Perspectives of Journalism PDF

AS2004 PERSPECTIVES OF JOURNALISM As social media developed, more avenues for journalism were created and established. The consumption of information on cur...

AS2004 PERSPECTIVES OF JOURNALISM As social media developed, more avenues for journalism were created and established. The consumption of information on current events has been extensive and expansive within the Internet. This handout will enrich the perspective of journalism in social media, specifically with its process and dynamics. CITIZEN JOURNALISM New Norms New norms are now the standards that guide professional journalists. The term “norm” refers to a behavior that rational people agree is (or should be) considered normal in society. Professional journalists consider these new norms in the journalism that proliferates today. The major principles of journalism are still evident in the journalism within the cyber world. Transparency and objectivity are keys to social media journalism. These are some of the new norms that exist with social media journalism: 1. Engaged Journalism – people online are now deeply engaged with news information more than ever. The engagement ranges from international concerns, to national and local happenings, and even personal matters that “a specific Facebook friend is now pregnant.” As more users become engaged in news content creation, the lines for what is considered newsworthy becomes blurred as engaged audiences curate the news they desire to consume. This also led Facebook to create their Facebook Live feature. It enables users to capture current happenings and broadcast them online which may become a material for news on TV or radio. 2. User-Generated Content – journalism shifted from being largely one-way mass communication to participatory work that includes the users or audience to create or publish their own content. What establishes the difference between a professional journalist and a citizen journalist is the technical aspect of creating news content and the verification of the source of these information. 3. Agenda-Setting Theory – since news content tends to be user-generated in social media, the agenda- setting function of mass communication becomes more prevalent and evident. Citizens may frame a content that is based on personal agenda that are most of the times ignored by other social media users. It is something netizens live with that must be thoroughly processed in order to instill objectivity. 4. Evolving Ethics – responsibility on what is published online becomes the number one virtue of journalism today. Information spreads like wildfire and misleading, biased or fake information cannot be retracted anymore once published online. It can be deleted but the audience may have already screenshot, recreated, or repeated the content immediately. 5. Fact Checking – as more users have the capacity to create news content, audiences or information consumers must take into consideration to verify if the news content is factual or fake. The rule of triangulation must be applied. It posits that if an information can be seen and is consistent with three (3) major publications, the information is valid and reliable. CROWDSOURCING Concerned Citizens Crowdsourcing has been more prevalent today as seen through TV news broadcasts. News contents are first seen via personal social media accounts, goes viral, and used by broadcasting networks as material for news broadcasts. During a breaking news event, users may provide information not yet available to professional journalists. In an era in which most people carry smartphones with high-quality cameras with them almost everywhere, photographs appear almost instantaneously on Twitter from the sites of most breaking news events. 05 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 3  AS2004 This aspect of social media journalism is still developing and may take into new forms in the span of five (5) years at the rate of the development of technology today. Most users may also step-up in becoming sentinels for verifying online news or information. Bloggers Blogging became popular online early in the new century. Independent bloggers were able to use new tools to reach large audiences. Commercial sites, such as The Huffington Post, were launched and became successful challengers to traditional media and even online news publication sites. Most local and national media now have active bloggers offering opinion and interpretation. This aspect of social media journalism allows users, especially influential content creators, to become a major consideration for the source of information. Moreover, the insights they pose sets the mindset of their followers. Responsibility and accountability among these users are expected as they help in shaping the dynamics of society with how they influence other users. As stated by Lipschultz (2018), most blog posts tend to be 500 to 1,000 words; as online readers are more likely to consume short rather than long reads. At the same time, online sites tend to have fewer editors than traditional publications. Longer posts may not be edited as quickly. Sites vary in terms of style rules, such as capitalization, use of search engine optimization (SEO) words and phrases, and quotation style. The Huffington Post, for example, uses block quotes, but these tend to be short. Sites also vary in use of italics and quotation marks for references to book titles. Blogging sites tend to encourage use of hyperlinks as references to content that is discussed, as shorthand for those interested in reading more about the topic. Use of images and video links varies across blog sites. Most editors want stories that are visually appealing and keep readers at the site for as long as possible. Social Media Celebrity There has been a blurring of the lines, as some of those active on Twitter cut across these traditional categories. For example, Jillian York (@jilliancyork), director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is also a blogger who was active during the Arab Spring. Visualization of social networking revealed that she was an important hub for information, thus an opinion leader. She now has more than 146,000 tweets and nearly 53,500 Twitter followers. It would seem that opinion leadership and interest in entertainment came together to help push the media content. MICRO-BLOGGING Micro-blogging is one of the new means of spreading information in the 21st century. Most news content are now delivered to other social media users via Twitter. Twitter is a major platform for micro-blogging. These are the characteristics of micro-blogging that pushes further the reach of an online news content: 1. Conciseness – as content in Twitter is only limited to 240 characters, most news organizations only post the headline and the link for the actual news content. It gives users a glimpse or a sense of knowledge of what is happening around the world even with a short amount of characters. 2. Real-Time Update – the idea for micro-blogging sites is to constantly update whatever is happening around. Information is received instantaneously as events happen and develop. Updates on the story development can be easily published as well. On the flip-side, if the content is published at a certain time, it becomes obsolete after a few minutes as other updates are posted. 3. Sensationalism – with limitations on characters and the constant updates of other users that bury aa content, most news organizations or influencers tend to maximize the ‘click-bait’ method to create content engagement and to make sure that other users will visit, read, or retweet the posted content. This is the reason why there are instances where the headline is misleading because the content is different from what is stated in the headline. 05 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 3  AS2004 4. Public Figure – public figures play a vital role in the information consumption of other users. They serve as opinion leaders and their synthesis or perspective on a news information becomes the basis for the mindset of other users. With this reality, expectations are posed on public figures for the power they have through their influence. References Lipschultz, J. H. (2018). Social Media Communication. New York: Routledge. McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36.2. Poepsel, M. (2017). Media, Society, Culture and You. Quebec, Canada: Rebus Community. 05 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 3