Algorithms Today
In today’s society journalism has become the main source in reporting ethical and true information, truth and objectivity were the principle supporters of the procedure. As indicated by the book “Components of News coverage” by Kovach and Rosenstiel, “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.” Traditional objective reporters’ objective is to give the audience facts and true information without any opinions what so ever, so they are left with professional, honest and unbiased news. It is where the journalist pursues various rules that will lead him/her to be neutral when it comes to telling the truth (Ward, 2009).
Nevertheless, the concept of democracy demands diversity. Facts aren’t enough in creating knowledge, but their interpretation will add more relevance to the case. Today, with the growth of technology and the appearance of new social media platforms, any person can now share how they feel or what they think about a specific idea and contribute to various interpretations and interactions. An interactive society is created when the public start to join this debate by sharing different opinions. According to Ward (2009) “Knowledge by itself is an interpretation”. Hence, that individuals look at facts the way they choose to see them and perceive them according to their personnel view. According to Brooks (2006) “It is the thing you always fall short for, but the thing you always strive towards”. In other words, the act of objectivity is by itself questionable.
Showing neutrality in the relationship between journalists and politicians is a great example on how traditional objectivity may cause some problems. A journalist’s duty is to report explicitly what is happening, but this isn’t always feasible because political reporting is very opinionated. Furthermore, media heavily depend on these authoritative sources to report the news which creates a non-democratic environment.
When it comes to power, it is crucial to identify the effect of social media platforms in connecting the world together and to notice the shift from a traditional objectivity to a pragmatic objectivity, which fits more in representing the voice of all the people in our society (Ward, 2009). The engagement of these people is essential since it offers different opinions and information from different point of views, leading to interpretations, analysis and engagement in the news instead of just reporting what is already there. The question here is whether this diversity only acts on the surface or reaches the varied people, taking into account the calculated algorithms that rule the media sphere.
Nowadays, data is being spread and shared on various social network platforms, it is what grabs the most attention, more than any other published story. This is where the algorithms step in, their role is to recommend content related to a particular user. For example, a user on any media platform will receive the information he is getting according to the things the user likes and what interests him. While machines consider other information that don’t have to do with the interests of the user as irrelevant. The fact that there are calculations being performed by an algorithm towards a biased power defies the idea of neutrality and objectivity.
Furthermore, a crucial issue comes along with the dominance of algorithm in the media which is fake news. For example, during Donald Trump’s election, the truth was manipulated and fake news was being shared which gave him a step ahead of his opponent during the elections. Heren (2017) states that we live in an environment where the people aren’t able to see outside the bubble created for them. Moreover, culture and education aren’t the only reasons for misinformation, but it is also because the people are receiving fake news through social media platforms.
Social media platforms have an algorithm system that runs the system, but these algorithms function differently. Agrawal (2016) explain how each platform functions. Facebook shows posts depending on the relevancy score. Twitter focuses on the latest, so the user doesn’t miss out on any new information and Instagram focuses on the things the user cares the most about. These social media platforms have become an essential element in our lives that is why it is important to understand how their algorithms function.
In conclusion, media algorithms demoralized the concepts of impartiality and neutrality. Their main focus is mostly trends or fake news that have no intention at all in telling the truth (Gillespie, 2014). Fake news had spread during the elections, that is why social media companies should filter their news before being shared and given to the people. We should start identifying fake news and uncover the lies behind the truth.
References:
- Agrawal. (2016, April 20). What Do Social Media Algorithms Mean For You? Retrieved from:
2. Brooks. (2006, November 16). Objectivity in Journalism.
3. Gillespie. (2014, July 4). The Relevance of Algorithms. Culture Digitally,1
4. Heren. (2017, May 22). How social media filter bubbles and algorithms influence the election.
5. Ward. (2017, March 22). Radical Journalism Ethics in the Time of Trump: Engagement and Pragmatic Objectivity.
6. Ward. (2011, August 31). Rethinking Journalism Ethics, Objectivity in the Age of Social Media.
