On Monday, the New York Times ran an interesting article on a recent presentation at SXSW called, “Process Journalism: Getting it First While Getting it Right.”
The panel included reporters Robert Mackey from the New York Times, Monica Guzman of SeattlePI.com, blogger Jesus Diaz with Gizmodo.com, Will Sullivan from Journerdism.com and Moka Pantages of the Wikimedia Foundation. The discussion focused on digital reporting as well as the challenges today’s reporters are facing in the age of social media.
What I found most interesting is the question, “In this age of social media, what becomes a credible news source for a reporter? Are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia viable news sources?” In past blog posts, we’ve talked about how Twitter and Facebook have become platforms for breaking and announcing news; but how can reporters harness knowledge from social media sites, verify information and ensure accurate reporting?
In the article, Guzman offered up an example of how journalists are using Twitter (which at times has become an online newsroom) to gather information for a story. During a recent shooting and manhunt in Seattle, she says, “the media collaborated with itself and it was one big swirling newsroom on Twitter. We ended up using tweets as starting points. And Twitter did end up breaking a bunch of stuff.”
The article also included an interesting example from Reporter Robert Mackey who discussed how he has, “gathered crowd-sourced information and attempted to verify its authenticity. He gave examples of translating chants (from a protest in Iran) heard in YouTube videos and matching up street signs that flashed on screen with Google Maps. Once he was sure of its validity, he said, “he would add it to the coverage.”
It’s clear that while the media landscape continues to shift, new opportunities and challenges are arising for journalists. Fast-changing technology coupled with popular social media platforms are providing media with quick access to a wealth of information for developing stories – but it comes with a price tag in the form of validating authenticity.