Emily Duever

After an entire semester of blogging for my Media Law and Literacy, I've learned a bit about the power of blogging. Blogging is essentially a form of citizen journalism and allows everyday citizens to act as gatekeeepers. It allows anyone to share their knowledge or creative ideas to entertain, persuade, and inform others. While I may not continue blogging like this in the future, it's given me a better appreciation of what blogging can do and how important it is, especially in the world of social media. So many different avenues of sharing information have become available since technology has involved so drastically but this one sticks out. Its completely customizable and usable for everyone. I hope that the people who use blogging use it for the right reasons. While it can be used to spread false information, it can also be used to spread truth and creativity. It shouldn't be stifled and we should be promoting this form of freedom of speech.

Privacy in the age of technology has been redefined and we no longer have the same privacy our grandparents grew up with. Instead, each and everyone one of us has to come to terms with being monitored and having data collected on them. What really creates a problem in my mind is that some people are unaware, specifically on social media. Not everyone is fully aware of what it means to be on social media when they sign up, especially minors. Just by creating profiles and being on the Internet, they subject themselves to data mining and collecting they are unaware they've signed off on. It's a scary thought that before the age of 18, someone can have a well established online presence and have created a large digital footprint without ever being aware of the possible repercussions or who is listening in. Everyday average citizens remain unaware as well. From the license plate scanners that police use to the data mining on all sorts of Internet sites, privacy is an illusion.

After learning more about key media law terms and concepts, I realized that one stuck out to me. The concept of a whistleblower, while I knew what one was before, was a bit foreign to me and I didn't realize just how important and close to home they can hit. With Julian Assange being the main news story these days, I found it important to familiarize myself with not only his story, but the terms associated with the current news cycle. Whistleblowers have made waves, especially in United States history. In a lot of people's eyes, they're heroes. They serve the people by uncovering and revealing injustice, dishonesty, and wrongdoing. While that is a good thing, especially for the American public, it often means that we lose faith in our elected officials. The concept and threat of a whistleblower hold them to higher standards and keeps the public informed so that we can help to hold them to those standards. Some of history's most famous whistleblowers include Mark