The first session focused on the history of social media, partisanship and journalism through the most recent decade in election coverage. Farai Chideya and Kelly McBride. For me, the use of social media is one of the most interesting parts of journalism, but it’s not always easy to know where to draw the line between your personal life and your professional life. McBride mentioned that social media tends to reveal journalists’ bias, not matter how hard they try to keep from doing so. Chideya followed this up by saying she didn’t believe in true objectivity, but did believe in fairness. Fairness in reporting. But for her, working in a capacity in which she doesn’t have to be objective, it’s easier to use social media without destroying her credibility.
Social media has also blurred the lines between journalists, pundits and citizen journalists now. Now, anyone can comment on political debates, Chideya said. But these people don’t always know what they’re talking about. In addition to this, having a huge number of outlets also causes an explosion in the number of different versions of the story that exist. There is no longer a master version of the truth (held by journalists), but multiple versions or multiple truths that are not always compatible with each other. According to Chideya, this puts a massive burden on modern journalists to get to the source of manipulated photos or videos to see the original truth.
McBride then mentioned how many news organizations were less concerned with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) now. It’s more about how to get your story, your content or your images to go viral on social media. From my own personal media habits, I feel that this really is one of the best ways to get a story out. I know I’m far more likely to read a story if I see a friend recommending it on their Twitter account, than searching for a specific news organization. Chideya also mentioned the ability of a journalist to use their own social media for news curation. Use it to promote your own work, but also stories that you think are important or interesting.
Favorite quote: It is the role of the professional journalist to be able to call out partisanship, but also back it up with expertise, McBride said.
Hillary McLain 