FAP408: Student Loan Radio: UCLA thoughts

1. People can get engaged in a story very quickly and easily if the story is perceived to be important enough.

2. A six minute video contains so much more emotional impact than tons of text.

3. Lots of people on both sides can be very passionate.

4. Lots of people on both sides have nearly zero information about the other side's views.

What role does new media play? Connecting the two. In traditional media, you spin up the story, you show the sound clips, you sell ad space, and you go to the bank - and everyone else loses. My view on new media is that it can extend the conversation, let people vent their opinions, and then learn from each other, teach each other, and ultimately run counter to what old media's goals are, which is to hook you in, sell you stuff, and then move onto the next big thing. Days after this story broke, I'm still approving comments on the podcast blog, and I wholeheartedly encourage the conversation to continue.

As far as this specific story goes, the facts are still being discovered, and the ultimate outcome is unknown, but the lesson is cleaer - media is ubiquitous, and everyone needs to be cognizant of the power of new media. Had I been one of the arresting officers in this case, based on the information I know about so far, I don't necessarily know that using a Taser would have been my first choice. Assuming there were no other calls pending and that the person in question, the student, wasn't armed and dangerous, I think I might have resorted to annoying him out of the library, rather than deploy a weapon. But again, that's based solely on the little information I have.

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Reminders
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+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
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