Social media and the changing role of journalists
In the point of view of journalists, social media has made their work easier, but otherwise, it has been removed the glory from the reporter's work. In old good times, reporters must move themselves to the place, where something has happened, and wait for the press conference. And after that, they spent their night at the hotel.
This is the thing, what made the work of the reporter so interesting. Today the reporter must just open Twitter, and then that person sees, what some leaders have to tell people, and this is the thing, what makes journalism of today different. Also, normal people can see themselves, what some president has to say, and this is bad for newspapers.
The thing is that in the past the journalists were filtered the information, what was sent to people, and the thing is that the news agencies like Reuters and Tass were in the key role of the business of information sharing. If some journalist made people in the news agencies angry, that could mean that there were no call to press conferences. And this was an excuse for the censorship.
The thing was that both sides must be heard in every case, and if something made somebody angry, that meant that the neutrality of the information was disturbing. Modern social media has brought in front of the people another reality, and that is that many people read things, what they want to read. This is a selective way to use sources. We all make this thing and leave the things, what are supporting our own interest or opinion without notice. But when we are looking at people like journalists, we must remember that they are humans too.
Some propagandists are not governmental
There is no way to be the absolute neutral while we are writing something or handling data. If we would have political or some other attitudes for some case, we would automatically see things, as we want to see them. And this is the thing, what we must realize. If we are thinking about the political attitudes of the reporters, we must realize, that they also have political and cultural emotions. This means that also so-called professional journalists would have written stories, what is more, or less against the things, what really happened.
Here I must say that the press is a good tool for lobbying things. When we are thinking about the cases, where some reporter has faced the attempts to influence the things, what that inmate has been written, we can remember the cases, where the MC-clubs like Hell's Angels have offered the meal for the reporters, that they would give nicely image to those persons, who are driving with motorbikes with the logo of the club on the back of the vests. That kind of things was really good advertisements for those clubs, and the reporters have faced many times another kind of attempts to influence the information, what they are sharing.
One version is the expensive car, what some "firms" are offered the reporter for the working tool. The car has always been marked that it has been used some director, and the kilometers would be marked after the use. Another version is the free parking permission in the expensive parking houses. Or sometimes some actors of the cases has been offered a good five-star hotel for free, which means that the hotel room has been paid by some company, what is asking some permissions, and sometimes the texts, what the journalists have published have come straight from the public affairs section of the company. In those cases, the reporters have been highlighted the benefits of some action.
And of course, in the war, the propaganda is the very usual tool. When we are thinking about propaganda, one mark of it is that the things, what are published are supporting another side, and another side has only bad things. This is one very good point of view of the information.
Let's think one thing. We are the journalists who are operating in the middle of the crisis. And then the government official brings us to the place, where have been happened the war crime. Then that person would give the governmental and official information about that thing, what might be something like killing children. Would we dare to write anything else to our boss, if we are surrounded by the local militia, what is telling the stories about the war crimes?
And what if that information would be given in the press conference, and the information officer would say, that he has taken us to the place, what is not true. But the men with assault rifles in that room would be real. Then we would write something, and the government official wants to check that information, what we are sending. Then we would go to our motherland, and tell that story to our boss or editor, who tells that the sell of the newspaper has risen.
Disinformation is not a new thing.
Would that person write to the newspaper, that the situation, where the information was given, was somehow different than the reporter claims? Or would the reporter dare to tell the editor that thing? This is a very good point when we are analyzing the disinformation, and another name of the disinformation is propaganda. When we are looking at the information, what is shared in the press conferences, we must remember that the information, what is shared must be accepted by the keepers of the conference.
And especially in the case of the crisis, the press conferences share only the information, what is serving another side. And that's why we should take the purpose of all of the so-called press conferences more or less propagandist. We should know that all shared data of those press conferences are "cleaned". That means that they share only information, which supports their own benefit.
When we are thinking about social media, we are facing the situation, that the shared data is very one-sided. And the thing what makes this data more one-sided than before is that we are choosing people, who have similar opinions with us to our social media network. This makes social media really good tool for propaganda and other ways there is a massive number of non-relevant information, what means information, what has nothing to do with the thing, what we are looking for. And this is the reason, why we must have to use critics when we are looking for information from the Internet.
This is the thing, what made the work of the reporter so interesting. Today the reporter must just open Twitter, and then that person sees, what some leaders have to tell people, and this is the thing, what makes journalism of today different. Also, normal people can see themselves, what some president has to say, and this is bad for newspapers.
The thing is that in the past the journalists were filtered the information, what was sent to people, and the thing is that the news agencies like Reuters and Tass were in the key role of the business of information sharing. If some journalist made people in the news agencies angry, that could mean that there were no call to press conferences. And this was an excuse for the censorship.
The thing was that both sides must be heard in every case, and if something made somebody angry, that meant that the neutrality of the information was disturbing. Modern social media has brought in front of the people another reality, and that is that many people read things, what they want to read. This is a selective way to use sources. We all make this thing and leave the things, what are supporting our own interest or opinion without notice. But when we are looking at people like journalists, we must remember that they are humans too.
Some propagandists are not governmental
There is no way to be the absolute neutral while we are writing something or handling data. If we would have political or some other attitudes for some case, we would automatically see things, as we want to see them. And this is the thing, what we must realize. If we are thinking about the political attitudes of the reporters, we must realize, that they also have political and cultural emotions. This means that also so-called professional journalists would have written stories, what is more, or less against the things, what really happened.
Here I must say that the press is a good tool for lobbying things. When we are thinking about the cases, where some reporter has faced the attempts to influence the things, what that inmate has been written, we can remember the cases, where the MC-clubs like Hell's Angels have offered the meal for the reporters, that they would give nicely image to those persons, who are driving with motorbikes with the logo of the club on the back of the vests. That kind of things was really good advertisements for those clubs, and the reporters have faced many times another kind of attempts to influence the information, what they are sharing.
One version is the expensive car, what some "firms" are offered the reporter for the working tool. The car has always been marked that it has been used some director, and the kilometers would be marked after the use. Another version is the free parking permission in the expensive parking houses. Or sometimes some actors of the cases has been offered a good five-star hotel for free, which means that the hotel room has been paid by some company, what is asking some permissions, and sometimes the texts, what the journalists have published have come straight from the public affairs section of the company. In those cases, the reporters have been highlighted the benefits of some action.
And of course, in the war, the propaganda is the very usual tool. When we are thinking about propaganda, one mark of it is that the things, what are published are supporting another side, and another side has only bad things. This is one very good point of view of the information.
Let's think one thing. We are the journalists who are operating in the middle of the crisis. And then the government official brings us to the place, where have been happened the war crime. Then that person would give the governmental and official information about that thing, what might be something like killing children. Would we dare to write anything else to our boss, if we are surrounded by the local militia, what is telling the stories about the war crimes?
And what if that information would be given in the press conference, and the information officer would say, that he has taken us to the place, what is not true. But the men with assault rifles in that room would be real. Then we would write something, and the government official wants to check that information, what we are sending. Then we would go to our motherland, and tell that story to our boss or editor, who tells that the sell of the newspaper has risen.
Disinformation is not a new thing.
Would that person write to the newspaper, that the situation, where the information was given, was somehow different than the reporter claims? Or would the reporter dare to tell the editor that thing? This is a very good point when we are analyzing the disinformation, and another name of the disinformation is propaganda. When we are looking at the information, what is shared in the press conferences, we must remember that the information, what is shared must be accepted by the keepers of the conference.
And especially in the case of the crisis, the press conferences share only the information, what is serving another side. And that's why we should take the purpose of all of the so-called press conferences more or less propagandist. We should know that all shared data of those press conferences are "cleaned". That means that they share only information, which supports their own benefit.
When we are thinking about social media, we are facing the situation, that the shared data is very one-sided. And the thing what makes this data more one-sided than before is that we are choosing people, who have similar opinions with us to our social media network. This makes social media really good tool for propaganda and other ways there is a massive number of non-relevant information, what means information, what has nothing to do with the thing, what we are looking for. And this is the reason, why we must have to use critics when we are looking for information from the Internet.
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