Actualization, Watchdog Role, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent. Dr. Dean Smith's blog post --> SPEECH THEORIES - Eight Values of Free Expression
From these, I will be going through each one and towards the end of the blog post, I will discuss which expression I resonate the most with, which one feels most important, which one feels the most personal to me, and which one I see in action today.
Discovery of Truth
The first of the eight values of free expression is "Discovery of Truth." A perfect way to explain this value would be through John Milton's interpretation, where he labels this value as the "Marketplace of Ideas." He suggested that when "truth and falsehood are allowed to freely grapple, truth will win out. And the grappling makes the truth even stronger." Milton made this argument when he was arguing "against requiring a license to print/publish" and wanted to make a point that truth will eventually come out and that needing a license to print or publish is unnecessary due to the idea that everyone will be able to discover the truth on their own and a license is not needed to help ensure that.
Participation in Self-Government
The second of the eight values of free expression is "Participation in Self-Government," the idea that people in society can self-govern themselves and do not need someone to govern them in their everyday lives. Alexander Meiklejohn's article titled Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government best explains his thoughts on this. According to Dr. Smith's article featuring Meiklejohn's work, people in society can govern themselves in everyday activities but need guidance and leadership when it comes to political decisions and they need someone who is well-informed in political issues to be involved in debates.
Safety Valve
The third of the eight values of free expression is "Safety Valve," which is best explained in Dr. Smith's blog post as stable change and how "it has been suggested that a society in which angry and alienated citizens are allowed to speak their mind, or 'vent,' will be more stable, as people will be less likely to resort to violence" to share their opinions or thoughts. Allowing those alienated groups to vent allows them to get their anger out, while also giving the government the ability to monitor those groups to keep track of potential threats or dangers within that group.
Self-Actualization
The fourth of the eight values of free expression is "Self-Actualization," or described by C. Edwin Baker in Dr. Smith's blog as "Individual Self-Fulfillment". According to Dr. Smith's blog, "[f]ree speech enables individuals to express themselves and thereby create their own identity--and, in the process perhaps, find kindred spirits. Freedom of speech thus becomes an aspect of human dignity, human agency and autonomy." From this, one can draw the conclusion that it is deemed appropriate to allow people in a society the ability to express themselves and their identity as however they deem fit. With this, it promotes a healthy, happy environment where people feel accepted for who they are.
Watchdog Role
The fifth of the eight values of free expression, "Watchdog Role" is also described as a "Check on Governmental Power," where people in a society feel stable and safe knowing that the press has freedom of speech and can spread information regarding a possible abuse of power from those in a governmental position. With that being said, the press and the public can technically 'check' the power of the government through this spread of information, ensuring that no one in governmental power violates the Constitution and does not cheat the system.
Promote Tolerance
The sixth of the eight values of free expression, "Promote Tolerance," discusses how the ability to freely speak allows people to build up a tolerance towards issues in society and "towards other aspects of life--and that a more tolerant society is a better society." Being able to gain tolerance towards, for example, hate speech allows citizens to learn "valuable lessons."
Promote Innovation
The seventh of the eight values of free expression, "Promote Innovation," highlights how "[a] community in which free speech is valued and protected is likely to be a more energized, creative, interesting society as its citizens actively fulfill themselves in many diverse and interesting ways." To add, the idea that promoting free speech allows for more innovation and creativity in people's makes sense. When people can use their creativity and skills openly without limit, they tend to feel fulfilled and content with that ability and due to this, can promote a better society as a whole.
Protect Dissent
Last--but certainly not the least--of the eight values of free expression is "Protect Dissent." This eighth value details how beliefs and views from minority groups are protected and therefore, if one disagrees with the government, their beliefs are protected. The government will not pursue you with determination to change your mind, but will acknowledge it due to the protection of dissent value.
My Reflection
Of all the eight values of free expression, the one that resonates the most with me would have to be the "Promote Innovation" value. I know that I really appreciate when I can be as creative as I like without limits and I personally can say that it does make my life not only interesting, but I tend to value it much more because I am allowed the ability to use my skills how I want. Without that power, I know much of my life would not be nearly as interesting as it is today.
The one that feels the most important would have to be the "Watchdog Role" or the "Check of Government Power" value. I love to read science fiction novels, like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 opened my eyes to the possibility of the government abusing its power and its citizens being not knowledgable about such abuse. However, due to the ability of the press having freedom to publish any information it wants, it allows the public to view any supposed abuse of power according to the press and check the government for it, relieving the concern of any abuse of power being unnoticed and unacknowledged.
Again, the one that feels most personal to me would have to be the "Promote Innovation" value. As mentioned previously, I hold my ability to be openly creative as very valued and without it, I would not only be boring, but so would my life.
One of the values I see in action the most in today's society would be the "Self-Actualization" value. Especially with newer generations, the idea of expressing who you are and who you identify as has never been more encouraged and advocated for.
Conclusion
Before reading about the Eight Values of Free Expression, I will be completely honest--I had no idea what they were, which is crazy because these expressions are used in our everyday life. I am proud to say that I now have a better understanding of our freedom of speech and how I am able to express myself.
In my next blog, I will be sharing my findings for a project titled "Each One Teach One," where I display my findings on a specific piece of technology and how it impacted the world: The telegraph!
In this blog post, I highlight some interesting facts that I learned about the Supreme Court that I had no prior knowledge of before an educational video I watched.
I feel as though many people often forget how important the Supreme Court is in making decisions in cases that tend to be about major controversies or issues. I know I, for one, was never taught much about the Supreme Court except that they have final say in the cases they are given and are the most powerful branch in our judicial system. However, after watching a video about the history behind the Supreme Court and how it came to be the Supreme Court we know today, I can say I have acquired much information about the Supreme Court.
The History Behind the Supreme Court
According to the video I watched, the Supreme Court remains to this day the most powerful judicial body on earth. I was naturally surprised by the fact that it is the most powerful judicial body in the world because I would have thought that somewhere in the world, there would be some type of body that had more power than the Supreme Court, but I was wrong.
A fact that I did already know was that the Supreme Court interprets the constitution and making sure that liberty is still pursued and they strive to preserve the union and uphold the rule of law based on the constitution. In all of American history, there have been just over a hundred Supreme Court justices, serving an average of 16 years. Many remain on the bench twice that long, even decades after the president who appointed them has left office. I had no idea that justices served for that long so that was an interesting fact I learned.
The Process Behind Cases Given to the Supreme Court
One of the most interesting facts I learned from the video was the amount of cases the Supreme Court receives and reviews. According to the video, the Supreme Court receives more than a hundred new cases every week (about 7,000 a year). Most cases arrive as petitions for certiorari, written arguments attempting to persuade the court that a lower court ruling was incorrect. The court accepts very few of these cases for full consideration--only about a hundred a year.
Newly arrived petitions, along with written arguments in cases already accepted, are sent to the justices once a week. In their private office, each justice is assisted by a small staff of law clerks and secretaries to help review the cases. However, the justices themselves are expected to individually be responsible for deciding each case. From there, the justices meet weekly in their chambers to choose which cases the court will accept and decide, and to discuss and vote on cases which have already been argued.
Within a few days after hearing arguments, the justices gather in their conference room to vote on the case. In this room, the nine justices are alone. There are no law clerks or even a secretary. After the justices vote to decide a case in the conference room, one of the justices on the majority side is assigned to write an opinion explaining the legal reasons for the decision. From this information, the video explains that "opinion writing for the justices is the most time-consuming part of the justice's work."
Take-Away Points with the Supreme Court
One of the most important key takeaways about the Supreme Court--in my opinion--is the lengthy process of how the justices decide on a case that is brought to them. Before watching the video, I assumed that the court would take some time in processing the cases they received, but I find it extremely important that I now know the entire process behind cases being decided upon.
The most surprising thing I learned would have to be how long it takes justices to actually finish a first draft of the court's opinion in about four weeks. That was a surprising length of time to me; I honestly would have thought a draft would take a few hours.
Conclusion
After viewing the educational video about the Supreme Court, I have a completely different insight in how the Supreme Court functions. I believe the information I was able to collect from the video deeply helped be better understand our justice system, and with that understanding, I hope I can be a better American citizen in my understanding of our laws.
**If you would like to view the videos I watched, you can find their links here --> Part I & Part II **
In my next blog post, I will be discussing the Eight Values of Freedom!
Blog Post 1: My Top 5 Sources of News & Information
Nation-wide and international news and information has been shared and spread through all kinds of platforms. What first started as news being spread through newspapers progressed to television, and now can be found pretty much anywhere on technology devices. Applications have been created solely for the purpose of providing news to everyone on the go with just the tap of a finger. Since my generation is the generation that uses technology the most, I have a few apps of my own that I use to find out information that is happening around me.
In this post, I will be presenting my top five sources of news and information, and provide unique findings with those sources that I recommend users apply to their search for news.
Source 1 - NewsBreak
My first source that I use as a college student is NewsBreak. I first heard of NewsBreak through an ad on Snapchat and I personally love NewsBreak because I can specifically find news in the city I live in or in areas I am visiting. The app has features that allows you to specify what you want the app to tell you, whether it is politics, criminal activity, or information specific to the area. It tells me about accidents, crime, and events that I need to know of that are happening near me. Altogether, this app is a great way to receive news and information that is more specific to one's interests.
Source 2 - Fox News
The second source that I prefer to use is Fox News, which is widely known to be a national news outlet, mainly discussing politics, news around the nation, and features news that is international, as well. I prefer Fox News not only because of my political stance, but I have found Fox News has been both reliable and informational and I tend to agree on its views. I would recommend because they cover a variety of topics, but it is a conservative news channel, so it may not appeal to all. I also have found it reliable and trustworthy depending on if you agree with its views.
Source 3 - The Wall Street Journal
My third choice in news sources and information is The Wall Street Journal, where I am able to gather information about what is happening in the world today and I can keep up with overall information without it getting too political. I tend to enjoy non-political news sources the most because I feel like there is no bias or filter, however, The Wall Street Journal is known for being a tad bit conservative.
Source 4 - CNN
While CNN is not my most liked news source since it can be so political and does have some views that I personally do not agree with, I like CNN for giving me news straightforward and covering a variety of topics, so therefore, CNN is on my list of top sources I use for news and information. Like Fox News, CNN is trustworthy and reliable depending on if their views agree with others, but I still recommend it as a news source as it does get the job done in sharing information about what is happening in our country as well as our nation.
Source 5 - Instagram
Instagram is my fifth source of information and news since I go on Instagram often, but it definitely is not my first choice because it is hard to find accounts that are authentic and share real news and not false information. I like Instagram because I can quickly scroll through information without having to read and analyze large paragraphs. One issue with Instagram is, again, the easy spread of false information and posts not giving all the information necessary without misinformation being spread, and therefore, I would not recommend this as a news source unless absolutely necessary. In addition, here have been some instances where Instagram and Facebook have been accused of being biased and permitting information that supports one side compared to the other, so that contributes to the negatives with the application. Instagram is not a reliable source for news, but occasionally, I will see things that I did not know where happening in the real world, which helps.
Conclusion
I hope the sharing of my thoughts and opinions on these news and information sources was helpful, and please take my recommendations into consideration. I am still currently looking for more news sources that I like and will be attempting to find more reliable ones at that.
My next post will detail the Supreme Courtand I will share my thoughts on it and what new facts and information I learned while researching about it.
