If you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you most likely missed all of the headlines reporting on the sexual assault allegations of different men in Hollywood.
My social media feeds have kept me up to speed with all the men being accused of sexual assault. Part of the reason I wanted to go abroad was to see how the news was covered internationally. Here are some things I’ve noticed about the media during my time here and how this “American” news was reported here in Ireland.
The first thing I want to make clear is where I get my news. I follow a number of media outlets on Twitter, such as CNN, Fox, The New York Times, The Irish Times, and RTÉ. Those last two were recently added since I wanted to see new in Ireland.
Of course, I still look at the newspapers in the library and when I’m waiting to check out at the supermarket. Being a frugal college student, I don’t want to spend the 1 € on the paper when that could be saved towards more food! So I usually stick to Twitter to get my news.
When the Harvey Weinstein stories broke, I first saw it reported on The Irish Times. It’s known on Twitter that tweets are not in chronological order, so it may not have been The Irish Times to report on the story first, but it just happened to be the first news outlet I learned the information from. Aside from the disgusting actions Weinstein had done, I was surprised to find myself reading American news from an Irish newspaper.
The same thing happened when Louis C.K. was accused of sexual assault. I remember first being disgusted that one of my favorite comedians made such gross actions towards other comedians, but then shocked when I saw I clicked on a headline from The Irish Times again.
Now, I am aware there are algorithms Twitter uses based on my location and what links I have clicked on in the past, but it still made me think.
Was I subconsciously choosing the Irish news sources over the American ones? Or was it a choice to click on RTÉ as opposed to Fox?
After this little epiphany, I felt myself balancing out which stories I read when I scrolled through my feed. However, I made one small adjustment. As of right now, I’ve been following American news on America sites and European news on my chosen Irish sites.
I know you might be thinking, European news? Why not just Irish news? With Brexit constantly in the headlines, I’ve been trying to follow the effects of it not only on the UK, but also for Ireland. I’ve also been keeping up with local news to be more educated about where I’ve been staying.
As for American news, I’m sure my American friends and family are already aware of their “local” news. My family happened to be with me in Ireland when we found out who our new Governor was, thank you Fox News. Twitter has also been doing a great job of updating me on President Trump’s different adventures, along with some opinionated friends on Facebook. (No hate here, I’m all for free speech!)
I thought going abroad might put me behind because of the time difference and being in Irish culture. I’ve found with social media and the internet, I’m able to stay on top of things internationally without having to scour a newspaper to get a sense of what’s going on back home. It wasn’t a huge concern, but being a journalism major the last thing I want to be is misinformed.
That’s all I have to say on this foggy Saturday night while listening to my St. Bonaventure Bonnies play against Jackson State. I would’ve uploaded sooner but a brief power outage in co. Kildare resulted in no wi-fi for the past two days – every millennial’s nightmare! I managed to power through, so I hope you enjoyed my take on international media while being abroad.
Sláinte and Go Bonnies!
Erin Goes Everywhere 