Journalism: The Roles Of Social Media And Citizen Journalism

Social Media and Journalism In today 's world, news is a nonstop 24/7 reel of stories and events which tends to make people feel a certain way about society, democracy and themselves. The problem with that is stories get taken out of context, and used in such a way to promote ideas and concepts that are not entirely rooted in truth. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat are a secondary source for news which increases the tendency for taking news stories and the event out of context for both malicious and sometimes beneficial intent. Social media is a channel through which information can be communicated to a large audience and influence the audience through advertisements, celebrity appeal and popular trends. Facebook (a form of social media)

According to Leo Traub who wrote Citizen Journalism Is Not Yet Credible Enough To Carry Out Its Goals stated, “citizen journalists fall short of their ambitious goals mainly because they lack the credibility of professional journalists.” This is because anyone can be a part of citizen journalism and anyone can access it, it is a less accurate function of news sites. Actual journalism is fact-checked information given to the public by a hired, educated professional writer with credibility; while citizen journalism can be done by non professional writers through blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and even Instagram lacking academic credibility. However, According to Bill Kocach and Tom Rosensteil in The Elements of Journalism, in the new system of news and information the role of professional journalist has become smaller, and the role of citizens has become larger and not all voices are equal (pg.10). Another point the authors make is: in the new century, one of the most profound questions for democratic society as a news can survive as a source of independent and trustworthy information, or whether it will give way to a system of self interested propaganda, the citizens consuming information in narrow channels or filter bubbles, in which all claims are un-refereed and the loudest win (pg.11).

This shows that the role of journalism is to serve the citizens. Yet, the public are in between mass media and social media. Citizens could also view professional journalism, non-professional journalism and Facebook as a way of seeing the on-going