In the age of multimedia, our generation seems to thrive on the information available at our fingertips. No longer do we rely on print media, but instead, we can simply open up the Internet and retrieve thousands of sources of news and entertainment inside of five seconds.
These various sources of information on the Internet, however, are quickly shifting from official news sources—like online versions of publications—to those posted by individual people who post these blogs as a pastime rather than a job. Recent times have brought about various “news” sources, ranging from Facebook and Twitter to Wikipedia and blogs.
The problem inherent in most of these new sources of information, however, is that the author is generally your average Joe. And in the case of blogs, even if the author is informed, anyone can comment and claim to be an expert on any topic.
The blog has created an interesting phenomenon in news reporting. The term “news” has changed greatly from what it used to be even 30 years ago, and has revived the feel of yellow journalism prevalent with Pulitzer and Hearst in the late 1800s—only it’s much worse. Rumors can be passed as fact, and people can anonymously divulge any piece of a story without the correct context via this medium. And even if the story is partially fabricated, Americans lap it up.
Who wants to read about, for example, a perfect person who volunteers with underprivileged children over a modified story that reads “Scandal! Pedophile alert!” as the headline? If you were to ask yourself which story you’d be more likely to pick up and read, a good majority of you, I’m sure, would say the latter.
Though people feel empowered that they can say anything they wish on the Internet, this situation obviously has its shortcomings. Students have to remember to take information gathered on sites like blogs and Facebook with, at the very least, slight skepticism.
This ever-changing face of the news has created a unique situation among students in particular. Our age group, which typically is thought of as the most apathetic, has started to take a more active interest in having their voices heard. We suddenly find ourselves in the position of being able to control the news through these various outlets.
For example, RPInsider has grown in popularity among the Rensselaer community over the past few months. The blog, dedicated to news and happenings at the ’Tute, has allowed students to get information in between when we here at The Poly come out with new issues. Most of the posts made by blog authors are surprisingly well informed, and I’m very glad that students are taking the initiative to create projects like this; however, some of the comments published are not completely factual, referencing false information like that the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center was funded through our endowment.
All this being said, blogs are intended to be opinion-based and should not be treated as a “be all, end all” source for news. During the Winter Break, for example, most students received information from the blog on the web site of the Albany Times Union, which was riddled with false information throughout the comments made by students and faculty. Although the RPI community had to rely on external media for information on this topic, the comments on the blog were even worse than the news article itself. This method of getting false news was a good part of what contributed to the miscommunication that was the central problem with the layoffs.
We as students must learn to differentiate between fact and fiction and only pass it along when we have heard it from an official and reliable source, lest we continue this trend of spreading misinformation.
