Author Spotlight
Since the rise of online media, it’s undeniable that print journalism has been on the decline. From 1970 to 2016, the nation lost over 460 print papers, according to the Pew Research Center. Between the Internet, social media and efforts to reduce the global carbon footprint, print newspapers are becoming a rarity largely outnumbered by online news outlets and primetime coverage.
While there are advantages to the way information is spread in our modern age, online news outlets have been using promotion tactics that misconstrue reality in order to get clicks, retweets and forwards. These methods of promotion — clickbait, sensationalization and vague summaries of complex stories — cause the spread of false information. Whether it’s a story about Elizabeth Warren’s healthcare plan or James Charles’ latest YouTube drama, the inadequate, quick-and-dirty communication needs to stop.
Miscommunication thrives in our society. Like a game of telephone played by kids at a Saturday-night sleepover, people will share details of stories over their social media until the thread of information has become so twisted, the focus completely strays from the original story. Luckily for 6-and-7-year-olds, misunderstanding what your friend whispers into your ear and passing it on doesn’t have any negative long-term effects.
But when national news stories are manipulated through the modern chain of command — retweets, reposts and reblogs — the impact can be more severe. Crucial details and vital background information being omitted can lead to misinterpretation of complex narratives and even character defamation.
A prime example of social media promotion insufficiently informing the public is the BuzzFeed News Instagram account. Their trademark posts of textbox and eye-catching image combos have taken over our DMs and can be seen reposted on the stories of everyone from “woke” activists to celebrity drama fanatics.
Whether it be the recent arrest of “Supernatural” star Jared Padalecki or Kanye West’s conversion to Christianity, BuzzFeed reduces journalism to bite-sized, easy to digest posts. The objective is to give a quick look into what the website’s articles contain. But with the allure of the TikTok your friend just texted you or anxiety over a looming APUSH test, the reality is that most people stop digging further into stories after a brief summary. Other news Instagram accounts, like Huffpost, follow a similar model of laying pull-quotes or summaries over images in an attempt to quickly recap larger stories to readers.
This method of advertising — while beneficial to the outlets and their efforts to make a profit — fails to connect readers to the full story. For example, a recent BuzzFeed News Instagram post that reports 16 people being sentenced to death for the murder of a sexual harassment reporter is written to draw peoples’ attention, but insufficient information leaves the audience with questions. What country was this in? What was the motive? Why were there so many people involved?
When news sites omit the fine-line details of a story, viewers reading the summaries are left to either disregard the news completely, or fill in the blanks with whatever background information suits their ideologies best.
In a world where “fake news” and “alternative facts” have made their way into our daily intake of media, journalism should be the bridge that brings opposing parties together through the legitimacy of facts — not furthering the divide through a lack of concrete reporting.
With the mass amount of online content available for people to spend their time consuming, news sites have to get their point across in the quickest way possible in order to maintain audiences. People’s short attention spans are being bolstered by news sites that publish headline news as opposed to in-depth coverage of intricate issues.
Due to the quick pace of content on the app, outlets such as DailyMail and NowThis use this tactic frequently on Snapchat. Most of their posts use various methods of clickbait such as sensational headlines and red circles over pictures of Kylie Jenner to draw the viewer’s eye to an over-dramatized story. These sites show the effect of prioritizing quantity over quality in journalism — most would barely even consider these outlets “journalism.”
In our country’s current climate — both political, literal and other — news outlets cannot afford to bend on their principles: to always deliver the truth, no matter the occasion. Instead of prioritizing profit over principle and ad clicks over accuracy, news sites need to uphold their promise to the public by writing and advertising news that puts the needs of the readers first.
Young people are especially affected by the implications of quick coverage, especially given that teens make up a large portion of social media’s user base. Some of us are getting ready to vote in 2020. Some of us are passionate about climate change. Some of us just want to know how our favorite celebrity is doing after their breakup. As we seek to inform ourselves about the world around us, news outlets need to uphold the principles of journalism to deliver us the full truths we deserve.
No matter the situation, news sites need to use social media to advertise in a way that connects audiences to the full coverage journalists work so hard to craft. But until then, when you’re looking to inform yourself, it is vital to search beyond the headlines.
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