Most important value of the 8 Values of Free Expression (in my opinion)

In my opinion the most important role of the government is the value to Check on  Governmental Power. Without this value, all the the other values wouldn't be possible. The liberty to allow citizens to check on the government without any retaliation from the government itself is what separates us from a dictatorship, communist regime or a monarchy. The Watchdog role that the media is provided is one of the most essential roles that they have as reporters, actors and writers. If news stations weren't allowed to report their opinions on the government than the government would get no feedback from the people that they are trying to govern (unless there's a riot/revolution). Just look at how upset Trump gets over the slander that he gets from the media on shows like SNL. Late Night shows genially make issues of the government the core segment on their show; by spreading the issues of government and the abuses of power on live television they're educating people that wouldn't usually look into government affairs to see what's going on in our society.

HPU: Public vs Private Property

I've been here for 3 years and it's not a secret that there's a little bit of problems on this extraordinary campus. From the parking/fountain dilemma to the concert slumps, students here would like to see some small changes in the campus but little do they know, their chances are very slim. Because this is a private campus they can do whatever they want, no matter what the students say. Now if they decided to change it on their own accord based on what they heard, that's totally different but we can't force them to do anything; any protest or petition means nothing and they don't have to yield to our demands if they don't want to. HPU is currently of the mindset of: "Here's our rules and if you don't like them you can leave." Sometimes my friends talk to me about protesting for more parking, saying "we have a right to protest as citizens" but not here, not on this campus. It's depressing that we can't protest for the things that we want. This is the same reason why the old HPU newspaper was disbanded because they were saying negative comments about HPU's system and the hierarchy of the school didn't like that so now we have a "school friendly" newspaper which is 100% controlled by HPU.  I really needed to express my feelings towards this campus because I feel like not enough students do. I the direction that we're going I don't think that the connection between campus and students is going to get any better for the rest of my time here. The connection will probably grow farther apart.

18-Year-Old Testifies About Getting Vaccinated Despite Mother's Anti-Vaccine Beliefs

An 18-year-old made national news when he got himself vaccinated outside of his mother’s jurisdiction. Reportedly his mother, kept him away from vaccines his whole life in belief that they would give him autism or some type of disability. This period of “Anti-Vax” mothers has honestly been going on for a while but recently it’s been getting a lot of backlash in social media. People have posted memes and other jokes teasing the Anti-Vax mothers for being foolish and out of touch with society. They make jokes like “Your child won’t get autism if he/she dies from polio instead.” These jokes have been a huge general topic on sites like reedit where the audience ranges around 8 to 17 year olds, so I’m not shocked when a newly turned 18-year-old wants a vaccine shot as his birthday present. This just shows you how much influence the media has on their youth today. But it turns out that the son just happened to be right in this situation; though he was probably influenced from the idea of getting a vaccination from memes and other social media, he later did his research and learned about vaccines from the CDC, the World Health Organizations and other trusted sources while the mother got her superstitions from a Facebook post. This just goes to show you that you shouldn’t let things you see on the internet take control of your whole life.

Donald Trump and the feeding frenzy era

While looking at news websites to find out what I should write for a blog post, I'm continuously seeing articles on Donald Trump and his effect on the government. I understand that the actions of our president are important and he's a role-model of us to the rest of the world but isn't there anything else to talk about? I'm not they type of person who usually talks on political issues but i don't think this is a political issue, its a problem with our media. In my Global Studies class, we talked about the definition and impact of a feeding frenzy. A feeding frenzy is when the media feeds you an unnecessary amount of useless information on a popular subject. They may not be as relevant but there is definitely more important things that we can talk about on the news than "Day 15 of Government Shutdown, Nothing is Happening Still." Michael Che from SNL said on a segment: "God, I hate what Donald Trump is doing but in a way I have to thank him. He makes my job so much easier." Michael Che hosts SNL's Weekend Update segment alongside his co-host Colin Jost and since Trump has began running for president, he's been mentioned every weekend. I'm not saying that we should drop all news on Trump all together, It's the media's role to hold political figures accountable for their actions (Watch Dog Function). But, let's just diversify the conversation a little bit. Please?

Washington post Sued by Family of Covington Teenager

There’s an interesting thing about this story. Does he have a chance of winning? Who knows?

The 250 mil dollars in damages didn’t really specify what type of damages they’re seeking. Basically that figure was arrived because that's what Jeff Bezos paid for the Washington post, it seems a little dubious to me. The other thing interesting was that the lawyers are making the case that the WP acted with actual malice. But is Nicholas sandman a public figure? I’m my Com Law class, we’ve been learning about Actual Malice and what it takes legally to be able to sue someone for libel. Nicholas wasn't a public figure before this happened so he shouldn’t go as such. Just because a person is news worthy shouldn’t change your status from private to public.

The legal team said they are aiming to sue multiple outlets like CNN, etc because it was republished on those outlets. Are all the outlets guilty because they aired the video? I don’t think they’re in the right to sue all these media platforms, they’re just doing their job by reporting current events.