In class, we had the opportunity to research a topic that interested us. After we picked a topic, we were able to teach the class about the terms within that topic. My group found that "Awareness" would be an interesting category to cover, and within that category, we each picked a term to study and share the meaning and value of the term with the class.
A group presented in the category of "Mediasphere", which included mainstream media, alternative media, echo chambers, whistleblowers, online influencers, and citizen journalism.
A term that I found interest in was mainstream media. Mainstream media is forms of the media, especially traditional forms such as newspapers television, and radio rather than the internet, that influence large numbers of people and are likely to represent generally accepted beliefs and opinions.
Mainstream media gives us news from bigger platforms that larger audiences can reach. These media platform's goal is to reach a diverse group of people and then can become a trustworthy source of news that people will continue to come back to.
Based on your preferred political party, you may tend to pay more attention to specific mainstream media sources. For example, more Republicans and Republican-leaning independents see
Fox News as a mainstream media outlet while Democrats may see
CNN as a mainstream media outlet more than others.
So what is the point of mainstream media?
The point of mainstream media is to provide the public with news and information that is accurate and for a large audience. Mainstream media hopes to shape public opinions by educating and still providing entertainment.
These outlets will cover political debates, scandals within our country and internationally, health, sports, weather, and anything that you can imagine, which is why mainstream media sources are used and will continue to be successful.
