There are tons of different places to get news in this information age. Aside from newspapers (which do still exist), there are news programs on television, whether it’s a reputable program on at 7 or 9 o’clock, one of the 24 hour news networks, or one of Comedy Central’s news/comedy shows. Some people listen to the radio, and every radio station does the news several times a day, it doesn’t matter if the other content is music or talk shows. And then there’s a group of people who primarily gets their news from the internet: major news network websites, bloggers, or wild hearsay on social networks.
Sadly, I fall into the very final category. My primary news source is what my friends are saying on facebook. My secondary news source is what my friends say to me in person. My husband and mother are people who get their news normally, and if there’s anything super-important that they think I need to know, they usually tell me.
After seeing a piece of news that I think is interesting, I don’t just leave it at that. I use google to investigate and look for a reputable website to back up the story. It’s not terribly surprising how often the story gets cleared up for me when I check into it, or is completely different than it was represented on my facebook news feed.
I’d rather listen to talk radio, but right now I am waiting for the election year to be over. Regardless of my political views, I can’t listen to political talk radio for very long before I start want to punch people in the face.
People get their news in lots of different ways. Some are better than others, if only because they are more reputable. But getting your news from wild hearsay on social networks isn’t bad.
As long as you don’t mind checking the facts yourself.
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