Compass News: A student’s perspective
In light of this social media dominated age, news can be seemingly easy or hard to follow considering the vast multitude of notifications our news apps can spam us with. In the case of 75% of American adults, it can also be difficult to distinguish the false (or alternative news if you prefer) from the real.
I have found myself relishing in both celebrity gossip and political baits, leading me to circumnavigate the exaggerations to my friends and family. It is easy to get caught up in a news hype when it resonates with your opinions and interests. It is also way easier to check Twitter first for any news updates, as the 140 characters brings us sharp, concise bursts of information directly from witnesses at the scenes.
At times, Twitter had been quicker with updates than news sites themselves and it can be quicker to be informed via social media as breaking news can suddenly appear on your news feed because of people you follow or the trending topics page. The problem arises however, that only 26% of those who get news from social media, look for news on two or more sites.
Is it so bad that we only check one source? I understand the desire to camouflage yourself away from news, to get away from the impending pessimism about to be served on a retina HD display, truly. But to only be updated via live tweets or statuses is restrictive. I must admit, sometimes I am genuinely too busy or just tired of having to search and read through streams of articles, deciphering which ones are more accurate, whether they all say the same thing or are conflicting. As a student, I do enough of ploughing through information and want information spoon fed to me.
Then came Compass News. I had first used the app and site in bitesize amounts when trying to keep myself up to date for my politics A-Level. It had summarised news enough so I wouldn’t feel lost during class discussions and I could give evidence and (accurate) facts when needed, but more importantly I knew a lot of relevant information about different topics in little time.
Much like many other news sites, I was sceptical of how biased it could be — something I even brought up with one of the marketing coordinators and co-founders — but from trying to categorise it as right or left-wing bias, I realised that many of the articles featured had been selected to create an impartial, but informative, outlook on news as possible even when opting for the bullet point summaries.
During summer, I did stop engaging with news apart from those I’d stumble upon on Twitter or Facebook. I thought myself too busy and was unbothered about news when I was on holiday. It wasn’t until my relatives were discussing Duterte’s war on drugs, the Iranian election and the latest updates on Trump and Russia did I realise how out of touch I was with the world.
I had a lot to catch up on and was overwhelmed, but remembered using Compass News a couple months back. I then started to reuse the app since many reputable publishers were on there, eventually becoming natural for me to find breaking news on Twitter and switch to the app for more information, reading either concise articles or lengthy ones depending on my level of fatigue or interest. Because of the broad range of publishers and stories I could explore swiftly all in one place, I gradually got more informed and aware of what I read.
Becoming a university ambassador at King’s College London for Compass News has exposed me more to the dying world of journalism. I used to think that the whole “journalism is dying” mantra was overstated as I have encountered many people, like myself, who want to be a journalist. But the statement is more than just about the amount of people who supposedly want low wages to tell stories, it is about how easy it is for people to believe news with no sourcing or research; at times just believing outright fables.
It is about how social media and this digital age can dominate in presenting and spreading opinions that can be confused as accurate information, polarising many and causing vexing arguments. We all, at times, do want a break from the news and while I do not dispute that social media is a great way to raise awareness and updating us quickly of what’s going on in the world, it shouldn’t be our last point of information especially when it is so easy to see only one side of the argument.
Although constant news can be taxing, it serves to reminds us of how far humanity needs to or has evolved. Even if you only want to read short bullet points, the story so far, a full length article, or immerse in an unorthodox report, Compass News allows you to do just that. We need to be more aware or at least be kind to ourselves so we’re not that one person too far gone on fake news.
1 https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/fake-news-survey?utm_term=.meZBeRApe#.biP7bv3nb
2 http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016/
