I remember waking up turning on the television and seeing footage of passenger planes striking the twin World Trade Centre towers of America and realising how something so far away and feel so close and can be shown to the entire world so quickly. However, now with easy access to the internet and 24/7 free-to-air news channel (ABC4, Channel 24) seeing what happens around the world live doesn't seem like an exclusive event. The media has greatly influenced in the way I view crime as it is the only source of crime news.
I watch the news each night when I get home from my outings and with Channel 10 having 2.5 hours of news each night, it is hard to miss. Other issues which I am attentive to are those on Today Tonight/A Current Affair. However with the television blaring it is hard to miss all the news stories which are online, like those clips which appear on the bottom on my Windows Live Messenger when I'm chatting to my friends placed by Ninemsn to get unsuspecting messagers to accidently click on and visit their site for the latest news and video clips, among other things. As with print media, I occasionally read the daily newspapers but I do read quite a bit of the Sunday Telegraph.
As you can tell, I do get most of my information from the media but my views on crime and what happens around me also root from my family. To me, when I see a group of guys late at night, my heart starts to race and I start panicking because my parents always told me to walk faster (or in the opposite direction altogether) when I see a group of guys or a group of people of a certain culture/race. Nothing else to look for, just a group of guys especially when they're being loud (or just being how males are when they're bonding). So my reactions to situations are hugely influenced by my parents. They are also my source of foreign news (as they read the Chinese newspaper) which are stories which are interesting to me but never make it to Australian news (overseas murders, strange but true stories from Asia, etc.).
Unfortunately I have nothing to report on for today as Charlie Sheen and Benji Marshall are still being bombarded in our faces and celebrities are not what I consider as 'blog-worthy' even though they're 'newsworthy'.
Interesting post. I too remember seeing Sept 11 whilst I happened to be up late watching the news. Scary, and indeed, our ability to come face to face with live events around the world has only increased since then.
ReplyDeleteWill be interested to hear if and how your views change over the course of the class.
Alyce