Comments on: The Impact of Twitter on Journalism (Video)

By: Alan Wexelblat

Alan Wexelblat — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Ooh, thank you for linking that. I meant to watch it this past weekend when it showed up in my subscriptions digest but got distracted. (Distracted on the Internets?! unheard-of!)

By: Scratcheee

Scratcheee — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 01:26:00 +0000

One thing that bothers me about Twitter and “the news” is when a news presenter reads a tweet as if it was a normal quote from a person. The stunted lingo just doesn’t translate to a normal context. It would be like using “headline-ese” in anything other than a headline.

In other words, “Twitter in News Irritating: Scratcheee.”

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:58:00 +0000

TL;DR

By: bkad

bkad — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:54:00 +0000

I’m unqualified to talk about twitter, since I last used it in 2008. My new girlfriend, a journalist, teases me a little about this.

But in regards to journalism… I think the reason I’m not attracted to twitter (but am to other forms of web and print journalism) is two-fold. First, I’m not good at filtering: I don’t want to skim through hundreds of snippets a day; I’m not good at it, and I don’t find it interesting. Second, and this could have changed since 2008, I suspect twitter users have opinions. I don’t want opinions in my news. I’m not saying the traditional media are unbiased, but I do think there is an expectation in professional journalism that you’re supposed to try.

[Edit: But to be fair, I can't expect the world to cater to my particular disability: Lot's of people CAN filter. And more news sources empower them. But, I do think there is a place for professionals to find out what I need to know and tell me. I don't want to spend all day, or even much of my day, reading the news. I'm more than willing to have someone help with that. ]

By: Fogbert

Fogbert — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Maybe I’m being naive, but Journalism (capitalized on purpose) has a lot it could offer.

- Report unimpeachable facts.
- Report informed analysis.
- Report from access. Offer me information I can’t get anywhere else.
- Remove bias. This is a whole other can of worms, but it’s important.
- Lose the hyperbole.

Unfortunately, the press (I’m oversimplifying by treating it as an entity) moved away from these core principles long before Twitter–or the Internet for that matter–and on cruft, Twitter is eating everyone’s lunch.

By: Melinda9

Melinda9 — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Uh I thought journalism was reporting, investigation, checking veracity of sources, etc. – whereas twitter is as they put it generously ‘raw information’ with no way to know if it’s true or its context.