The Tuscaloosa News is crediting tweeting with helping it win a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News.
The Alabama newspaper published stories about the April 27, 2011 tornado that ripped through Tuscaloosa and other parts of the state. More than 50 people were killed in the devastating storm that knocked out electricity, and cable and phone lines. Reporters and citizens tweeted about the storm from across the city, which helped in the reporting of the disaster.
Apparently this is the way award-winning journalists are supplementing their reporting. Last year The Seattle Times won the Breaking News Pulitzer Prize in part by using Twitter when covering the deaths of four police officers.
What about accuracy?
What about credibility of sources?
What's the best way to use social media when reporting the news?
Winning a Pulitzer is one of the highest honors in the field of journalism. Over the years it has had to evolve and add new categories because of the Internet and multimedia journalism.
ReplyDeleteWhen dealing with breaking news, being the first to post the news on Twitter or Facebook determines who breaks the story first. It only makes sense that utilizing social media was taken into heavy consideration for the Breaking News category in the Pulitzer prizes.
The Internet has made it possible for anyone to spread their ideas and be heard, whereas before it was only the news or individuals that could afford printing pamphlets that could spread information to the public. Journalists spend at least four years in college being trained to write the news, yet some people decide to trust bloggers without the proper training more than the news. Anyone can be heard and believed on the Internet.
Social media has a long list of pros and cons, but credibility is likely one of the biggest issues. The 2012 Breaking News winner, The Tuscaloosa News in Tuscaloosa, Ala., reported on a tornado that created mass devastation and used Twitter to supplement the print story as a live feed. In the midst of that disaster, other users in the area may have tweeted false information and may have caused more of a panic, but a tweet from the New York Times would likely be more trusted than from grannylover7.
The news should not rely on Twitter as its medium for breaking news. There should also be a story to give the reader more information about the issue rather than a 140-character tweet.
Tweeting does seem to be the new way of the times. It was good that people were using that medium when all other lines of communications were down when the tornado struck.
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago we had a tornado in our area. Tweeter wasn’t being used in our area at the time but would have been great for communications. Our business was destroyed and I had a cell phone call that it had happened and tried to go to the property. The police had the road blocked and we had to park and walk in. The trees and electric lines were laid down on the road and we had to park down from our business and they let us walk. If people in our area had been using Tweeter we might have known the road was blocked before we got there.
Tweeting seems to be an instant line to communication and helped the newspaper reporters win the Pulitzer Prize for their dedicated work. Congratulations to them on their hard work. Going out and updating in a disaster is dangerous but they got the job done.
Being a survivor of two tornadoes in 2008 I can see the need to use Tweeter as a line of communication in a disaster such as the tornado victims in Alabama.
Janice Morgan
In the midst of disaster that causes down phone lines and limits a newsroom to just a few resources, social media outlets can provide some great information.
ReplyDeleteFor the staff of the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News, Twitter supplied some beneficial information as well as allowing reporters to supply information on behalf of the paper.
On April 27, 2011, tornadoes caused quite a bit of destruction across several parts of Alabama, and specifically the city of Tuscaloosa. The storms killed 50 people and injured several others, as well as knocking out many telephone lines and clogging up cell phone towers — forcing communication to take place through other media. The News’ staff of reporters put out some of the very first reports, even before emergency responders could arrive. Journalists were all over the city providing the Twitter community with live, minute-by-minute updates on storm damage.
Although social media networks offer a lot of advantages, especially in cases like above, there are several drawbacks for using them as official news sources. Credibility is a major part of their use — anyone can use these media, so any information can be released. For credibility to stand out, official information, reports and releases must be able to be identified by readers.
Social media have quickly become a viable and reliable source of information in our fast-paced and socially connected culture.
Robert Holt
The ever evolving ways in which journalists help to spread information certainly needs to be considered when nominating journalists for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Social media has become the new way for breaking news and information to be distributed to the public through mediums such as Twitter and Facebook. In the instance where the journalists from Tuscaloosa, Ala. received the Pulitzer Prize for tweeting breaking news on the devastating tornado that destroyed homes and ripped through Tuscaloosa last April, I believe that Twitter is a great asset to have. Without the ability to tweet pictures and updates about the tornado, many people would never have received information about injuries, deaths or where the tornado was heading next. The tweets helped in reporting the disaster to the people of Tuscaloosa. The accuracy of the information does need to be checked, as with any news reporting, but a majority of people will try to tweet correct information, especially in regards to a disaster. There were not just journalists and reporters tweeting about the tornado, many citizens who saw the tornado also tweeted about it. True, not all of the information from citizens will be accurate, but I believe a majority of the information can be considered credible.
ReplyDeleteCaleb Hennington
The Tuscaloosa News recently gave credit to tweeting for winning the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News.
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought that social media would be making such a huge impact in the world of journalism?
When the tornado hit Alabama, The News had to run on generators and the only means of communicating the facts was by Twitter.
The reporters and citizens used the social networking site to convey the facts including where the tornado was, how many people were injured or killed and what areas had been destroyed.
Some people may think that using social media to convey news is inaccurate or not a credible way to report, but considering the circumstances, it seems entirely justified.
Keeping with the times is important for any profession and journalism is clearly keeping up by using social media to supplement their traditional reporting.
I think it is very interesting that social networks, primarily twitter, are being used to help reporters obtain information. I think that this can be a good thing and also a bad thing. There are so many people that use twitter and it’s always hard to say what is information is credible and what isn’t. I think this is obviously the main thing wrong with reporters using social media. However, reporters can use good judgment and common sense to determine what information is legitimate and what information is not. If there are a lot of tweets saying the same thing, it could possibly be worth something worth looking into and investigating further. After further investigation, reporters can determine whether or not to report on the issue. Social media is also usually pretty recent and it also gives reporters people’s different views and perspectives on issues. Using social media can be an extremely efficient way to gather information, but the information could also be inaccurate if not properly analyzed and utilized.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, social media can be best used to hear people’s voice about an event reporting. Sometimes public opinion shapes the trends of the news content. Social media can be a very important tool to spread the news to different places around the world quickly. People nowadays use social media more often than traditional media like newspapers, especially for young people.
ReplyDeletePulitzer is the most honored prize in the field of journalism. It chooses to use Twitter to report the news shows that Twitter is a persuasive social media network and has a strong impact among the society.
About accuracy and credibility of sources, social media always played a significant part. Any people can talk about something through social media such as Twitter and Facebook. If some news is posted by some ordinary citizen, we doubt the truthfulness. However, if the news is reported by authorities, we believe them most of the time.
Like each coin has two sides, because of anyone can share events anywhere by anyway, I think the most obvious advantages of using social media to report are spreading information as soon as possible and as widest as possible. We have already gotten proof from the devastating storm happened in Tuscaloosa.
ReplyDeleteIn another point, we have serious standards for any kinds of traditional media, but now, just because of anyone can post anywhere by anyway, and different people have different opinions, attitudes and express methods for every single event, we have to facing a problem ---- the credibility of information people spread on social media.
That’s why quite a few research conduct that when asking people which media you trust, most of them will say they will believe traditional media like TV, radio, and newspaper.
For me, the best way to use social media when report the news is, use information from social media as a source of news tip to lead news reporters to find news then report them in traditional media. They can also set their official social media account to keep the information they share on social media is accurate and update it frequently. I think social media and traditional can complement each other well.
I personally think that The Tuscaloosa News crediting tweeting as part of how they were able to win a Pulitzer in Breaking News speaks volumes about where we're heading with the social media revolution. People are constantly updating their Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal, and other social media sites with what they're doing or thinking at that exact moment. As far as accuracy goes, I think social media when used correctly is incredibly accurate. Twitter is one that is especially accurate because you only have so many characters to say what you want to say. And for some reason it seems that people really want everyone to know what their thinking/feeling/seeing and have no reason to make stuff up; 140 characters doesn't really allow for it. Credibility of sources could be called to issue but usually the person who is tweeting it is the one who said it and if not then it's a retweet. And if someone posts something unoriginal, they're usually called out on it. I think the best way to use social media when reporting the news is starting with a tweet or a status update and going from there. Finding that person, interviewing them, find out about the situation and write a story. Social media is as ever changing as the news, so I think social media and reporting are a perfect match.
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