Monday, January 27, 2020

First Assignment


Hi, my name is Sofia! I believe my role in media consumption is normal to some extent. With all the media attention happening nowadays and not being able to verify facts completely, the conflict between what is real journalism and what isn't or considered fake news. Media plays such a big role in being able to sway people’s opinions and change the minds of others. I try my best as a normal consumer of news from time to time to watch channels or view news on platforms that seem to be neutral politically, so I can to get an even view from both sides. In terms of critiquing the media, I’m not one to be vocal about my pollical views or opinions. I’m trying my best to get more involved from an artistic standpoint to see how I can make change through my major (Graphic Design).

For the most part, I consume media mostly through Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook or my Google Browser. As to what I make or contribute to social media its nothing much other than just sharing my pictures of family, an occasional showing off of an outfit, talking to family in Portugal and trying to promote my freelance art online. The social media platforms I use I noticed in the past didn’t feature much news until recent times where now I can view or they advertise more news outlets for people to check out. Through my Google Browser, they recommend news right on the first page when going to search and if an article stands out, I check it out, although I have to say it’s rare that I read much period. The media I mostly consume on the daily Social Media wise is anything that is trending news, art/artist news, fashion trends and print design trends since those are the things that interest me the most and plus I wouldn’t be a good social media manager at my job if I wasn’t on Instagram all the time checking out what the competition is up to.

Media has, in fact, become a major platform for people to share not only their lives but to also make a difference in society by creating content towards organizations or groups they are passionate about. We all have the freedom to speech and rightfully so we also have the freedom to post, share and make media that expresses who we are as people. But with having such freedoms at times things get out of hand or sometimes they don’t but rather spark questions towards important matters in society. So many movements have been able to get up and running on Instagram alone, trends like #metoo and #youknowme. When people start to share their stories, it inspires others to cause a domino effect enough that it catches the eyes of the bigger news outlets. The media helps to share important live news, bringing awareness to certain issues going on around the world and informing the people of even local stories both small and big.

For the most part, the way I’ve seen most media outlets cover activists, acts of resistance and protest usually isn’t in a positive light. Most of the time I’ve seen it depicted as being negative or seen as “going against the normal” but there have been other media where they encourage it as well, I’ve seen both split sides positive and negative. I feel that the relationship between the media with activists, acts of resistance and protest has always been an uphill battle. A push and pull that each side tries to prove who is right and what the “truth” is. Despite the media sometimes being against these activists what I admire is that as a community despite all the negativity we try to stay strong and fight for our rights and we are lucky to have enough freedom that we can protest about the things we are passionate about or want to change for the good. There is a sense of community and togetherness when we are united and voice our opinions.

One activist march I discovered recently and that I have been hearing a lot about is the Woman’s March. I never had looked into their March until recently as I realized that they fight for more than just women’s rights but they also advocate for women's rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers' rights and tolerance. I feel that their organization has grown so much and it has become the buzz on social media as of the past couple of years since even famous artists have started to attend these march’s all over the country and posting about how important it is to support the cause if these issues are things one is passionate about or would if they would like to join the cause and how they can access more info on these important issues.




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