In BCM110 we learnt about influential figures who have shaped Australian media. The Murdoch’s, John Singleton and Kerry stokes are among a few who have led and influenced the publics opinion through different media medium forums they own and control. It is important that we understand where the information is coming from and who controls it to ensure we are getting diversification on world issues.
Cross-Media ownership has become an increasingly hot topic with debates surrounding whether cross-ownership laws should be deregulated. Media ownerships needs to expand to a larger number of individuals so we can consume the news from more than one source.
Mark Zuckerberg founder and creator of Facebook has come under deep scrutiny in recent years for leaking passwords, to breaches in privacy and to his most recent case in helping control the US election by letting Cambridge analytical hack into their data bass so they could target swinging voters to persuade them to vote a certain way. Zuckerberg claims, that Facebook allows people to freely express themselves whether that be in the form of commenting, sharing or reacting to online articles. But should we trust Zuckerbergs motives?
Explosive allegations of bias in how Facebook manages their trending topics have opened the floodgates about Facebook’s power over what people see and how they consume news. For example, 61% of millennials use Facebook as the prevailing source for news about politics and government and according to Forbes, “Facebook tailors your News Feed based on your own behavior, you inadvertently become victim of your own biases.” This shows how Facebook is restricting us to be critical thinkers and instead embedding what we believe is right/true without getting the opposing side to a story therefore our opinions are never being challenged.
In this day and age its extremely hard to have complete trust in a news sources especially when the information is being read and posted on a big platform like Facebook. People need to be aware and able to distinguish between real and ‘fake’ news. Companies can deliberately send the reader on the path that isn’t the truth in hope you’ll circulate and spread it.
We live in a society where people want to believe what they want to, not the truth.
Mil's Blog 