Journalism, Technology, and a Generation Gap - Group C

                Chapter six and seven of Robert McChesney’s text Digital Disconnect was an eye opener of just how much journalism and the source from which we receive our news has changed over the past few decades. One thing I found the most intriguing was the idea that “a 2011 survey determined that only 28 percent of American adults thought it would have a major impact on them if their local newspaper disappeared; 39 percent said it would have no impact whatsoever” (pg. 172). After digesting this statement I thought about this scenario in two ways: one being how if the newspaper did no longer exist how this would affect me, and the other being how this would affect my parents.

                In all honesty, I think that I would fall among the 39 percent of Americans who believe it would have no impact whatsoever. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve actually picked up a newspaper and read it; if anything, this past summer I’ve used newspapers for the crossword puzzles, cryptograms, and word search activities during my lunch break at work. A common theme among the elders of our nation is that the younger generation of America lives in a “bubble” and is completely oblivious to what is going on in the world around them. I agree with this generalization to an extent. Even though we may not use the physical hardcopy of a newspaper, it doesn’t mean that we aren’t being proactive to news and journalism. In fact, I find out most current events through other avenues, such as the Internet, and specifically, social media.

 In this article, the Pew Research Center provides lots of data showing just how many U.S. adults are learning about events and issues through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  The demographics of social news consumers section of this article caught my eye the most, as it was apparent that each specified social networking site appealed to a somewhat different group. For example, more females (58%) found their news on Facebook than males (42%) and younger users found their news on Twitter. This supports the reoccurring theme among a lot of the articles we’ve read over the course that the generation gap has a direct impact to how much technology we use and the ways in which we use it.

With that said, transitioning back to the statement McChesney makes about no longer having a local newspaper, I would say that my parents would fall within the realms of the 28 percent of Americans who claim it would have a major impact on them. Thinking about my home life, there are always newspapers lying around and it is a guarantee that they will always be read by either one or both of my parents. If the local newspaper disappeared, I think my parents would have a hard time adjusting to the new era of journalism which is based upon the ever-evolving contexts of technology. My claims are supported by the above Pew article as only 20% of Americans my parents’ age use Facebook as their source of the news and 14% use Twitter. McChesney describes the views of the celebrants of the Internet as the basis for journalism, with one of them being that everyone “can have access to the world’s information at a second’s notice…all [we] need to do is develop [our] skills at surfing the Web” (pg. 174). This reinforces the fact that yes, on paper the Internet looks as though it does provide a more democratic replacement from existing commercial news media, but in reality not all people are willing, and capable of participating.

It is evident that I chose to focus solely on the idea of the way in which we receive our news, but I feel as though it is an important and interesting aspect of our everyday lives. Under which category would you fall, the 28% who believe not having a local newspaper would impact their lives or the 39% who believe it would not have any impact on their lives? From which social media site do you get your news?