UWL lecture notes

Citizen Journalism: Social media in the newsroom 

1. The 7/7 attacks in London - Adam Stacey was on one of the underground trains, used mobile technology. This is an example of citizen journalism that constitutes as hard news
2. Various articles at the time referred to this as "the rise of the camera phone"
3. The death of Neda Aghan-Soltan -  Death was captured by mobile phone footage by bystanders, then broadcasted on the internet
4. Black Lives Matter (In particular Ferguson riots), led to social and political change, awareness.
5. Paris Attacks 2015 (Bataclan). Citizen journalism affected mainstream media coverage as most footage was obtained through citizen journalism, not media outlets. Social media also been used by civilians during acts of terrors such as Facebook safety checks and users on Twitter offering shelter

1. There is an argument whether social media is revolutionary enough
2. Key moment: 2011 Arab uprising 
3. It was the key to symbiosis between mainstream media and social media. Social media was instrumental to socio-political struggle and to covering these uprisings

1.  Gadaffis death was documented on social media
2. Citizen journalism showed Gaddafi being captured and being beaten death by Libyan rebels
3. This links to ethic debate. Ethical issues are present when it comes to airing graphic content, such as the death of Aylan Kurdi, some showed his face some didnt
4. Debate whether younger generation are more desensitised than others

Ethical considerations that need to be made 

1. Invasion of privacy
2. Airing graphic images which often go against public broadcasting
3. Dehumanising
4. Potential of spreading dangerous images (ISIS propaganda)

Problems with citizen journalism

1. Not always authenticated footage
2. Getting the story first rather than getting it right 
3. Alternative agendas, biased images (Activists, oppositions etc.)

Digital media in the news room 

1. Facebook and Buzzfeed investing in digital video content
2. Breaking news on social media E.g. Hudson river crash, it was first tweeted
3. Twitter hashtags make it easier to keep up with breaking news
4. United Airlines, first on social media then news. Citizen journalism can lead to PR disasters
5. Social media is useful for media outlets to find out what people think
6. Algorithims - we only see stories similar to what we usually choose to read, leads to a filter bubble/echo chamber
7. 80% of what circulated was pro-brexit such as the sun,broadcasting hid this, more impartial and showed both sides. In print there was a more prominent split between pro and anti brexit
8. 2015 - first year people globally spent more time online than watching Tv

Facebook: 1 billion active users per day

Youtube: 1 billion active users per day

Twitter: 350 million active users per day

1. Vertical video - creating content for mobile phones E,g, snapchat, hard news stories
2. BBC Media action campaign
3. Facebook live - reaching bigger audience

Fake news = Made up or someones interpretation

1. Lead to mistrust of the media
2. Social media has been a way to share what is going on but has led to problems with fake news + own agendas
3. Terrorists - Has to have political agenda. Tube planned bombs, had no political agenda so did not refer to as terrorist
4. Institutionalized racism? 3 Muslims killed in a parking lot by white supermacist should have been labelled as terrorism