TOPIC GUIDE: Social media
"Social media improves our understanding of major world events"
PUBLISHED: 01 May 2013
AUTHOR: Tim Black
INTRODUCTION
Social media, from Twitter to Facebook to blogs, is playing an ever more prominent role in our understanding of world events. The public no longer has to rely on traditional news outlets for reportage and commentary. Instead, everyone and anyone can be a de facto journalist. Videos and images of incidents can be uploaded instantly; commentary on a protest can be tweeted as it happens; and anyone with a broadband connection can let millions of others know their particular take on an issue or event. But is this as progressive as it sounds? Is social media improving our understanding of major world events?
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Social media DEBATE IN CONTEXT
This section provides a summary of the key issues in the debate, set in the context of recent discussions and the competing positions that have been adopted.
The democratisation of the media
There is certainly no doubting the impact of social-media technology, be it the advent of the smart phone or the emergence of social networks like Twitter. In the words of one academic, it has allowed ‘anyone to become a journalist at little cost… Nothing like this has ever been remotely possible before’. [Ref: American Journalism Review]. For many, this is a positive development. It means that we do not have to rely solely on big media companies to interpret the world for us; we can start to use other sources, other commentators, and even make the news ourselves. As a result, our understanding of world events potentially deepens. So, as one social media advocate explains, if particular media outlets aren’t considered trustworthy, people can now find what they want elsewhere: ‘What’s more, they could stop being passive recipients. They could dig deeply into topics, follow their interests, and share their knowledge and passions with others who care about similar things’ [Ref: Nieman Reports]. As one radical journalist puts it, social media ‘threatens the monopoly of the media elite’, ‘scutinising’ it and ‘challenging its assumptions’. She concludes: ‘we are forging a path through the miasma of technological change towards a more honest, democratic model of commentary’ [Ref: New Statesman]. Nowhere, perhaps, was the democratisation of the media more in evidence than in the Arab Spring. So-called old-media outlets were largely caught cold by the rapidly unfolding events in Tunisia, Bahrain and Egypt. It wasn’t professional journalists spreading the news, it was ordinary citizens, armed with little more than access to a social network. Little wonder some christened the Egyptian uprising as the ‘Facebook revolution’ [Ref: TIME]. One citizen journalist, convinced of the capacity for social media to enlighten, argued that during the Arab Spring, social media became a place ‘to shape and discuss articles of the constitution, build mass awareness campaigns, and have entire Facebook-based news agencies with millions of worldwide subscribers’ [Ref: European]. Others were less convinced of social media’s political role, but did not doubt that events in Egypt showed ‘the ways in which social media and Twitter in particular are transforming both media coverage and human rights documentation. For now, that’s the real revolution’ [Ref: Huffington Post]. This democratisation of the media, argues Dan Gillmoor, allows us to get closer to the truth of what’s happening. Citing the use of grainy camera-phone footage in the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings, he points out that the overtaking of professional news and photo journalists by their ‘“amateur” fellow citizens’ means ‘we will have more genuine media than before, as in the authenticity of the London image, and that is a good thing for us all’ [Ref: Al Jazeera].
A medium for falsehood
Others are less convinced of the merits of citizen journalism. As the Economist notes, the rise of social media in the reporting of world events has both done away with editors, and highlighted precisely why they are necessary [Ref: Economist]. In the absence of editorial standards, social media allows half-truths, conspiracy theories and wild rumours to flourish. Hyunjin Seo, a Kansas University professor of journalism, even calls social media ‘an amplifier of misinformation’ [Ref: Topeka-Capital Journal]. This problem, evident in the Boston Bombings where Reddit users were scouring relevant photos looking to identify the bombers, resulted in several people being misidentified as the culprits [Ref: Wired]. Even US president Barack Obama felt it necessary to warn against ‘jumping to conclusions’ ‘in this age of instant reporting, tweets and blogs’ [Ref: Huffington Post]. As one commentator complained, ‘We have more information, but it’s a morass of truths, half-truths, and what we used to call libel. It’s fast, but it’s bad. And bad information is a cancer that just keeps growing.’ Even the social media coverage of the Arab Spring was criticised for exaggeration and inaccuracy. Marc Lynch, in particular, criticised the hype and mistruths peddled during the Egyptian uprising. ‘I still remember the first time I was driving around a perfectly calm, absolutely normal Cairo’, he writes, ‘while reading a Twitter feed describing apocalyptic clashes and mayhem’ [Ref: Foreign Policy]. Journalism professor Roy Greenslade, however, argues that we should not blame the social media for false reporting. It’s not about the tools, he says, ‘it’s all about the people, the human beings, who use, and misuse, those tools’ [Ref: Evening Standard].
A deeper understanding?
Some suggest that social media has the capacity to improve our understanding of world events by raising awareness of events and stories that other mainstream outlets have ignored. A well-known example of this was the Kony 2012 video, which attempted to focus public attention on the use of child soldiers by Uganda’s Joseph Kony in his paramilitary group, the Lord’s Resistance Army. Some have sought to praise this style of campaigning journalism: ‘The millions who watched the “Kony 2012” video — and donated or contacted a legislator — acting individually and however naïvely, might collectively force some big decisions’ [Ref: New York Times]. However, the backlash against the Kony campaign by mainstream media outlets, and its subsequent demise, raise important questions about the dangers of the partial take on events promoted by such campaigns. One writer highlights the problem of social media playing to our desire to feel good ‘in return for not doing very much’, creating a situation where: ‘Facts get lost, vanity goes viral’ [Ref: Independent]. Others warn of a stifling conformity on Twitter which drowns out discussion on certain issues once the ‘collective spite and collective bile’ of a Twittermob is unleashed [Ref: Telegraph]. Though conversely, the ‘many-to-many’ nature of the medium of social media is seen by some as providing a fundamental challenge to vested interests. As one blogger argues: ‘The notion of political commentary as a few-to-many exercise, produced by highly paid elites and policed by big business, has been shattered beyond repair’ [Ref: New Statesman].
ESSENTIAL READING
It is crucial for debaters to have read the articles in this section, which provide essential information and arguments for and against the debate motion. Students will be expected to have additional evidence and examples derived from independent research, but they can expect to be criticised if they lack a basic familiarity with the issues raised in the essential reading.
Boston and the new media: the far from madding crowd
Guardian 23 April 2013
Why is Twitter on trial? *innocent face*
Rachel Sylvester The Times 13 November 2012
Carl Sessions Stepp American Journalism Review December 2005
FOR
Don’t blame the internet for false rumours about Boston - it’s the enemy of falsehoods
Roy Greenslade Evening Standard 24 April 2013
The Phone Is Mightier Than the Sword
Lyse Doucet European 26 January 2013
Taking power through technology in the Arab Spring
Ramesh Srinivasan Al Jazeera 26 October 2012
The rise of citizen photojournalism
Dan Gillmoor Al Jazeera 15 March 2011
Laurie Penny New Statesman 22 June 2010
AGAINST
Social media as confusing as helpful in crisis situations
Alex Dingman Topeka-Capital Journal 22 April 2013
Social media as breaking-news feed: Worse information, faster
Molly Wood CNET 19 April 2013
Marc Lynch Foreign Policy 7 February 2013
What are we losing in the Web’s images of suffering and schadenfreude?
Philip Kennicott Washington Post 27 December 2012
All is vanity – and it’s gone viral over warlord Kony
Joan Smith Independent 11 March 2012
IN DEPTH
Syria, Citizen Journalism, and the Capital ‘T’ Truth
Matthew Ingram Bloomberg Business Week 28 March 2012
The people formerly known as the audience
Economist 7 July 2011
The truth about Twitter, Facebook and the uprisings in the Arab world
Peter Beaumont Guardian 25 February 2011
KEY TERMS
Definitions of key concepts that are crucial for understanding the topic. Students should be familiar with these terms and the different ways in which they are used and interpreted and should be prepared to explain their significance.
BACKGROUNDERS
Useful websites and materials that provide a good starting point for research.
Social Media’s Rush To Judgment In The Boston Bombings
Steve Henn National Public Radio 23 April 2013
Is Your Social Media Editor Destroying Your News Organisation Today?
Choire Sicha Awl 19 April 2013
Reddit users are hosting a witch-hunt for the Boston Marathon bomber
Ian Steadman Wired 17 April 2013
Citizen Journalism is Reshaping the World
TEDxTalks 17 December 2012
How Social Media Affected Newtown Coverage
New York Times 17 December 2012
A Video Campaign and the Power of Simplicity
Noam Cohen New York Times 11 March 2012
The future of video: democratisation of creativity and production
Guardian 23 February 2012
A Twitter Revolution for Journalists
Joel Simon Huffington Post 14 February 2012
Citizen Journalism Paves the Way in Egypt
Pulitzer Centre 16 November 2011
New study quantifies use of social media in Arab Spring
Catherine O'Donnell University of Washington 12 September 2011
Digital first: what it means for journalism
Jeff Jarvis Guardian 26 June 2011
Is Egypt about to have a Facebook revoltuion?
Abigail Hauslohner TIME 24 January 2011
Authentic journalism: weapon of the people
Al Giordano openDemocracy 19 November 2010
Objectivity is a lie, so the truth requires real citizen journalism
Jeff Jarvis Guardian 1 November 2010
Why the News Media Became Irrelevant - And How Social Media Can Help
Michael Skolar Nieman Reports 2009
Reuters
ORGANISATIONS
Links to organisations, campaign groups and official bodies who are referenced within the Topic Guide or which will be of use in providing additional research information.
IN THE NEWS
Relevant recent news stories from a variety of sources, which ensure students have an up to date awareness of the state of the debate.
Ian Hargreaves says citizen journalism has big role in Wales
BBC News 5 May 2013
Katherine Jenkins v Jan Moir: Twitter wins the first round
Daily Telegraph 24 April 2013
Anonymous group launches citizen journalism website
BBC News 18 April 2013
Salah Eddin Barhoum, Boston Teen Stunned To Be Portrayed As Bombing Suspect
Huffington Post 18 April 2013
Alan Davies apologises over Lord McAlpine tweet
Telegraph 19 December 2012
Connecticut school shooting: police hit out at social media ‘misinformation’
Telegraph 16 December 2012
Lord McAlpine and the high cost of tweeting gossip
Guardian 27 November 2012
Arab spring leads surge in events captured on cameraphones
Guardian 23 December 2011
England riots: Dangers behind false rumours
BBC News 20 September 2011
Syria Gay Girl in Damascus blog a hoax by US man
BBC News 13 June 2011
AUDIO/VISUAL
Social Media’s Rush To Judgment In The Boston Bombings
Steve Henn National Public Radio 23 April 2013
Citizen Journalism is Reshaping the World
TEDxTalks 17 December 2012
How Social Media Affected Newtown Coverage
New York Times 17 December 2012
The future of video: democratisation of creativity and production
Guardian 23 February 2012
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