The media coverage between countries has vastly increased and improved with online newspaper, magazine and blog sites. One has the option to sift through thousands of pages of media and words to determine what kind of article or video they want to create. Everyone has their own opinions and how they want to portray them. People want their own individual voices to be heard among the sea of thousands clamoring to be on the top. I think that is where sites like Facebook, blogs and video websites become really important and with the addition of smart phones in the past decade it has become even easier to share what you feel is important.

Take for example the March 10th, 2011 earthquake that happened in Japan. I’m not sure you can say it was fortunate that I was there for it, but with the help of Facebook I was able to communicate with my friends and family back home about the situation. I was writing a blog at the time and shared to those that were following what my story was as it unfolded but also included some of the media coverage that was coming from the TV in Japan. ( I noticed when I returned back to the US a couple of days later that the view they had the earthquake was completely different than what I had experienced. I was pretty disgusted with how they portrayed it.) They didn’t have to rely merely upon the news crashing around them spreading a lot of twisted information. When you look past the first line of the news, you will find a wealth of personal stories and maybe the type of opinion that you agree with. I find that by reading many different publications or watching different videos on the same issue gives me a fuller picture than just having to rely upon what local news tells me.

Watching videos on Youtube is more than just a watching experience. You have the option to comment and communicate with many of those around you watching the same things. Now when you really scroll through the comments of some these videos you get troll after troll after troll. Then after all the trolls you get the high and mighty commentator who sweeps in on his horse with impeccable grammar to fight against the troll comments with their oh so vast knowledge of everything. BUT if you can avoid this and find those that are willing to hold civil conversation it can be a very rewarding experience. And this applies towards any of the comment sections you find on the internet, although when you find a place that only talks about a certain subject, you won’t find those trolls as often as everyone is engaged.

But it is good to offer all sorts of ways to engage in media, like having the ability to read an article while listening to it on NPR, or watching a video on something that is occurring in Syria that was taken by the people living there. It’s how the people determine how to use it and distribute the information that really ends up counting. It’s incredible to even have the ability to share information to another person thousands of miles away from you in just seconds. It was probably something that was never even thought of in our history. No longer does it take weeks or months to receive information from across the nation or the oceans. We’re pretty lucky to be living in the time that we are in, even if only for the technology. Always pushing the limits of technology and how media is seen.