Social Media's Impact on News
The rise of social media, the most recent media outlet, changed the way that news was shared. It also changed the ethics of journalism with the rise of citizen journalist. However, the type of social media matters as well in the sharing of information, where the McLuhan Equation is coming into play.
News shared on Twitter verses news shared on Facebook seem to be vastly different. While both sites have at least half of their users get news from their sites, the way that the news is carried and interpreted is different. Facebook users often see more news about local events, sports, and entertainment.[1] While on Twitter, more and more users are utilizing the site as a platform for protest and change, where global news and revolutions are often live and broadcasted by average citizens.[2] Twitter also has more bias than Facebook because of these political affiliations that are so common on the site. The opinion of an event can drastically change over time on Twitter, where the majority opinion is often the opposite of the majority of the United States.[1]
The ethics also seem to change with the rise of social media. Now that there is unprecedented access to thousands of people and their opinions, journalists have to understand the difference and reliability of the source more than ever. With journalist publishing over 2/3 of their articles before fact checking, misinformation can spread easily, causing more harm than good.[3]
There is also the ethics that must be regarded. Will news remain objective or will it have more commentary now that there are masses that can consume this information? Or will the increase in opinions from people drive the news sources to take an objective stance to level the playing field?[4]
Social media is also now a large share of where journalist get their information and sources from. In June of 2014, social media was where 50% of media informants got their information from.[3]
When we look at the protests happening now all across the country, all of the people involved turn to social media to not only validate their message and show that they are not lying, but also to spread awareness. The video of Eric Garner was published first on social media, then news outlets took that video and created the news story for their papers and evening news, linking their evidence or facts to that video.
Media no longer has a filter added on, the filters that are typically found in newspapers and the headlines for the news. Now, people can find news online and through social media, where, if an issue is popular enough among the people, those messages and information will be trending or headlining. These news stories are dictated by the people. The more people who put their support, or perhaps their disagreement even, the more likely that others will see this and then add their two cents. Social media is not in the hands of corporate heads or news broadcasters. It is not in the hands of the people.[2]
In all the previous forms, news has largely been controlled by people in a position of power. The news was filtered through these people, in a way setting the agendas of the people and choosing what made national news and what didn't. Now, that position has shifted from the corporate heads, to people on social media who report, share, and choose what news to make important.
In a way, news sharing and reporting is increasingly becoming apart of our civic duty. When one reports and shares information, they have to become the gateway readers to news and either confirm or deny it's truth and validity using other facts and sources to confirm the writing of the journalist or person even. They must share the news ethically and report it so. Even making a topic popular must be done in good conscious.
This extended duty even allows people who aren't citizens and who can't vote to be apart of the discussion and agenda setting, arguable more important than electing officials to represent us in law.
While the impact that the internet and social media has on news may still not be conclusive, there is a growing body of evidence that shows a huge shift and change into a direction where people, not power, shows the truth.
Michelle Chavez
