Friday, February 10, 2017

Who am I?


Tom Ranocchia
Media 384
Prof. Caçoilo
2/10/17

I’ll start by saying that I am, and always have been, a “facts” guy. As a consumer of media I’ve mostly been interested in what I can learn – give me non-fiction – news, biography, documentary, statistics etc. I’ve tended to use all forms of media as an encyclopedia. It was actually my love of facts and of “telling the story” that first led me to try my hand at media making.  Back in high school I wrote a blog on Formula 1 racing, providing weekly news updates and race highlights. My relationship with media has always been a simple one, and I don’t see any of myself in media examples. Frankly, I’m not the kind of character the media tends to portray.

Perhaps I’m somewhat of a troglodyte, particularly for someone studying media, because I’ve never had much interest in social media sites.  I don’t really understand the desire of so many people to publish the details of their lives or to share their opinions about every subject on sites such as Facebook or Twitter. I understand how valuable these sites can be from a business perspective, and I understand the appeal of connecting with more people, but from a personal aspect I simply don’t “get” the fascination. Until recently, I have viewed social media sites as benign, however these days I feel that the negativity that often emanates from them is not healthy. These forums allow the most judgmental among us to hurl abuse and make accusations with no ramification. It allows for anonymous bullying and seems to bring out the worst in far too many people.

I feel somewhat removed from this online negativity as I decline to participate, with the exception of when school requires. However, my concerns regarding media in general (which in part stem from this easy, anonymous form of communication) are forcing me to reevaluate my relationship to media and my role as a consumer and a potential media maker.  In brief, I see many forms of media becoming less concerned with facts and more with opinions often masquerading as facts.  With regard to news, it feels as though we live in a giant game of telephone where items of “news” flow through various media platforms like whispers, often ending up as entirely corrupted pieces of information.  In addition, many who claim to want to “tell the story” these days actually want to BE the story and all of this reduces my confidence in the credibility of media as I want to consume it. Media is therefore becoming less important in my life, which as a dedicated news follower and would-be news writer, is depressing. I’m not sure where I fit into the media world.

David Burge, a popular blogger, post a Twitter rant about his thoughts on the current state of social media, in particular Twitter.

One area where I still find many positive aspects of media is that of sports. We only have to think of last weekend’s Super Bowl to see that television, for example, can  bring people together (although rarely) to share an event. I was outside late Sunday afternoon and saw many groups of people, drinks and snacks in hand, heading to the apartments of friends and family to watch the game. It was refreshing to see at a time when so many people simply stream programming in a manner that leads to us be more isolated and less connected than ever.











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