Accessing the news turned out to be
more difficult than I would have thought on a relatively large university
campus. Living in the western courts, which is basically a huge compound of
demountable buildings (trailers), are facilities aren’t exactly equivalent to
the other dorms on campus. We don’t have a television and don’t receive
newspapers at all. So I turned towards the internet and found what seemed to be
the most prevalent Aussie news sources; ABC (Australian Broadcasting News,
News.com.au, and The Sydney Herald.
I found
that on all of these sights, global news was almost as common as local news. Not
only was there coverage on the recent Brussel attacks, but the Aussie sources
had links to media coverage of places all over the world. Though, this was also
coming from the sites that were general related to the country than local
papers and such. When I checked the local paper, Townsville Bulletin, the news
wasn’t as worldwide but it did surprise me that a local news source would have
as much news regarding the whole country than just the recent going-ons of the
area. It’s interesting because some could take my hometowns or regular US new
sources to be centrally minded when all of their news is about themselves, while
the Aussie news brings awareness to country issues as a whole. It could also
just be that US new sources, like my hometown, could be focused on news
happening in the area because there are so many other sources that touch upon
the nation’s news.
However,
I can confidently say that both Americans and Aussies both through news and
everyday life are both countries that are very patriotic. They may just show
their patriotism in different ways. In regards to who seems more informed, I
don’t think it’s a question between one place vs. the other. I think that who
is more informed about the news is up to how much each individual tries to
remain informed. Certain individuals stand out to me from both Allegheny and JCU
as being well informed about news, political issues, etc., rather than one
place or the other.
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| Western Court Facilities |
I think the news is a very essential and influential entity throughout the world. Due to this I think it is important that we understand the role of the media and how we can use it to better improve our societies. With this in mind I think the parallels that you have observed between Australia and the U.S. in relation to the news and patriotism is very interesting. I wonder how this intersection positively, negatively or neutrally influences both of these cultures.
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