Q1:
Each year the University of Maryland selects a book to provide a shared intellectual experience for faculty, staff and all first-year students. The First Year Book provides an opportunity for community dialogue on a topic from the perspective of different disciplines, from the sciences to the humanities. This year, the First Year Book committee selected journalist Brooke Gladstone's The Influencing Machine. Gladstone, perhaps best known as the host of NPR's "On the Media," built a career covering the media in all of its intricacies. The book considers the role of "objectivity" and bias in the media, observing that we use social media to filter and make sense of what we hear from traditional journalism source
Discuss a time when you witnessed the impact of citizen journalism in your community. What did this event teach you about the potential for an individual to influence public opinion?
At my school, people are very interested in current events. In fact, the students love the news so much that the administration made a new Hebrew class in which the students could talk about all of the news tidbits they wanted, as well as debate the big social issues facing our country. Sometimes, we even participated in "citizen journalism," and brought in reports on stories that we had researched. We reported on both national and international stories, both close to home as well as far away, all the while learning how to present a news story as well as how to engage an audience. One day, my friend brought in a story about a court case that had been dragging on for years. He explained how the media had spun the story so as to make their audience feel remorse for the alleged perpetrator of the crime. It was with this story that I realized that any individual could influence public opinion with the manner in which he portrayed events. With their use of words, emotion, and acting they could, in effect, control the feelings of their audiences. An even greater realization took hold after that-that anyone could change the course of history with a few words. This especially rings true at a University such as Maryland, where people from all over the world come to study and debate, to influence and in turn be influenced by the speeches of their professors and their friends.
THANK YOU!
It was with this story that made me realize that any individual could influence public opinion by the manner in which he portrayed events.
By their use of words, emotion, and acting, they could, in effect, control the feelings of their audiences.
That sounds like a great class! Good luck with school and have fun!
:)
