Traditional Media & Social Media

Last Thursday, we watched a TED talk by Markham Nolan in our International English class. One of the main topics of the talk, was how we find news today compared to "earlier days", and the shift in the balance of power from the news organizations to the audience. Prior to the arrival of social media, the audience did not really have any way of affecting news or making a change. Now, we have the opportunity to choose from dozens of social media platforms if we want to express our opinion to the public. Furthermore, the news organizations use social media in their search for news stories. An example from the TED talk, was how an earthquake that traveled between two cities in 60 seconds, was already on the internet 30 seconds later. Therefore, in theory, the whole world had the opportunity to know that an earthquake happened almost instantly.

Another topic that Nolan talked about, was the importance of source criticism. As a result of the prevalence of social media, reliable news stories are now more difficult to find; both for news organizations, and for you and me. The fact that manipulation and photoshopping is now almost common knowledge, has made the search for trustable news even harder. Consequently, journalists have to do more thorough background- and credibility checks before they can use their source. In the TED talk, Markham gave an example of a news story that an unknown YouTube-account had uploaded. The video showed a lightening stroke that hit a back garden, and the journalist was dying to use it. After showing the video, Nolan shared some of the investigative techniques that he and his team used to verify the information.

As we have seen, the relationship between traditional and social media continues to evolve. Some might ask themselves the questions: Will "citizens journalism" take over? Could a social media platform such as Twitter overtake a news organizations like The Times? Will social media simply replace traditional media? However, most people might agree that for now, traditional and social media need each other to function. The press need social media in their search for news stories, whereas social media users need mass media to participate in online discussions and forums. In this article, James Matheson shares his thoughts on the matter.