Pop press articles seem to have become a mockery in our class. We can easily bash Newsweek and Parade for a few extra brownie points with Barb and Leslie, and nod our heads whenever a peer reviewed journal is mentioned. But before this class, I loved pop press. I still do, actually. I’m easily sold on the glossy covers and artistic layouts of the articles, and I automatically flip to pieces with sensationalized titles like “The Boy Crisis” or “Working Out Can Make You Fat” (both of which were Newsweek covers). So when we seemed to discover the “un-truth” of pop press, I wondered not if, but how much, I had been told faulty information in all of those articles I’d read before. This leads me to an uncomfortable situation. I want to be accurately informed on issues in our society, but reading pop press is the only outlet I am comfortable with to find information. Because to be honest, going onto GriffinSearch or Google Scholar to see what’s going on in the world would be ridiculous. Instead, I think the only healthy way for me to continue being informed is to keep reading TIME and Newsweek. Double checking the facts pop press articles present by researching the actual studies they cite is a good safety net to make sure they aren’t horribly skewing the facts, but it doesn’t always seem plausible (mostly because I want to have a life). So my question is, how do you guys stay informed? Do you read pop press like me? Or do you browse through peer reviewed journals in your spare time? Have you found an in-between?
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ReplyDeleteThe way I keep informed is by reading google news while i'm eating breakfast. It takes no more than 5 minutes and I get the information I need. I don't read magazines like time, newsweek and all that mainly because I don't have a subscription to those magazines and I'm really not that interested in reading them anyway I'm not a big fan of reading. I had heard of those peer reviewed journals but I had never really read one until that one we had to read. Television sometimes has some good stories and that's another way to keep informed without having to read long boring articles. I believe peer reviewed journals are only good for professionals who love their field of expertise but if you are not interested in the information on those articles you will find it extremely boring and confusing. These last articles weren't that boring I liked the newsweek article but the other one was not that good.
ReplyDeleteKira,
ReplyDeleteI do love a good Newsweek read. And yes, I do think there is a good balance. But there is a sort of empowerment that comes with knowing how to find information. Ahhhh, library research.
I get my news off of my MSN homepage. I think it is convienent and easy to do and i like how it has world news also. I find the local news to not include to much of world news so i dont like it to much. When it comes to a Newsweek article I do agree that it is way more appealing to read than a peer reviewed article. I also love how you mentioned how everyone conforms in class to the teacher's bias. I thought it was an amazing observation and daring to bring it up. I thought you made a great post.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, a lot of the time I am completely uninformed of what is going on, it is like the saying "ignorance is bliss." I hate turning on the news to see one party bashing on another, so instead of watching this I choose what I want to hear about. When I get curious about recent events I will usually get headlines from MSN, Yahoo, or KSL. When I read news articles, I prefer to read pop press articles, they are more interesting and more engaging.
ReplyDeleteI can say that I have never turned to a peer journal to get a full story, I just try and use my better judgement and not fully buy into everything I'm told. Also, I agree with what Oscar said about peer journals seeming to appeal more to someone that is in a professional field or trying to find information they feel passionate about. I'm happy with the way I get my information, even though I might not know exactly which political leader is visiting which country. I have found that I usually know more about what's going on than the people around me, which is actually a little sad for me.
Good post Kira!
I do read pop press articles when I can. While I find many of them to be entertaining, I do try to verify any "facts" I find in them. For general news I prefer to read time or news week. If I want science information, I turn to Discover or Popular Mechanics. In pop press magazines, I prefer to look for more unusual articles rather than read what I could hear on NPR or see on CNN.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually read magazines to get my news, mainly because I don't subscribe to any news magazines. Instead, I usually get my news online from comcast, or from news shows like Nancy Grace. I would much rather get my news from something like these rather than a peer reviewed journal mainly because they are shorter and much more entertaining. However, after discussing the Newsweek article in class, it kind of did make me not want to read entertainment articles if I am really seeking actual facts. I agree with Kira, that I would just double check a peer reviewed journal if I wanted to know whether something is true or not. Now, I definitely am in an in-between position of checking entertainment news and peer reviewed journals. I would have never thought of reading peer reviewed journals before, and to be honest, I didn't even know what a peer reviewed journal was! So I'm definitely glad we were informed about this in class.
ReplyDeleteI think pop press articles are a great introduction to topics/issues. Since these articles are conveniently available, they are usually my preferred source of information (because I’m lazy). However, if I find one of these pop press articles interesting, I’ll usually want more information than the overview provided in the brief (and usually biased) article. I will then go online and search for information on the topic from CREDIBLE sources. Because, if I’m actually interested in the topic, then reading a peer-reviewed journal can be very interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn summary, pop press articles are just easily accessible introductions, for any real information I like to look at credible sources (such as a peer-reviewed journals).
Kira,
ReplyDeleteI will agree; I enjoy a good pop-press article now and again. However, I must say our discussions in class regarding the biases of pop-press in comparison to a peer reviewed journal has provided me with a dilemma. I find myself unable to read much of anything without categorizing it as more pop-press or more peer reviewed journal. Everything, yes everything, I have read in the last few days I find I am questioning. I questioned a variety of works from newspaper articles to ethics books to Cosmopolitan magazine. And I now find myself viewing the validity in terms of "What, How, and Why?" As frustrating as this is, I believe Leslie and Barb have provided us with very life-relevant and useful information. Firstly, we must not only be skeptical while reading "factual" texts, but we secondly must ask questions. Both will likely lead to further research of a topic and a conclusion of truth.
My dilemma, which I have compared to the children's book "The Math Problem", has been somewhat frustrating, however, I"m glad I learned the lesson now. Imagine how much bogus nonsense I could have come to believe to be true had I not have learned how to ask questions.
Way to spark critical thinking for the glass Kira.
Erin G
I read peer-reviewed articles all the time.
ReplyDeleteSetting my sarcasm to the side, I have to admit not having read either type really.
I usually get my news from various Internet sites, such as gmx.de and yahoo.com (I use both for email too...). However, I try take all news with a grain of salt and rarely stumble over something interesting enough to look up further. I am, I admit, frighteningly unaware of many things outside the little world I live in. Perhaps ignorance is really bliss. I don't even listen to the radio news or watch it on TV.
Taking the focus of me, methinks that the main problem is simply of how we, who we are not experts on many things yet, can distinguish the true cores of the stories from the muddy covering.
While we all could look up on almost any topic nowadays with the help of the Internet, do we? No. Do we want to? Sometimes. Do we have the time to? On occasion. However, I do believe that time is a major factor for us, especially for us. We juggle social time, college work, normal work and many other things all the time. We should take the time to truly understand what we read and hear about. Why don't we?
My problem with pop press articles is not that they are unreliable. My issue is that most of the time, magazines like Newsweek or Time are not lying to you. In fact, sometimes they are one of the best sources around. However, every so often (according to our Learning Community, more often than we thought), some information is completely unreliable and are just presented to "spin" a situation around like "The Boy Crisis".
ReplyDeleteMy problem is that a reliable source (like Newsweek) suddenly became ambiguous. A source that tells the truth and yet every so often bends it. Isn't that a little scary?