Social Media Gatekeepers
By Marsha Green
Journalism has always been used as the method of conveying “news worthy” topics to the media.
Those topics may differ by audience, and the importance of the topics may vary also. However, journalists have always remained responsible for professionally delivering subjective and credible stories to the audience. Whether through, print, television, online digital publications, the news always got out; but now a new method has been added to the list and let’s face it, it does more harm than good.
Social media is more prevalent now than ever before. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are being used by millions of people.
Anyone can create an account on these social sites, anyone can send a friend request, anyone can leave a comment, and anyone can create their own posts. This leaves the door open for millions of people to believe that they are now “journalists.”
People create their own stories and narratives, others then form their opinion then this is released to the public as a factual story, sometimes actually including information that is not true. Facebook has been used by many individuals as a platform that breeds narcissism, misinformation and biased thoughts. How can this be used to propel a healthy journalistic relationship with the public.
Not only does Facebook leave a negative imprint on journalism, but its creators find ways to spread propaganda on the site. Facebook has often been accused of forcibly showing its users things they want to see.
In the article “The Platform Press: How Silicon Valley reengineered journalism.” The author explains it all in this opening quote. “The influence of social media platforms and technology companies is having a greater effect on American journalism than even the shift from print to digital. There is a rapid takeover of traditional publishers’ roles by companies including Facebook, Snapchat, Google, and Twitter that shows no sign of slowing, and which raises serious questions over how the costs of journalism will be supported.
These companies have evolved beyond their role as distribution channels, and now control what audiences see and who gets paid for their attention, and even what format and type of journalism flourishes.” If social media entities not only allow false journalism, use distasteful methods of information sharing, and forms the opinions of its users themselves, what value can this add to the democracy.
While Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites are brilliantly used to connect with friends and loved ones it shouldn’t be used as the main medium for credible journalistic work.
“Facebook is fundamentally not a network of ideas. It’s a network of people. And though it has two billion active users every month, you can’t just start trading insights with all of them” Stated in the article, “We Need More Alternatives to Facebook.”
