Journalism films and civic engagement

A grisly car crash at an intersection has occurred. Nearby drivers' necks turn to rubber as no one can look away from the horrifying scene, each trying to get a good view of the event. From over the horizon, a red car blazes through the streets, police scanner blaring. A man with a camera steps …

The Corruptibility in GR Civic Media

Over the past decade or so the Greek government has come under a lot of fire and criticism on how it handles its country’s needs, and for good reason. The economic crisis of the country has been globally publicized and even as it slowly begins to get better things in the nation continue to spiral …

Editorial: An Introduction to Civic Education and Civic Engagement

By Kalum Alldredge, Jenna Denomme, and Thomas Crocker Civic education is a branch of education that has gained more and more traction over the past decade or so, as the need for considering alternative viewpoints, appreciating diversity, and analyzing political occurrences has grown exponentially along with the growth and expansion of technology. What makes this …

The Power of Grassroots: What led us here?

Bernie Sanders at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, Photo by Lorie Shaull The rise of widely accessible social media platforms has afforded new and powerful tools for local civic engagement and organization, making it a key part of the last three presidential elections. Powerful local initiatives are called Grassroots movements or actions, and have …

Ben Shapiro and Shaun King are not Objective: Why Biased Activists and Commentators Must Actively De-Identify as Journalists

Ben Shapiro, a popular online conservative political commentator who has built an empire off of his opinion. "Ben Shapiro." June 14, 2018. Gage Skidmore. CC-BY. If you ever get into a political conversation with someones who references the likes of Ben Shapiro or Shaun King as a reputable source of facts to back up their …

How a newspaper deals with reader feedback

It's fair to say people don't trust the news as much as they used to. In the age of fake news, reporters are often put under extreme scrutiny by readers. I grew up in a household where both of my parents worked for a newspaper in Connecticut, and I got to hear all the stories …

How to Hijack Algorithms

Algorithms control the way that we see media which impacts the way we see the world. The way that social media sites recommend us content might seem an overwhelming concept to try to understand. While it is true that there are many decisions that algorithms make we can’t understand, there is much that we can …

Civic Media Literacy: The Role of American Partisanship

Media literacy is the foundation of Journalism 2.0. In a predominantly digital age, we live in a world connected by smart technology: Apple products and any of its competing companies offering smartphones. Fast paced lives fueled by online platforms such as Amazon or Google. We have our social media apps including Instagram and Facebook. Then …

Why Doubt Culture is Needed

Olivia Weadock The culture of doubt is more prevalent than ever for those raised during the creation of social media. We have been taught to doubt everything until it is proven to be accurate. Being brought up in a generation where social media is put onto us, there is a lack of trust accumulated from …

Is Social Media is Driving Civic Engagement?

There has been an ongoing debate on whether or not social media increases or decreases our civic engagement as a population. My stance on the matter is that social media acquires more interaction with each other than in-person talking, especially nowadays in a pandemic, where most of our interactions with other people come from the …