©MonZaeMon™ 69 - The world has truly become a global village. The age of internet brought about the dawn of social media along. Now social media seems to govern most aspects of our lives. For one thing news that is unlikely to appear on television for some time is often found first on social media like twitter or personal blogs. Twitter breaking news are more common as compared to media breaking news.
Social media vs. the traditional
Today social media has surely transformed the way journalists break news to people. Even before the news makes it to a television newsroom, it is already there as Twitter breaking news. Now this is an alarming situation for broadcasting companies. If this remains the case, how will these networks survive? The question of the survival of television networks is thus under threat by the popularity of social media.
People now prefer logging on to social media sites for news bits and updates. It is more interesting, they say. Journalists use social media platforms to break news before they hand it over to their media companies. Although it builds the reputation of the journalist, this is also something that is slowly and gradually decaying the importance the "traditionall" media companies. Certainly the viewership of television networks would decline if people switch to social media to get their news scoops. Social media breaking news will eat away media companies breaking news importance and revenues.
A riot breaks out somewhere. The journalist is there, unfortunate for the television network; no camera personal is there to accompany him. The journalist takes out his cell phone, records the incident and uploads it on social media. The riot makes Twitter breaking news even before it hits the network newsroom . The journalist gets marks for efficiency but what about the television network he is supposed to be working for?
Chris Hamilton, BBC's editor for social media stated in an interview that the news correspondent of BBC are guided not to requote news from social media even though it does reaches there first. Although news provided by media companies is considered more authentic than all others, however if the social media keeps on breaking news earlier than them, the authenticity of the media companies breaking news and its timeliness would be questioned.
What Is The Solution
Is there a solution to this issue? Should media companies resort to break their news on social media prior to their respective channels and mediums? In the digital and internet age we are all living in today, this can be considered to be a positive step towards maintaining the integrity of the news and that of both media companies and social media. Times have changed and now the power resides with social media. It is therefore necessary for media companies to have proper social media correspondents and representative journalists so that they can also break news on social media first and then develop a more analytical story for the broadcast platform.
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