In a world where engagement equals profit, it’s more important than ever to create and consume media intentionally.
I got my first phone in sixth grade, a rose-gold iPhone 5 that held what I believed to be the entire human experience. It captivated my middle school mind and showed me how much I hadn’t known before—an entirely new library of information that included what was going on thousands of miles away from me in a conference room full of world leaders. I obsessively downloaded news apps and my naturally curious demeanor began to develop into a news addiction. If I could know what was going on everywhere at all times, why wouldn’t I want to?
I first set my eyes on a graph of news outlets and their political bias when I took an entry-level media literacy class my freshman year of high school. I scanned the graph, studying it intently, finding all of the sources I consumed daily and the ways they depicted political parties. I began to notice the small, seemingly insignificant word choice in articles and headlines that encouraged me to think a certain way, and the irony of news regulation being the consumer's responsibility became increasingly prevalent to me. I watched nonpartisan articles become conflict-charged headlines, designed specifically to circulate Twitter in a storm of interaction. In a world where engagement equals profit, money-obsessed publications with a broad reach are the foremost threat to free thinking.
I joined my school’s newspaper and channeled my curiosity about the media into learning how it’s created through the practice of reporting on campus happenings. Soon after, the pandemic hit, and I watched wildfires of false news spread like disease through the internet. Avoiding the unrest that a controversially-worded headline causes became more challenging with every Covid update. My trust and hope in news outlets dwindled, and I felt myself begin to lose interest in working for such a corrupted industry. Yet, reporting still gave me an indescribable feeling of pride and honor, like I was doing work that really mattered. Not just to me, but to my community, too. Instead of stepping away from the profession of journalism, I set my sights on a lifelong career of working towards a better future for the media.
When I downloaded the first news app on that rose-gold iPhone, there was very little expectation of forms of media other than writing. I have grown up watching the rapid transition to a new wave of journalism, and it has inspired me to be involved in the digital evolution of media.
Combining ethical reporting practices with the broad reach and influence of new media forms and design tools today can create something new and modern--an age of media that encourages the development of original opinions. An age of media informed by real experiences meant to convey issues as accurately as possible. An age of media that I intend to contribute to in my future as a reporter, designer, and activist.
However, all that I’m passionate about and all that I have worked toward for the past three years would be nothing without you. The readers who are interested in educating themselves properly. Not headline hunting, not arguing in a comment section, but genuinely striving to reach a new normal in which more people have a vested interest in the nonpartisan truth. Reporters can have all the integrity in the world, but that integrity will never change the status quo without pace-making, world-changing readers with an ethical objective.
At this point, as I move forward in my career as a journalist and strive toward my own goals of social change, I place the narrative in your capable hands: will you perpetuate the toxic cycle of interaction, or will you consume intentionally and change the course of media?
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