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Social Media + Political Movements

Social media has given us the power to connect and find our niche even if we happen to live in an area that may not have anyone besides yourself. 

What’s terrifying and great about social media, is that we can now be privy to everyone’s problems. Things we were never aware of, is not very much in the forefront of our social media feeds. 

The survivors of the recent Parkland, Florida mass shooting began sharing images and information from the terrifying event in real time. One student journalist even began to report from the inside (give that girl an honorary Pulitzer, really). 

The moments after her partner’s (Philando Castile) death, Diamond Reynolds began to livestream the aftermath of her partner’s last moments, showing that even in that moment, she was almost excessively polite. 

Social media is another level of understanding: we now see people’s lives directly from their eyes, and I can only hope that we will come together, not apart. 

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TW / CW : death, violence, police violence

Eric Garner’s death at the hands of police was recorded by a witness and later posted on social media; a unique symptom of today’s ubiquitous cameras. His violent death sparked more protests from the Black Lives Matter movement, and the viral hashtag and phrase “I can’t breathe”. 

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Jonathan Bachman’s powerful photo from the 2016 protests, decrying Alton Sterling’s death at the hands of Baton Rouge police, went viral on Twitter. Social media users noted the woman’s powerful, but calm demeanor contrasted with the riot-gear clad masses of police, was an icon for the strength of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

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... most Twitter backlashes are born of valid criticism, and in Black Twitter, black people have a platform to air grievances and demand action—things that white people in America oftentimes take for granted because they are readily available.

Stereo Williams, “The Power of Black Twitter” (The Daily Beast)

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#BlackPantherChallenge let about 200 Sacramento-area kids see Marvel movie for free

An online crowdfunding effort, #BlackPantherChallenge has raised $400,000 worlwide to let children see “Black Panther” for free. About 200 of them saw it at Regal Natomas in Sacramento.

Awesome to see how social media can help people connect like this. Many have shared that it inspires them to themselves on screen. 

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Heyward to the Future

This week’s Must See Monday took a more serious, perhaps ominous tone with speaker  Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News (1996 - 2005), and current president of his own company, Heyward Advisory LLC. The event was moderated by Dean Mike Lodato. Mr. Heyward was a pivotal player in advancing CBS into the digital age, a prolific Emmy award winner, and developed the acclaimed 48 Hours program.

Heyward spoke blithely of, in his opinion, the potential impending doom of traditional journalism if it does not adapt to the changing landscape. With the advent of the internet and the success of offbeat, non traditional journalism, (a few he mentioned were Buzzfeed, Mashable, Mic and Vice), he argues that today’s journalism is more open to “entrepreneurship”, than ever before. Before, it was about striking a balance between fitting in and standing out in the newsroom, but now, journalists no longer have to be “robots” with no personalities, but they can be real individuals. From what I could understand, Heyward proposed that today’s journalists are allowed to be themselves in public, unlike before, as its easier for an audience to understand where this journalist stands and can take that into account when they consume the stories.

Further, Heyward predicted an ominous future for traditional broadcast media, as it was “aging”. The way that media consumption worked, was that as older audiences aged, their kids, the next generation would age into their parents media watching habits. Before the 21st century, youth didn’t care to watch TV news every night, until they began to own property, have families. Today, Heyward noted, the youth today care deeply about the news, but they don’t get it from TV media. Granted, traditional news broadcasting still receives a huge audience and they “can’t afford to alienate” such a large viewership. In order to survive, these stations need to have a digital strategy, and “reposting videos on various platforms” doesn’t count.

This relates to Heyward’s words on local broadcast news as well. Calling it “formulaic”, Heyward notes that local media should be more active on social media finding out what the audience in the community are interested in. Many broadcasting programs hang on to the old way of honoring the news anchor, as opposed to the reporters who go out and dig into a story. This method can’t go away immediately, again, for fear of alienating the large audiences that broadcast news enjoys, but the eventual transition to reporter led broadcasts in necessary. Heyward noted that before, the anchorman had an earned authority, but in today’s media, that’s not always the case.

Overall, Heyward’s experience has led him to discuss how social media and the digital age will not kill journalism, but unless change occurs with traditional media, they will die in favor of the new.

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My First Must See Monday

To kick off Cronkite schools’ weekly Must See Mondays events, administrators brought in bright local talent, with three of the four panelists being proud ASU alumni. The night’s guests were Clara Colmenero of Univision (class of 2009), Kris Pickel of CBS 5, Linda Williams of FOX 10 (class of 1981), and Kim Tobin of ABC 15 (class of 2010). The panel was moderated by Lin Sue Cooney, formerly of FOX 12 News.

The night started with an intro by assistant director and executive producer of Cronkite News, Melanie Alvarez, introducing the women and the moderators, and setting a tone for the evening.

Ms. Cooney started the panel with discussions of the pros and cons of working in the journalism industry, what it’s like to work in the era of social media, and what it’s like to work with the old-fashioned perceptions of the diva anchorwoman of the 60s still pervasive today. Every panelist had a different response as to why they loved their jobs; for Ms. Williams, she has a passion for writing and this is her chosen method of sharing her writing. For Ms. Pickel, she enjoyed the connection she has with the community by sharing stories that impact people’s lives For both Kim and Clara, they find that the impact they have on their community to be the most rewarding. As veteran reporters, Pickel and Williams discussed the unstable nature of their careers, and how it is the greatest cons in their line of work. “The lack of control over your own career” Pickel declared, was the worst part about her job. She explained that in her experience, she had bosses who didn’t like her, and made it difficult for her to continue her job or personal life. Williams discussed how the “pressure and stress” made her work challenging, as deadlines on TV are set in stone: “if it’s late, it’s not even there”.

Moving beyond just the struggles and triumphs of journalists, moderator Cooney moved the conversation to social media. A consensus appeared among the panelists: social media wasn’t going to destroy local news. According to Pickel, stories can go viral, but people still return to local media for them to be “vetted”, as the local news remains as the “reliable source” in the era of free information. She also saw social media as a “tool to interact”, in order to know what does the audience “want to know about?”. She also noted that with the booming industry of streaming (Netflix, Hulu, etc), that many people may transition back to “rabbit ears” types of broadcasting, boosting local news. For Ms. Tobin, she said she spent as much as 30% of her workday on social media, dropping hints on to stories that she is working on, prior to broadcast.

It isn’t possible to have a panel of exclusively female anchors without touching on the problems of sexism in the world and how it affects them in their day to day lives. Cooney asked whether the stereotype of the “diva anchorwoman” is still relevant today, to which every panelist scoffed or at least chuckled. Tobin declared, “No divas allowed” in the newsroom. Williams speculated, that maybe in the 50s and 60s that caricature was real, but it “went out the door in the 70s”. For Pickel, in her experience working in the Midwest, that sort of anchor still existed. She said she sense a sort of derogatory attitude towards the term “anchor”. For this reason, “I don’t introduce myself as an anchor. I’m a reporter”.

For me, anecdote that resonated with me the most was Pickel’s about her trying to get onto the US Navy’s icebreaker ship for a story. She said she fought for a month to try and get on the ship for the story, and once the station was approved to be on board, she got a phone call. There were no women on the crew, and the Navy said that they required a male reporter to do the story. “I hung up the phone, waited a moment, and then called them back. ‘I’m sorry, are you telling me I can’t do this story because I’m a woman?’”, she laughed “We had a er, cordial, discussion after that. ‘If that’s the case, then let’s have a conversation about gender bias in the US Military then. I’m sorry do you think I am going to have sex with the crew, is that the what it is?’”. Apparently the reasoning for her not being appropriate for the story was because she “couldn’t sleep on the bunk”. To which she replied, “give me a blanket, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

The overarching message from the diverse set of talented, smart women, was if you love what you do, and are determined to do it, nothing can stop you. Be dynamic, be driven, be a “fiver” according to Williams. Be willing to do anything, and success will be yours.