Figuring Out This Final Project Thingy
Let’s see….looking at my notes now…there isn’t much on there for me to write about. I’m seeing a doodle of a mouse, a mushroom, the mad hatter and the march hair with the phrase “Feed Your Head!” floating above the mouse. Seeing as that’s that, today’s blog will be brainstorming for the final project.
So here’s what this bad boy seems to be encompassing: Closed-Circuit Television, citizen journalism and blogs. The CCTV is probably going to be the most difficult to tie into my other two topics, seeing as only the proper authorities can view it and a citizen is going to have a rough time getting hold of the kind of visual information captured by CCTV cameras. Citizen journalism and blogs are easy to tie together since they pretty much go hand in hand. CNN and MSNBC have blog portions to their websites (as I’m sure all network news does) and journalists even seem to be turning to credible looking blogs to use as sources. It would probably be pretty easy to set up some sort of blog page with images and video I had captured. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be breaking any important news over the web, seeing as I never seem to find myself in the wrong place at the right time (I’m not complaining). I could even do faux news as an example or find something to do a citizen report on around Fredericksburg (News Flash: Beverage Served Mildly Hot at Best at Local Coffee Shop). The only way I can see tying CCTV into the other two is if I do an informational blog to the pluses of CCTV and the minuses of Big Brother watching you, always. All three topics are pretty damn important to new media, seeing as CCTV opens up a way to solve crimes faster (somebody gets murdered, watch an instant replay) yet also comes at a time when digital manipulation is getting better and better. Hmmm…the same actually goes for citizen journalism. Cameras at the scene provide a more personal view of breaking news when compared to the sterile camera work of news stations that arrive later after the matter, but also opens up the door for manipulation to take place without nosy editors poking in and interfering. Credibility of these sources is attacked in this way. Then again, what really makes “the news” more credible than what we can produce without them? A big fat paycheck, that’s what. Next to that, nothing.
This even got me thinking that these more personal accounts open up more bias to reports, seeing as everyone has their own opinion on matters……this is getting more and more complicated.
