Today I glanced around at some of the UK's online publications. I wasn't actually sure which publications were credible and which weren't so I settled on a newspaper called the Anorak (mostly because its font and color scheme online reminded me of the A.P.) I'll note that I REALLY did try to find something positive I could talk about when describing this publication but with it's poor layout and even poorer writing that was near impossible.
A quick list of some things that bothered me from the Anorak: the use of abbreviations in important news stories (exp: lol, the Feds...), editorializing content with words like "sadly" and "luckily", use of casual terms like "folks", the scattered layout is not user-friendly, and lastly some of the reporters even signed off their articles with "Hurrah!" But most horrifying, to me, was the link on their homepage labeled "flashback" that directed readers to a blog of sorts that I can only describe as a wannabe Buzzfeed (only with less interesting stories). Not sure why such a trivial link would be posted as their main content on the home page....
I wont categorize every UK publication as being this poor in content, but I have seen multiple British publications report their content in the same manner. (I recognize the BBC and a few others have adequate reporting)
After we discussed the social cognitive theory in class, I wondered if British citizens are modeling their general or even political views after these biased reporters. Why hasn't there been a movement to improve mass media in this country? What are journalistic standards for writers in the UK and how come competition hasn't fostered more credible reporting?
After visiting Financial Times, I feel much better about credible reporting in the UK, although Chris did tell us that not all of the competing newspapers in London hold themselves at the same standard as Financial Times. However, the United States does not necessarily have the best online publications if you look at some websites with high traffic such as buzz feed. People visiting buzz feed from other countries would most likely feel the same way about the publications on that website as well as many popular blogs that receive high attention. From now on, I am making more of an effort to read several publications covering the same issue and making sure the information I read is coming from a credible source.
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