Scrap Book

Media and Communications Observations  

Observation #1: My very first observation has to do with the how many aspects the term "communication" covers. It starts with simple aspects such as waving hands or eye contact to the expression of opinions and how over the years, the ways used to express them have diversified. 

Observation #2: Although information flows easily through media platforms, I always seem to forget how tough government regulation of certain media can be. Yet at the same time, some of the regulations promote the diversification of cultural content for example. 

Observation #3: News have a hard time adapting to new things. I never thought about this until it was brought up in class. Generally news networks cover a wide range of topics but now that i think about a lot of the news stories have similar themes. Usually these themes tend to be quite controversial. Themes range from terrorism, to biased political views to environmental issues. At least, within large news organizations, it does not seem they like to expand to other themes and topics. 

Observation #4: Objective balanced information is hard to find nowadays. There all sorts of news sources from the extreme left to the extreme right. When looking at President Trumps ongoing impeachment investigations, you can look at CNN and read all the supportive views and information or you can look at FOX  and read all the critics regarding the proceedings and the jabs thrown at their leftist enemies. 

Observation #5: Although many medias try to reveal all the information going on within one theme such as the government, it can be quite obvious sometimes that the government limits information published by these networks.  In France, we have the AFP (Agence France-Presse) which is one of Frances oldest news agency which has been one of France's sources for objective information, is now being questioned by French citizen as they believe the agency has been somewhat working with the government and not releasing certain information. The movie called "The Post " is a great example.

Observation #6: Individual Self Interest is an interesting phenomenon. We live in a pretty self centered society, but in the case of competition, self interest has helped develop it. People have a want for success and money and will therefore create competitive products and services to other similar ones on the market that a population may need. 

Observation #7: Monopoly Capitalism is another concept that peaked my interest. Monopoly is found around the world weather it is created by a private corporation or the government. A local example is BC ferries, they are the only way to get to Vancouver with a car and the only passenger service that does not cost 70 dollars. Last summer a new ferry corporation was proposing a catamaran passenger only service from Downtown Nanaimo to Downtown Vancouver. With BC Ferries as their main competitor, thy are have a rough time starting up with their launch date now moved to 2020.


Observation #8: Journalists all have the same job description and the environment they work in affects wat they report. None the less I've come to realize through examining news reports that reporters have their techniques when reporting. They may just focus on a certain aspect of the event while ignoring others. This is where you can sort of see understand their view or the view of the network. 

Observation #9: The criteria that news reports go through to find the right event to cover is interesting. With criteria like proximity and prominence, there is still a wide range of events available. Proximity is a criteria I've seen used many times on what we consider local TV. I was surprised that in the Fraser valley, where I worked during the 2017 summer, on the morning news, they would cover local events going on in the area. Frim what I've seen, we don't have much of that in the US. Each state has their stations but thy mostly focus on US and worldwide  issues. 


Observation #10 : Timeliness is another criteria that I find interesting as I can see it as a money and view generator. If a news source publishes a news article about a scandal going on now, they will attract more views and in result more cash. Right now it makes sense that news sources are focusing on the Trump impeachment hearings as it is going on as we speak. If they were to publish after the matter is resolved, no one would care. 


Observation #11: It is great that there are different newspapers and news sources who cover the same or similar events. CNN has one point of view on one event like immigration and the governing of American borders while Fox offers a perspective that is the opposite of CNN. Its important to read everything with a grain of salt. Just because FOX  has been labeled irrational, one should still be curious about their view points no matter if they are factual or not. 


Observation #12: The freedom of the press interesting because its states that in a democratic society must encourage the widest of participation. I a society where people are divided because of certain views and cultures , news media is supposed to help the coming together and cooperation of people. Right now it seems news outlets are up against each other. When democratic  presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg appeared on Fox News, I thought that was a bold move on his side and the news outlet side because Pete knew he had to work with these kind of medias to get his message out to a certain population and FOX was willing to showcase ideas that were completely opposed theirs. I think that this is true cooperation. 


Observation #13: I find it interesting that originally journalist were perceived as agents for information and that they purely cared about public good and are not influenced by private interests. I find that peculiar as reporters are humans which means they have their own set of values. They can be heavily influenced or persuaded by politics or biased news companies. Honestly, they care about their career as much as we do.