Week 6 rewrite 1

 The three texts I was presented with this week were very engaging and informative. Out of the two opinion pieces and one journal, I enjoyed reading and retained the most information from the journal article; 'Perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news.'

I initially deemed the piece as daunting due to its length and initial, difficult-to-digest language. However, this worry turned to interest as they discussed the psychology of digital literacy and the interviewee's personal opinions on their own biases; their 'trust in news, bias in news stories, and personal worldviews.'

They discuss selective exposure, a topic that was always piqued my interest but I have never read up on so I was interested to read about it. We often indulge in the idea that everyone is on the 'same side of the internet',' that we are all being fed the same political media, this is incredibly untrue and we learn more about that fact in this journal. We see news and opinions that align with our own political beliefs. We see this even with the two texts the interviewees were presented with; one being 'Fox News' and the other being 'the New York Times' that the journal states are 'recognizable news outlets that are often considered 'conservative' and 'liberal'. This quote here reinforces the idea that politically biased news sources most definitely exist and left and right-wing consumers are constantly being fed different, even opposing media.

I was very intrigued as the participants in the study pointed out their own preconceived ideas when reading an article based on its source. Both sides will read a piece aligning with their political views with an open mind from the get-go, while they are will be more skeptical and reluctant to read a piece from the opposition. One republican interviewee from the study stated his personal views 'heavily influence' his understanding of news and went on to say 'when I feel like I am getting information that confirms my viewpoint then you know it probably makes me want to go back.' I found this self-awareness quite a positive thing to see as awareness is the first step to unpacking issues I also found it good to see the participants could identify sources of bias in the pieces they were shown; from political bias, tone and purpose, and even the discussion or lack thereof of -climate change. I found this fascinating as it really shows the self-awareness the participants held.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. Despite my initial fear of it being too difficult for me to understand, I engaged with it and came out with many interesting ideas that I am excited to develop further in my study of digital media

bias in news stories, and personal worldviews.

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