Who is Behind our shared posts, or should I say What?

Jaiden Tabor jt283118@ohio.edu We all scroll through our Tiktoks, Instagram feeds, and Twitter feeds carelessly. Although we know something must be responsible for the origin of the posts, we trust that the fate of our for-you-pages and feeds show us credible content with reason. But this is not always the case. This relates to journalism and ethics because most of the news that is consumed by younger generations comes from easy accessibilty. It is easy to post a news article to Snapchat and trust that someone will be reading it because it's right in that person's hands. This has caused a lot of disruption in the journalism community not only due to credibility issues but reputation as well. In the case of Josh Shaw, university-run media at the University of South Carolina rushed to conclusions to post a story about their cornerback and how he sprained both his ankles. The story that was written read that he twisted them rescuing his 7-year-old nephew. The story went on to become a heartfelt lie and when the truth was revealed, not only was Shaw at fault but the news source as well. When the truth came out, it was Shaw who had made up the story and lied. The reason why the journalists were at fault was because they posted an inaccurate story. It is safe to say that many times, journalists are writing to protect. Protect the subject, protect the story, but it seems it can be lost in translation that it is important to protect yourself as a writer and the news outlet you work for.

To come full circle, this relates to the content that you consume on your social media. Many times, when reading, the common population does not worry about checking credibility and reputable sources. It is important for the new age journalists to educate and teach about how trolls and bots on the internet can post fake news, which yes is a real thing not just a term coined by former president Donald Trump. This is called digital civility . This term is used to describe said diversion. Teaching the younger generation that someone and something is writing their media is very important. This also relates to media bias and teaching the difference between a truthful article and a trendy article is crucial. It is also important because it creates healthy disputes online. Instead of trolls starting riots on posts, educated individuals can share their truth and opinions with information to back it up. In no one is social media a bad thing for news. The consumption rates of media have gone up significantly due to the accessibilty of social media and news shares on it. The conflict that is created is the dependability. When media consumption goes up so does a need for new stories. This can sometimes cause journalists to create false narratives in order to produce and meet a quota. This may have been the case for the Josh Shaw story. In conclusion, as a journalism student, it is not only my responsibility to create and share information but to share the resources that are credible for other consumers. This can decrease foreign involvement in our news and decrease problems for future writers and news outlets.