Al Jazeera English Channel

SPRING BREAK IS ONLY A FEW DAYS AWAY! 

Which is my excuse for being absent on here for the last week...and I had the flu for two days. Ugh. I hate the flu, especially when I'm so far from home and my mom isn't here to baby me. 

Today's guest speaker:  

Camille El Hassani

• Senior White House Producer for Al Jazeera (English Channel)
• Previously worked at ABC for six years
• Spent a year working overseas in Iraq at a news station

"Observe, Report, and Analyze."

I'm noticing a trend with our guest speakers, especially as technology continues to advance. Social Media is not only changing the world, but especially journalism and how we get our news. 

At first social networking sites weren't seen as real journalism, and while it is still significant to check sources and credibility of the sites and what you read, they are making a big impact on how we get our information.

In the United States we are fortunate enough to have Free Speech (First Amendment). We can basically say whatever we want, basically anywhere we want. Social networking sites are assisting citizens in other countries that are normally censored. Through sites like facebook and youtube we are able to communicate almost immediately with people in different times zones. 

At first news organizations kind of blew off the thought of social networking sites, but now even the biggest and most powerful news outlets have facebook, twitter, etc.