How Technology Changed the Way We Receive News
By :Shaniece Whale — September 2, 2018

Before this new era of technology, the public received news at a set time, through printed newspapers, TV news shows and radio.
Waiting for the paper or a 7 p.m. news show although still reliable ways to receive news is becoming a thing of the past.
This new era of technology has changed the way we receive news all together.
In today’s world, news is received on mobile devices almost instantly from multiple platforms. Classic news sources like The New York Times and The Boston globe, have major competition with unconventional news platforms like Instagram, twitter and facebook.
Over the past three days I recorded how I received news, what platforms and how often. The Photos above detail some of the stories that I have come across.
Needless to say all the news I received came directly from my I-phone. Many of the stories I’ve read came in from CNN and The New York Times in the form of push notifications. These notifications are about one-two sentences detailing the most important / impactful part of the story.
I’ve also noticed that majority of my news was consumed through social media. Many of the pages I follow on Instagram post about stories that affect communities/people that I’m concerned with.
In today’s world many issues affecting minority communities breaks on social media first.
Like many people who get their news from social media, we read and pay attention to what we like and what agrees with our morals, values and beliefs. The pages we frequent releases content that reflects the community it serves.
Instagram verified pages like The Shade Room, not only delivers celebrity gossip news but also updates its 13.9 million followers with what many consider real news. The stories that they report may have an impact on majority of its followers.

The Shade Room reported that Bank of America reportedly has been freezing accounts of customers suspected of not being U.S. Citizens.
The story although on the shade room was credited to the Huffington post. The reporters at the Shade room seek out stories that are important to their audience and reports it.
Many times stories just like this one are seen on social media first before gaining national coverage.
When stories of injustice and/or social issues get national coverage social media is usually the driving force behind it. Using hashtags, liking, sharing and commenting on these stories helps makes a story go viral.
Concerned individuals from all over the world help a story go viral to ensure the story gets the proper attention and doesn’t go unnoticed.
The goal of making these stories viral is so that these issues don’t remain a community issue affecting a small or minority population but making the issue more of a general problem affecting many outside the community.
The news today is no loner just recited to the audience , the audience is actively engaging using their cell phones and social media pages to contribute to the news.
They are creating the news and pushing forth what’s really important to the audience.