Social Media Can’t be Avoided Any Longer

I really enjoyed the video of the Meredith Artley interview. When I first clicked on the video and saw how long it was I assumed that it would be redundant and drawn out. However, I felt that everything she had to say was valuable.

I had a little bit of a girl power moment while I was watching the video. I loved the way Artley carried herself throughout the video. It was obvious that she was well informed on how journalism has changed over time and what it is today. I also liked how she politely corrected Josh Kranzberg when he spoke about CNN’s analytical data and competition. She stated the data that she had and informed him that Fox was not one of CNN’s top competitors.

Often times it is easy for a journalist to manipulate the way a question may be answered by framing it a certain way. She could have chosen to simply respond to the date that Kranzberg gave her. However, she defended CNN and her competitors. This shows that she is passionate about her work and she follows ethical principles.

I also thought that Kranzberg was a little biased when he asked Artley if CNN even took BuzzFeed seriously. He even said that they mostly showed cat videos. Artley again defended her competitors by saying that BuzzFeed is a credible news source and is serious competition. It isn’t very often that people, even professionals, are not bashing each other in the media to make themselves look better. That is mostly what has been going on during this year’s presidential campaign. Instead Artley chose to focus on what CNN has that other news sources do not. I aspire to be this kind of journalist. One who knows her stuff but is also humble.

How social media has changed journalism has been a major topic of discussion recently. I have been discussing social media in all of my classes and I didn’t realize it until now.  This was the major topic of the interview. Social media has opened a whole new platform for news and journalists are taking advantage of it. Artley discusses how CNN frames their stories differently for social media.

I began to think about the things I do in my everyday life. I use social media just about every day. Even if I don’t post anything I make check it to read up on the latest news. It makes sense for news sources to be present on social media. News spreads much more quickly on social media. It is much easier and faster to check. It is also much easier to find people who share your same ideas on social media. Readers are able to directly contact news companies and give them feedback.

I think that feedback is the most important part of social media. Because journalists have a duty to inform the public, they should be aware of how the public feels about what they are publishing. Social media allows journalists to collect this information very quickly. This connection between journalists and readers is great. It makes the audience feel closer to the news.  I feel as if I am apart of global news when I can leave a comment on a news source’s social media post.