Journalists and Social Media

Rachel O'Morrow
rm118414@ohio.edu

Social media is extremely available for an individuals use. We can pull it up on our phones, laptops, tablets with the touch of an app. You have the opportunity to create profiles on social media platforms such as, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, if you have a device that can access the internet. This means that journalists and politicians have social media access and use it to their advantage, or is some cases, their disadvantage.

Photo from Simplilearn.com

Social media is a way for journalists and politicians to state their opinions or update the public on news. It can also be used for you to post your opinions and really whatever you please. This becomes dangerous when applying for jobs. Employers will check your social media presence and determine whether or not your tweets are appropriate for the company you applied to interview with. In my opinion, there are many ways you can still state your feelings, thoughts and views without using derogatory language and generalizing. It'll take your brain more time to figure out how to word your opinion, if you're dealing with a character count, but this needs to be done. Especially, if you want to accuse other users posts.

Moving forward, let's talk about journalists and executives use on social media. This year many execs and leading journalists have made mistakes over their social media platforms. I call them mistakes because I don't agree with the decisions they've made and their decisions impacted their company. People on a high platform, especially in the news industry, must refrain from opinion and move towards stating fact. After all, it is their job to be truthful and fact-driven individuals. Both have the duty to serve the public with the truth.

An example of a journalist overstepping their journalistic boundaries is Jemele Hill. An example of a politician overstepping their power boundaries is Donald Trump. I'm criticizing both for different reasons. I recognize that each example holds a different position in society and works in different realms of society. One thing they both have in common is that their job is to serve the people with truth and accuracy.

Jemele Hill is an ESPN anchor who was suspended from the program for tweeting that President Trump is a bigot and white supremacist. This violated ESPN's social media guidelines. In addition, Hill's social media profiles stated the she did in fact work for ESPN. These tweets did not reflect ESPN and the audience of ESPN. People watch and keep up with sports anchors to learn about the latest sport news, not someone's latest political opinion. Her decisions aren't supported because she is a journalist for the largest sports reporting station, which is watched by left and right sides. The volume of her social media profile following and the fact that she branded herself as working for ESPN, she ethically shouldn't tweet impulsive things for ESPN's sake.

ESPN said in a statement, "She previously acknowledged letting her colleagues and company down with an impulsive tweet. In the aftermath, all employees were reminded that individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and such actions would have consequences." Hence the decision to suspend her from air for two weeks.

On the other hand, President Trump is notorious for impulsive tweets. I believe the left side would take less dislike towards him if he would just stop tweeting. His tweets attack the media and other country leaders. Overall, he should stop criticizing  and causing more distrust towards the media. We also are not accustomed to a president tweeting like he does, which are clearly things that are in the heat of a moment. He is viewed on the highest platform in our entire country, so he shouldn't use social media to increase the divide among its people.

Social media is a way for people from different background and geographical areas to connect, but many times President Trump's tweets will do just the opposite. After all, President Trump is reflecting the United States when he tweets. He' s not keeping in mind that he is serving both right and left side parties within tweets.

No matter what, politicians and journalists must serve the people and both sides of the story. This is part of accurate and truthful reporting. Depending on the story a journalist is writing, there's no room for opinion or bias. Opinion based social media presence and reporting can represent the company/publication you work for in a negative light, which can decrease viewership and overall trust audiences have with the news outlet.