YATW Blog #3: Agent of Change

Hello again, my name is Tomas Arango, a 9th grader at Science Leadership Academy, and I’m back for my final and last blog post for my You and The World issue, U.S Media Bias. It’s a topic that really matters to me out to me because when I read or watch the news  I always notice media bias and it can bother me sometimes. In my first blog post I introduced my issue and why it mattered to me, and gave several examples of media bias. In my second blog post I focused on my original research which was a survey I created and posted on social media websites for my friends and family to take part of. In this final blog post I will be focusing on my action of change.

For this last section of the project we were supposed to go out into the world and make a change and inform people about our issue. I decided to create a presentation for my advisory and inform them about U.S Media Bias, while also seeing what they already knew.  I wanted to make a presentation that wasn’t just me talking, I wanted my classmates to be able to interact. So I started of by asking my advisory what they thought media bias then providing them with an accurate description of what it really is.

My classmates were interested in my presentation and engaged in mini discussions when I asked them questions, like what examples of media bias have they noticed, and what news organizations did they see it the most from. We discussed the issues of media bias and their opinions on why it’s bad.Many of the students answered with similar saying that the news makes other countries look bad and make stereotypes about religion especially Islam. I also showed video examples such as a Stephen Colbert episode when he talks about the Norway shooting incident and how media immediately jumped to conclusions and blamed it on Islam and Al-Qaeda. Video Link here. But I also included a video related to the presidential campaign with Obama and Romney where the news source took sides with one the candidates and made the other look bad. I was surprised on how aware some of my classmates were of the issue, but I was also glad that I got to show and inform my peers about the issue.

          Showing the definition of media bias

Asking questions and interacting with students

           Showing video examples of media bias

Student taking part in discussion

Media Bias still occurs about every week. Media sources false report events or decide to focus on celebrities and their private life instead of the more important issues going on in the world. For example the other I was watching the news and the headline was Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, and I thought that was pretty absurd. Focusing on the life of a celebrity rather than the issues of the world is pretty dumb. The news also makes  other countries look bad because of their pasts. All of this creates issues, it can change peoples views on certain places and religions just because of a single news report. It also makes our country look like ignorant and single sided when it comes to our views of other places. It’s as if we think we are so much better than all the other countries.  I wanted my Agent of Change to inform people of the traps of media and to watch out that they fall for them.

This project has been a wonderful experience. I never thought I would do a project like this and I really liked the whole idea of it. The process of it was great because I got write a topic I was passionate about and enjoyed. I got to research information about my topic and learn great new things about my topic. At first I was a bit nervous because it took me a while to come up with a topic but once I found one everything went smoothly. One thing I wish I could of done better was have more time for my advisory presentation because I had to share a class period with another student. I think if I would of had a whole advisory period I would have been able to have more interactive time with my peers. I want to thank Ms. Dunn for the awesome project idea, Ms. Lucy, and everyone who helped out with filling out my survey, and took part in my advisory presentation.