{"495041":{"#nid":"495041","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Social Media Claims a Place in News Reporting","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA photo of singer Mariah Carey on a beach begins to trend on social media. Is this news because someone tweeted it? Or does it become news only after a journalist reports on it?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m not sure anyone in the world actually knows the answer to this question definitively,\u201d said Eric Gilbert, assistant professor in the School of Interactive Computing. \u201cThere are just so many things going on. There are reporters that source from Twitter. There are reporters that think journalism is much higher brow than whatever Twitter is going to pay attention to. It\u2019s a little messy at the moment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMessy indeed. As the definition of news evolves, celebrity news trending on social media now sits next to a story on the latest presidential debate. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s funny to watch,\u201d said Amy Bruckman, professor and associate school chair in the School of Interactive Computing. \u201cThe fact that someone\u2019s video went viral is somehow news? That\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s fascinating.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBruckman went on to add that if a large number of people are interested in a particular topic, then that topic is relevant.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat\u2019s trending is one way to gain some insight into what people are interested in and what is resonating with people culturally. It\u2019s an empirical measure of what people are interested in,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETrending topics also give journalists a new source of data regarding what people are following.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJournalists can both follow that as a lead, and also reverse it and say, \u2018I think people should be more interested in this topic, and I\u2019m going to try and get some traction for it.\u2019 It\u2019s not one or the other. They can do both,\u201d Bruckman said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESocial media also is changing the way journalists cover stories.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJournalists are finding out information perhaps a bit later than the public,\u201d said Irfan Essa, professor in the School of Interactive Computing, associate dean in the College of Computing, and adjunct professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. \u201cFor example, if there\u2019s a fire in the neighborhood, sometimes, before the emergency services department finds out, the local neighborhood folks are putting pictures on Twitter. It\u2019s to the extent that now, not just news reporters but even emergency services are learning that instead of waiting for a 9-1-1 call, they need to start looking at social media for emergency needs.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENews or information \u2014 especially breaking news \u2014 is being shared more often through social media instead of through authoritative sources, Essa said. He noted that several of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have been live blogged and\/or tweeted even as the news media was waiting for the decision.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEveryone is trying to be first to get out there,\u201d Essa said. \u201cThe news organizations have realized \u2014 or have not realized \u2014 that they are not always first, and they\u2019re struggling to be first. Reporters cannot be everywhere, but citizens are everywhere.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEssa also said that part of this conversation is that anyone who takes a picture and reports it is a citizen journalist. In essence, they are eyewitnesses with more direct access to a larger viewership. He refers to them as eyewitnesses because they are recording or photographing events as they see them, without contextualizing the events. They are not adding a layer of what\u2019s relevant to it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI believe they are serving a much bigger need by giving us eyes where there are none,\u201d Essa said. \u201cThis has created a beast with a billion eyes. We can see things everywhere.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESignificant Changes in Journalism\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe term \u2018computational journalism\u2019 was created at Georgia Tech in 2008. It explores how computation technology has changed how news is gathered, verified, and distributed. Now, some journalism schools offer courses in computational journalism, and they are hiring people with computer science backgrounds to help with this.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHow we get information and how we make decisions has changed,\u201d Essa said. \u201cConsumers are much closer to the news. They are really quick to comment, up-vote, or down-vote things. If they really like something, they will share it with others. The most emailed news items are the biggest currency that news media have. Social media has created a virtual version of the water cooler.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis brings us back to the original question: in the era of social media, what is news?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNews was being aware of the environment around me,\u201d Essa said. \u201cWhat remains is my interest in knowing what\u2019s happening around me.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHe said there is a general belief that the younger generation follows social media more than traditional media, and they don\u2019t want to know what is happening in the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFrom the little evidence I have, that is not entirely true,\u201d Essa noted. \u201cThey are just using different sources to get the information they\u2019re interested in. With the election happening, if you go to the younger generation, their awareness is pretty good.\u201d He said that as the father of two teenage boys, he\u2019s always impressed when they know exactly what\u2019s happening around them, and their source is Reddit as opposed to more traditional media like \u003Cem\u003EThe New York Times\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHow does social media affect news reporting? Is celebrity gossip considered news because someone tweeted it? Or does it only become news after a journalist reports on it?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"How does social media affect news reporting? Is celebrity gossip considered news because someone tweeted it? Or does it only become news after a journalist reports on it?"}],"uid":"27713","created_gmt":"2016-02-03 17:38:03","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:35","author":"Victor Rogers","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-02-03T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"495101":{"id":"495101","type":"image","title":"Social Media and the News","body":null,"created":"1454612400","gmt_created":"2016-02-04 19:00:00","changed":"1475895253","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:13","alt":"Social Media and the News","file":{"fid":"204563","name":"istock_000049956750_small.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock_000049956750_small_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/istock_000049956750_small_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":272897,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/istock_000049956750_small_0.jpg?itok=z7Sj9RQR"}}},"media_ids":["495101"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/twitter.com\/georgiatech","title":"Georgia Tech on Twitter"},{"url":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/georgiatech","title":"Georgia Tech on Facebook"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"8472","name":"amy bruckman"},{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"13342","name":"Eric Gilbert"},{"id":"15155","name":"Irfan Essa"},{"id":"166848","name":"School of Interactive Computing"},{"id":"167543","name":"social media"},{"id":"171632","name":"what is news"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EVictor Rogers\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-894-6398\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["victor.rogers@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}