Strategically Communicating

The one big thing I took away from this reading was the numerous, often subtle ways, media content can be influenced simultaneously by numerous sources.

During my time in Naples, I was intrigued by how I and my Italian counterparts reacted differently to the same news events. The rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the African immigration across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and Russia’s involvement in Crimea. Naturally many things influence a person’s viewpoint, but I feel cultural and historical influences play a large part in how we often reached different conclusions.

The ongoing migrant crisis in Europe is an excellent example of multiple influences acting upon media. This is an event directly affecting the populations of an entire continent and has sparked daily articles and media content showing a large variety of differing opinions and perspectives.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/09/16/assad-blames-west-for-refugee-crisis-sot-newsroom.cnn

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/07/us-europe-migrants-merkel-idUSKCN0S11W120151007

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/29/europe-migrants-austria-idUSL5N11Z1N320150929

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/11/us-europe-migrants-greece-minister-idUSKCN0S509620151011

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34487562

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34397272

When you read these speeches, protests, finger-pointing and border closings you can clearly see that there are deep emotions on this crisis which has huge humanitarian, cultural, economic and logistical implications for Europe. Yet on traditional media sites it is difficult to find media content on aid workers, border officials or ordinary citizens being affected by transportation disruptions. Instead of discussion and individual viewpoints, I typically find just blaming. So I am curious as to what influences are at work with this ongoing issue. Are they intentional or unintentional? Are they are individual, social, cultural or historical?