Blog Post Eleven

 EOTO Project 2: What I Learned About Mainstream Media

 

  I found that the most interesting concept theory talked about during presentations was mainstream media. Not only did I find it interesting, but I found it to be relatable to my topic of the illusory truth effect. I also enjoy learning more about something so broad to expand my knowledge when getting into the specifics.

    I was able to expand my knowledge of the positive and negative effects of mainstream media, what it is, in educational terms, as well as how it has affected our world today. Per Haley's presentation, I learned that mainstream media is a classification in the world of journalism to group together the main broadcasting and publishing media outlets that reach the general public. Mainstream media has drastically expanded since just a few years ago. Some of the big examples of mainstream media networks consist of NBC, CNN, BBC, FOX News, CBS News, ABC, NPR, and MSNBC.

    As mentioned previously, I obtained knowledge of the positive and negative effects of mainstream media. The positives consisted of the information mainstream media allows current generations to understand their rights and make them better educated on current events. With this being said, another positive about mainstream media is how far the news gets out, for example, some of these channels have maintained a global audience that educates all kinds of people from all over the world. 

    However, the negatives become an issue, as they do with all theories. For example, media sources are so often embedded with bias. One thing that I was able to compare to my studies on the illusory truth effect was how often people watch one certain mainstream media because of the way that they skew the information to get a certain group of people to watch. For example,  FOX News usually sides with the Republican party as well as CNN usually sides with the Democratic party which allows people to pick a choose what mainstream media channel they want to watch making them brainwashed. 

    As for how it has affected our world, I believe that the positives and negatives speak for themselves. However, positive or negative, our world can not live without mainstream media. It has become inseparable throughout communities across the globe.  We do not just see news and current events in mainstream media. We see trends, interviews, cooking and more.