Social Media and False Information

Alyssa Keefe
ak757211@ohio.edu

The other day, I was having a conversation with a family friend who still owned a flip phone. As a 50-something-year-old man, he refused to have any sort of smartphone because he does not understand it nor does he need one. He did not even know what the term "upload" meant. This shows that today's generation has grown up with smart technology and we are the ones who have to explain Facebook and Twitter to our parents and grandparents.

Social media is rapidly growing and there is always a new platform to discover. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Myspace and Tumblr are just a handful of the numerous social media sites out there today. Although these social media sites were created for personal use, professionals use social media for business and news.

Technology has had a huge impact on news today. As journalism increasingly changes from print to digital media, people are able to find information easily and quickly from almost anywhere. Anyone can claim to be a journalist these days with social media and blogs. False information and rumors can spread like wildfire on social media and let's be honest, no one really wants to read boring articles; people want to read exciting breaking news. It is simple to tweet inaccurate news but as journalists we are faced with the dilemma of being first or being accurate.

It is so easy to spread rumors and misinformation these days. According to the New York Times, "the spread of rumors, misinformation and unverified claims can overwhelm any effort to set the record straight." Take the Boston Marathon bombings controversy as an example. Some big media outlets inaccurately reported the bombings and wrongly named a Saudi national as a suspect. A picture of two innocent men was placed on the cover of the New York Post with a headline that suggests they committed the crime.

(Photo credit: The Huffington Post)

Is it better to be fast and wrong than slow and right? Speed puts pressure on journalists and newsrooms to put stories out there for the public before they are checked and verified. Not only does false reporting cause suffering to the wrongly accused individuals in a certain situation, but it can also induce panic. Ethically, journalists should follow the ethical guidelines of accuracy, verification and transparency when dealing with rumors online and on social media.

I can admit it: every once in a while I read celebrity gossip on TMZ and read the occasional breaking news updates on certain news outlets' Twitters. I have read plenty of false information on those sites. It clearly displays the need for journalists to strive to report accurately and honestly. Accuracy is far better than being the first to break the news. The public respects and trust the news organizations that report true information, not information that is partially true, partially false. Social media can be a great source of information if journalists are accurate, honest and fair. It truly is better to be slow and correct than first and incorrect.