Final Blog Post/ Analytic Memo

Last week was my last Independent Media class at Ithaca College. Throughout the whole semester, we’ve been discussing alternative media outlets that have worked to repair the holes in mainstream media. I think the most important thing we’ve learned is that journalists should be passionate about what they’re writing about because this will create the most thoughtful, transparent, and authentic work. 

For our final project, we were asked to come up with pitches for our own independent media outlet ideas. Students from my class stood up for five minutes and discussed ideas that were personal to them, and most importantly ideas they were passionate about. 

One idea that I found to be very interesting was my classmates website called riotgirlgamers.com. It was based on women’s role in the video game League of Legends. I’ve never played video games and I knew nothing about league of legends before her pitch but I immediately saw the potential for the site. I’ve always been a strong advocate of gender equality and this website does a good job at trying to achieve it. My classmate first discussed how women gamers are not as accepted as male gamers in League of Legends. They are often discriminated for their sex and sometimes even receive sexual threats. Riot girl gamers will work to repair women’s participation in the video game. It will distribute pieces about how to change the way viewers are seen and open up a platform for women to discuss instances they have experienced. I think it’s a good way to open up conversations and there is a specific audience that I’m sure will definitely visit the site as a way to connect to an emotional outlet that might help them through gender discrimination.

For my Independent Media class, my professor gave us our final project assignment: to come up with a startup for a journalistic outlet. When thinking about how to approach the assignment, I brainstormed all of my interests and thought about what kinds of websites I usually go to. Every morning I visit refinery29.com and Style.com as a way to have a relaxing morning. I read articles about fashion, food, and current events in the arts and fashion world. I also visit the New York Times to get a well rounded sense of the hard news of the day. I also have my own blog, a lookbook, dedicated to my interest for fashion. Lookbook is a website that anyone can be apart of. It features international bloggers who post photos of their outfits that day. Some become very invested in it, posting everyday and developing a large audience, while others who seldom post never seem to develop an audience. I’ve noticed something interesting about lookbook that seems to speak for the fashion industry.

Lookbook prides itself for featuring “street style.” This is a term used a lot to describe the styles of average people walking around on the street. Therefore “street style” implies spontaneity. The problem with lookbook and portraying “Street style” is that it doesn’t seem to be spontaneous. People take photos of themselves (or sometimes have professional photographers) take photos of them in an outfit they chose specifically for a new post. People don’t usually dress themselves with the intention of blogging their outfits of the day, making lookbook a problematic site for depicting street style. Most of the top bloggers are fashion experts and wear brand names.

I’ve always been really interested in street style because it’s where I find inspiration for my own style. I sit in coffee shops and glance over East Villagers wearing funky clothes. I think Tommy Ton does a good job at capturing street style because he goes around major fashion capitals and takes candid photographs of people’s outfits. However, Tommy Ton’s photographs are definitely more present during fashion week when fashionistas show off their couture and luxury brands.

I would love to create a blog that redefines street style and explore authentic street style world wide from people of different socioeconomic backgrounds. It might be interesting to create a photo based blog in which street style from different countries are posted, showing traditional clothing from various countries. I think Western culture tends to appropriate other cultural traditions without sufficient knowledge about them. It would be interesting to create a site that was grounded in a culture and educated its audience on how traditional clothing is actually worn in a country instead of how a Western culture might wear it.

Net Neutrality and Control of the Internet

I am about 16 years old and I’m on youtube trying to watch the Blue Lagoon. When I click on it, a disclaimer pops up. I need to be 18 years old to watch it. Of course I found another way to watch it, as curious teenagers often do. The film is about cousins who get lost at sea at a young age and learn how to live on a deserted beach. They live off natural resources and are completely oblivious of the civilized world that exists around them. They are also oblivious of their bodies as the female cousin experiences menstruation for the first time and as they both learn about their natural sexual urges when they have sex together for the first time.

To me, the disclaimer suggests that people under 18 should not be learning about their bodies or sex. I find this kind of censorship to be extremely problematic-- How can we not be given the right to see how our bodies work? The film is not violent. In fact, it is a beautiful exploration of how we were created. Thus, I am still confused as to why the film has been deemed inappropriate for minors. I find that this kind of censorship regarding the body and sex seems to be more prevalent in the United States. Sex is extremely taboo in this country and the body seems to be labeled “embarrassing.” Having traveled a lot, I’ve noticed how differently nakedness is treated in different countries. In America, children are told from a young age to cover up learning to call genitalia “private parts.” As they get older, the internet reinforces this sort of privateness. I don’t know in depth how other countries treat nakedness but I have noticed my friends from different countries seeming more relaxed and open about talking about the subject.

The internet is supposed to be democratic, meaning that all people should have equal access to it. But this is not the case. People are blocked from sites. The role of the internet as democratic is also threatened by the rejection of net neutrality. Deirdre Fulton’s article “Public Outrage Over Net Neutrality Proposal Causes FCC site to Crash” (http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/07/16/public-outrage-over-net-neutrality-proposal-causes-fcc-site-crash)  discusses the public’s anger over a proposal that would allow richer companies faster internet service. This kind of proposition is threatening to an open internet.

It seems as if the internet, once a useful resource to us, has begun to dictate us instead. Although we may choose what sites to go to, the internet controls what sites are more readily available and more efficient to use. Maybe we are unaware of the internet’s control over us.  

In La Romana, the sun weaves itself underneath my skin. It’s nearly 90 degrees and I forgot my water at home. I wipe the sweat off of my forehead and rummage through my bag to find my iphone to check the time. I wonder if I have any messages and ask my cousin Camila to turn on her hotspot. I’m connected and green bubbles dance around my screen: “hey,” “what are you doing today?” “Let’s meet at the beach at 5” and “What’s for lunch?” I am here, enclosed by the gates of the orphanage Fundación Niños y Niñas de Cristo, and I am also there, a resort in the heart of town that Junot Diaz likes to write about. “Any average asshole would love it here,” he writes in his novel This is How you Lose Her. He says this because it acts as its own country. People who go to Casa De Campo see more of the Dominican Republic when they drive there from the airport, even with the purple tinted windows of the taxi. Being Dominican and having traveled to the island each summer, I know enough about the Dominican Republic to know that Casa De Campo is by no means an accurate representation of the rest of the country. And I am active in reminding myself of this to break free from the illusion that the resort has created  with it’s man-made beach, endless lush golf courses, and oceanside villas. One way I do this is to visit the orphanage about 20 minutes away. It’s there that I talk to real Dominicans, who have nothing but big hearts. At the orphanage, the girls braid my hair and write me letters. When I take out my iphone or ipod to check the time, they are astonished. They know what it is but they haven’t handled one for large increments of time for themselves. I am somewhat envious of their oblivion. They are forced real social interaction as I resort to artificial platforms. But they have no choice but to live this way-- the internet is not available to the lower class.

In the article “FCC Flip-Flop could Turn the Internet into the Superhighway of the Rich,” by Juan Gonzalez (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/gonzalez-fcc-flip-flop-net-loss-article-1.1768404), the accessibility of the internet to different social classes is brought to light. The internet has become more of a commodity than a resource, with only larger corporations being able to afford it. Gonzalez states, “Once providers start to privilege some applications or website over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose,” (3). Gonzalez reveals how smaller businesses are not able to share their ideas to a wider public because they can’t afford fast internet. Websites with less money therefore have a slower internet connection than a website with more money. Consequentially, the internet has become a business. Gonzalez concludes, “It doesn’t need another high-priced athlete. It needs leaders who will fight to keep it free and open.” If internet prices dictate the kinds of ideas that are circulated, we must work hard to keep it as available and unbiased as possible.

The Drudge Report and the "Big Lie"

Independent media does not pretend to be objective or neutral. Therefore Independent media practices complete transparency. However, there are some sites that are not objective but still produce inaccurate stories. Matt Drudge for example, is infamous for his lack of factual information. However, mainstream media outlets still link to him. Although claiming that his information is 80% accurate, he still seems to have a hold over the mainstream. One of Drudge’s exclusives was about Bill Clinton fathering his love child. After this story was published, mainstream media went insane over the story, many not even bothering to fact check it. Yes, Drudge is partly to blame for an inaccurate story, but journalists should be skeptical, and in this story, skepticism was seriously lacking.

Has anybody ever told you something so extraordinary that you did not even bother to question it? You just believed it, thinking to yourself “This has to be true because why would anyone ever lie about that?” This idea is called “The Big Lie,” a concept that means that the bigger a lie is, the more someone is likely to believe it.

Now as I reflect on this concept of “the big lie” I look back at history and think about how the big lie has been used to brainwash so many people. Infamously used by Hitler to convince people that the Jewish race should be exterminated, another example relating to the news is Father Coughlin, a radical Roman Catholic priest who used the radio as a way to circulate his ideas regarding anti-semitism.  His ideas influenced the social and political landscape at the time (the 1920s and 1930s) because radio was becoming a part of everyday life. Father Coughlin stereotyped Jews and said they were “traffickers” in gold. He preyed on people’s emotions so that they would trust his words. He also blatantly said jews were communist. This was a time where people were really frightened of communism. This is an example of Father Coughlin using the big lie and fear to persuade people into believing him. Father Coughlin and this idea of the big lie is explained in Rodger Streitmatter’s Mightier Than the Sword in Chapter 8.

Furthermore, Father Coughlin’s radio talk show is an embarrassment to the journalism field. It does everything that a journalist should not do. Instead of educating the public, it used the public and deceived it. Although the Drudge Report is also to blame for inaccurate information, it does not try to deceive people into believing the information. Thus, The Drudge Report is transparent in its inaccuracies.

The SPJ Code of Ethics acts as a guideline for Journalists everywhere, mainstream or independent. With the rise of social media and “reporter” identities, it is common for people to question the validity of independent journalists. They measure a Journalists validity by their salary. A “professional” journalist gets a regular salary and does journalism as a career. The “independent” journalist does not receive a salary and a lot of the times has not received a traditional journalism education. But how can we measure a journalists worth by his or her salary? In fact, shouldn’t we question a journalists validity more, when they make a salary? More importantly we should measure a journalists validity based on his or her ability to follow the SPJ code of ethics.

If a Journalist’s practice is completely ethical than “validity” should be already granted. The SPJ code of Ethics is essentially its name: it is a code which lays out ethical rules every journalist should abide by. There are four main clauses: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent. Within these there are bullet points that explain each concept further, providing examples and ethical dilemmas. For example, underneath “Seek Truth and Report it,” one bullet point reads, “Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information unless traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Of course, undercover work is important in the field of journalism. It is sometimes the only way to unveil an injustice that is being hidden from the public. Because the public has the right to know, journalists must take measures to unveil what is not being said. But this should always be done ethically.

When the clause refers to “surreptitious methods,” I automatically think of leading questions. A leading question is a question that already anticipates it’s answer. A simple example is asking: Why do you think that person is so horrible? Instead of just asking: What do you think about that person?

Now, for a more serious and political example, there is a video taken by a Citizen journalist saying that Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum is  “sleazy,” “slimy,” and a “scumbag.” (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/bill-clinton-purdhum-a-sl_b_104771.html) But he said this only because he trusted the person asking the question. Little did he know, the citizen journalist had wanted this kind of answer. Instead of asking: What did you think about the article? Or Do you have anything to say about the article? The journalist instead deceived Bill Clinton making him think she was on her side. She got a good story but the way she did this was unethical. A good journalist should still be able to get a good story by covering an event ethically.

During a conversation about YouTube, a classmate in my Independent Media class today started to reflect on how people are talking about journalism is a dying field. She then said something very powerful: “It’s not dying, it’s just changing.” Change is something crucial to the journalism field. As the world changes, journalism must also change, rendering the way it tells news with the rise of new technologies, especially social media.

Although social media doesn’t always tell hard news, it offers viewers a space to engage in current events in a more casual way, a way that might be less intimidating than picking up a newspaper.

Michael Buckley is a self-taught host of his own youtube channel called “What the Buck?” His role in youtube is discussed in the New York Times article by Brian Stelter “YouTube videos Pull in Real Money.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html?_r=0)

Buckley’s show, described as being “silly,” revolves around Celebrity gossip and it airs three times a week. He initially started the show for the web, but it expanded with YouTube’s help, receiving 100 million views.

YouTube is extremely popular today. People go on the site to pass time. I think what makes Buckley’s channel so successful is his personality and his content. Our generation has a sick fascination with celebrity gossip. For some reason, we enjoy learning about people we don’t know. We marvel at their luxurious lives, living vicariously through them. Buckley delivers his celebrity news in an energetic manner. He speaks incredibly fast and engages the viewer/listener directly. Consequentially, no matter how irritating Buckley’s videos can be, he automatically draws the audience in.

Although Buckley isn’t reporting on news that may be crucial to the average person, he should be an inspiration to independent journalists. According to Brian Stelter’s article, he started his YouTube channel with a $2,000 canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop, and some work lights. Additionally, he spent 40 hours a week on YouTube before he received compensation. This shows how much of a sacrifice the channel initially was. Unlike mainstream media journalists, who probably rely on their regular salaries, the independent journalist does not treat news as a commodity. The Independent Journalist thrives on pure passion for the subject matter. YouTube helps journalists to embody this passion, sometimes transforming their hobbies into a successful business.