Social Media Users

A Smarter Social Media User Wanted

No New School, All Schools for His Training

By Enrique Castejon-Lara

© ECL, 2021

@ECastejonL

Abstract:

Intentionally or not, social media users have become a disruptive factor in the news broadcasting system by echoing fake news, manipulated messages and propaganda. For this reason, some sectors of the political and academic areas have suggested the establishment of control mechanisms, the first ones, and a special training, the others.

Historically, technology has provide wonderful tools to improve journalism practice and, at the same time, to impulse the development of mass media, specially since the second half of the XX century. All that progress meant a huge support for the news system establishment. And it looked good enough for every one until, at the end of that century, appeared Internet changing, in a remarkable way, the current information panorama, specially after the naive and cute social media emergency. For the first time in mass communication history, a new player without experience nor adequate training, broke in the regular news broadcast system all around the world.

As it happened at the middle of XX century with journalists, some mass communication experts and academics have suggest the creation of special courses to train social media user. However, the circumstances are quite different. News reporters work for self controlled (and public audit) mass media. Users of chatting applications are totally free to work on them. It is their right. To try control them directly or by government restrictions is a clear violation of a basic human right.

Only in the case of the amateur radio operator, Ham, who become very popular in the first half of the last century, it was necessary to establish rules and limitations. But, that situation was, also, special. No everybody had the money to buy a short wave radio nor a lot of people liked to use such devices. Hams are, indeed, very particular “communicators” and they understand clearly their specific rol and social compromising.

Nevertheless, it is true that social media users are disturbing the entire news broadcast system allowing and promoting the diffusion of fake news, manipulated information and propaganda. So, what can it be do? Democratically, the only way that look possible is the generalized training of people through the regular education system, introducing new subjects in existing civic awareness or ethics classes. Of course, this is a long term and relative solution. Not all people who receive civic and moral instruction act responsibly. But, the beginning is waiting for.

References:

Castejon-Lara, Enrique. Fake News Conspiracy: Use of Information Anarchy of Social Media to Siege Press. Kindle Direct Publishing, 2019.

Pember, Don R. Mass Media in America. Macmillan Pub Co, 1991.

FACEBOOK PUSHES JOURNALISM BACK… AND FORWARD!

Enrique Castejón-Lara

Abstract:

Journalists have begun to realize that they not need longer use the deceptive "communicational" strategies of social media, based in “linking traps”. Facebook’s recent decision to push back the traditional journalistic media in its time line, has provoked a very important change in journalism behavior. Many news organizations are calling their reporters to resume their own traditional information techniques to avoid readers frustrations.

Facebook has compromised its own information channel value. When it set the news from traditional media —with no chronological alternation chances— behind users’ personal messages in their time line, maybe thought that such decision will be “popular” enough and will make people happier. However, that drastic change will limit audiences’ possibilities of obtaining a trusty and opportune news source when immersed in the habitual torrent of confusing information, rumors and fake facts.

In that sense, although Facebook has pushed journalism to the end of its “messages stream,” traditional news reporting is progressively capturing back a bigger interest of people for “professional information”.

So that, in this case Facebook’s decision is acting as a news catalyzer. People, confused by the awkward social media’s information flow, look traditional journalistic sites for clarifying stories.

On the other hand, Facebook also has helped journalism to realize that it really does not need the “social media’s tricks” to gain audiences. It only requires his traditional and trusty news diffusion tools.

Recently, the Inter American Press Association promoted a webinar named “Journalism beyond Facebook,” that was lectured[1] by Edgar Fonseca-Monge. Basically, Mr. Fonseca talked about the new limitations impose by that social medium against traditional journalistic sites, and how that “adverse situation” could represent for journalism a new opportunity to increase audience loyalty.

IAPA webinar established that, before Facebook’s decision, journalists only have to reinforce their traditional mechanisms and techniques to capture, with true stories, the interest of people.

In short, Facebook maybe has helped decisively journalism to go back to its original purpose, when it pushed news back in its message time line. Why? Now journalism is, again, forward!

References

Castejon-Lara, Enrique. Interpretative reporting. CreateSpace Independent Publishing (Amazon), 2015.

Fonseca, Edgar-Monge. Journalism beyond Facebook. Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), webinar February 2018.

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[1] February 1, 2018.

Journalism surviving

People Keep Needing Its Help

Printed Media Vanish, Journalism Survives

Enrique Castejón-Lara

Abstract

This article complements the ideas expressed by the author on his prior one, entitle “Journalism is going into the re-information age.”  This paper refers to the increasing closing of printed media that has make some communication experts expose their concerns about journalism’s future. It, indeed, is confronting serious difficulties to survive in the information paperless age. However, it has a very extend know-how that offers the key to understand the fast and complex changes of the contemporary world.

Digital revolution has been ruthless with printed media. One behind other is going out of printing shop because of increasing lack of audiences. Last month, on December —a traditional happy holyday season—, one of the most important Spanish daily, El Pais, gave the first step to go out of printed version. It announced that stopped down its own printing shop to print its paper edition, with a very lower circulation, in a different press rotary shared by several printed media.

No doubt, digital and social media have an increasing influence in nowadays audiences. People, according to recent years’ experience, prefer the fastest and dynamic emission of messages on line than the 24-hour and other static printed news issues. However, journalism has a historic know-how to interpret news meaning that they cannot throw away.

The news environment, anywhere in the world, is rapidly becoming more and more complex, and very hard to understand because of the intense flow of odd messages. Journalism has methods (Meyer, 2002; Castejon, 2015) that permit chose and evaluate the most relevant issues from all news sources. So that, it has the right techniques to verify them before writing solid-reliable news stories.

In a society that, with the pass of time, is more and more immersed in an almost incomprehensible storm of messages, people will need those clarifying abilities of journalism. So, the new circumstances generated by the digital revolution make us think that, indeed, media printed on paper could be definitely vanishing. Nevertheless, journalism, once again in history, will demonstrate that it has the resources to survive in that paperless news diffusion age.

References

Castejon-Lara, Enrique. Interpretative reporting. CreateSpace Independent Publishing (Amazon), 2015.

Meyer, Philip. Precision Journalism. Rowan & Littlefield publishers, 2002.

Digital journalism matted among social networks

Enrique Castejon Lara

August 2016

Abstract
For the first time in its history, modern journalism is in risk of altering its essence as a social system of reliable information for society, as a result of an excessive use of the social networks unusual practices to attract readers

Today, humanity will not be the same without journalism and its extraordinary ability to adapt itself constantly and rapidly, as everything in it, to new technologies. Perhaps the greatest lethargy in this trend was the adoption of the steam engine to "automate" the printing process, however it was not the only business to take time to do so. Many industries waited until mid-nineteenth century to take the big step into modernity. Instead, the Times of London, at the pinnacle of the Industrial Revolution (1814), made a misplay to their printing workers and, overnight, left them unemployed.

Before that episode, that many theoreticians considered the beginning of modern media and the "objective journalism", newspapers already used the "revolutionary" and unstable telegraph technology (1844) which, according to some authors, generated the famous and emblematic "lead" of the news structure based on the "inverted pyramid". Reporters, then, had to transmit first a very short story summary to ensure that their media receive the essential information in case that the telegraphic communication failed.

Since then, the media has not stopped "greedily absorb" technologies: Telephone, radio, television, satellites, teletype, radiophoto, fax, phone and, of course, Internet and all the resources and tools associated with this innovative and versatile platform, including web sites and fast social networks.

It is precisely the latter one that led to this reflection. Social networks have meaning for the current journalism, at the same time, a blessing and a curse. They have accelerated and multiplied to the nth degree the chances of detecting newsworthy issues. However, they have also increased report manipulation problems, rumors and misinformation.

It is not the purpose of this paper deal, much less criticize, the so-called "citizen journalism" or "Journalism 2.0", but emphasize how important it is that academic organizations promote reflections about it. The central point of this article is to discuss the negative impact that social networks are generating on the journalistic information purpose, not only from the point of writing view (grammatical and semantic), but mainly from the most important perspectives: valuation of news issues and ethics.

The "new" news hierarchy

On behalf of the "temptation" of "hit-link" (equivalent to sensationalism in journalism), the "experts" in social networks —but not in mass communication— repeatedly appeal to the "art" of mystery or "intrigue", generating false news expectations among potential readers. Reiterated "cheating" ultimately leads to media credibility loss. That has been lived, almost on par, by advertisers and public relation people. There is a folk saying that states that man is the only animal that stumbles more than once with the same stone, but one day he realizes it and reacts firmly. Many products, in marketing history, were exceptional witnesses of that reality. The problem is that they no longer exist!
Serious journalism cannot fall into this "news" aberration. It cannot cheat with indefinitely impunity to its audience; much less get rid of professional valuation criteria to "adapt" itself to the "flexibility" and "informality" of the social networks. This affirmation is not to condemn social networks use in journalism, but to distinguish the two realities and properly combine them.

Generally we receive messages through social networks with expressions like "see", "learn", "amaze with what this personage said..." but no further details are given, and so that some people select the link provided finding after that totally baffled. Sometimes, for example, the “news” protagonist is not known by who visited the Web page or simply that person is not relevant for the local audience. 

Moreover, from a journalistic point of view it is highly worrying that the "reader" that was “taken” to a news Web page found that the headline of the "information" promoted by the "tweet" is exactly the same text that took him there, and not the most important news fact.

Journalism is based on a set of principles, values and techniques that are the product of many years of reflection and theoretical and practical improvement, as well as various processes of adaptation to new technologies and, above all, to the needs and demands of audiences.

Some of these techniques are the "inverted pyramid" and the 5WH formula. It is precisely the latter which should give the "strategists" of Twitter in journalism the "clues" to promote "visits" to their Web sites. That formula refers to six fundamental information elements of the news story that can be "managed" strategically. The Twitter promoter can use two or three of them in the message on the social network, leaving the rest to be exposed in formally structured news in the digital medium.

In short, social networks should be and actually are supplementary resources for journalism. That means they support media adapting themselves to journalism characteristics and not the reverse, as it is unfortunately happening.

Journalistic style and semantics 

Another of the serious problems that journalistic digital media are facing is the fast deterioration of language. The writing style in this field is characterized by linguistic accuracy, simplicity, clarity and briefness. The only one of all of these requirements that is met in social networks is the last one, basically by the maximum of 140 characters message imposed, for instance, by Twitter platform. However, the most affected feature is the "accuracy," mainly due to the misuse of language as a consequence of hiring very young and inexpert people that work producing messages without experienced editors guidance or supervising.

Journalism, regardless media used, has characteristics and specific purposes that are becoming rapidly degraded while it allows that communication "strategies" of social networks rules its own news and ethical criteria. Therefore, it is important that it recovers as soon as possible its communicational preponderance to avoid itself dangerously entangled in a web of incoherent swirl messages.