EOTO Pt 1

For this blog post, I decided to research what citizen journalism was as it was a term that i'd never heard of before. Citizen journalism is information that has been collected by a member of the public to inform others on a current event. Typically, photos or video footage is recorded by a citizen and sent to a local news or other public platform that helps inform journalists on a certain event. Citizen journalism is a great way for journalists and other professionals to retrieve information on an event that they cant attend or are unaware of.

Although this is a fairly positive impact of technology and has many positive effects, there are some negative implications as well. Where journalist try their best to be impartial and objective when publishing content, a regular citizen may not do the same when releasing a piece of footage. The citizen can include or leave out bits of information they want and could misinform others about the situation.  The positives to citizen journalism is that it allows journalists who can't be on the scene get a snapshot of what is going on. It is also another was of getting people informed on a situation as soon as it occurs. One example of this was the Manchester Arena bombing after Ariana Grande's concert. Videos and comments of crowds in hysteria were posted on twitter moments after the event took place.

Citizen journalism has already allowed journalists another way of retrieving information if they are not able to be at the specific event themselves. This has allowed news platforms to get information to the public even quicker than before. This can also help people, such as police, firemen, or ambulance to hear about a situation and arrive to it quicker, which could end up saving lives.

Our generation is so connected and social media platforms are bigger than ever. Citizen journalism is a useful tool for journalists and reporters to get information fast on a certain event. Videos and photos or comments from citizen is broadcasted on social media accounts and is quickly turned into articles and news stories by professionals in broadcast media. However, it is also a way that misinformation on a topic can occur so not all information sent by a member of the public is reliable. This method of retrieving information from regular people has advanced the way news is spread and how quickly it is released.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/citizen-journalism
http://thecircular.org/the-impact-of-citizen-journalism-good-or-bad/

Online Privacy

After watching the several Ted talks on how much we are observed online, particularly by government cameras, I was horrified to find out how much information about me is online. It was very disturbing to see how government cameras had several pictures of a man's car, even one of him in his driveway with his children. It was hard to believe that the government would be so intrusive and hard to understand why they'd need pictures like that and information on everyone.

What was the most shocking to me, was the woman who had private pictures of her posted on a website by her ex boyfriend. It is horrible that the government couldn't take down photos of her without jumping through a bundle of legal hoops. It doesn't seem right that someone can post pictures of someone else without their consent.

After watching the 4 videos posted on the media law and lit blog, I was shocked to uncover that the government has more information on me than I am aware. They have access to the phone towers to know where you are at any time and how long you are using your phone, on cellular data mode.  There needs to be some stronger restrictions on the government invading people's privacy.

Phone have had a very destructive role in our lives since they were created and it needs to be taken under control. We are so connected and close to every answer and every person we could ever want to be, but we haven't thought about how many people are connected to us and how many are observing our actions online.