This past six weeks while I was in London, I was also taking a class called "international journalism." This class forced us to examine the differences between news all across the globe. It was eye-opening to all of us how well educated the rest of the world is on following international news, and not just news related to their own country. This made me step back and realize how America is not only slacking on following international events but even domestic news.
The rest of the world knows what is going on in their own country, along with America, China, France, Ireland, India, Italy, Kenya and everywhere in between. We don't even have citizens that know what is happening in New York and California. This is a problem especially with young people.
In America, young people especially no longer watch broadcast news. When we do follow the news, we get it online through our smartphones or laptops. The days of watching the morning news are over. College students have limited access to TVs or cable and when they do, they are using their TV to watch Netflix or Hulu, not CNN.
Additionally, with changing times of what is "fake news" and what is quality, paywalls are becoming more and more popular. It is hard to find a quality news source today that does not require a subscription. This also does not help the broke college student's case. This leads to even less young people reading the news.
As a journalism/public relations major, it is part of my job to keep up with the news. For others, however, following the news doesn't even cross their minds half the time. This is sad to see.
It is one's duty as a citizen to follow the news. It is your own responsibility to know what is going on in the world and understand how it is affecting you. It is up to you to stay well-educated in order to form opinions, know how to vote properly, and make the right life decisions. What is going on in America as well as the rest of the world is affecting you every day, and if you aren't following the news, you don't even know how.
In the old times, it was easy to follow the news. There weren't Netflix or 500 channels on TV so broadcast was more popular. There weren't smartphones and iPads so people read the newspaper wherever they went instead of scrolling on Instagram. But despite these changing ways, it is more important than ever to be following along with current events.
With the issues of "fake news," it is more important than ever to keep up with the world of media and seek the truth wherever it may be. I don't understand how one can go day-to-day with no idea what is going on in the world around them other than how many Instagram likes you got or what the funniest meme on Facebook was this week (but don't get me wrong, I still love memes).
As a country and as a generation we need to do better. We need to set a precedent for the future and not become too comfortable thinking that the news is not important and if we continue to not keep up with it everything will turn out just fine.
Do your duty. Pay the subscription. Turn on the morning updates. Follow the news.
