Social Media's Impact on Journalism

MM100A
26 October 2012

Social media has become extremely popular over the last decade. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have become a part of most people’s everyday lives. Journalism, as well as social media, is a huge part of the world today primarily because it is how a lot of people get their information. While social media benefits journalism, it is a major hurting factor as well. Social media is often seen as an optimistic thing for many journalists around the world. More times than not, news hits the social media networks long before any journalists can get their hands on the information. For many years, a common rule for journalists has been to “keep in touch with your sources, because you will get ideas for stories from them.” This comes in play more today than ever before because social media sites are exploded with information about daily events happening in the world. The more newspaper reporters engage with their readers online through social media sites, the more useful information they will get.
Social media has played a huge part in the news industry, providing open opportunities for journalists to connect with the public. Although journalists still report facts and give us the news, the rise of social media has changed how a story is told and consumed. A journalist from South Carolina shared how listening to the public through social media played a big role in helping write a story about Andrew Joseph Stack III flying a single-engine plane into an Austin office building. He stated, “In the newsroom, we first heard about the incident on Twitter. We marshaled our resources right away to cover what was clearly going to be a big story. As our staff members worked the phones and drove to the scene, I headed to Twitter. I asked the 20,000-plus followers of our main Statesman account whether they had seen anything, and I asked witnesses to call our reporter Tony Plohetski. Several people called Tony, and their accounts made it into the online and print versions of our stories. I also asked for photos, and they came pouring in. Twitter users, armed with camera-equipped mobile phones, were there. They responded by sending me dozens of photos from the scene. We were posting these user photos on our site as fast as I could get them.” It is clear to see from this story that social media definitely plays a big part in the way journalism is written and shared throughout the world. Without Twitter in this case, this specific journalist would not have been the first to post information about this incident. Although social media is beneficial for many journalists, it is also a hurting factor for the journalism industry. Ronnie Ramos, a Sports News journalist, shared, “It used to be that newspapers, large and small, shared a common set of standards for what journalists would and wouldn’t do. Sure, there were exceptions and not everyone operated by the same “rules.” But there were clear standards of ethical conduct, story verification and clear ways to correct errors. For example, reputable traditional journalists would not routinely publish one-source unnamed stories. Major news organizations would not immediately republish a small news outlet’s story citing unnamed sources. Because of Twitter, that now happens frequently. CBSSports.com recently re-tweeted – incorrectly – that Joe Paterno had died. They relied on a student web site that in turn relied on unnamed sources.” Not only does social media give out false information that journalists might often mistake as true, but it gives the idea that anyone is a journalist. Everyone writes according to the laws of their platform of origin. Some “journalists” exist only on Twitter. Others operate just on blogs. And because everyone has a platform, everyone thinks he or she is a journalist. Rather than taking advantage of the situation to differentiate themselves in the news world as a more experienced source, they went the other way. Ramos also shared, “Many traditional journalism outlets have contributed to the bankruptcy of the term journalist by altering their hiring standards and practices. People who have no fact-gathering experience are now blogging for major outlets. And other outlets have acknowledged, quoted and otherwise legitimized reports from websites, blogs, Twitter accounts and Facebook pages they would have never relied on before the advent of social media. It’s really sad, to watch this proud profession chasing every rumor with an earnest sincerity, as if the news world would implode because some yahoo actually posted some kernel of truth first.” I agree with Ramos in the sense that journalists are degrading themselves through the use of information released through social media. It is sometimes hard to differentiate between what is true and what is false and this has definitely been a negative aspect for journalism. Social media and journalism are both very popular and important in the world today. Although both play their own roles in society, they also work together in many ways. Everyone has their own opinion on what role they believe social media plays when it comes to journalism. I, personally, am split with my opinion because I know social media has not only benefitted the journalism industry, but has hurt it as well.