Prosegue la collaborazione con i giovani studenti Americani arrivati a Viterbo grazie al progetto universitario USAC. Questa volta per il loro articolo settimanale, abbiamo chiesto di fare un confronto tra l’informazione americana, soprattutto quella locale e il nostro modo di veicolare le notizie. Dopo aver preso in esame luoghi, abitudini e quotidianità della Tuscia, ci è sembrato interessante scoprire come viaggiano i contenuti locali. Scoprite cosa è venuto fuori:
Back home, news is everywhere, but here in Viterbo, it seems like news is something to be sought out. Maybe it’s because I’m (somewhat) new here, or maybe it’s because I don’t speak Italian, but I’ve been here long enough to notice that people still sit in cafes and read physical newspapers instead of articles on their phones. Newspapers still exist here as the main form of the area’s current events, but where I live in California our main news source is a website called Lost Coast Outpost (or LoCo), which is owned by a media conglomerate in town that also owns the four main radio stations.
The accessibility of news itself seems to be the biggest difference between local news here and there, and although a printed copy of LoCo doesn’t exist, it’s available anywhere in the world. While newspapers here in Tuscia do have online versions, it still seems to me that the most popular way to know what’s going on in the world is through actually reading newspapers. Because both TusciaWeb and LoCo are primarily online and cover a span of cities they have a lot in common, but TusciaWeb makes it easier to find information about a specific place within the region.
Another difference between TusciaUp and LoCo is the simplicity of commenting that LoCo seems to focus on. Everywhere you look there’s a “comment” button, and I can’t figure out if it’s because they value what the people of Humboldt County have to say or if they just like stirring up conflict. Either way, while I appreciate the ease at which I can give my two cents on LoCo, I also appreciate that TusciaUp keeps its website free of commentary. It gives the website an air of actual news, instead of a news site just sharing information. That’s not to say that news here doesn’t appreciate it’s readers thoughts, though, it’s more that they keep their news separate from random people’s opinions of that news.
I love real newspapers, I wish they were still the most popular form of breaking information in the United States, but I can’t deny that reading a newspaper today seems tedious. TusciaUp and TusciaWeb have a good idea going, with clear headlines and organized sections of news; I just wish I could read the Italian it’s all written in.
My name is Hannah Williams, and I’m an American student from California and Colorado. Viterbo is a big city compared to my hometowns, and I love the language, food, and culture of the ancient community. I speak Spanish and am here to learn to speak Italian, as well as write, read, and understand the beauty of my favorite Romance language. I have worked for multiple magazines and newspapers through my home university, Humboldt State University, and I spend my days managing a band, studying words, and eating all the time.
