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The way we use social media and journalism today impacts what people read and how they read or listen to news.

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Twitter biographies and tweet logs offer the best clues about a source’s veracity.

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Journalism has moved from its generic form or journal articles and newspapers to things more closely connected to social media

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“Engagement” is the social media buzzword among journalists. Yet the use of social media by many news operations is stuck in the infantile stage. One example of its lamest use is the ubiquitous trend in broadcasting, from the smallest local stations to CNN and the broadcast

networks, of anchors reading aloud Facebook posts and Twitter messages. Paul LaRosa, a CBS News producer said, “When a big crime story happens now, every reporter and producer attacks Facebook for information and sources,”. “It’s the first thing we do, and everybody does it.”

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The way we use social media and journalism today impacts what people read and how they read or listen to news. Consider politics. Political parties and candidates bank on news tv stations, such as CNN or FOX to get their updates on how the election is going. Unbeknownst to many, both of these news platforms are on opposite sides of the political parties. If you tune into CNN, you will get a completely different view of a republican candidate than you would on FOX, and vise-versa. They are also impacting what the reader sees. This type of controlling what people read and hear has caused a lot of mis representation and information that has been broadcasted through journalism. People take that information and think that is the truth, because that is the only thing they actually see or hear about. This does, on the other hand, appeal to the people that are actually interested in the same things as the platforms show, making people more willing to go back to their platforms.

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The Social Construction of Media: Social Media, Culture, and Everyday Life

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The year is 1605, a new form of literature has just been released which will revolutionize the spread of information forever. This work was titled " Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien" and is widely regarded as the first world's newspaper. The urge to spread information amongst one another has been a facet of human nature since the beginning; however, the ways humans spread information has changed drastically. Originally information was spread verbally, as humans were still very primitive, but as technology advanced the means of information sharing advanced as well. What was once a verbal exchange of thoughts eventually transformed into a billion dollar industry, called journalism.

Many of these advances had a major impact on the world. For example the printing press allowed writers to produce their literature in mass quantities in a short amount of time, as apposed to writing each document by hand. The most recent advancement being the introduction of internet, and even more recent the creation of social media. Much like the printing press, internet and social media have changed the face of journalism forever. Past forms of information sharing had always had some amount of delay between the time an event happened and the time the information was presented to the consumer. For instance, before televisions were popular, most Americans received their news through the newspaper. This form of journalism caused an approximate 24 hour delay, as it required someone to write the article, the factory had to print the newspaper, and then eventually be delivered to the consumer the next day. With the introduction of social media, consumers can receive news articles on their smartphones about as fast as the author can write it. The use of smartphones and social media has ushered in a new era of journalism as citizens play a bigger role in the process of news making. With the help of platforms like Twitter and Youtube, citizens can produce and circulate their own news stories which can often be picked up by traditional news sources like CNN. Large news corporations, especially American, used to have immense power over citizens as they controlled the spread of information which they could use to influence the population. But, with the introduction of internet and social media, citizens can share information amongst themselves more easily which has led to a decline in consumption of traditional news media. Social media has given power back to the people.

Social Media Requires Journalists to Get in Touch with The Audience

Michael Skoler, a journalist and author, wrote in the fall 2009 Nieman Reports* concerning the path and direction of journalism today. Skoler stated that journalists are assumed to be the tellers of truth however in reality Skoler believes that journalists are lying to themselves. Skoler points to the Web as the source for this deception by stating, "Our profession is crumbling and we blame the Web for killing our business model" (Skoler). Yet, Skoler feels the journalist's business model has not changed; it's culture that has changed the journalists (Skoler).

Skoler points to the traditional 20 th century reporting style where mainstream media journalists were doing a good job of finding the news information that was hard to find and harder to distribute. The expectations for the journalists were to report the important stories and deliver it to the public through newspapers, radio and TV. The public trusted journalists and journalists reported pertinent information of the day (Skoler).

Over the past 25 years, however, the public's trust in journalism declined as the Internet gained popularity. People now have choices in receiving the news and more importantly they are no longer passive in acquiring the information that is of interest to them (Skoler). By journalists just reporting information is not satisfying to the audience. Today, the audience expects to have a choice in what information they choose to read and most believe they should have an active role in contributing to the content and voicing their opinions (Harper). Gone is the past concept of "media professional" that determines what the audience's needs are in readership (Zelizer). Skoler states that journalists are "out of touch" and journalists need to establish a "partnership" with the audience rather than "preaching" (Skoler). The concept of "social journalism" is what the audience is offering as a benefit to journalism, which involves "listening to those who have something to say", according to Pamela J. Podger's article in American Journalism Review (Harper). It is a change from the one-way communication to a community of communication that will assist the journalist, states blogger, Vadim Lavrusik (Harper). Shared communication is evident from the 2013 Pew Research Center that found 72% of adults received most of their news from family and friends including 15% from via social media, while 25% of 18 to 35 year olds also receive their news in this way (Cision). From this report it shows that a large majority of people choose to seek out and discuss news stories.

According to Skoler mainstream media is using social media as a tool to market and distribute their information with a rush to gain followers on their Facebook and Twitter (Skoler) in an effort to gain readership missing the point of this platform. The culture of today is about listening and responding. Therefore the "savviest" journalists Skoler states are those using social media to create relationships and to listen to others. Skoler suggests that the new style of journalism is a journalism of "partnership" with an audience who feels they can add content and opinion to the news and issues. Through social media journalist will find their way back to connect with the audience and journalism will become again a trusted partnership between the journalist and the audience (Skoler).

*Nieman Reports were founded in 1947. Today it is a website and quarterly publication for writer to contribute articles concerning "thought leadership in journalism" (Nieman Reports).

Social Media Today

Today, journalism and morphed and formed into a type of writing that anyway can create. The simplest forms of it, for example twitters, can be sent out in less than a second and only include 140 characters. Journalism has moved from it's organized and old format of newspaper to a new format that anyone can easily create.

The way we use social media and journalism today impacts what people read and how they read or listen to news. Consider politics. Political parties and candidates bank on news tv stations, such as CNN or FOX to get their updates on how the election is going. Unbeknownst to many, both of these news platforms are on opposite sides of the political parties. If you tune into CNN, you will get a completely different view of a republican candidate than you would on FOX, and vise-versa. They are also impacting what the reader sees. This type of controlling what people read and hear has caused a lot of mis representation and information that has been broadcasted through journalism. People take that information and think that is the truth, because that is the only thing they actually see or hear about. This does, on the other hand, appeal to the people that are actually interested in the same things as the platforms show, making people more willing to go back to their platforms.

Journalism has moved from it generic form or journal articles and newspapers to things more closely connected to social media. Journalism has been around for a long time, but today they are getting more involved with platforms such as twitter, snapchat, and Facebook, all forms of social media. The impact of the use of social media with broadcast journalism, specifically, is the connection that the journalists are having with their readers. They are getting the readers involved to express their opinions, making it more engaging for the reader. This is especially prevalent with news media's use of Facebook and Twitter. Less people are actually watching the broadcast journalism first hand, instead they are hearing about it through social media. In the article "Twitter for Journalists", written by Scot Hacker and Aswhin Seshagiri, explains that "Twitter has emerged as a powerful news tool, alerting the world about natural disasters, hostage standoffs and even revolutionary uprisings". Snapchat this year has included a news type section to watch via snapchat, getting the users more involved and informed about things happening around the world.

Careers in journalism can vary. Each degree includes some type of communication, if that is writing, vocal, or imagery. All the intention of a journalist is to inform the readers on important topics. They are the voice that represents what is going on around the world in the news, sports, social media, fashion, etc.

A few types include:

* Broadcast Journalism

* News reporting

* Communications

* Fashion Journalism

* Foreign Correspondant

* Freelance Writing

* Investigative Journalism

* Photojournalism

* Social Media

* Sport Journalism

This, and more information can be found at journalismdegree.com for the different types of careers in journalism.

Many people agree that technology advances at an exponential rate. Journalism technology and information sharing are no exception to this trend. Each new development in the world of journalism seems to change the way the consumers receive their information. For example after the invention of the television, news corporations began broadcasting news stories through personal TVs which led to a decline in newspaper readership. Now with the invention of social media, news corporations have begun broadcasting their articles through internet based platforms which has led to a decline in television news viewership. Each new advancement in journalism has led to a decline in one form of media consumption and a spike in consumption of another form. The big question now is, what will the next big advancement in journalism be: which form of media will drop in popularity, and which type of media will increase?

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The Social Construction of Media: Social Media's Impact on Journalism

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The year is 1605, a new form of literature has just been released which will revolutionize the spread of information forever. This work was titled " Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien" and is widely regarded as the first world's newspaper.

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Way back in the age of mass media, in 1986, professor James Beniger, then at Harvard, produced a useful chart on the civilian labor force of the United States. It showed how the bulk of American workers had moved during the past two centuries from working in agriculture to industry to service, and now, to information. Point being: the digital age didn't just sneak up on us. It's been a long, slow evolution. So shame on us for not changing our laws and institutions to keep pace.

We were well warned. Just after World War II, the Hutchins Commission said that traditional media could do much better: They should take on the social responsibility of providing the news "in a context that gives it meaning." In the 1960s, the Kerner Commission said mainstream media wasn't diverse enough to properly tell the story of this changing nation. In the same decade, the Carnegie Commission said the status quo was simply not working, that public broadcasting must be created to fill the gap.

After that, a stream of reports - from the University of Pennsylvania, from Columbia and others - agreed and repeated the same three fundamental findings:

Hutchins: Our news systems are not good enough.

Kerner: They don't engage everyone.

Carnegie: We need alternatives.

Here comes digital media, and - boom! - a universe of alternatives.

So now what? This time, the report comes from the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy, prepared by the Aspen Institute.

We are entering the third decade of an Internet-webbed world. Hutchins, Kerner and Carnegie and the many other reports focused on views from on high of what should be done to improve, diversify, add to - and nowadays, the talk is to save - traditional mass media.

But the Knight Commission started with communities, visiting them and hearing from their residents. News and information, the commission says, are as important to communities as good schools, safe streets or clean air. Journalism, it says, does not need saving so much as it needs creating.

As a former newspaper editor, I second that last point. Of the nation's tens of thousands of burgs, towns, suburbs and cities, how many are thoroughly covered by the current news system? Ten percent? Five? Less? How do the uncovered get the news and information they need to run their communities and live their lives.

We hope the ideas expressed by the Knight Commission will continue to make a difference. It inspired the Federal Communications Commission to do its own report on the crisis in local news, keeping the Knight recommendations in mind. Free Press, the nation's largest grassroots media policy group, embraced the report's call for universal affordable broadband. Ernie Wilson, dean of USC's Annenberg School and then-chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, called for more innovation in public media, backing things like NPR's Project Argo. Knight itself went on to sponsor Matter, a partnership with San Francisco public media outlet KQED and innovator PRX to accelerate media startups. Librarians across the country pushed the role libraries can play as digital media literacy training and Internet access centers.

The hard part is ahead of us: that is, involving every aspect of our communities, governments, nonprofits, traditional media, schools, universities, libraries, churches, social groups - and, especially, citizens themselves. How do we do that? How do we make "news and information" everyone's issue? It's a tall order.

Universities could help. Nearly two-thirds of the nation's high school graduates enroll in a college at least for a while. These institutions could make digital media literacy or news literacy courses mandatory for incoming students. Understanding and being able to navigate the brave new world of news and information is as fundamental to the college students of our nation as knowing English. Stony Brook began walking that path. There, some 10,000 students have taken news literacy under the first university-wide course of its kind. The digital metamorphosis of a society learning to use technology to connect the data and events of daily life to the issues and ideas that can better its life - that's something more college faculty should stop fighting and start teaching.

This may not be a short-term project. It took more than 200 years for America to change from a country where most people grew food to one where most people grow information. It could take time for the wholesale rewriting of America's media policies, not to mention the trillion dollars or more needed to remake both our digital systems and our ability to use them. But remaking digital systems is all about broadband, which is all about network speed, where the United States consistently fails to make the top 10 worldwide. Every year we fail to use the e-Rate program to speed up school and library access, every year we fail to lay in fiber optic cable, is another year of opportunity for our global competitors. A nation without universal, affordable broadband is like a nation without highways and railroads, stuck on the surface streets of the new economy.

The goal is an information-healthy nation. That means not just broadband access but adoption. Thomas Jefferson expressed the same idea when he once said newspapers were more important than government. Here's his quote, updated: "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without the Internet, or the Internet without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that everyone should receive the Internet and be capable of using it."

In the end, a lifetime has passed since the Hutchins Commission first said it, the story is still the same. The country's news and information systems still aren't good enough. They still don't engage everyone. There still are not enough alternatives. They say the gatekeepers of mass media are dead, that people can find their own way now. But many millions of American news consumers are still walking on the path where the gate used to be. Our laws and policies - even the high school and college classes we teach - will help determine the future of news in our communities. They can speed innovation or stunt it. So pick a recommendation - and have at it.

An earlier version of this article appeared on the website Nieman Journalism Lab,
produced at Harvard University.

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The opportunity: To seriously improve our news systems - Searchlights & Sunglasses

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Way back in the age of mass media, in 1986, professor James Beniger, then at Harvard, produced a useful chart on the civilian labor force of the United States. It showed how the bulk of American workers had moved during the past two centuries from working in agriculture to industry to service, and now, to ...

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global survey has revealed twice as many people distrust the media as trust it, a third of people say they're watching less news than they used to and only 6% of UK adults describe themselves as "informed". Nonetheless, many in the media see this as good news.

The reason is that the survey shows people trust journalists more than they trust "platforms", such as Facebook and Twitter, and this is being taken as a reassuring piece of news that quality journalism and traditional media institutions are beginning a fightback against technology giants.

The risk is that journalistic outlets get distracted by what is in essence a phoney war with social media giants

However, by focusing on social media's failings, traditional news outlets are fighting the wrong war: just because faith in the social media giants is falling - surely unsurprising after a year's focus on " fake news ", Russian propaganda and filter bubbles - it doesn't automatically make things better for traditional reporting.

Trust in social media platforms fell just four points year-on-year in the UK, and even after the relentless coverage of social media being exploited for propaganda, and the big tech backlash in the US, fell just 11 points there. Globally, media was trusted less than business and NGOs, and is equal to government - and this trust level isn't increasing. It might be nice for journalists to see people looking more sceptically at social media firms, but schadenfreude aside there is little here that is reassuring.

Beyond the headlines, the news from the 28-country survey, the Edelman trust barometer, is not good. Of the respondents, 66% said the media is more concerned with attracting a big audience than reporting; 65% said they believed outlets sacrifice accuracy to be the first to break a story; and 59% said the media prioritised supporting an ideology over informing the public. The reflexive response of most media outlets - and their leaders - on hearing statistics like this is to go on to the defensive, to say the criticism is unfair or exaggerated, and to highlight the best bits of their reporting as a counter to the unflattering figures.

Some of these rebuttals have grounding, but most are largely meaningless. If so many people have such a dim view of media, this needs to be addressed rather than rejected as unfair.

The loss of faith in the media isn't the worst news the survey reveals. This is that large portions of the audience are cutting back on or abandoning news entirely. The study found a third of the UK population said they were cutting back on news, and about 20% said they now avoided the news entirely. Perhaps more alarmingly still, some of the people most likely to switch off the news are in the demographics most appealing to advertisers, and the influential people news outlets would hope to reach. In the UK, the most likely rejecters were educated professionals aged 40 and over, living in London, with children. Their top reasons for switching off were that news was "too depressing", "too biased" or "controlled by hidden agendas".

This speaks to two simultaneous crises: the first is that, when people turn off mainstream news through fear of "hidden agendas", they become increasingly vulnerable to polarising and extremist messages from other sources. The crisis in trust, paradoxically, could easily leave us with a proliferation of media that are less trustworthy.

The second problem is the more serious: people increasingly see news as just another form of media, which they can choose to dip into or not. If it's depressing, or doesn't fit their interests, then why not just turn off? As politicians and others diminish and demean the media, this view becomes all the easier to hold. Let's face it, news isn't as entertaining as a new Netflix comedy, but we're all better off if most of us tune in now and then.

Ultimately, government and society benefits from a free and high-quality news media, even if journalists are often a pain in the arse (if they're doing their job right).

The risk at present is that journalistic outlets get distracted by what is in essence a phoney war with social media giants, seeing that tussle as a zero-sum game. In reality, it's likely they are now wedded to one another, and will sink or swim together. News won't be saved by the public falling out of love with Facebook. It will take much more than that.

James Ball is a former Guardian special projects editor, and the author of Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World

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Distrust of social media is dragging traditional journalism down | James Ball

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global survey has revealed twice as many people distrust the media as trust it, a third of people say they're watching less news than they used to and only 6% of UK adults describe themselves as "informed". Nonetheless, many in the media see this as good news.

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P#8+FINAL+PRESENTATION+PLAN  Ryan  Foong

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Is Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, etc.) a replacement of journalism?

All the respondents were of the opinion that social media is not the replacement of mainstream journalism as journalists follow a code of conduct and ethics, and they are professionals knowing all the norms, and they know what is to be shared with an audience as news. In contrast, anyone can share any nonsense on social media.

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Journalism has a large range of output among its entire media, and it is considered the most effective form of communication in the entire world.It is often said that any information communicated or relaying of the true events is journalism, but most definitely it is untrue. Journalism is all about putting ideas, events, comments, information and conflicts into context. (Rudin & Ibbotson, 2002).

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See comments

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P#6 DRAFT PRESENTATION PLAN feedback Foong and Ryan

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Author: Kaleem Butt, June 7 2017: The gatekeeper/editor plays a very vital role in journalism; a gatekeeper/editor is a person who is responsible for what is published or broadcast, he/she takes care of grammatical mistakes and whether the available information could be transformed into news. He/she double checks the accuracy of the information before making it public property. But after the emergence of social media, there has been negative impact on mainstream journalism. From 2000 onwards, social media has changed the shape of communication throughout the world People worldwide have been connected through social media platforms like Facebook, originally created as a platform for university students by Mark Zuckerberg, a student of Harvard University in 2004. Since then this medium has gained great popularity worldwide. Likewise, Twitter was introduced in 2006, WhatsApp was introduced in 2009, Instagram in 2010, Blogs and other such things - all these mediums used in social media provide information, news, pictures and videos. People could reach to information easily and inexpensively. However, there are many disadvantages of social media as far as journalism is concerned. Many times unreliable information passes onto mainstream media through social media, and there is no check and balance, and even abuses and allegations become part of news without any proof. There have been many incidents in Pakistan, where a journalist's only source of information is social media. It is passed on and gets published or broadcast in the mainstream media. This research paper throws light in detail on the importance of gatekeepers/editors in journalism and the negative impact of social media on journalistic norms.
1-Introduction:
Journalism has a large range of output among its entire media, and it is considered the most effective form of communication in the entire world.It is often said that any information communicated or relaying of the true events is journalism, but most definitely it is untrue. Journalism is all about putting ideas, events, comments, information and conflicts into context. (Rudin & Ibbotson, 2002).

Journalism is an investigation, and it is reporting issues and trends to a large audience, despite the many variations in journalism. (Alice, 2013).

Mass media in Pakistan both print and electronic during seven years (now fourteen years) has seen a rapid growth. There are many English and Urdu dailies and weeklies and countless newspapers and publications in regional languages. After 2000, more than 50 private channels started, while there are three state owned channels, among those channels, more than twenty are news channels.... (Mezzera and Sial, 2010).

Pakistani media has faced four dictatorships. The last one was the longest of all. Media has faced hardships at the hands of dictators, who imposed censorship, and many journalists have been killed during target killings. However, the revolution in the media industry was seen during the regime of former President and Retired General, Pervez Musharraf, who gave liberation to the media (especially electronic). There is also this theory that all this was done to show the world some liberal face to convince others of his legitimacy as a dictator.

In 2002, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) was established to regularize the electronic media in the country, and, by this, a mushroom growth of privately owned News and entertainment channels has been seen during the past twelve years. Some 91 TV channels and 146 FM channels have been given licenses. Such an outstanding growth in media has empowered the general public's voice, and it was seen that those who thought they were not accountable to anyone started to answer the public because of vibrant media. It has helped people understand hard governing methods through political discussions and news coverage. (Baig Asad & Cheema Umer, 2009).

According to a report published by International Media Support in 2009, the demography of Pakistani media reflects many linguistic and ethnic groups. There is a dividing line between English and Urdu sections of media. Mostly, the rural population opts for Urdu media; on the other hand, the urbanized elite class focuses on English media. These newspapers, TV channels and radio broadcasting have lesser audience/readership as compared to Urdu media. Apart from the division of English and Urdu, rural and urban, the media in Pakistan is further classified according to different regional languages; all of them are vernacular languages including Sindhi, Punjabi and Pashto (Balochi). The owners of different outlets and groups have a dominating influence on the media structure. In Pakistan, three media groups are considered to be huge and dominate the media industry, each having a political affiliation as well. Since these three media groups dominate both print and electronic media, they have a huge impact on politics and society. From the past couple of years, the on-ground situation for working journalists in Pakistan has not been ideal, as approximately twelve journalists were murdered, up to May, 2009; and then another six journalists lost their lives while performing their journalistic duties. Journalists are threatened and intimidated by both state and non-state actors. Politicians directly or indirectly pressure them. The most common tool utilized by any sitting government is to cut-off government advertisement. Governments also use PEMRA [Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority], to stop or pressure media outlets broadcasting news and views against government; by suspending the license. (International Media Support (Report), 2009).
2-Role of Gatekeepers/Editors in Journalism:
According to different theories that have evolved in the field of journalism and communication, the gatekeepers are viewed as people who select and filter information. Mainly the process of gatekeeping/editing indicates controlling information passing from a filter or gate and has a relationship with enjoying various kinds of power, such as choosing news items or inter-mediating among professional and ethnic groups and others. The idea of gatekeeping started its evolution in the middle of the twentieth century. (Nahon Karine, 2009).

The theory of gatekeeping is among the oldest theories as far as the field of mass communication is concerned. It was given by a social-psychologist Kurt Lewin - according to this theory, gatekeeping is considered to be the process through which a large number of news items are reviewed and examined and filtered to a very few that are going to be telecast by the news media. These news items pass through various gatekeepers, such as reporters, sub-editors and news editors, before going on-air or in print, so a news story becomes a successful item after the decisionmaking of its various gatekeepers.

Gatekeeping is explained as a process that involves selection of information according to the level of importance and interest, and, in some cases, certain people, and, in other cases, a group decide how much of the information is to be published or on-aired. The gatekeepers/editors decide what is relevant according to their requirement. Information regarding important topics controversies and recent news stories are more often selected, as they would attract larger audience. Various gatekeepers decide what kind of information will be publicized, because each gatekeeper/editor always has his/her social, cultural, ethical and political influence. (Shabir Ghulam Prof., Safdar Ghulam, Imran Muhammad, Mumtaz Asad and Anjum Ali Ashraf, 2015)

In journalism, news editing involves the processing and packaging of news. It is an important portion of the editorial process, where editors transform reports and photographs into organized information. It is the function of editing that gives meaning to detailed text and photographs sent by reporters and photo journalists. It takes in the selected copy to be published. An editor is not directly part of gathering information, but he is the person, who helps reporters develop their stories. According to Emeranjo, an editor is a literary critic, gatekeeper, and a professional literary fault-finder, irrespective of his /her qualification, specialty, training, designation and other such things. An editor must have the following qualities: he should evaluate the work of reporters, and should make sure they follow standard usages. He should filter the news so that only relevant information is passed on to the reader/audience; he should find the faults; he should teach the reporters to take care of mistakes; he is not the one to catch stories but should stand between a reporter and reader. (Ukonu O. Michael, 2013).
3-Social Media and Its Emergence in Pakistan:
Social media is the term used to refer the electronic communication that have become the most common activity through the Internet, these include social networking sites that help people to share their point of views and to follow friends, family and other people, it shows the trend of how people come to know about news, read and share it. Social media is the platform where people intermingle with each other without any restriction. During the 1990s different chat rooms and bulletin boards were kinds of social media used to share their interests and information. (Alice, 2013). Social media is considered to be a rapidly growing and always changing atmosphere; it stands on four pillars: communication, engagement, faith and transparency. (Rosa Sophie, 2013). Michael Dewing (2012) describes this term social media as a platform having a wide range of services that are Internet or mobile based. Blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, social networking sites, podcasts, forums, micro-blogging and status update services through the Internet are social media, and they are often called as Web 2.0.

It is further claimed that there are more than 110 million blogs, 100 million videos and more than 123 million facebook users worldwide. Seventy percent of population in developed countries using social media and Internet is under the age of twenty-five years. In the November of 2012, a social network, namely Facebook, announced that it has 1 billion users worldwide, 18 million of them are Canadians. In the same way in July 2012, Twitter mentioned that it has 517 million users across the globe.

In Pakistani society, social media is getting highly popular. Ejaz Abida (2013), quoting Kugelman, writes that people in Pakistan use social media to communicate - they use it for five purposes: to share breaking news missed by mainstream media, to motivate people for social and other campaigns, to bring to light issue and problems regarding humanitarian aspects' activities based on social causes, and to be a medium between politicians and the public.

Internet in Pakistan emerged in 1995; and the World Internet stats 2013 suggest that Pakistan ranks eighth out of ten highest Internet using countries of Asia - social media sites are highly popular among the younger Pakistani generation. (Karamat Ayesha and Farooq Ayesha, 2016). Qureshi Umair (2016) claims that in 2016 the users of facebook in Pakistan have reached to the number of 20 million, and this famous social site has seen epidemic growth within five years. Quoting Facebook Audience Insights, Qureshi mentions that approximately fifteen to twenty million Pakistani men are facebook users, while five to six million are women users.
4-Study of Journalist Opinion on Social Media
During this study, approximately one hundred and fifty journalists throughout Pakistan were asked certain questions about the possible negative impact of social on journalism in Pakistan, and their responses are given below:

Is Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, etc.) a replacement of journalism?

All the respondents were of the opinion that social media is not the replacement of mainstream journalism as journalists follow a code of conduct and ethics, and they are professionals knowing all the norms, and they know what is to be shared with an audience as news. In contrast, anyone can share any nonsense on social media.

How do you look upon the role of gatekeeper/editor in today's journalism?

All the respondents agreed that gatekeepers/editors have keen importance as they are the ones who take responsibility for what is being published or broadcast.

Please discuss in detail why you are satisfied or not with content available on social media?

The majority of respondents were of the opinion that they are not satisfied with the content as most of the time the information shared on social media is unreliable, has no credibility and is not verified from any sources. Many times opinions are presented as news items.
5-Findings & Suggestions:
Social media has many negative impacts on journalism in Pakistan because:

the flow of unreliable news is seen more frequently on social media;

manipulated news and videos are shared; and

there are many Pakistani journalists who take social media as their source and start reporting it.

Since there is no gatekeeper/editor on social media that could control and check and could make the information presentable, many times misguiding information floats on social media. Often the news and opinions shared on social media are misinterpreted and are taken from a wrong angle. It is the gatekeeper/editor who takes care of elements of news that include five "Ws and H" [What, Who, Where, When, Why, How], but in social media these standards are not kept in view and everything is presented as news.

Many times journalists share videos and photographs from social media to their papers and channels that are not of the standard and are made up to the requirement of the journalism. Since the journalists, especially working in electronic media, who always remain in a race to break the news by hook or crook, often rely on social media and pass the information shared on social media as breaking news without verification. There have been many incidents in which mainstream media has used the information from social media without verification and after which the information is discredited.

Due to social media, journalists opt for lazy journalism (this term was used by senior journalist Nusrat Javed); lazy journalism is when the journalist avoids going into the field to collect facts and figures, while relying on sources like social media and, by doing so, stirs up serious questions on the credibility of the journalist, as well as on the profession of journalism. Distorted language, abuses and allegations are commonly seen in various social media platforms, and the journalists may send the same information without censoring abuses or allegations. Many times news headlines are made from social media information, in which most of the time, journalistic ethics are kept aside.

Gatekeeper/Editors play a vital role in journalism. He/she is the person who takes responsibilities of what should be presented to the audience; he/she is highly qualified person in language and is fully aware of journalistic norms. There should be some kind of gatekeeper/editor also in social media who should control the information and refine it before it is shared. Though the Pakistan government has passed a cybercrime bill in 2016 to control hate speech, fraud and crime through Internet and social media, the government should also regulate some sort of gatekeeper/editor when same news is shared through social media exclusively. There should be such a process that only the news which has already become part of mainstream media should be shared, while exclusive news items or information should be left out until verified.
6-Conclusion:
Though this age is known as the age of communication, there are many means of communication available to people, and a common term that world has become a global village always roams around us. Within the span of just twenty-five years, social media has changed the shape of information sharing throughout the world, and a country like Pakistan is not left out. Political and ideological battles are nowadays fought through social media, and those political parties that are active on social media are considered to be more popular than others. Political, religious and community leaders use social media more frequently to interact with their targeted audience.

There are many advantages of social media, - people can easily access information, and it is also used for entertainment purpose, but it has many limitations as far as journalism is concerned. The role of gatekeeper/editor should not be ignored in journalism, especially in a country like Pakistan, which is facing endless problems, and most of the problems are just the creation of media. Social media has made journalists lazy, as, rather than going in the field, many journalists use the information shared on social media. Unreliable and unverified news becomes part of the media, and people are misguided. Without the concept of gatekeepers/editors, the future of journalism seems dark.
References:
Jorgensen Wahl Karin & Hantizsch, Introduction: On Why and How We Should Do Journalism Studies, New York USA, RoutledgeTaylor & Francis Group, 2009

Ibid, 2009

Baig Asad & Cheema Umer, Broadcasting Journalism in Pakistan: A Hostage to Media Economics Outlining Economic Infrastructure of Media Industry, Pakistan, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), 2014, P: 3-4)

International Media Support, Between Radicalisation and Democratisation in an Unfolding Conflict: Media in Pakistan, Report, 2009, P: 14).

Rudin Richard & Ibbotson Trevor, An Introduction to Journalism, London UK, Focal Press, 2002, P:5)

Alice Hembadoon Aun, Impact of Social Media on Modern Journalism (A Case Study of Journalists in Makurdi Metropolis), 2013

Rudin Richard & Ibbotson Trevor, An Introduction to Journalism, London UK, Focal Press, 2002, P: 17, 18)

Mezzera Marco & Sail Safdar, Media and Governance in Pakistan : A Controversial yet Essential Relationship, 2010

Barnhurst G Kevin and Nerone John, Journalism History, New York USA, Routeledge Taylor and Francis, 2009.

Nahon Karine, Gatekeeping: A Critical Review, 2009

Rao Dr., Zmiky Jon & Tyree Shane J., The Gatekeeping Function of Online Newspaper Editions, 2007

Shabir Ghulam Prof., Safdar Ghulam, Imran Muhammad, Mumtaz Asad and Anjum Ali Ashraf, Process of Gatekeeping in Media: From Old Trend to New, 2015).

Soroka N. Stuart, The Gatekeeping Function: Distributions of Information in Media and the Real World, 2012

Lambert Scott, To Post or Not to Post: Gatekeeping Effects of Breaking News on Internet Newspaper Websites, 2013

Shoemaker J. Pamela, Vos P. Tim & Reese D. Stephen, Journalists as Gatekeepers, 2009

Ukonu O. Michael, News Editing & Design, Nsukka Nigeria, Grand Heritage Global Communications, 2013, P: 10-12

Harwood C. Richard, In Search of Authenticity: Public Trust and News Media, 2004

Karthik Praveen, What is the Role of News Editor of A Newspaper, 2013

Hill Beth, Duties of an Editor & How Editors Help Writers, 2013

Ward A. J. Stephen, Journalism Ethics, 2010

White Aidan, The Ethical Journalism Initiative, Belgium, International Federation of Journalists, 2008, P: V, 5

Dugan A. Molly, Journalism Ethics and Individual Journalist, 2008

Phillips Angela, Transparency & The New Ethics of Journalism, 2015

Mcbride Kelly, The New Ethics of Journalism, 2013

Alice Hembadoon Aun, Impact of Social Media on Modern Journalism: A Case Study of Journalists in Makurdi Metropolis, 2013

Rosa Sophie, Introduction to Social Media, 2013

Dewing Michael, Social Media: An Introduction, 2012

Mayfield Antony, What is Social Media? UK, icrossing.co.uk/ebooks, 2008, P: 5

Bank-Zeitel Natascha & Tat Ute, Social Media and Its Effects on Individuals and Social Systems, 2014

Dewing Michael, Social Media: An Introduction, 2012

Ejaz Abida, Impact of New Media on Dynamics of Pakistan Politics, 2013

Karamat Ayesha and Farooq Ayesha, Emerging Role of Social Media in Political Activism: Perceptions and Practices

Qureshi Umair, Pakistan Facebook Users crosses the landmark of 25 Million users, 2016

As with all of the blogs posted on our website, the content above does not imply the endorsement of The CI or its Partners and is from the perspective of the writer alone. We do not check facts and strive to retain the writer's voice, as is detailed in our Editorial Policy.

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Journalism without Gatekeepers/Editors: Negative Impact of Social Media on Journalism in Pakistan

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From blogger Kaleem Butt: The gatekeeper/editor plays a very vital role in journalism; a gatekeeper/editor is a person who is responsible for what is published or broadcast, he/she takes care of grammatical mistakes and whether the available information could be transformed into news. He/she double checks the accuracy of the information before making it public property.

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Abraham Zapruder and George Holliday were two normal American citizens with home video cameras. Just two guys who changed the nature of how the world consumes news.

Zapruder, a woman's clothing manufacturer, captured the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy and started a fierce bidding war for the footage. Holliday, a manager at a plumbing and rooting company, fired up his Sony Handycam on March 3, 1991 to record four Los Angeles policemen brutally beating up Rodney King. Both clips shocked the planet.

Feidin Santana and Kevin Moore are two normal American citizens with home video cameras, two more guys to change the world. On April 4, Santana recorded a former South Carolina policeman shooting and killing the unarmed Michael Scott. Moore recorded Freddie Gray requesting medical attention in mid-April while under police custody - and being ignored hours before he died in the custody of Baltimore policemen.

It would take days for the Zapruder and Holliday clips to be released to the public through news outlets. Today, that delay is essentially zero.

In a world where cameras are everywhere, the truth is accessible to more people. Does a modern news agency inform citizens by relying on citizen journalists?

Technology Transformation

"There's nothing quite like live video to put people in the moment when it comes to breaking news." - Josh Stearns, who follows citizen journalism at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Citizen journalism dates back to the 18th century, when Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay disseminated information on the U.S. Constitution in the Federalist Papers. Then this thing called the Internet appeared, and now anyone with a cellphone can live-stream breaking news events as simply as taking a selfie. To spread news of unreported disappearances in Iraq in 2003, all that an architect calling himself "Salam Pax" needed was a blog. Add YouTube to the mix and citizen journalists have something uniquely modern: self-distribution to millions with complete content control.

In a world where cameras are everywhere, the truth is accessible to more people.

This basic shift has massive repercussions for newsrooms. In May of last year, the Chicago Sun-Times fired its entire staff of full-time photographers, claiming in a press release that the paper's audience was "seeking more video content with their news." The very next day, the paper mandated that its reporters partake in "iPhone photography basics." Lorainne Branham, dean of Syracuse University's award-winning Newhouse School of communication, told Digital Trends this shift in the industry is reflected in how future journalists are taught.

"Social media is a part of the journalism landscape right now," Branham said. "We teach our students how to utilize social media, how to use Facebook to gather information, how to get sources, how to tweet information out." Slowly, professional journalists are employing the same fact gathering tactics as pre-teens.

Benefits of Citizen Journalism

Live news is delayed in order to censor cursing, but a well known secret about the news is that there's a more natural delay to live TV. "Network guys get to events later than they happen," Ford Fischer, co-founder of independent news organization News2Share, told Digital Trends. "So [citizens] are filming when something crazy is happening in front of them." News2Share was started in late August 2013 by Fischer and American University schoolmate Trey Yingst, a broadcast journalism graduate. The pair accept videos from citizens and recently received combat footage via Facebook of the Peshmerga army fighting ISIS in Iraq and being shot at by Kurdish soldiers.

Simple math. There are more civilians than journalists. More civilian journalists mean more eyes searching for a story.

From Rodney King in the late 80s to Walter Scott earlier this year, citizen journalism has helped expose police brutality. As a result, police transparency has been a focal point in the Obama administration as they and the Department of Justice both announced separate plans to fund the acquisition by numerous police departments of tens of thousands of body cameras. TASER International - body camera provider for 98 percent of police departments using the technology - informed Digital Trends that government dollars may not actually arrive until 2016. "The money will have to be new money, and that's always a challenge - especially as the law enforcement grants keep getting smaller for other necessary equipment." Body cameras may improve clarity in some situations, but they do not fundamentally preclude misinformation; public release of the footage depends on each individual police department. For example, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed the exemption of body camera footage from the Freedom of Information Act, and D.C. police are already planning to limit who sees the footage.

Citizen journalists don't just get to where professional journalists can't go, they get to places professional journalists won't go.

Given the uncertainties surrounding body camera footage, citizen journalists could be a necessary circumvention to such policies, as they can get access to places most journalists can not. "The guys with big network type cameras, in particular when [protesters] can see what brand they are - CNN, Fox, or whatever - those guys tend to get assaulted," Fischer said. It may be a bit easier for the average citizen to blend in with a mob than Don Lemon.

Citizen journalists don't just get to where professional journalists can't go, they get to places professional journalists won't go. Branham attributes layoffs and downsizing to why news organizations aren't covering local communities the way they used to. "Part of the criticism you hear about the media from some of these communities is that 'you're not telling our stories' or 'you only report about the negative stuff,'" she said.

Ashley Kang, a graduate of Newhouse, is the director of an community newspaper called The Stand which pairs members of the Syracuse community with college students to work on news reporting. "When we pair residents with students, residents know the neighborhood," Kang remarked. "They know all the people you should talk to and then the student can quickly pull information."

Pitfalls of Citizen Journalism

Spreading the truth through rogue Periscopers can prove efficient, but costly in the grand scheme.

Kang says new citizen journalists at The Stand have had trouble interviewing subjects and executing ideas; they need proper guidance. Dean Branham feels this is a central problem to the idea of calling people "journalists" simply because they've filmed an event.

"Usually when people are out there capturing something on video, they're capturing a moment in time of what happened and they're not attempting to put it into context," she explained. Someone could live stream a suicide attempt and have no means of redacting the faces of innocent bystanders, or they may have no qualms with capturing the actual suicide - measures taken by professional journalists.

Everyone has some sort of prejudice, but professional journalists are taught to disavow that and under every circumstance provide objectivity. The part-time worker who wants to make a quick buck by filming cop arrests has no incentive or training to abide by ethics. "The company could send their own person [to an event] trying to promote a product," Kang theorizes. With newsroom-downsizing leaving less time dedicated to editorial oversight, abuses to a system that takes the juiciest stories from untrained journalists could be quite easy and rampant. If an esteemed journalist such as Brian Williams can pass off false memories of combat as truth, an impressionable citizen could do worse without the right guidance and structure.
Efforts to Help and Work with Citizen Journalism
MediaQ is one of the few initiatives with the infrastructure to reduce abuses to a citizen journalism/news outlet system. MediaQ is an online media management platform started by the University of Southern California's (USC) Integrated Media Systems Center; it collects user-generated content for sharing among registered members. When a citizen records and uploads a video to MediaQ, the location and viewing direction of the video is automatically added. A news organization could also send out a request on MediaQ for footage of a certain event. For example, NBC could send an alert for footage of a robbery that they may not have a reporter nearby for. MediaQ and any citizen journalist registered in the system near the specified location will receive that notification.

There are YouTube tutorials and idiot guides to learn how to be a journalist, but humans are still the best training resource. Kang and The Stand hold full-day mentorship workshops where community members are paired with journalism graduate students who help them source, interview and edit their articles. The students end the day with their article posted online, a move Kang admits "kind of motivated people more, got them more interested." When The Stand launched in late 2009, an early goal was for it to be financially stable enough for it to be solely run by community residents. Kang told Digital Trends that The Stand's board members begun discussing this proposition and looking to secure more grants and advertisers earlier this year.

In an age where nearly one-third of U.S. adults receive their news from Facebook, the paper is the last place we look for timely information.

The Baltimore Sun created an interactive timeline of the incidents leading to Freddie Gray's death. Each point in time is accompanied with a description of the events described by the police reports and official statements as well as video testimonials and amateur footage of Baltimore residents who witnessed the ordeal. NBC News dedicated a section of its news to citizen journalism in 2005. Eight years later, the company purchased user-generated live video service Stringwire, and last year used the service to post exclusive user-generated footage of the Ferguson protests. With police officers on film tampering with crime scenesas evidenced in the shooting of Walter Scott, the NSA illegally collecting all of our phone data and mainstream news outlets seemingly limited by their proximity and access, now is as good as anytime to expand journalism's reach.

YouTube and social media news agency Storyful recently partnered for YouTube Newswire, a YouTube channel of verified eyewitness videos. The videos are separated by the news they capture and are a mix of amateur and professionally shot videos. Parts of Oklahoma and Texas were hit with eight to nine inches of rain and flash flooding on Wednesday and within hours YouTube Newswire organized a collection of amateur videos of the flooding from inside cars, homes and even roofs. YouTube has also launched First Draft Coalition, a group of "thought leaders and pioneers in social media journalism" providing journalists with advice on the ethics and practices of handling citizen-shot footage. We have reached a point where journalism needs to learn from the people it reports.

The news moves quickly. In an age where nearly one-third of U.S. adults receive their news from Facebook, the paper is the last place we look for timely information. You are the Feidin Santana. You are CNN. You are NBC. You are Kevin Moore.

You are the news. Report responsibly.

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The citizen journalist: How ordinary people are taking control of the news

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Abraham Zapruder and George Holliday were two normal American citizens with home video cameras. Just two guys who changed the nature of how the world consumes news. Zapruder, a woman's clothing manufacturer, captured the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy and started a fierce bidding war for the footage.

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Why is there a rise in the number of young women using citizen journalism platforms? To understand this, we need to look at the way political systems have continuously been shaped by the power of the citizen voice.
Meera Vijayann, Guest blogger at Time for Equality, will be presenting a talk at the TEDx Houses of Parliament on June 27th at the QEII Conference Centre in London. An award-winning citizen journalist, she will reveal insights on how young women in India have used citizen journalism platforms to raise their voice against harassment.

To watch the free livestream of the event, log on to http://www.tedxhousesofparliament.com/2014/about/#livestream
About Meera Vijayann: Meera Vijayann leads communications at Ashoka India, a global network of leading social entrepreneurs, and is working towards leveraging digital media for social change and empowerment. Through the use of citizen journalism platforms, Meera explores creative ways that young women can participate in political, community and governance matters. As an elected member of the inaugural class of +SocialGood connectors, she facilitates dialogue between entrepreneurs, innovators and institutions to tackle global issues around gender rights and sexual violence. In 2013, she won the CNN IBN Citizen Journalist Award for her reporting in the aftermath of the Delhi rape case. Her articles and blogs have appeared in the Guardian, CNN, Open Democracy, IBN LIVE, The Deccan Herald, The New Indian Express and other major media outlets. About TEDx: In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading", TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.
To know more about the TEDx HoP, do log on to their website.

Photo: Newship - A man takes a photograph of a fire as people look on

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How can citizen journalism empower young women? | Time for Equality

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Why is there a rise in the number of young women using citizen journalism platforms? To understand this, we need to look at the way political systems have continuously been shaped by the power of the citizen voice.

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Knowing about factors that influence reporting will help your crisis management

There's no doubt that social media has affected the way breaking news is reported, for better and for worse. Regardless of whether you believe it's been a boon or a bane, you need to be versed on the changes it's brought about in order to make the most of your crisis management efforts, and this infographic from Insignia Communications will help you do just that:

The BCM Blogging Team
https://www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com

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How Has Social Media Impacted Breaking News?

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There's no doubt that social media has affected the way breaking news is reported, for better and for worse.

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Social media, as you can imagine, has monumentallychanged the world of journalism, in ways that no one could have comprehended before its colossal rise.

Social media users often report on news via their pages before the story has even been assigned to a journalist, and this alone has completely altered the concept of breaking news.

Journalists don't even decide what the biggest story of the day is anymore, rather, society does, and the news that goes viral is often produced by social media users themselves.

These days, people want real-time information, which is why so many of us turn to social media sites such as Twitter to stay up-to-date with the news. It was even found that two-thirds of U.S. adults get news from social media, demonstrating just how popular it is as a media outlet.

This then poses as a threat to journalists. If they have gathered a news story second-hand from social media, which is often the case, and they find a new angle that isn't yet out there but sit on it for too long, they risk having the new angle reported on first by other competitors, or worse, social media users (dun dun dunnnn)!

Social media could therefore be seen as the rawest form of journalism - it provides eyewitness and first-hand accounts and is the fastest channel for breaking news.

The news of the death of Michael Jackson in 2009 broke on social media before any major news networks. TMZ.com, the American entertainment website, released the story first, before the mass of tweets about it forced Twitter to temporarily shut down. This was two hours before it was confirmed by the LA Times and Associated Press.

"We saw an instant doubling of tweets per second the moment the story broke." - Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder.

I remember this day; I was rehearsing for a dance competition at home in Guernsey, Channel Islands, when one of my team mates who was watching at the time stood up to announce that Michael Jackson had just passed away. She found the news on Twitter, not from a major media outlet. This is how powerful social media is as a tool for news reporting.

So could social media be replacing traditional journalism?

While some do believe that social media is a true form of journalism and could potentially be the future of it, others (including me) believe that social media and traditional journalism can work together in acting as message diffusing systems. By this I mean journalists can provide the news stories that social media is able to spread far and wide, or vice versa. In this sense, social media accentuates and compliments journalism, rather than replacing it.

In ways, social media has introduced a new layer to the world of journalism; interaction and communication with audiences, which journalists can seriously benefit from.

Some other advantages of this new dimension for journalists are that they are able to partake in wider newsgathering, reach out to sources directly, build personal relationships and increase engagement with audiences, just to name a few.

"New technology enables normal people to do reporting. But new technology also improves the monitoring quality of journalism as well." - Sarah Hartley, the Guardian

So, I don't believe that journalism is dying in the current world of social media. I do believe however, that social media in one way or another technically is a form of journalism, because it's a channel that allows people to report on news. But, it is not replacing traditional journalism as such because more so, it can be used to enhance it, and the two can work together in informing the world effectively.

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Social Media vs. Traditional Journalism - Ellie Mason - Medium

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Social media, as you can imagine, has monumentallychanged the world of journalism , in ways that no one could have comprehended before its colossal rise. Social media users often report on news via their pages before the story has even been assigned to a journalist, and this alone has completely altered the concept of breaking news.

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2009: flight 1549 crew: hudson landing still on our minds - cnn

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2009: Flight 1549 crew praises smart, calm passengers

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Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger says he'll take to the skies again -- as soon as he can shake Flight 1549 out of his head.

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old vs new

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old vs new

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The Role of a Social Media Reporter

A social media reporter (SMR) is an individual with a professional background in journalism and reporting whose main responsibility is to supplement traditional news reporting by adding informative content in media conduits such as blogs, microblogs (such as Twitter), websites, web pages, and other platforms connected with the online community.

Hiring an SMRs

The purpose of the position of "social media reporter" is to bring leverage to classic news reporting in the broader and instantly accessible via the internet for the benefit of online audiences. These users expect "real time" (immediate) reporting of news as they occur, consistent updates, and access to other social tools to gather additional information.

Where SMR Works

The SMR works in the newsroom along with social media marketing representatives and news staff. They include bloggers, editors and other reporters. This group of people is consistently identifying fresh, newsworthy events, fact-checking, investigating sources, and checking out what is going in other online social media groups.

The Difference Between a Traditional News Reporter and an SMR

The main difference between a traditional reporter and the SMR is the level of engagement that the latter must maintain with the audience. SMRs should prompt conversations and pique the interests of online followers so that many conversations can be initiated and maintained. This practice secures the social reputation of the news team and demonstrates transparency. This latter term refers to the perception of a media outlet being credible and dependable.

Social Media Marketing and SMRs

The social media marketing team will work closely with SMRs to create ways to market and brand the news team. Catch phrases and #hashtags bring online news readers together. The appropriate use of these social tools maintains a cohesive online group of readers who will easily find the news teams using these social media terminologies.

Other Roles of an SMR

Once the news is identified, and the facts and sources confirmed, the social media reporter will maintain the online conversations going and will comply with whatever the needs are of the broadcasting group, either writing further articles, keeping a page updated, or sending continuous Tweets.

A Background in Journalism

Reporting formats differ from one another, and this is why those aspiring to become social media reporters must have knowledge of the formats and rules of journalistic reporting. They also must have demonstrated experience building audiences, strong writing skills, engaging vocabulary, experience search engine optimization (SEO) when needed, and a good understanding of web analytics. Since new applications and technologies surface yearly on the Web, the optimal candidate would also be someone with an ability to adapt to new formats and technologies.

The Most Important Skill a Potential SMR Must Have

The most important qualification for this position is knowledge of how to work with a large-scale enterprise content management system (CMS). This requires a lot of organization skills, the need to work well and communicate effectively with many people, knowing when to report on what, and understanding the limits and parameters (boundaries) of ethical reporting.

The SMR such an important position

The words of the SMR are read worldwide and are meant to acquire and represent the tone and culture of the broadcast group. Any mistakes in spelling and grammar, and any failure to foster cultural sensitivity, political correctness, and impartiality may result in great blunders to the respectability and image of the organization. This is why the hiring of an SMR is a delicate process that requires someone who is the best at all of the skills mentioned above.

An SMR is inquisitive, sensitive, tactful, upbeat, communicative and, on top of all of those qualifiers, must also be someone who is excited by technology and equipped with amazing writing skills. SMR is not blogging. It is not commenting on situations. The SMR is the voice of the broadcast group and the voice of the audience at the same time. It is not an easy task. It takes a lot of careful planning that must be done quickly and in real time.

A great SMR would have to reunite all of the qualifications plus be someone who is willing to share and communicate. If you are up to the task, think of the great newspapers such as the New York and Washington Posts. That is the high-quality level expected of the SMRs of today and of the near future.

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Understanding the Role of a Social Media Reporter

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A social media reporter (SMR) is an individual with a professional background in journalism and reporting whose main responsibility is to supplement traditional news reporting by adding informative content in media conduits such as blogs, microblogs (such as Twitter), websites, web pages, and other platforms connected with the online community.

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An important aspect of the PR and marketing professions is to understand the behavior and interests of stakeholders and publics that we serve. The recently released Cision 2017 Global Social Journalism Study takes a deep dive into how journalists approach and use social media. As journalists are asked to do more in the digital realm with fewer resources, the opportunity for PR professionals to be a trusted resource to journalists increases when we understand their specific needs.

The Cision Global Social Journalism Study has a lot of insightful, actionable data about how journalists use social media and their perceptions of social tools. In this post, I want to discuss the study's insight into how journalists use social media: specifically, that publishing, distributing and promoting content are key drivers of social media use and activity. PR professionals and marketers need to understand journalist's motivations to use these platforms to be better resources, perhaps as well to use social media similarly to support their own content marketing efforts.

Publishing Content

Between the 2012 and 2017 iterations of the Cision Global Social Journalism Study, there was a 12 percent increase in the number of journalists that said that they post content to social media platforms daily. While we may think of long-form content when we think of journalists, there is actually a lot of creative short-form content posted to social sites.

A great example of short-form content is this Instagram post by The Guardian, U.S. Data Editor, Mona Chalabi:

Journalists also share opinions/insights in short-form, as ESPN's Bill Barnwell demonstrates in this Tweet:

As journalists create an increasing amount of augmenting content for social media, many publish a lot of engaging, cool short-form social media content.

There are also unique long-form decentralized content pieces published to sites such as Facebook Instant Articles, Apple News and LinkedIn publishing, although there isn't a lot of data describing how much content on these sites is unique versus republished. There is also some innovative content published on sites such as National Geographic's Instagram combining longer-form with compelling images:

Hopefully, this gives you a sense of how journalists are using social media with increased frequency as a publishing platform. As for why so many journalists are compelled to publish more frequently online, this probably correlates with the audience growth of social news consumers demonstrated by Pew Internet:

Distributing Content

In the 2017 Global Social Journalism Study, 75 percent of journalists describe social media as "completely" or "to a large extent" necessary to promote and distribute content. This is a pretty harrowing statistic about the influence of social media on our everyday lives. For the sake of this post, we'll consider the distribution of content as a subscription action (although there are many aspects of publishing, distribution and promotion that overlap). You may "Like" or "Follow" a publisher or a journalist on any social network, and their work would be pushed out to you when published.

An example of this would be a recent article on The Intercept, distributed on Twitter:

Opioid crisis kills as many as "9/11 every three weeks," Christie said after delivering urgent report a month late. https://t.co/k2QCoLeBpr

- The Intercept (@theintercept) August 5, 2017

Another example would be VICE Producer, Gianna Toboni's Facebook post of one of her pieces:

Organic distribution via subscription social media is erratic at best due to filtering and algorithms, which is why promotion is a likewise integral aspect of a journalist's social media use.

Promoting Content

In the Cision Global Social Journalism Study, 66 percent of journalists reported that they engage with readers at least daily. And while we normally discuss promotion on social media as a function of promoted posts, engagement and redistribution are ways that journalists promote their content organically on social platforms.

Kara Swisher of Recode is an example of a very high-frequency engager, responding to unsolicited comments as well as comments on her published articles:

MSNBC's Ari Melber demonstrates the same type of engagement, interjecting some humor (demonstrating an appreciation for Jidenna in the process):

The Cision study suggests that a journalist's mix of content, publishing and promotion may depend on many factors such as vertical, age, and social archetype (which we'll discuss more in detail in future posts).

Conclusion

One of the great aspects of periodic research like the Cision 2017 Global Social Journalism Study is that it demonstrates the extent of how perceptions and actions change over time. It's clear both that digital consumption of news and other content is increasing, and journalists are using social media in a correlative fashion.

What this iteration of the Global Social Journalism Study demonstrates is that the roles and responsibilities of journalists are changing, and are increasingly reliant on social platforms for publishing, distributing and promoting content. It is incumbent on all PR and marketing professionals to understand digital's demand and utility to journalists and to try to be resources for journalists where we can.

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How Successful Journalists Use Social Media - Cision

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An important aspect of the PR and marketing professions is to understand the behavior and interests of stakeholders and publics that we serve. The recently released Cision 2017 Global Social Journalism Study takes a deep dive into how journalists approach and use social media.

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Journalism in the Age of Social Media | Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

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Advice from the BBC's leading social media practitioners, including the UGC Hub and Rory Cellan-Jones on managing his social media activity.