Opinion: Let me out of the corporate media box!
It is so easy now to make media content and entertain a niche audience on any social media platform nowadays. News is now accessible on social media platforms but for many people legacy media is where people go for “reliable” media. You know, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, etc. Now that I’m close to graduating, the dreadful question of “What’s the plan for after college?” haunts me, because I don’t want to choose a career as a journalist, in which my editor chooses what makes the newspaper money.
Taylor Lorenz, journalist and owner of User Mag on Substack has exactly what I want in a journalism career. Lorenz is known for having an online personality and a lot of her work is focused on how media manipulates the public and how people consume media. Being a woman with opinions while writing without limitations in the media can be harder than people think because of constant criticism. Women are criticized in their work for appearance, age, weight, religion and more.
In the industry it’s hard when a work environment is dominated by men and of course we all know how this story goes. Lorenz recently wrote an article on how conservative men are now the ones on the top of the media pyramid when it comes to providing news sources. However, their news is biased and from X (previously known as Twitter). Personally I’m too stubborn to be in a work space where I have to prove myself to men or anyone that I should have a voice in my work.
I’m extremely passionate about the entertainment industry and feel that we have lost the spark in entertainment media today. I see a lot of parasocial relationships online and it’s just not FUN! I strive to create a platform once I graduate to host independent artists and give them a chance to grow in their own light and not have it dimmed by a controlling media company.
Being able to freely write about what you want and what you think is deemable and can have its cons. Are you that cool that it will make people want to read? No, but maybe. There are lots of niche subcultural areas on the internet that people are interested in. I hate that a lot of these creators are now labeled “underground” or “small” because they’ve been shut down by legacy media because it doesn’t fit their industry plant look.
News is dying and that’s because we’ve let big brother dictate what we see on our screens. I’m tired of having to fit myself into a box to be worthy to work for a corporation.
