Are you Currently Experiencing Current.com?

Current.com is a new and upcoming news website that allows individuals to explore current news topics as well as share their own news stories. The beginning video that can be watched when first entering the site is very helpful for a first time visitor. Although it is goofy and lame, it allows the visitor to get a quick overview of what the site is about, what it includes, and what can be expected and done while using it. Although this site can be beneficial to old and young a like, it appears to be aimed more toward the younger crowd. However almost anyone who longs for balance and the ability to share opinions in the news world can appreciate this site.

The four main aspects on this site are: explore, connect, contribute, and watch. Explore enables viewers to find current news stories about topics they care about. Connect enables people to create a profile in order to share their interests. Contribute allows individuals to make their own news stories, and have a say in current ones. And finally, you can watch the TV network that you and other current.com participants have created. The TV networks that show current.com are direct TV, dish network, Comcast, and AT&T u-verse. So if you are fortunate enough to have these channels, you are on your way to beginning your current.com journey.

Media Literacy by W. James Potter tells us on page 126 that “the media are highly selective in what they choose to show us each day.” Therefore, with current.com, if you do not see a news story that you think is important on the site, you can add it. One news site is not going to give you all of the news that you need to know. In order to be media literate you must “search out a wide range of sources and build stronger knowledge structures that provide you with the context that mainstream news programs do not (126)” Although the news stories on current.com may not be on the most important topics all the time, participants can change this by adding the news stories that are important to them. By exploring other news sites contributors are able to find and add new stories, therefore expanding their wealth of knowledge about what is going on in the world, and what is really important.

Current.com prides itself on taking a look at what is going on in the world from a fresh perspective- that of the viewers. Although, this is good because it enables people to explore topics that interest them, it might not be the news that is the most important. This does however, allow for a many topics to be shown and discussed, whether they be relevant to our life, news from another country, or just amusing, inspiring, or interesting. The aim of this news site is to connect to every facet of life.

Fans vs. Favorites

I have never actually watched Survivor the whole way through until I watched the episode today on the internet. And I actually really liked it.

I think there is some truth in the statement that Alexis made, but she also did not take into consideration all of the things that were not shown on the TV show in past episodes. They pick out certain aspects, the most interesting obviously, to put on the show. But the hour episode that we watch does not give us a full picture of everything that has gone on, and cannot even give us a full idea of someone’s personality. Therefore, although the fans might have an advantage because they think they know the favorites game, they don't know everything by any means.

The statement Alexis made shows a view that many people watching reality TV probably think. While we’re watching we don’t take into consideration all of the video footage we do not see. I think in some instances it is ok to just watch a TV for the fun of it without but sometimes it is necessary or unavoidable for us to analyze what we are watching, so that we do not have a skewed view of reality.

Max Headroom

Media Literacy is “a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter.” The purpose is to “gain more control over programming how you interact with the media messages and construct your own meaning from them.”

“Max Headroom” was a short-lived TV series that aired from 1987-1988. It was a look into the future kind of TV show that was about the news station Network 23. The episode that we watched was called “War.” In this episode another news station called Break Thru TV planned different “terrorist” attacks so that they could be the first to report on them therefore making them better then Network 23.

The thing that stuck out most to me in this episode was the media content. Break thru TV went too many extremes to plan what was going to happen so they could report on it right away showing that they had control over the programming of their show. However, the news stories that Break thru TV reported on right away probably wouldn’t have occurred if they weren’t trying to come out on top. This goes to show that sometimes the content we receive from media is not always accurate, even if it is the news.