Web206: Topic 2.2: The Personal Voice

This week we were asked in what way we see the reliability of traditional mass-media and so-called personal media as being different? It's taken me a long time to realise this but after a life time of reading traditional newspapers I now see they are one-sided. When you consider that only a couple of media conglomerates own all of Australia's media - it is not hard to see why this is the case!

It's the same with radio. If you listen to 2GB any day of the week you will see they are anti-ALP and it stinks...to put it bluntly...and they are brainwashing the general public. It is WRONG! For the general public to get unbiased news they need to read online blogs and small independent newspapers which offer many views and opinions.

I despise traditional newspapers now and refuse to read them, nor do I listen to the mainstream radio. I watch and listen to the ABC news because I believe it is reliable and unbiased. I also subscribe to feeds from IT specific social media accounts like Mashable and Wired who give me up to date tech news which I crave.

We are sharing so much information on the Internet now that a high percentage of the world's population have access to it. Many people share personal and intimate information. Parents and the media are shocked at the kind of information about themselves that young people share. The boundaries between private and public that were clear in the mid and late 20th century are collapsing. The public sphere and our notions of what public debate looks like are radically shifting, and so are our notions of what should be kept private (Walker Rettberg, 2008).

We were required to write our first narrative piece for our blog. Mine is about anaphylaxis and I share a personal story about a friend with severe food allergies. 

Reference:

Walker, J. (2008). Blogs, Literacies and the Collapse of Private and Public. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 16(2-3). Available: http://jilltxt.net/txt/Blogs--Literacy%20-and-the-Collapse-of-Private-and-Public.pdf