Mary Aldridge

Professor C. Silver
UWRT 1102
January 24, 2016

Reflection #2
Sitting down to watch the news on the television is something that youre never really
able to predict. When asked the question, How much violence do we need to see- or report? I
began to think about the articles, videos, and news reports that are all over our televisions and
computers. How much violence is enough? Does the media allow too much violence to be
publically displayed for people of all ages to see? Or is it better for people to know whats going
on in the real world? These questions are something we should all ask ourselves.
For me, I believe that some things on the media are taken too far and are shown to the
public so often and so violently, that we become desensitized to it. Although I do think some
things, more on social media than the actual news, are taken too far; I believe that it is good for
us as the people in this society to become aware of these issues and find ways to protect
ourselves from them. I do think that some of the harsher things such as gun violence, child abuse,
drug abuse, etc. should have warnings to families before theyre shown so they can monitor what
their children are viewing.
The problem with monitoring social media, news, and other sources of information, is the
First Amendment. The First Amendment is where society gets basically all of their freedom. My
understanding of this document is that we have the right to the freedom of speech, press, and
religion. This amendment also gives us the right to petition as well as assemble publically or
privately.

With the First Amendment in place, its extremely difficult to change what is being put
out about the world. Journalists act as gatekeepers to serve the public in a positive way. I
honestly think that journalists are used in society to control and filter the access that the
community is given to certain information about the world. Not only is it their job to get
information out, but they also have to properly portray information to us.
Citizen reports impact perceptions of news because we get to see information given to us
from someone that would seem more normal, or more like us. Although we tend to believe things
from people that arent professionals and post blogs or tweets about a social issue, we always
want to find some way to have our facts straight. The article mentioned how even if we see
something on social media, typically we automatically will look for a journalist or professional
standpoint because we all have the same goal of accuracy, fairness, and credibility.