Blog Post 11: Each One, Teach One - Second Presentation Reflection

 Each One, Teach One: Reaction Post

In this blog post, I will be reflecting on information shared by my fellow peers from their "Each One, Teach One" presentation!

There were many topics shared from many different students, but there were a few topics that I personally took an interest in, and I will be discussing them down below!

Five Eyes

Before this presentation, I had no idea what "Five Eyes" was and had never heard of it before. Now, I am much more aware of what it is. Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing process between five different countries. It originated all the way back to WWII, where the US and the UK worked together to intercept enemy communication. They set up intelligence sharing between the two countries to stay in the know about the enemy and allied together to get ahead of the pack.

Today, Five Eyes still exists, and it mainly focuses on cyberthreats, geopolitical intelligence, and terrorism. Five Eyes only became apparent to the public once there were a bunch of data leaks from around the world. These leaks revealed extensive monitoring actions, which in return made citizens angry and upset about their governments spying on its own citizens. 

Because of this outrage, there have been many who strive to completely eliminate Five Eyes and to discontinue its operations. While I completely understand why citizens would be outraged due to not being aware of the government's actions, I also understand why they had to keep that information under wraps. In order for them to catch criminals or conspirators, they had to go unseen by the public. However, I do believe honesty and transparency is the best policy.

Disinformation

I had heard the term of "disinformation" before, but never knew the full extent of its meaning. According to my classmate who presented on this topic, disinformation is information deliberately spread in order to influence public opinion or to obscure the truth. 

My peer discussed both the negatives and the positives, as follows:

Positives: 

- Unites people

- Removes shame

- Give feeling of power

- Confirm already believed thoughts

- Gives explanation to unexplained events

- Provides a release

Negatives: 

- Takes away trust

- Can make you emotional 

- Creates division

- Leaves you in uncertainty

- Can be dangerous

I have to say I completely agree with all of these positives and negatives, especially under "Positives," that it provides a release and gives feelings of power. Many people who deliberately spread false information want to feel that they have the power to influence those around them, and through disinformation, they are able to achieve that. In addition, under the "Negatives" list, it definitely takes away trust and leaves you in uncertainty. If you were to listen to everything someone says and find out that it is all false information, you would be left doubting everything you hear from someone else, regardless of whether it is actually true or false.

Within the presentation, it was mentioned that disinformation is mainly found on social media, happening through trolls, AI, hackers, and search history like recommended engines. 

Ways to combat disinformation include:

- Looking at the author & where the source comes from

- Dig deeper on the topic to fully understand what is being discussed & so you are aware of what information is correct and what information may be false or incorrect

- Do a personal bias check; double check if the information is coming from someone who is biased

- Ask well-educated people about the information to ensure it is correct information

- Was the article with information done for satire? Was it serious?

**IMPORTANT: Disinformation is hard to spot!!!***

False Flags

The third topic I was interested in was the topic of false flags. False flags is a strategic operation put in place by the party at fault to pin the blame on another party. This is typically used in politics to paint one side as looking worse than the other. Countries also tend to use false flags to make their citizens lean on their own government for support rather than seeking out other countries. A perfect example is China. China tends to want to portray itself as elite and perfect to its citizens, hiding controversial events and using false flags to make other countries seem less appealing and look bad to their citizens.

Some positives of false flags include gaining tactical advantage in war, as well as possibly gaining public support. 

On the downside, there are negatives of using false flags. For example, using false flags is essentially lying to the public, is unethical, and hurts international allies. For a country like China who does not really care about its reputation and its allies, the negatives do not really affect it. However, for countries like the USA and smaller countries with less military support who rely on having allies, using false flags can be very detrimental to their reputation and is usually avoided at all costs.

How False Flags Affect Society as a Whole

- Public loses trust

- Death of innocent people & destroying of their homes

- Affects who people vote for in the future

- Destroys social unity

- Protests & riots may rise

How it Affects Certain Groups

- Wealthier people tend to have more resources and power than people with less money

- Minorities are more likely to be targeted

Conclusion

To conclude, I really enjoyed listening to my peers' presentations; I feel I learned so much more than I expected to learn. There were so many more topics that I did not mention in my blog post that caught my attention and I learned many new things about our government and the actions it takes. 

My next blog post will be my final post, so I am looking forward to seeing you join me in my last post on this platform! Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

Blog Post 9: Each One, Teach One - (group & topic)

Each One, Teach One: Citizen Journalism

Today, I will be discussing the topic I chose to present on for my second EOTO presentation. I chose to talk about Citizen Journalism! If you have not heard of this term before, you definitely want to pay attention because it is a very important definition to understand.

What is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen journalism is where citizens participate in the action of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and spreading news. Some real life examples include:

- Black Lives Matter Movement

- The 2013 Turkish Protests

- John F. Kennedy Assassination

Pros & Cons of Citizen Journalism

Positives:

- Interaction with Media: 

Citizen journalism allows for the average citizen to interact with media. Without citizen journalism, most citizens would not take part in interactions with the news media.

- Personal to Viewers:

Because it is average citizens involved in news coverage and journalism, this makes it more personal and appealing to others.

- Untouched by Media:

News media and other professional journalists tend to share news stories that are filtered or edited to fit their viewpoint or to fit the narrative. With citizens participating in sharing stories, they tend to stay unfiltered.

- Diverse Perspectives:

Anyone can participate in citizen journalism and because of this, more diverse stories can be shared rather than just the mainstream news anchors. All kinds of different topics can be shared and multiple different perspectives are viewed.

- Gives Minorities Voice: 

Again, anyone can participate in citizen journalism. Because of this, people who are part of diverse minority groups can share their voice and opinions on different stories from around the world. Citizen journalism gives everyone a voice!

Negatives:

- Potential Misinformation:

With citizen journalism, anyone can share information. Because the average citizen can participate, there is the potential for misinformation since they may not do research to the fullest extent or they may intentionally leave information out to help their opinion spread. 

- Lack of Professional Training:

As mentioned above, people who are participating in citizen journalism may not exactly have the same training and experience as other mainstream media personnel, which leads me into my next point.

- Credibility/Trust Issues:

People tend to trust those they see consistency from, like people on the mainstream media. With average citizens coming out and sharing information, it is much harder to garner audience trust and build credibility for yourself because of your possible lack of training or being an unknown individual.

Impact of Citizen Journalism

There are many positive impacts when it comes to citizen journalism. 

The average citizen can easily practice their First Amendment: speech! They have the freedom to participate in sharing their opinions with the world. Citizen journalism helps to enhance the freedoms of America. 

Additionally, it helps promote government transparency where citizens can hold the government accountable for potential withholding of information or false information intentionally spread to make the government look better. 

To add on, it challenges traditional media that tends to follow a specific narrative. Citizen journalism promotes stories that are typically shutdown or hidden by the mainstream media because it does not fit their narrative. 

And to conclude, citizen journalism empowers citizens to step up to their role as a citizen and inform all about what is going on in our nation.

Conclusion

Citizen journalism is extremely important to our nation. It allows stories that are ignored to be shared with everyone. It also supports patriotism and shows that our country works together to inform others of what is happening in the world. It brings people together where they have a safe space to share their thoughts and opinions. It can be concerning because it does put people in a vulnerable position to be criticized for their opinions or stories shared, but it does allow information to be spread that is unfiltered and untouched.

Next time, I will be sharing my thoughts on living in The Age of AI and how it impacts me. See you then!

Blog Post 7: The Progressive Era

 The Progressive Era

In my blog today, I will be writing about why the average citizen must seek out anti-war websites that share information from writers about anti-war arguments, and why it is that no one seems to hear about it in the mainstream media.

First Website: antiwar.com

This first website, when visited pops up with a bunch of different topics surrounding war from around the world. The writings in this blogger website are all very strong...but why are we not hearing about the things discussed in these blogs on the news? 

Second Website: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/

My Opinion

I believe that the reason behind why the average citizen is not viewing discussions surrounding topics of antiwar like on this website because the government wants to retain a certain image. If the news were to be talking about anti-war, people could begin siding with the idea that war is actually a horrible way to assert dominance by a government. 

Since anti-war talk is so marginalized due to it not being discussed, the media figures it is not as important to discuss since it does not fit a certain 'narrative.' The media relies on tellings stories from major sources and huge political and economic interests. They tend to rely on official sources like government press briefings, defense department updates, and corporate PR. Since anti-war voices often challenge these sources (questioning military actions, questioning government actions, foreign policy, military spending, etc) they don't fit the typical narrative. For example, questioning or critiquing U.S. military actions or alliances like NATO might be seen as "unpatriotic," which can make editors of stories in the media nervous about including such perspectives.

Additionally, these websites usually are not found easily enough due to underfunding since many of these websites are created by small groups that, again, do not fit the typical narrative. Because they do not fit the narrative, many people view them as outcasts. They tend to rely on donations, which limits their ability to spread their message and views, and it especially makes it difficult for the mainstream media to pick up their stories or opinions and share it across media.

To conclude, as many of us know, things like war and conflict sell. People watch more news that has to do with shocking events and out-of-the-ordinary occurrences. While anti-war talk is out of the ordinary, the average citizen tends to crave something more dramatic and sensational, like war. News channels that report on things like war get more views which in turn earns them more money, while anti-war messages tend to be more subtle and reflective--view it as less sexy and appealing as war.

Conclusion

With the websites listed above, I had no knowledge of websites like these before discovering them. I did really think about the idea that there are groups out there who are strongly against war and try to spread their message around the nation and around the world. Because I am not of this, and I am sure many others are not, it only goes to show how the mainstream media picks and chooses its stories, and if they think it will not sell, they do not bother. 

I believe that mainstream news should try to stray away from the typical narrative and share more nuanced stories like these. I know I would watch!

My next blog will be sharing information about the Diffusion Theory and my thoughts on it! See you next time!

Blog Post 1: My Top Five Sources of News & Information

 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 Court and I will share my thoughts on it and what new facts and information I learned while researching about it.