How A Lifetime Achievement Became the Biggest News On the Internet

On Sunday, February 28th, 2016, the 88th Academy Awards aired on national television. This highly anticipated event covers awards given to various achievements in film over the past year. This year, the Academy honored and gave awards to films that were released in 2015. One of the biggest questions was of if this was the year that renowned actor Leonardo DiCaprio would finally win an Academy Award of some sort, many audience members anticipating the day he would finally be acknowledged, and he had!

DiCaprio, best known for such films as “Titanic,” “The Departed,” “Inception,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” won the award for his role as Hugh Glass in the drama film “The Revenant.” As the show was airing live, people took immediately to the internet to express their happiness and excitement over Dicaprio’s huge milestone in his acting career. Not only was this the hot buzz on social media, but various news outlets instantly reported on the big win. Through the Internet, the news has become increasingly rapid in reporting breaking news, but how and what way is it being reported?

One of the biggest new sites on the Internet, The Huffington Post, reported the story with the title “Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Wins His Oscar” on the front page. Upon clicking it, the title immediately changes to the more straight-forward “Leonardo DiCaprio Wins Best Actor In “The Revenant”.” The news article itself is very brief, giving a short summarization of what had occurred at the Academy Awards. It opens up with a statement about DiCaprio’s previous Oscar nominations and losses, but goes right to news about his Oscar win. The article goes on to state that he has won other awards for “The Revenant” from the Golden Globes and BAFTA, followed by a list of a number of films in which DiCaprio has starred in. Lastly, it closes on a list of actors that lost the award over DiCaprio. The article is straight, to-the-point, and does not cover anything else about the story. One detail that is obviously missing is DiCaprio’s acceptance speech, which struck profoundly with many Oscar attendees and audiences at home.

Another site, Entertainment Weekly, which heavily focuses on entertainment media more so than The Huffington Post, posted an article with the title “Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio wins his first ever Best Actor Award.” The EW article goes into much more detail than the the Huffington post article, mostly taking focus on the actor’s acceptance speech. The beginning paragraphs cover DiCaprio’s discussion about climate change, which he has openly touched upon during his previous “Revenant” acceptance speeches. The article makes a point that it is something DiCaprio used in his speech to bring awareness to due to the nature of the film. It also goes into greater detail about DiCaprio discussing in various interviews how difficult, but rewarding, it was to make “The Revenant” happen. The article not only focuses on his shining achievement, but also the development of the film itself. Unlike the Huffington Post article, this becomes a discussion of more than just a well-respected actor winning one of the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry.

TIME magazine, known for being a “high brow” periodical, had responded in a different manner to the news of the Oscar win. The magazine had posted an article titled “Here’s How the Internet Reacted to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar Win,” but instead of an article filled with long paragraphs of text, it includes a list of embedded Tweets filled with Internet Memes, GIFs. and footage of the actor’s Oscar acceptance. This is a completely different format than the previous two articles, the first which acted as an actual news report while the second was about the behind-the-scenes aspect of the news. TIME’s article may seem like an unlikely way to report such a defining achievement in DiCaprio’s career, but it works in an unconventional sense. It demonstrates how the Internet itself has become its own culture, feeding on the reactions of tens of thousands of strangers with a smartphone or computer.

The Internet has become a powerful tool, making news delivery faster than it ever was. It has become a place where the opinions of others are more out in the open. It only takes seconds for information to spread now. Getting news out there followed by the reactions of many within minutes is what we have adapted and are getting accustomed to for the long run.On Sunday, February 28th, 2016, the 88th Academy Awards aired on national television. This highly anticipated event covers awards given to various achievements in film over the past year. This year, the Academy honored and gave awards to films that were released in 2015. One of the biggest questions was of if this was the year that renowned actor Leonardo DiCaprio would finally win an Academy Award of some sort, many audience members anticipating the day he would finally be acknowledged, and he had!

DiCaprio, best known for such films as “Titanic,” “The Departed,” “Inception,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” won the award for his role as Hugh Glass in the drama film “The Revenant.” As the show was airing live, people took immediately to the internet to express their happiness and excitement over Dicaprio’s huge milestone in his acting career. Not only was this the hot buzz on social media, but various news outlets instantly reported on the big win. Through the Internet, the news has become increasingly rapid in reporting breaking news, but how and what way is it being reported?

One of the biggest new sites on the Internet, The Huffington Post, reported the story with the title “Leonardo DiCaprio Finally Wins His Oscar” on the front page. Upon clicking it, the title immediately changes to the more straight-forward “Leonardo DiCaprio Wins Best Actor In “The Revenant”.” The news article itself is very brief, giving a short summarization of what had occurred at the Academy Awards. It opens up with a statement about DiCaprio’s previous Oscar nominations and losses, but goes right to news about his Oscar win. The article goes on to state that he has won other awards for “The Revenant” from the Golden Globes and BAFTA, followed by a list of a number of films in which DiCaprio has starred in. Lastly, it closes on a list of actors that lost the award over DiCaprio. The article is straight, to-the-point, and does not cover anything else about the story. One detail that is obviously missing is DiCaprio’s acceptance speech, which struck profoundly with many Oscar attendees and audiences at home.

Another site, Entertainment Weekly, which heavily focuses on entertainment media more so than The Huffington Post, posted an article with the title “Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio wins his first ever Best Actor Award.” The EW article goes into much more detail than the the Huffington post article, mostly taking focus on the actor’s acceptance speech. The beginning paragraphs cover DiCaprio’s discussion about climate change, which he has openly touched upon during his previous “Revenant” acceptance speeches. The article makes a point that it is something DiCaprio used in his speech to bring awareness to due to the nature of the film. It also goes into greater detail about DiCaprio discussing in various interviews how difficult, but rewarding, it was to make “The Revenant” happen. The article not only focuses on his shining achievement, but also the development of the film itself. Unlike the Huffington Post article, this becomes a discussion of more than just a well-respected actor winning one of the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry.

TIME magazine, known for being a “high brow” periodical, had responded in a different manner to the news of the Oscar win. The magazine had posted an article titled “Here’s How the Internet Reacted to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar Win,” but instead of an article filled with long paragraphs of text, it includes a list of embedded Tweets filled with Internet Memes, GIFs. and footage of the actor’s Oscar acceptance. This is a completely different format than the previous two articles, the first which acted as an actual news report while the second was about the behind-the-scenes aspect of the news. TIME’s article may seem like an unlikely way to report such a defining achievement in DiCaprio’s career, but it works in an unconventional sense. It demonstrates how the Internet itself has become its own culture, feeding on the reactions of tens of thousands of strangers with a smartphone or computer.

The Internet has become a powerful tool, making news delivery faster than it ever was. It has become a place where the opinions of others are more out in the open. It only takes seconds for information to spread now. Getting news out there followed by the reactions of many within minutes is what we have adapted and are getting accustomed to for the long run.