Media Conference Notes.

Issues in journalism: Mainstream VS Social Media

Citizen Journalism. 

• Roles that citizens play in the news gathering. 
• Reporting, analysis and dissemination. 
• Has come to involve social media. 
• Changed the nature of how we read/consume news. 

e.g - The 7/7 attacks 

> Adam Stacey took selfies of the people being evacuated which he then sent to a friend who put it up on a blog. 

e.g - Death of Neda Aghal Sultan (2009)

> The death was recorded and spread. 

e.g - Mobile witnessing: Black lives matter movement. 

e.g - Paris attacks 2015
> Video taken by le monde journalist.

e.g - Arab uprising (2011)
> Key to symbiosis relations between mainstream media and social media. 


Ethical considerations

1. Invasion of privacy. 
2. Airing graphic videos goes against public broadcasters definition of good taste and decency. 
3. Some argue that such footage is dehumanizing to victims.
4. Terrorist propaganda. 

Pros and cons of relying on UGC

Positive:

• Gives journalist authority. 
• Acts as a witness to the truth. 

Negative: 

• Poor technical quality.
• May be edited.

Issues of dependence on social media in covering news.

• Is it authentic footage. 
• Channel may not mention that the content is not verifiable.
• Unspecified footage.
• Dependency on accounts. 

Social media in the newsroom.

Why social media is useful.

• Smart phones changing shape and speed of news. 
• Email, Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp etc.. - all sources of news. 
• Trending hashtags can alert journalists of breaking stories. 
• Platform to broadcast news. 
• Opportunity audience interaction. 

"False information spreads just like accurate information" - (Farida vis, Sneffield university research.)

Verifying news and pictures

• Journalists must take steps to check the source of the story.
• Google image search - helps to show false images.
• Verification includes checking who took the pictures, if they own copyright and whether broadcaster has permission to use them. 
• Check, check and check again. 

Social Media - A Platform for sharing.

• News habits are changing
• Fewer people sit down to watch or listen to the news - social media makes individual stories more accessible. 
• Instant audience feedback - everyone has an opinion. 
• News organisations - monitoring audience engagement, likes, comments and shares.

5 points to take away

1. Social media = increasingly part of journalists toolkit.
2. There are great resources for monitoring content.
3. Check users' social history, profiles etc. 
4. Social media takes your story to a different audience. 
5. What does the future of news look like.