Entry 3- Helpful Hints and Evaluating sources

The New York Times published an article about pollution in China, a topic that many know about. This article wasn't about the air pollution, however, but about the soil that has been polluted and how it will affect food supply in an overcrowded country. 

The article is also printed in the New York Times paper, and is not an opinion piece. The New York Times also has an ISSN number, which the article provided on evaluating news sources mentions as a way to verify the information it is giving you.

Also noted in the article is actual research that has been conducted around the study. External links bring you to the research that was done, however because this article was about in China, the article is in Chinese. I cannot verify is the research is accurate, but I strongly believe this is an issue of a language barrier as opposed to incorrect information.

The only part of the article that I question is when they cite another news source. Though this news source is the national news source of China, it is important to know that China does not observe the same freedom of press as we do in the states, so the data could be false or altered by the government.

Aside from my one hesitation about referencing the national Chinese newspaper, I think that this article is factual. Unfortunately, however the internet does not always provide information such as this. As the helpful hints article mentions, anyone can create an online 'news zine' and post their opinion as if it were a fact. With fewer people being literate with new media and not understanding that they need to check their facts, it is too easy for false news to spread. Though it may not seem like a major issue, false news spreading rapidly through social media could affect issues within our country, or world. 

Social media was a huge part of the last election, but with everyone posting true and false facts online, it can be difficult to understand what a candidates real intentions are. Long term, this could impact elections, and who people are voting for.

Hopefully, as time goes on more and more users will learn to evaluate sources as we are in this class, before all of the 'news' were are getting has strange biases and unclear messages.


Wong, E. (2014, April 17). One-Fifth of China’s Farmland Is Polluted, State Report Finds. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/world/asia/one-fifth-of-chinas-farmland-is-polluted-state-report-finds.html?ref=science

Entry 2- Social Media and Truth

What I know can be defined in a variety of different ways, but assuming this blog is referring to my knowledge about current events and other topics, the knowledge does mainly come from social media. Since I do not have cable at home, I make it a point to follow all of the news stations on twitter. ALL is the important word in that sentence, because I understand that different news services have biases. Before I make a decision on a piece of information I see, I look at other news sources that are known for their credibility, and make sure that the facts are similar. My golden rule is to look at three sites before I make a decision on the information given.

Today, I learned that the most recent news on #MH370 being possibly located hold little validity. First, this was reported on CNN, my go to news station. They posted a link on twitter, so I followed to their page to investigate more. I then proceeded to Fox news, which had posted about new findings relating to the plane but the article posted about doubts that U.S DOT inspector had.

Since CNN seemed more concrete on the new developments being incorrect, I used a third resource to decide what information was correct. NBC. There are cases where just one source can be reliable, and in emergency situations knowing the source of the broadcast can help give direction. During the Boston bombings last year, following the Boston Police Dept. on twitter gave users access to accurate emergency information.

In the case of not an emergency, I think one source from social media is not reliable enough as a whole. Returning to the same principle that one news source is not enough, social media echoes the same biases and inconsistencies that can be found on TV or in Newspapers.

Entry 1- New Media Influence

What forms of new media do you use daily? How has new social media influenced your perspective of events? Are these positive or negative influences?

New media is a huge part of my life. I work in online marketing so everyday I am using Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and Pinterest. My personal life and media usage is also the same. I easily spend 7 hours a day on these mediums.

Twitter is the most relevant to events and it's influence on my own perspective. I constantly have my feed open on Twitter so I can monitor what other's are saying about current events or trending hashtags. It's inevitable that some of these opinions make impressions on me. Twitter and other media forms open up communication to current events from people who you have never met. This allows us to gain different perspectives on events and situations that we may previously not have had access to.

A great example of this is the recent Malaysian Jet Liner crash that drew the attention of the Twitterverse and beyond. Many different specialists were giving their opinion on the situation, and even people who had NO idea what happened. All of this was able to occur because of new media platforms.

Overall I think new media helps us gain new perspective on topics we previously would have been close minded about. With more people able to give opinions, chances are you can gain new insight or understanding on a situation or event you previously looked at from only one angle.