21st Century Global Events in Cyberspace

I can’t say that any global media events were more “important” than any others, because they all are important and affect us in different ways. I would say the three most widely covered events of the 21st Century were the disaster in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, and 9-11. The disaster in Haiti, being the most recent, was able to be covered the best because our technology is so much more advanced now and allows us to be in another country while sitting on our own couch. Hurricane and 9-11, being two major events that occurred in the U.S., obviously took center stage. Thousands were killed in these disasters and brought the U.S. closer during the relief efforts.

I definitely feel that many global issues were not represented properly in the media. As we spoke about last week, the media sets the public agenda. It just so happens that the news that THEY feel most important to report is the disasters. The media loves blood and gore. You rarely hear about honorable things in the news anymore. Even in local news, a death would always make the news over a life saved. A life saved is an accomplishment that takes work to achieve. Most death occurs without any help.

The great thing about cyberspace is that it allows the viewer to experience the media event without being there and out of dangers way. With all the different options today such as live video and audio we often get to see the event up close. This also allows people to become emotional attached to what is going on and offer aid. The problem with cyberspace is that some stories are twisted and blown up to sound worse then they actually are. For example, I was in Georgia when the American Civic Center in Binghamton was attacked. The southern news channels and websites blew the story way out of proportion. Also when I was wearing a Binghamton jacket, people in a restaurant stopped my friends and I and asked us if we from the school where the Basketball team was selling cocaine for money. Obviously these thoughts had to come from somewhere. That is due to global media in cyberspace. Without actually being at an event, you cannot trust everything you hear.