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"Twitter is ruining American journalism"

41Forever Jan 24 2019 04:43 AM

I thought this is an interesting piece in the New York Times opinion section. Never Tweet: The controversy over the Covington students shows why American journalism should disengage from Twitter. [url]https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/opinion/covington-twitter.html?utm_sq=fzhafotfyt&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocietyofProfessionalJournalists&utm_content=Articles The Covington saga illustrates how every day the media's favorite social network tugs journalists deeper into the rip currents of tribal melodrama, short-circuiting our better instincts in favor of mob- and bot-driven groupthink. In the process, it helps bolster the most damaging stereotypes of our profession. Instead of curious, intellectually honest chroniclers of human affairs, Twitter regularly turns many in the news — myself included — into knee-jerk outrage-bots reflexively set off by this or that hash-tagged cause, misspelled presidential missive or targeted-influence campaign. But Twitter isn't just ruining the media's image. It's also skewing our journalism. Everything about Twitter's interface encourages a mind-set antithetical to journalistic inquiry: It prizes image over substance and cheap dunks over reasoned debate, all the while severely abridging the temporal scope of the press. I use Twitter for work, and it was an effective way to boost stories and, these days, releases or messages to students. But it sure can seem like a cesspool. He's right about the cheap dunks and stereotypes.

nymr83 Jan 24 2019 08:37 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Twitter is certainly a cesspool. Is it the cause of a decline in journalism standards or a symptom? I don't know.

smg58 Jan 24 2019 09:18 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

I'd argue it's both. It certainly magnifies the tendency towards knee-jerk reactions, but it didn't create the tendency out of thin air.

Centerfield Jan 24 2019 09:27 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

I think a much bigger problem is how partisan news networks are. What happened to being objective?

nymr83 Jan 24 2019 10:26 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

I think a much bigger problem is how partisan news networks are. What happened to being objective? That is another "chicken or egg" question. Are people becoming more partisan because the news is? Or is partisan news becoming the rule because people want it and therefore that is what sells?

smg58 Jan 24 2019 11:19 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Every news medium has opinions that come out implicitly or explicitly, even if they aim for objectivity. And I think most news outlets did here, for a long time. I wouldn't say that Rupert Murdoch was the first media magnate to try to sell his viewpoint, but he was/is better at it than anybody else, and the game changed with him.

kcmets Jan 24 2019 11:47 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

"Twitter is ruining America" seems more accurate to me sometimes. That and everything Trump, of course...

Lefty Specialist Jan 24 2019 12:20 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Social media in general is ruining American journalism. The pressure to be first is enormous, greater than the pressure to be right. The drive for clicks, views and likes have overwhelmed accuracy and depth. I have a friend who used to be a reporter and an editor at a couple of daily New Jersey papers. It was a prestigious job. But papers got bought and employees were terminated; he's now working freelance for a political website. He actually enjoys it a lot more. It helps that he's a really good writer and also at an age where he doesn't need the higher income and health benefits that his old jobs provided. So he doesn't have the same pressure that a young writer might have- he's not on Twitter at all, for instance. But I still make a point of reading everything he writes just to keep his clicks up.

41Forever Jan 24 2019 01:28 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

We had monthly click goals at my last news outlet, and our pay was tied to meeting them. When I moved from one paper to another, I remember a source saying, "It's a good paper, but no one reads it outside of that city." Twitter changed that. Once I was able to embed links in Tweets, I started getting readers from across the country and gained a bit of recognition (in the little bowl that is the world of education writers.) It did change what I covered, looking for local pegs for national issues. There were older reporters that wanted nothing to do with it, and they did not last long once we started focusing on the online stories over the print product. It also sparked journalists to become their own brand, which leads to more opinions and personality creeping into stories -- especially once the three layers of editors were eliminated, editors who would have toned down such things. Once I switched to the communications side, I became more aware of what reporters were tweeting -- not just their own stories, but the kinds of stories they were retweeting and liking. If a reporter says he's objective, but is retweeting and liking all kids of partisan stories, it gave me an insight on what to expect. And when reporters would tweet their own stories, but tag notoriously partisan cable news hosts to get their attention, it gave me even more insight. I never sought out reporters who I thought would slant things our way, but wanted the ones who would be fair.

Edgy MD Jan 24 2019 02:15 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

On one hand, I tend to think that (1) papers that you pay for, (2) have to lug around, (3) have to dispose of got killed by the internet, where (1) so much information is available for free, (2) you can access almost anywhere, and (3) you can surround yourself with your biases. If it's not as authoritative as The Times, free has its own authority. And any information that is behind a paywall will soon be shared by other sources, so folks didn't feel a need to pay their way past the wall. Fewer folks buying papers means fewer folks making money in journalism, which means quality plummets. On the other hand, print journalism survived folks' near universal access to radio, it survived folks' near universal access to TV, and it survived folks near universal access to Cable TV. And yet it stumbles and dies on our watch. Having a subliterate president, I imagine, has to be a product of the trend, and will likely be contributing to the trend going forward.

nymr83 Jan 24 2019 02:42 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Edgy MD wrote: Fewer folks buying papers means fewer folks making money in journalism, which means quality plummets. it doesn't NEED to mean 'quality plummets' though. instead, there could be fewer outlets but putting out a high quality product.

Johnny Lunchbucket Jan 24 2019 03:32 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Edgy MD wrote: Having a subliterate president, I imagine, has to be a product of the trend, and will likely be contributing to the trend going forward. The subliterate president is probably more damaging to journalism than an app alone inasmuch as his disgraceful, unAmerican shits onto the First Amendment all take place there. Journos needn't necessarily get caught up in being first, and should probably never traffic in online outrage, but there's a value to the writer and the publication in getting a checkmark, or whatever. I feel like I give away too much shit on Twitter but that's how a lot of people want to know things today

Edgy MD Jan 24 2019 03:57 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Edgy MD wrote: Fewer folks buying papers means fewer folks making money in journalism, which means quality plummets. it doesn't NEED to mean 'quality plummets' though. instead, there could be fewer outlets but putting out a high quality product. Hard to do without the money, though. They're not competing with each other. They're competing with stupid free online content. And they're losing.

TransMonk Jan 24 2019 04:19 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Get your info from as many sources as possible.

41Forever Jan 24 2019 05:50 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

CNN Business weighs in: [url]https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/media/reliable-sources-01-23-19/index.html I'm not saying everyone should delete their accounts. I'm definitely not saying newsroom bosses should stop reporters from tweeting. I love Twitter and I know that both my personal and professional lives have benefited from it. (I met my wife on Twitter!) But the site has changed. It is now, as Manjoo said, "the epicenter of a nonstop information war, an almost comically undermanaged gladiatorial arena where activists and disinformation artists and politicians and marketers gather to target and influence the wider media world." This is a big problem. It requires a big change.

dgwphotography Jan 26 2019 07:04 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

"Twitter is ruining America" seems more accurate to me sometimes. It all depends on what you use it for: https://twitter.com/sigg20/status/1088989190757470208

kcmets Jan 26 2019 07:25 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Well, enjoy, but I'll never fully get it. Hundreds/thousands following and me trying to follow the same isn't enjoyable to me.

ashie62 Jan 26 2019 08:45 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

I liked France's Macron, "I don't do diplomacy by twitter."

41Forever Jan 27 2019 10:21 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Washington Post ups the ante, calling Twitter "crystal meth" for newsrooms. [url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/twitter-is-the-crystal-meth-of-newsrooms/2019/01/25/2bd5e0a2-20d9-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html?utm_term=.cc705d1ec32c

Edgy MD Jan 27 2019 11:03 AM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

It's about time The Post covered the crystal meth epidemic.

Fman99 Jan 27 2019 05:43 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

I'm reading this, currently, it gives you a real sense of just how far American journalism has fallen in terms of the prestige and success of newspapers.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 27 2019 05:58 PM Re: "Twitter is ruining American journalism"

Looks interesting. I just ordered a copy!