Where, When, and How?

In my last post, I discussed the beginnings of technology in relation to journalism and communication.  For this post, I would like to discuss how social media has influenced how news is gathered, and how it affects dissemination.  With the advent of social media, news organizations aren't just relegated to getting information on recent events via on the job interviews.  Instead, they can go to Twitter or other social media platforms and gather information from eye witnesses who tweeted about the event while it was occurring.  Now, in some cases, this isn't a regular practice as eyewitness reports seized through social media can be biased, but the fact that it is a usable resource at all just shows how far we've come in our technology.  Plus, while it may not be used all the time, it has been done.  For example, in the article "Technology and Journalism: 'Dissolving' Social Media Content into Disaster Reporting on Three Chinese Disasters", senior journalist Jinrong Tong looked at five major news sources from China and Britain as they reported on three major disasters and how many times they used social media for reference.  Eventually, they found that "the Chinese newspapers quoted content from social media 131 times, while their British counterparts did so only nine times" (Tong, 2017).  The British papers mostly cited social media for the purpose of "debunking stories on social media as fake or based on rumours or by exposing criminal activities on social media intended to exploit the disaster for personal gain" (Tong, 2017), while the Chinese papers mostly quoted social media for the sake of public interest, such as monitoring government activities and individuals.



Regardless of the reason, the fact that papers were able to use social media as reference shows how far technology has come.  Even today, thanks to technology, people can access news information from anywhere!  Although, a downside to this is that, depending on the person, the amount of news accessed may not change.  In the article "Interactive uses of journalism: crossing between technological potential and young people’s news-using practices" a study was performed with young Finns (nickname for residents of Finland), they found that "even though young Finns have easy access to new communication technology, journalism is still predominantly used via television and printed newspapers" and that "technology alone does not seem to alter news practices" (Hujanen  & Pietikäinen, 2004).  As such, while technology can give us access to new means of news dissemination, it depends on our own interest whether we use it.



References

Tong, J. (2017). Technology and Journalism: 'Dissolving' Social Media Content into Disaster Reporting on Three Chinese Disasters. The International Communication Gazette 2017, Vol. 79(4) 400–418. doi: 10.1177/1748048516682142

Hujanen, J., & Pietikäinen, S. (2004). Interactive uses of journalism: crossing between technological potential and young people’s news-using practices. New Media & Society, vol 6(3), 383-401. doi: 10.1177/1461444804042521

Image Sources:

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / 29583 images (2014). Twitter Tweet Twitter Bird Social Network Internet [Image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/vectors/twitter-tweet-twitter-bird-312464/

[Teenager on her phone]. Retrieved from https://www.netdoctor.co.uk/parenting/teenager/a28210/kids-always-on-phone/