Journalist and social media

Elijah Sweet
es008215@ohio.edu

As social media has grown, it is important that journalists are keep up with current events on social media because of how fast news appears there. Journalists should also realize how one single tweet can impact your future with a news outlet.

In Jemele Hill's case, it is very important to understand that a few tweets can cost a journalist their job. Jemele was taken off of SportsCenter and later bought out of her contract, after she tweeted comments against Donald Trump.

Picture by : Hollywood Reporter

As a black woman in America, Jemele thought it was important to voice her opinion against Donald Trump because she believes he is a "white supremacist". ESPN looked to get rid of Hill because they felt as a reporter for their station she should not state her political views because she is a media influencer.

Jemele Hill is not the only black female reporter to get fired after sharing something on social media.

According to Ebony, Lisa Benson, a reporter for Kansas City, Missouri's KSHB, was fired after sharing an article about white privilege. The article was about how white women play the victim while black women are more assertive.

It was later reported that two white women working at the station saw the Facebook post and reported her to HR. As reporters, it is important to remember that media outlets are not fond of their journalists giving their political views or post things on social media that maybe controversial.

However, journalists should still be able to speak their mind on social media using their personal accounts if they truly believe in something. Journalists are people who have opinions and should be able to voice them as long as their intent is not to hurt the media outlet.

I understand that media outlets do not want their reporters expressing their opinion to a mass audience because they believe those opinions will reflect poorly on to them, but some reporters are going to give a stance against social injustice if they see it in their life.

This is the exact reason why media news outlets must promote diversity in the work place. Their should be many people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds in the newsroom so that people within those outlets are able to see all different viewpoints.

The more diversity is promoted, the easier it will be for everyone in the newsroom to see the social injustices different races go through. Since there will also be many more reporters that each can relate to, they may be not as scared give their story ideas when discussing what should be reported.

Hiring more diverse journalists, would also help news outlets to gain trust from more diverse audiences through social media. The Knight Foundation reported that their is a fractured relationship between social media subcultures and media outlets.

This relationship maybe able to be fixed if media outlets hired more diverse journalists that interacted with people on social media. Then different racial groups would be able to see that those journalists are able to relate to the same social injustices.

Journalists must always pause before they post on social media because they should understand their opinion can impact public perception. Although, reporters should be able to speak out when they see social injustice in their life.