INTERACTIVE NEWS

We are living in a digital-first, socially-connected, quick-response needed, world. And this digitized realm is relatively new. With the newness comes the need for adaptation and change, which the world has seen through social media and how we connect with one another.

News cycles come in phases. With the addition of real-time news and social media updates, the news cycles need to be constantly updated and shared. Social media allows for the capability to inform, share, and connect regarding that stage in the news cycle. Its not baseball, but if you aren’t first, you are indeed last here. No one will believe a story shared days later, and in fact, they might not even care.

But, social media has also added a layer of barriers to our surroundings. With more news outlets and more people to share opinions to, we have created our own bubbles- whether on purpose, not without even knowing. On your own social media feed, you will find people who you trust and admire, and those people are who you interpret news from. Even news from a celebrity sighting at your favorite restaurant, to a breaking news story of a new virus or tornado.

What about the news outside of your circle? Are you paying attention to that area, or are you only following people who’s beliefs you agree with and admire? Are you discrediting news that is shared by a reporter or news outlet you don’t align with? Is there truth behind news that does not follow your belief system? - I would argue, yes.

Social media is alleviating the friction of argumentation in news cycles. Instead of being able to listen to “the story”, you are now able to listen to “the beliefs and opinions” of those you follow, causing opinions to be shared through lenses of those on your same side. Reputations around news sources are made by who you know who likes them, and who you follow who trusts them. For example, if you trust a journalist, you will trust who they are reporting through. But, rewind, when I say “trust” - do you think of beliefs of their credibility, or do you think of agreeing with their opinions. If you immediately thought of agreeing, that is where the bubbles of echo chambers come in.

The newness of social media also brings another added layer: commenting. In the past, to share opinions about a news story, you had to first read it, gather the facts and information, and converse with one another about the facts and gather opinions. It took listening, understanding and ultimately trust to formulate their opinions. Now, with the addition of social media in journalism, you can be exposed to a pre-formed opinion by hashtags, amount of likes, and viewership of who shared what. You also now have the capability of commenting through screens to have a conversation that normally had to be backed up by facts and enough information to recite it. Now, you can simply share an alternating article or comment a hashtag showing your support, for the rest of your bubble to see and perhaps even agree with. It is like you are sharing beliefs to others who you may or may not know, behind a closed door, with someone else’s ideas in your mind. And how does that make you feel?

Journalists now have a stronger than ever need to report with the utmost credibility and cadence to their audience and listeners. When a journalist preforms good journalism and backs up credible sources and fact-driven opinions, they are providing important data to the rest of their own community, who will then use their own bubbles and share their beliefs. Because these journalists can now do their own reporting to their own bubbles and networks, it is a greater power than ever before. Essentially, journalists are building their own brands to their own audiences of news the world is sharing. It is just a matter of who is reporting what, to who, and when.

And let’s take a moment to remember that in journalism, timing is everything. There is a perfect balance that needs to be found between reporting something the quickest for the world to know, and reporting the truth at the appropriate time with backed up facts.