To be neutral, or not to be neutral?

Haley Bender - hb476416@ohio.edu

Image from: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-social-media-2890301

In the year 2019, most of our society evolves around social media. Much of our daily media consumption, communication and learning comes from websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

For the journalism industry, this means journalism had to move to these social networks in order to stay relevant.

Fast forward to today, journalism is alive and well on social media. Media outlets promote their digital content as well as gather information from the public. Individual journalists share their stories, other stories they find interesting, and engage with their audience and fans by sharing more personal information.

The debate in 2019 is whether or not journalists should use their social media accounts like most of the public does, as a place to share personal opinions. Many people believe that in order for journalists to be completely unbiased, they should never share person beliefs or opinions. Others believe that journalists have the right to share what they believe just as everyone else does.

Journalists obviously should be neutral and unbiased in their reporting, but is social media journalism? Is a Twitter feed the same as reading a newspaper? Should readers expect full unbiased content from journalists at all times? Should new ethical codes be written for journalistic use of social media?

In an article by Medium.com, Yumi Wilson, associate professor of journalism at San Francisco State University says, depending on the site, you want to approach your audience in different ways. Facebook should be kept personal, Instagram should contain a portion of both personal and business, and Twitter should highlight your opinions and thoughts in a safe and respectable manner."

Wilson argues that journalists need to be careful about what they post, and only post content they are sure they want the entire world to see.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that, according to a study, journalists' social media activity did affect reader's perceptions, especially in younger readers. Specifically, frequent social media activity made journalists seem less professional, according to the study.

Ultimately, journalism is for the people. Journalists who feel that they should be able to post their own personal opinions on social media are putting their self over the people. Journalists should recognize their influence over readers and understand that what they post on social media should be very carefully thought over.

Additionally, if a journalist is constantly sharing their opinions on social media, readers may begin to question that any of that journalist's stories are unbiased. Is the journalist capable of being unbiased? Is this media outlet not trustworthy, because they are not entirely unbiased? Was this story that painted the president in a negative light real, or was it exaggerated since we know the writer is a Democrat? These are all questions that could be raised by readers if a journalist starts expressing their views online.

Similar to a code of ethics, social media guidelines and policies are a great way for media outlets to give their employees a simple set of guidelines to follow so that journalists don't have to worry about what is right and wrong to post. Codes of ethics for journalism and communications should be updated frequently in order to account for emerging technologies like social media.