Disciplinary Grounding
Disciplinary Grounding
The evolution of media is well documented over time, stemming back to the days of cavemen who drew paintings on the wall as a form of communication and storytelling. Today, media has progressed into countless formats that fuel our constant desire to be informed and entertained in a timely manner. For my Capstone project I want to look specifically at how the acceleration of breaking news reporting, fueled by a rise in social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, has impacted reporters' ability to maintain ethical standards in their work. With this concentration in mind, I will be grounding my studies in Neil Postman’s theory of Media Ecology, which draws off of the studies of Marshall McLuhan’s understanding of media as well. Media Ecology, as described by Postman, is the study of media environments (1979). McLuhan argues that the medium of media determines how people consume and process the message. This is relevant to how the reporting of news has evolved over time, from newspapers to radio to television to recently social media platforms.
New Media vs. Old Media
Juho Ruotsalaien (2015) argued that due to the fact that the internet is a form of multimedia, it therefore merges together with elements of the media before it (p. 9). This theory sets the foundation for why news can be presented and consumed through social media, because it still relies on the framework of past media. For example, most people in the early to mid-1900’s consumed their news through newspapers and television. Due to the lack of internet and technology, people had to wait until the evening newscasts or the morning newspaper to receive their news. These mediums provided print and visual transportation of information to the audiences. Today, technology has allowed us to share news and information at the touch of a button. Twitter and Facebook provide a free and effective way to watch news faster than ever before. Because of this digital outlet, traditional cable TV has become a more outdated option for consuming news and entertainment.
The desire for news to be shared with an audience faster than ever has rapidly progressed the transition from television to social media. In television, unless there is a massive breaking news event, the preset television programming remains intact. This means that there are scheduled times for news and scheduled times for other television shows that air on that channel. This makes it challenging to provide news in a timely manner. In contrast, social media can be updated almost instantly due to the fact that it is not always constrained to specific scheduled programming. The schedule in which news is presented has become more flexible by nature, allowing broadcasters and journalists to connect with their viewers and audience in a more-timely manner. This enhances the value of social media news versus television programmed news, because audiences get their information even faster.
The Good News, The Bad News
While transitioning to a social media-focused model of news can improve the way we stay informed, learn, and gather information, it is important to also highlight the downsides to these developments. The idea that technology can provide platforms for us to share and consume news at incredibly fast speeds is positive and can be very informative at times. However, that speed and accessibility to media can cause news to become presented in ways that don’t fall in line with journalism’s code of ethics and standards. Simply put, our modern technology allows news to be created and not simply presented using facts and information.
Harold Innis saw that each media created by the powerful people in society could be used to serve their own interests (Ruotsaliainen, 2015). Innis observed that technology can allow news to be socially constructed and not always rooted in facts. As technology continues to progress and evolve, news will evolve with it. The journalistic standards will change and adapt with these new advances, for better or worse.
As we continue to observe how social media effects the way news is shared, it is important to highlight the impact this has within the newsroom as well as within the content that is being produced. As news becomes more accessible and easily-shared, news directors become more aware of the idea of getting the information out fast. In many cases, this means breaking the news faster than rival stations or reporters. This attention to speed and timely reporting on social media comes in contrast to the traditional reporting where a journalist would have a specific deadline, they were expected to hit but would be able to craft their story in the meantime. Now, reporters are expected to be putting out information, often times before they even have the full story.
In my time as a reporter, I have noticed other journalists in the industry rush to post information on social media from a story only to realize they didn’t have all the information and have to retract their post. This can be particularly dangerous as social media can be a haven for misinformation and sensationalism within reporting. In addition, one tweet or post on Facebook containing misinformation or a story that doesn’t have all the facts, yet can spread like wildfire and create false rumors about the content itself. When reporting on topics of importance, such as public health and safety, it is dangerous to have the mentality of “first not right.”
The Multimedia-verse
As social media continues to grow as a source of information for people, news organizations will continue to develop new ways to present their stories through these mediums. For example, social media has created a diverse range of mediums for organizations to share news with a variety of different audiences. Most recently, Tik Tok has been exploding among the younger demographics. Traditional news organizations like the Washington Post—originally a newspaper company—have now branched out into finding new ways to share news on that platform. The Washington Post hired a man—nicknamed ‘The Washington Post Tik Tok Guy’-- who uses Tik Tok to create fun and entertaining videos that relate to the younger audiences on the platform, while still informing them of the news story. This ability to utilize multimedia will be what determines if a news organization can survive the digital transition. In 40 years, the traditional ‘5 and 6 o’clock newscasts’ will likely become irrelevant due to the audience being composed of people who grew up getting their information from digital media. So, companies will have to adjust their approach to news to maintain the attention of new audiences. This progression comes in various forms such as hiring social media-specific positions, digital reporters, and hosting training sessions with older employees regarding how to ramp up their digital presence as a journalist.
Significance/Rationale
The significance of choosing McLuhan’s theory of media ecology to support the topic of ethics in reporting through social media is to help better understand how each specific medium plays a role in how we share and consume information. Each platform, or medium that we use to consume information plays a different role in how we process that information (McLuhan, 2003a, p. 10-11). Similar to the difference between consuming an advertisement on radio versus television, our response to those two messages is entirely different. In that same light, our response to news on social media is entirely different to our response to news on television or other traditional formats. To begin, social media is much more constricting in many ways in allowing reporters to share their content. In many cases social media such as Facebook or Twitter allows a certain number of words, video formats, and story links to be shared on their sites. It is also entirely subjected to the use of the specific user interacting with the post in question. A reporter could post a link to an article on social media but it is up to the user if they want to actually open the link and read more about the story. In television, assuming the viewer has actively made the decision to watch the channel the story is airing on, the reporter has more control with how the viewer consumes their content.
I think it is also important to examine how McLuhan approaches the theory of media ecology as it relates to media as a whole. Speaking in a 1977 television interview, McLuhan described his thoughts on media ecology theory by saying: “It means arranging various media to help each other so they won’t cancel each other out, to buttress one medium with another. You might say, for example, that radio is a bigger help to literacy than television, but television might be a very wonderful aid to teaching languages. And so you can do some things on some media that you cannot do on others. And, therefore, if you watch the whole field, you can prevent this waste that comes by one canceling the other out” (McLuhan, 2003b, p. 271). McLuhan’s idea about each medium relying on the other to thrive helps provide another dimension to this topic about how social media has impacted the ethical elements of reporting.