Social Media Reporting: A New Trend in Breaking News
Imagine this.
A toddler wears a red shirt. He also wears jeans, and a pair of shoes. He’s at the beach. He looks peaceful as he sleeps, face-down on the shore. Waves gently reach for the sleeping boy.
A toddler wears a red shirt. He also wears jeans, and a pair of shoes. He’s at the beach. He looks peaceful as he sleeps, face-down on the shore. Waves gently reach for the sleeping boy.
The only
thing is, he now sleeps eternally… along with the many others washed up on the
shores of Turkey.
Does this
image ring a bell?
Thousands
of netizens know the unfortunate event that Syria is currently facing. Thousands
of netizens sympathized and expressed their outrage. Artists all over the world
show their works of sympathy online.
In this
century, millions of netizens have the chance to be up-to-date
about the current events anywhere in the world. With an account in any social media, anyone can know the latest news and trends anywhere in the
world, in just a heartbeat. With one click of a mouse, or a tap on a
smartphone, anyone can share anything to the whole world.
This news about the incident in Syria,
shared globally by millions of people, was brought to their attention first in
social media. Breaking news through social media and social networking sites
has become a trend. Netizens become immediate sources, and even instant
reporters with their own commentary on the incident.
Statistics
from a study by the American Press Institute shows that netizens, particularly
twitter users, actively participate during breaking news. In fact, according to the said study, Twitter has now become the top source for breaking news. About
70% actually go to twitter “to follow a news story in real time.”
More than just the instance when the news would break online, a lot of people would still follow the news even days after, monitoring updates. Now, people don’t have to wait for the next day to know about further
information and updates about the incident because through social media,
following news is made easier and more convenient for the people to check whenever
they like.
Social
networking sites have even made it easier for the netizens because their developers have built a
mechanism where they track the pattern in the internet activity of the user.
Thus, when the user would next log in to their accounts, their newsfeed and
dashboards would be tailored to their previous activities. When the site
detects that the user has been searching, liking, sharing, or retweeting certain posts, the site would show more posts like the ones he usually interacts with.
Unlike
before when people had to wait for the next day’s paper, acquiring news and
keeping tabs on it has become more accessible today. Looking back, let’s say, 5
years ago, technology has reached another milestone. Netizens five years ago
would still use a search engine, or go to a specific media website, to know the
news. Today, even news agencies have their own social network accounts to make
it easier to access news.
In the Philippines, the trend in breaking news through social media is particularly useful for journalists and citizen journalists alike because according to WeAreSocial, out of the 100.8 million Filipinos in January 2015, 44.2 million of these are active internet users. That's around 44% of the total population. Specifically, 40 million Filipinos have active social media accounts.
Given these statistics, there is an emphasis on how important this trend is for the media world.
Given these statistics, there is an emphasis on how important this trend is for the media world.
Boon or Bane?
Locally, just hours after the Lumad killings which left three Lumads--one school director and two tribe leaders--dead in Surigao
del Norte, netizens all over the country knew about its horrors. Although it
might not be in full details yet, it would later keep updating itself to give
us a blow-by-blow report of what happened.
On the
bright side, social networking sites, particularly Facebook, have become a very
important tool in disseminating that story because, unfortunately, the mainstream
media did not follow this particular story.
Several alternative
media, which are also active in social networking sites, together with human
rights groups and activists, presented the news through Facebook and Twitter.
The problem
is, news can already be easily sensationalized online. Because of the fact that
anyone can share the news, they can also become self-proclaimed instant news
commentators. Any netizen can also give updates about the news. But with that,
it carries the danger of having a misinformed, biased news.
Journalists
are trained to cover news. These journalists and reporters went through several
seminars and trainings, and a lot of them even studied it in universities.
These people are well-equipped with the basics as well as the advanced
techniques in making news. Their experiences have earned them credibility.
Netizens,
on the other hand, can also give reports on news especially when it’s a
breaking news as long as they carry with them a sense of responsibility—for
their sources, and for the people directly affected by the news. That being said, there can be a danger in the freedom of citizens to deliver news through social media because of the ethical considerations in writing news. In the internet, there is no regulation to who can present news. This is the reason why news organizations have the responsibility to monitor any news that might break in social media and make the necessary actions to rectify the errors that might have been committed in the production of the citizen journalist's news.
According
to American Press Institute, a lot of people would still look for news released
from actual news websites after knowing a certain news from a citizen
journalist.
At the end
of the day, despite the increasing trend in the use of social networking sites
as a venue for breaking news, journalists and reporters still have the
responsibility to further solidify the news and back them with more facts and
truths as well. Although more and more netizens have become citizen journalists, the actual journalists and reporters still fulfill their roles as
they verify the news from more sources, thus making an updated, more credible
news, which would later be shared online by netizens.
Sources: http://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/digital-social-mobile-in-2015
http://tonyocruz.com/?p=4620http://fleirecastro.com/productivity/social-media-stats-philippines-2015-wearesocial-sg/
Featuring the write ups of a Mass Communication student from the University of the Philippines Cebu.
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