Journalists vs Twitter

In today’s day and age, the idea of people spending hours on social media is far from ordinary. The technological advancements of the past decade have made it easier than ever to communicate and produce content, young people have fueled the rise of social media. The constant flow of information and content have forced journalist to adapt and evolve.

Twitter can be a great tool for many journalists, it helps them stay up to date on the most recent news, they can share their opinions and content and the most important concept they can interact with their audience.

Whether this is a good or bad for the future of journalism depends on a number of factors. One thing however is certain, Journalists are stepping back from the platform to restore the authenticity and integrity of journalism.

In the article, “Think twice before turning to Twitter,” Molyneux and McGregor advice journalists to think twice about using twitter, as it is creating a dependency accustoming audience to seeing tweets as part of the story.

While the platform can be great for attracting audience and showcasing one’s work, journalists find it distracting and a huge source for misinformation. Leading many journalists to make rush decisions in terms of fact checking before publishing, the pressure of being the first to break a story compromises the story and work of the journalist. These conflicting reports have people calling out journalist for rush reporting and misinformation. Furthering the mistrust many people have towards journalist.

All of these factors are forcing journalist to take a new approach with more limitations and precautions towards the content they share and ‘like.’