Blog #10 EOTO 2 Classmate Prez

 EOTO #2 - What I Learned 

After my presentation of agenda setting, I got to listen to fellow classmates inform the class about terms and theories we may or may have not known prior. Either way, I gained something from each term’s description. The two terms I found most intriguing was the Overton Window, and Citizen Journalism. 

What is the Overton Window?

The Overton Window is the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time, also known as the window of discourse. My classmate talked about how politicians are able to move the Overton window by suggesting a radical idea, and then posing a less radical idea afterwards. The two ideas in comparison makes their second idea seem very reasonable. One great example of this is mask mandates and how our views on it being acceptable have changed over time. As a class we talked about how a year ago, if you suggested that COVID was developed in a lab leak, you were an insane conspiracy theorist. Now it is common knowledge that it is in fact true, COVID started in a China lab. Over time the Overton window moved as knowledge and social acceptability changed. It’s truly amazing how apparent this window is today and how critically people will judge you if you aren’t in the popular or policy window. 

What is Citizen Journalism?

Citizen Journalism is based upon public citizens “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information.” Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, and Instagram Live are all incredibly relevant forms of citizen journalism. Some personal reporters can even have a larger following than some mainstream networks. Gone is the day where citizen journalism is unreliable. Some citizen journalists are so largely followed and it is simple to see why. The average population has a computer in their pocket and a camera to capture events as they are happening. News crews simply cant keep up and be at every scene. This is why today it is so much more common and followed. I was aware of the people’s ability to report, but had not researched this term so it was cool to learn from a fellow classmate.