Where's the News?

It has become apparent in today’s society, that news has become more of an entertainment media rather than strictly news reporting. Today’s television viewers rarely can sit and watch a news segment without seeing some kind of entertainment “buzz” story. Britney Spears and other Hollywood celebrities are plastered all over the news, including “big time” news sources such as CNN, USA Today and Fox News. I feel as if today, many news mediums will report anything, as long as it’s entertaining. Are there any news sources out there that are strictly reporting news based stories, rather than entertaining stories?


I thought that if I researched Citizen Journalism, I may find some news based only sites. I was wrong. There was one site that I found particularly interesting. A citizen journalism site titled, H2otown, focuses strictly on the geographical news of its town. This site has not only a creative title, but a creative approach to reporting as well. The site is made by and for the people of Watertown, Massachusetts. However, it is not news based only. The site reports different events going on in the town. People of the town are also able to post questions or comments they may have. For example, a lady posted asking if anyone new of a place in town where she could return the remaining pills of her prescription. The site is unique in the way that it is based around only one particular town and the posting is done by the people of the town.


In terms of context, how is this site different from other news sites?
Although there are no deadlines for the reporting, H2otown does have some constraints present. The most obvious constraint is geographical. The site contains information only about Watertown, Massachusetts. There are also several resource limitations. The reporting is being done by the community; therefore there is a limited amount of video footage or pictures. The majority of the people of the community do not have access to high tech equipment or news crews. Lastly, the site contains a lot of news-framing influences. According to the book, Media Literacy , "news-framing influences are like constraints in the sense that they can be seen as forces that shape what gets selected and presented as news." The site appeals to the people of Watertown, Massachusetts. Although they inform, some of the articles on events persuade people to attend them or include information on how and when to attend.



There are several things I enjoyed about reading the articles on the site. One is the site’s news perspective. All the people posting have similar news perspectives. (Reporting events occurring in Watertown) All the articles are short and to the point. This makes the site simple and easy to read. Second, although the site is based around one community, there isn’t a lot of bias. The posts include both positive and negative things about the town. Lastly, for the most part, I was impressed with the context of the articles. There was a range of topics. Deaths of people in the community were posted along with background information. Also, the histories of different events being held in Watertown were posted within the event article. The site also included information about sports, weather and cooking recipes.


To conclude, I believe that we’ve come to a point in our society where entertainment is a part of news. I don’t think we will ever see news again that does not include at least one entertainment story.