When social media goes too far in dictating the news

"News Platform Fact Sheet." Pew Research Center. Washington, DC. 20 September 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/news-platform-fact-sheet/

The state of journalism today is a confusing one, and it’s one I sometimes struggle to agree with and align myself with. Journalism is a business and, at the end of the day, people need to read stories for companies to make money. I get that, but I begin to take issue when the “clickability” of a story is considered over its importance.

In “Mobile and Social Media Journalism: A Practical Guide” author Anthony Adornato presents case studies of how newsrooms have shifted their operations to present a more digital focus. The example that stood out most to me was that of the New York Times, in which Dean Baquet is quoted saying that the NYT chooses content based on what gets “the very best play on all our digital platforms.” This is where I see journalism using social media and the internet to its own detriment. The New York Times, one of the top news outlets in the country, should not be focusing on clickbait over publishing critical content and I see that happening more and more. I follow outlets like the NYT and Washington Post and pay attention to their content, particularly on Instagram. Recently, I have seen far more fluffy, fun, human-interest stories and pop-culture pieces than hard news on my Instagram feed. Partially, I am sure this is because of the Instagram algorithm and the way it mixes with the news profiles. However, there have been days when I know major important events have happened and the New York Times is posting about fashion week parties, or WaPo dedicates a spot on their feed for the story of a single adventurer in danger over massive global humanitarian crises where millions of peoples lives are at risk. I am not saying the life of one person is not important, but it makes me question how committed these companies are to telling real news. This issue brings to mind Noam Chomsky and Matt Taibi’s warnings about news outlets remaining within very strict lanes rather than stepping out of the box to tell important stories. It also makes me question the apps’ roles in all of this; if Meta, TikTok and X’s policies make it such that important stories and discussions are shadowbanned, is it time to switch to a different way of disseminating news? Is there a point in which we must move past social media? Inevitably I’m sure there will be, but what this is and when remains to be seen.

The way that I see it, with all of the vast resources and power that organizations like the NYT, WaPo, NPR, etc. have, they should be dedicating their time and energy to making the most important stories engaging on social media, not making the most social-media friendly stories their top features.