Maybe that sounds silly in a “We Are the World” kind of way, but we as viewers, readers, and commenters actively participate in the media as it is today. We read, we post, we tweet, we repost.
As an older Millennial I don't know what it was like to be a grown-up in the 80s or 90s. Even though I was here on this earth I have no tangible connection to how people got their news 'back in the day.' Because of the interwebs, because of apps, because of social media, we have access to what's going on in ways the public has not had before. That much I have gleaned.
As a journalist there are good points and bad where the social media boom is concerned, but hang with me for a moment.
It pisses me off when people bitch about, “the media” like it's this sinister, black-eyed monster that's eating their young. We are actively participating in media just by being online. It irritates me when I read (or hear) that “the media” doesn't talk enough about Bernie Sanders, or Black Lives Matter, or rape culture. Did you expect to hear that shit on your local news* between traffic and the weather, on your way out the door in the morning?? That's not where we live. Media is no longer something we watch, read, or listen to. It is something we participate in.
What articles, or memes, or thoughts do you share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. ?? That is participatory media involvement.
Fuck the media??
Fuck you. You're part of it just by saying “fuck the media.”
Media is defined as a form of communication that influences people. Most of us do this every day, anymore. Did you read something online that you liked and shared with your people?? Media. Did you rant about how shitty traffic is on Twitter?? Media. Did you have a conversation with someone based upon something you read in a magazine, a paper, a flier, an advertisement, a bus bench ad?? Media.
They is us. We are part of the media now. You no longer have to be a journalist or a news anchor to be a purveyor of current events on a large scale. When you post, you engage. You have an audience. You are part of the system you say you abhor when you bitch about “the media.” Social media is media. No one is immune.
* No disrespect to local television or print news. As a current events junkie I say, genuinely, that we need you!!
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