The Media's Bias Against Trump

It's common sense that the mainstream media outlets chose sides during the election. More specifically, it was out for Trump's head no matter what he did. Apparently Trump's camp caught wind of this and decided to take action. In this article, one of Trump's former advisors called out the four major networks - CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox for their liberal bias. Do you agree with Cramer? Read the article and comment your thoughts below.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20161107/18090935988/congressman-former-trump-advisor-calls-hearings-media-bias-threatens-to-start-pulling-fcc-licenses.shtml

Smartphones & Their Affect On The News Industry

Smartphones are both a gift and a curse to the news industry. Before smartphones and apps, users only had one option to get news on their mobile devices: Their phone’s web browser (Kaikkonen 2). In 2008, Apple Inc. created the App Store which revolutionized the way people connect and use their smartphones. Through the use of applications, or “apps”, users could get The New York Times, or any other news source delivered directly to their device. Since the App Store’s inception, smartphones and apps have become essential for virtually any lifestyle. Smartphones can now be used to to check the weather, find movie times, and everything in between. In the context of the news industry, however, have smartphones become helpful or are they a hindrance?

Smartphones have enabled people to connect to their passions and favorite websites more than ever before. Businesses can now track their customers through smartphone usage. Sandy Felicetti, Retail Account executive for the Niagara Gazette, says that cellphones have helped the business side of the industry. “We track all of our stories and ads on Google Analytics,”

“We have users from Spain to Canada,” she said. “Before smartphones, that was never trackable.” Felicetti said that as a result of tracking, in the span of eight years the newspaper has grown to “250,000-325,000 unique visitors per month.” In this case, smartphones have definitely helped the news industry. People can now get their news instantly with the tap of an app and Felicetti’s perspective gives insight to how smartphones can help an industry flourish by incorporating smartphones into their business..

Smartphones have made tracking sales easier as well as the fact that news can be captured at any moment with a camera. Virtually anyone with a smartphone can capture news as it is happening and consumers can see the news in a matter of seconds. Mark Scheer, City Editor for the Gazette, says the addition of mobile devices in the news industry has helped for communication between him and his reporters. At the time of our interview, he had a reporter currently on the scene of a story. The event had just occurred moments before but there was already a story published online with a picture because the reporter was able to instantly send Scheer the information.

On the other hand, smartphones have hurt traditional sales of physical newspapers. “There has been a push to have everything online,” Scheer said, “Advertising has been hurt the most.” Advertisers no longer have to rely on newspapers to get the word out about their business because companies can now set up websites, Facebook pages, or apps for free. Smartphones can hinder the way news is delivered as well. News that is delivered to users via Twitter is only available 140 characters at a time, thus limiting space to report a story without using external links.

News can also be affected if the news source’s app has technical problems. A newspaper is a physical object thus it requires no technology to use it. An app is written similar to a computer program (Seyer 1). If one line of code is off then problems may arise and the app may crash, thus reflecting negatively on the company it is representing.

Smartphones are both a gift and a curse to the news industry. They help businesses with tracking and sales, which was untrackable prior to their creation. In addition, they have made it easier for reporters to communicate their ideas to the public. This is because reporters can immediately post their stories to the newspaper’s website and fill in any details in real time. Finally, communication between the reporter and editor is easier than ever before. Smartphones have also hurt the news industry, specifically in advertising. Advertisers have now been able to set up websites, Facebook pages, or apps and no longer rely on newspapers to get their name out. Another way that smartphones can complicate the news industry and the way news is delivered is through technical errors. Overall, there are more positives than negatives for the use of smartphones in the news industry.