Both of the chapters that we have read in The Victorian Internet were very interesting to me. I can relate the invention of the telegraph to what we are currently going through with new forms of digital media. The telegraph was the first form of communication that truly allowed people to hide behind something when conversing with other people. In order to send a message to someone, the message had to be relayed through two operators. This is very similar to how people communicate through the various forms of digital media today. It is rare that people now communicate without the message being relayed through some sort of middleman.
The second chapter of this reading, to me, brought up a great point. With the invention of the telegraph, there was a new standard of how quickly news was supposed to travel. Everyone was hearing about news on a global scale, not just local news anymore. This also caused a change in what people would consider a reliable news source and who people would now consider journalists and reporters. We are currently going through this same type of conundrum with the increasing popularity of social media. Social media have raised the question of what considerable news sources are today and it appears as though anyone and everyone could consider themselves a reporter. These questions lead me to ask the question of what the true definition of a reporter is? Is there one singular definition that all of society shares or is it an opinion based definition?
I loved how you compared the telegraph with digital media today. There is always seems to be a middleman when communicating nowadays. I also liked how you raised the question about who is a reporter? Social media is making this whole reporter discussion very unclear and is almost eliminating this profession.
ReplyDeleteThe blurred line between who is now considered a reporter is a great point! I get most of my news from Twitter. It is usually the first place I find breaking news stories since they can be easily tweeted in real time. Also by searching through hashtags and locations you can see the stories from a bystander perspective which really makes me question who the reporter is.
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