Media has evolved since the days in which the public would just flip on the television or turn through a newspaper to get their daily source of news. This change of primary media mediums and expansion in available sources highly influences our media lifestyles, especially for the younger generations.
Newspapers and television news still exists but so do so many other sources of not only a widespread variations in competition for those mediums, but also in other mediums. With the creation and popularity of the Internet, news sources have popped up online as well. Original news media has reached out to the online platform using functions such as interactive weather radars, searchable articles, on-demand newscasts, and forums to discuss the news. They have even created mobile apps. Newspapers have done so as well becoming somewhat of an online database for articles on the news. It changes the traditional ways but it certainly increases the accessibility that helps not only the reader, but the companies with the increase of viewership. It also causes less viewers for the traditional forms of media. With this, news television newscasts have seemingly evolved to incorporate reality TV show characteristics to try to relate to the audience and have the audience care for the specific news station and its “cast” to compete with the wide-spread competition. It reflects our current entertainment society during the “Reality TV Era”. They have taken ideas from that to appeal to a greater viewing audience and is commonly effective especially with the continued growth of talk shows on air. It’s as if TV media sources have become another branch of talk shows.
The Internet has also given way to any group of people to create “news sources” and have people view it. This is especially common with tabloids that have become entertainment gossip websites created by people who then become celebrity personalities themselves through the easy personal touches of online sources (such as Perez Hilton). These sources are so easily created and edited that it brings the question of what is actually true on them.
I, as a millennial myself who has such easy access to the Internet especially through social media sharing, tend to learn about headlines through “trending” news topics on social media. Then I try to research it through legitimate, original news sources as I am aware of online credibility [or lack thereof]. Being on a college campus, it feels as if I am secluded from the rest of the world, so it makes me rely on social media as a news source even more.
