Bad for Breaking Bad News?
May 19th, 2009 by Rob Brown
A few months ago I wrote about discovering via twitter that the French actor Guillaume Depardieu had died. Six months ago it seemed an oddity that ordinary individuals would break news ahead of the major media sources. It appears now that this is an established phenomenon. The sad news of Natasha Richardson’s fatal skiing accident was spread via twitter, blogs and social networks long before the strictures of the established media allowed them to confirm the details.
At around 4pm UTC today (19th May) twitter started trending with the news that actor Patrick Swayze had died of pancreatic cancer. But within half an hour or so the story had flipped to a denial. The actor it appears is alive if unwell and continuing his battle against cancer.
Whilst trending topics on the web add a new dimension to breaking news inaccurate rumours can take hold. The established media brands adhere to a largely common set of journalistic conventions that moderate the motivation to break news fast with the imperative of accuracy. That’s why they are trusted.
Tags: death, died, Natasha Richardson, Patrick Swayze, rumour
May 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Unfortunately, journalists are not as trusted as they once were. This is in part due to the fact that they do not check facts as they once used to.
One of the reasons for this is the sheer amount of work journalists now have to do - instead of just filing three or four stories a day, they now have to file double the amount, on-line and off, and with reduced headcount. This leaves little time to check things for accuracy.
Unfortunately, this has led to reputations being damaged. I know I certainly take everything I now read in the UK press with a pinch of salt, especially as there is less and less analysis. I am often left thinking: “So what? Why is this story important? What is the result of XXX happening?”
If I compare the news stories to what we have in France, on-line and off, the quality has definitely deteriorated. That’s a great shame as UK journalists were always considered the best in the world.
Not sure what the answer is, but until one is found, we shall be reliant on gossip and unsubstantiated hearsay thanks to the rise of social media.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
http://jackwords.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter-journalism.html
Thursday, 26 February 2009
“However, although the speed at which Twitter can break news is impressive it could be wrong in the future. I think that we could see Twitter hoax stories where if enough people ‘Tweet’ a story then it could be believed. That is why I will continue to wait for news to be featured on actual news sites which are more reliable.”
I do not know what you think of this but a twitter hoax, if done the right way, could be a good piece of PR. Obviously not with this topic, but if it was to do with the launch of a product in the consumer sector then the use of a hoax on Twitter could be very interesting…
ALSO
http://jackwords.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter-journalism_26.html
You may be familiar with this site but it demonstrates how useful Twitter is as a news source.
http://www.ireport.com/index.jspa
At the top of the page it says “Unedited. Unfiltered. News”.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
The news media is more trustworthy than social media, but I have seen some errors on their part. I’ve also seen a surge in local and national news sources updating on or breaking news on sites like Twitter and even some of the forums. With my busy schedule, it’s much easier for me to get a quick mobile update during the day than to sit and watch TV or read a paper at night. I think the viral trend will continue to grow with traditional news agencies moving to social platforms, which is great.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting
June 14th, 2009 at 7:19 am
While people may be increasingly cynical about the mainstream media, they are more cynical about civilian journalism. The day of the Patrick Swayze rumour, an argument broke out on Reddit as to whether it was true. The person who started it said the story came from CNN. The detractors said, link to the story and then we’ll believe you. The web-savvy boffins that are the Reddit crowed simply wouldn’t believe it until they’d seen an established news org report it.