Journalist and Social Media

André Norrils

an513020@ohio.edu

Social media is a massive part of many people's lives. Some use it for leisure, and others use it to contact friends and family. Many people use social media to share their opinion about all types of issues–but can journalists? Social media is relatively new, and more platforms are still being made. New rules are being established as situations arise. With such a large number of people being on social media, journalists need to use it and sometimes required. But many journalists have certain restrictions made by their employers.

Credit: pewresearch.org

Pew Research conducted a study on news consumption across social media for 2021. They found that almost 50% of people get their news from social media platforms. With many people turning to social media for their news, professional journalists need to be active on social media platforms. But many journalists are held back from posting their opinion on social media without pushback from their place of employment–even if it's a personal account. 

In a GBH News article, In Defense of Neutrality, it states that you asked someone if they had an opinion, and they said they were objective "you would probably think they are either liar or sociopath." But this is what many news organizations expect from their journalist. These organizations believe that if their journalist's opinions are shared, it will cause the whole media organization to lose credibility. Some may believe these rules hold journalists from being human or using their freedom of speech. Others think that since journalists deliver news to the public, how will the public know if the journalist isn't twisting the facts. News organizations have a reason to be worried, but there may be a solution to this.

The New Ethics of Journalism talks a lot about transparency. Being as transparent as possible with the public can help gain trust from the public. In Defense of Neutrality, it says building relationships with the public would help show that you can have and share views on subjects and report unbiased information because it's your job. But, journalists have to be careful because the journalism field doesn't work like that just yet. When some people don't trust news organizations, we have to work together to gain that trust back.