The Mean World Syndrome: Media Violence and the Cultivation of Fear

Media Use Journal

1. Has your choice for news or journalistic information changed over time? In what ways?

   Gowing up, the 5 o'clock network news was on when my father was home. I did not pay attention to what was being reported. I was disconnected from journalistic information through Middle School, High School, and even into my early adult years. It wasn't until a few years into college that I started paying attention to journalistic information; this would put me in my early twenties. I began my studies as a Fine Arts student, therefore my interest surrounded Art periodicals. I then branched into Anthropology, Political Science, and Sociology. Of course, this opened a wider array of journalistic media. I discovered NPR, and would listen to News Entertainment shows on the weekend, and then started tuning in to the weekday morning news cycles to better understand News Entertainment. As I continued in college, my journalistic information consumption continued to expand. As journalistic information slowly evolved and became widely distributed on the internet, my attention turned to online media. News aggregate feeds became reliable, and today I use Feedly & Google News aggregators. Both services allow unlimited sources to be combined into one news feed. I use each service differently, Feedly for personal interests and Google News for current events (World, Local).

2. Is there a news story from your childhood that stands out to you as being particularly memorable? Did your perception of the world around you shift following your experience? In what ways? Note: Mainstream News programming can be particularly triggering for some. If memory is too traumatic to recount, please feel free to skip this question or consider reframing the question in a way that works for you.

   As mentioned in question one, I did not pay attention to the news networks growing up.

3. Do you now actively seek out journalistic sources for information? If yes, what are those sources? What platforms do you use to access that information? Do you access different platforms for different types of news (i.e.; political, financial, sports, entertainment)?

   Currently, I do not seek out journalistic sources. The 2020 news cycle became increasingly absurd and I tuned out around July 2020, and have yet to tune back in fully. I do check in with local news via Colorado Public Radio; however, I read select articles and don't listen to the broadcasts. I scroll through my interest feeds in Feedly, but not nearly as often as I did pre-pandemic. These feeds include Art, Technology, and Education - primarily. I have opened my Google News aggregate feed, but this is not often. These feeds include World, Local, Politics, Entertainment, Technology, Science, Health... etc.

4. What drives your choice above? Convenience? Perception of validity? Perception of fairness? Entertainment value? Price? All of the above?

   Using aggregate feeds, I have varied publishers that feed my news streams. This means I will see a variety of Headlines & Bylines and can see a fuller picture of what is being reported. These are Online publishers, some provide a limited number of free articles a month, others are unlimited. Most leading stories are covered similarly across multiple publishers; however, some stories are unique to publishers too.

5. Does your choice for political journalism have a reputation as being "left", "right", "liberal", or "conservative" on the political spectrum? How do you know this to be the case?

   As mentioned in the previous question, using aggregate feeds allows me to combine news sources. I have chosen publishers across the political spectrum. Yes, news sources have been labeled left, right, liberal, conservative. However, when reading the articles this is not apparent in most mainstream publishers. I suppose people who only read headlines and are looking for information to support their worldview might disagree, but when you look at the reporting on a wider spectrum this begins to disappear - I think. Then there are those independent media channels that are aggressively trying to connect to people's worldviews, unfortunately. I would not consider these reputable news sources, but I am sure others would disagree.

6. Do you only consume journalism or news sources that are produced in the U.S. for the U.S.? Which ones? What advantages and disadvantages are there to viewing diverse journalism sources?

   As mentioned in questions 3, 4, & 5, I consume a variety of Online media. These are aggregated from numerous sources. Sometimes publishers support the writing with audio and visual. Local news publishers, mainstream broadcast and print, or my least viewed sources. This is likely because they provide the least amount of information. I do read articles on Colorado Public Radio for local information. My Feedly feed has over 100 sources, printed in English and my Google feed has 29 sources, plus it fills in additional sources through an algorithm I presume. Print media is rare in my life, I suppose it saves trees. I do purchase books from my local independent book store.

7. Are there ways that you feel you could be better informed? In what ways? What are alternative or supplemental news sources you could investigate to explore in the future?

   I feel informed. I am a curious person and am looking things up all the time. I think about things and search out relevant information for what's on my mind. I suppose that would be free-thinking. Tuning to network broadcast news doesn't interest me, as mentioned in question 3. I think mainstream media is an echo chamber and has been for a long time, they are all bidding for ratings and advertising money. It was roughly twenty years ago I realized that I could flip between broadcast stations and hear nearly identical coverage, the personalities were the only thing changing. I remember even here the same stories being reported at the same time. I think a question to ask, might be, what is "news" and what makes a person informed?