The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

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Modern day journalism

Evolution of Journalism:

A senior in high school has applied for college and has her heart set on majoring in journalism. Her mother continues to tell her over and over that being a journalist is not a logical choice because of the amount of people that post their own stories on to blogs or websites nowadays. However, she believes that she has a bigger duty as an aspiring journalist. She must present the truth to the public as quickly and accurately as possible. She feels that it is important for people all around the globe to understand what is going on around them.

Journalism is the spread of information to the public, allowing everyone to be aware of events going on in all areas of the world. It may have begun in newspapers, but it has now spread into broadcast journalism, online journalism and news that has also been posted onto social media. News on social media has caused false information, more commonly known as “fake news,” to spread faster throughout a community. This becomes a problem when people do not try to verify the information they initially see on social media resources.

“I trust some news. I am aware that some news sources focus more being the first to report news rather than present accurate information to their audience. Then there are news sources like Breitbart and Fox News that occasionally present fantasy information to their viewers just to further a narrative. Many times the “facts” presented are debunked,” said Grace Aghimien, junior at Athens Drive.

 

How most people receive the news today:

People who rely on social media headlines for news are probably not getting the context they need in a tweet, for example. There is really not a lot of depth if they are not reading the full story. Another issue is that if a bogus story is circulating quickly on social, people may see the first story and never see a later story correcting it. So they end up believing false information to be true,” said Aysu Basaran, Assistant News Director at WRAL News.

Journalists today must be careful of where they are finding their sources and what possible social media they are being influenced by. In order to verify their information, both the journalists and audiences must check multiple sources.
“We have many different sources of information coming into our newsroom including network feeds, wire services and now social media. When it comes to social media, journalists should verify information and gather elements to provide context as they would any other tip coming into the newsroom. Random posts from unknown sources should never be taken at face value,” said Basaran.

 

How news affects how the United States is seen in the world:

The same high school senior sits down with her family each night to watch the local news. Her parents believe keeping up with current events is an important habit to obtain in order to stay informed about local and world issues. Stories range from shootings to war abroad. So many tragic events; one after the next. But where are the scientific discoveries? Where are the peaceful and effective protests? Where is the moral progress? Maybe it is hidden from the public, maybe not. The student begins to question the news media and broadcast journalism.

Many students and civilians with international backgrounds perceive the western world news to be quite tunnel visioned with its stories and reports. This has given broadcast journalism a negative association among large populations of people. While broadcast journalism stations do a great job of getting the news to people in a timely manner, they often choose to sensationalize many stories and even tragedies.

“I feel like broadcast journalism helps keep society more informed, but depending on the station, it can narrow a person’s perceptions on whatever subject or event is being covered,” said Nour Nachet, Meredith College student currently studying abroad in Nice, France.

 

Examples of the consequences of fake news:

“People who rely on social media headlines for news are probably not getting the context they need in a tweet, for example. There is really not a lot of depth if they are not reading the full story. Another issue is that if a bogus story is circulating quickly on social, people may see the first story and never see a later story correcting it. So they end up believing false information to be true,” said Basaran.

Fake news has been an issue for generations in the media. However, it has become more noticeable and easy to access with developments in the social media realm. Fake news was an exceptional issue during the 2016 Presidential Election, and social media sites such as Twitter took full advantage of the event. Many unauthorized accounts posted articles, statistics and misleading headlines in effort to sway the public toward certain candidates.

“I remember fake news being prominent during the election before and after,” said Hannah Baldwin, senior.

A prime example of fake news during this election was tweeted out from a fake account whose handle is @CNN_Politics. The account posted a fake exit poll results from a Florida voting location.. The results was as follows:

BREAKING: The first Florida exit poll numbers have been released.

Trump 55%

Clinton 39%

Johnson 6%

While the results do check out as reliable with the overall Presidential election result, with Donald Trump winning, it does not add up with the real numbers. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. This tweet actually went viral on Twitter which mislead a big portion of the public, especially the young users of the site.

Solutions:

Over the past years, social media sites have realized that they are dangerous for children. In fact, many adolescents do not have the critical thinking necessary to see fake news for what it is and are the first victims of fake news. Nowadays, most social media sites require a user to be 13 years old to create an account. However, a recent study reveals that more than half of children use some type of social media by the age of 10. In fact, it is too easy to lie about age at the moment of creating an account and this is what most kids do. Some people think that the solution may come from the government. In 2008, the European Commission supported the creation of several associations such as E-Enfance in France, Adiconsum in Italy, or Childnet in the UK. These associations organize interventions in schools to prevent the dangers related to the frequent use of social media. They not only apply to children but also their parents.

“I trust only some of the news I see because I know a lot of it is biased and can be untrue. In Civics, we learned about fake news and how to find out if it’s real or not, but it’s still pretty hard to find,” said Allie Denton, senior at Athens Drive.

Fortunately, social media has come up with new ideas to shadow their users from fake news. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram added a blue check mark on official accounts. This verification ensures users can easily differentiate a fake account from a real one. In addition, the social media Snapchat decided to work directly with the journalists. Snapchat users have a facilitated access to articles from the Daily Mail, People, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Seventeen, the Washington Post and  the New York Times. Yet these initiatives do not effectively resolve the collective problem since fake news is still present. Recently social media platforms have announced that they would take further measures including bot removal, stricter rules for political advertising and hiring more moderators to detect unwanted activity. It is also important for future students to continue to want to study journalism and spread the truth throughout.

 

Journalism in college:

The high school student has to applied to college. While looking at the different colleges that have journalism opportunities she realized that some of them were offering a master’s degree in social media.

Media platforms have began to utilize social media and are now looking for skilled people to run their accounts. Job opportunities for social media based work boomed in 2014 but have now leveled out.

Many students are shocked by the new curriculum criteria that aspiring journalists need to learn in order to go into the business.

“As a communication student, the most surprising thing that I’ve learned is how much the world of communication has evolved and is still evolving due to social media. From citizen journalism to social activism, the realm of social media has changed the world as we know it, and it’s up to us as communication students to master the workings of this developing medium for the sake of our field’s future,” said Blessing Aghimien, a communications major at East Carolina University.

 

The overall takeaway:

These possible solutions will only work in favor of the public if the public decides to truly abide by them. Being sure to fact check news we see on social media can lead future generations into a much more informed and conformed society. Journalists are still an important factor when it comes to reporting the truth to people, even in this age of advanced technology. Without journalists, events such as war, environmental issues and political matters may very well be left to be interpreted by unreliable Twitter accounts, snapchatters or fake news accounts.

When asked if anyone could be a journalist, Basaran said, “It depends on what your definition of journalism is. For me, the answer is no. You can take a great picture, post a compelling tweet, but are you really providing context and depth? You can be a good journalist on social media, but not everyone on social media can be a good journalist.”

 

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