In an era marked by speed, mobility and sharing, the journalists tradition of getting it right is struggling to find a balance.
What happens when Facebook, Twitter, Instagram – and their millions of users worldwide – try to wiggle their way into news?
How should journalists fulfill their two major jobs of accuracy and telling the story completely and fairly while more than half the world gets their information in snippets?
I asked two communication students and a digital sports journalist their opinion on the topic.
Subject 1: Corrine Williams: Boston University College of Communication 18'
Subject 2: Devin O'Reilly: Merrimack College 18'
Subject 3: Arthur [Art] Martone: Chief Editor at NBC Sports Boston Website
Watch my video to hear what these three sources have to say about this issue...
"But it's a different medium (for me)[Art] and a different age (for all of us), and we try to maintain the highest possible standards of accuracy while simultaneously feeding what has become a voracious information beast." ~Art Martone
"It's trying to find a balance of meeting their deadlines and getting the news out there, but in a way the readers and fans can get the full story. Obviously it is a fine line between deadlines and when a story gets released, but I just think fans could respect it more if the whole story was posted, and I think the athletes would as well."~Corrine Williams
"I think they are at a crossroads because I think the public demands they get it out fast, but I think they should worry more about getting the right information, but like I said the public demands it fast and whoever gets it out there first gets the most recognition. But I think the ones that focus on getting the right story and the correct information all the time will get more recognition and will get publicized. I would like to see journalists take the extra minute or two to get the information right. In the long run that will help them because they will be a more credible source." ~Devin O'Reilly
The first stop on this project was to find out how people got their information. With an ever changing social media world, people are retaining information from multiple sources. My goal with my survey was to find out how people find out information both through twitter and other sources. Below you will see the polls final results. I decided to use a Twitter poll because most people that get their information from Twitter would be able to see it and respond. I know Twitter is one of the most widely used platforms for breaking news, so I decided to try my luck and I was able to receive seventeen votes! While I was targeting a specific audience of Twitter users I felt that enough people have multiple platforms that Twitter was the best to use.
