Independent News Source:
For my independent news source, I chose Internews, an international news source that is based out of California. Created in 1982, Internews is an independent media source that is supported by contributions and grants from various companies and people. They had projected revenue of over $35 million for 2009 alone. They are currently working in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America and have worked in over seventy countries in total. They have trained over 80,000 people in media skills, train 8,000 to 10,000 people every year and have supported the development of around 4800 independent media outlets. “We believe that free flowing, locally produced and editorially independent news and information has the power to transform lives and enrich communities.” The overall goal of the source is empower local media around the world in order to get people the news and information that they need, give people an opportunity to connect and a way to make their voices heard. In comparison to a mainstream source, like CNN, whose tactics include anchormans and showy antics that actually inhibit the watcher’s ability to retain information, this independent source’s main concern is the people. CNN, which is owned by a huge corporation, has limits and rules to uphold when giving their information, which then results in a type of censorship of information. The people do not get the information they want and need, but with Internews, the people are receiving all the information necessary as well as the means to voice their own opinion and make a difference in the media world.


McLuhan: It’s All Going According to Marshall’s Plan
This reading is about Marshall McLuhan, whose reflections on the media have begun to come true. McLuhan suggested that the “depth experience” of the media would seriously transform human lives. He believed that a completely obsessed media environment would only result in a removal from first-hand experience while he wasn’t exactly right during the time that he made these predictions, they have begun to come true in our current society. If our society continues to go this way, we will completely be void of first hand experience and will solely rely on technology to do things for us and hinders our ability to do things ourselves. In order to fix these problems, we need to reflect on ourselves and the media industry and realize that what we see on television is not the world, but merely representations of what they think the world is. It is extremely vital that we come to realize this because then and only then will we be able to gain power over the media system.