Social Media makes Journalists job easier but replacing them is a NO NO.

 

http://goo.gl/o6qv7l

Social Media is huge now and it is highly controlled by Technology which we constantly have in our hands (smart phones, tablets and laptops) in order to access the information. The information could never be highly reliable because it is controlled by mankind, I mean we have all received Tweets and Facebook messages about a certain celebrity being dead right! If you haven’t it will happen at some point believe me. But journalists always get the facts right before publishing a story, they investigate and get the facts straight. I am not saying that journalists do not make mistakes, they do but they give the right facts and apologize for their mistakes. We still need the traditional way of news, like listening to the radio in the morning while driving to work or reading a newspaper on a Sunday afternoon. Journalists are suitable for that and has always been. We still need Journalists to feed social media, Journalist are equipped with the skill to research and write good articles. Think about it technology has replaced a lot of manual work done by man for quality and effectiveness but it cannot replace paperwork.

As a public Relations Student I feel we still need Journalist who will write a good article about the good work we do or about the success of our good organizations, OK OK! I know it’s not always good work but we still need Journalists According to 2014 study on social media http://goo.gl/h1MZE  Social media is more crowd checking and less fact checking. I will not argue that social Media has democratized the media but we still need a well written article.

In a way Social Media makes the Journalist’s job easier but replacing!! NO NO NO. It’s no longer about being stuck in a stuffy office and layouts being done with typesetters or rushing to the office to hand in a recording of an interview or even to type out your story on the office computer, a Journalist can send their story to the Editor from anywhere in the world or even publish it on the Online Newspaper. Journalists can use Social Media to interact with readers about an article they wrote and readers can ask questions and make comments.

So to all Journalists out there or if you are a student planning to study journalism or you are a Public Relations Student who loves a well written article like me or just an ordinary person who loves traditional media. We cannot be replaced by social media. Ok you must be tired with the ‘or’ by now, just bear with me a few more minutes I am almost done. Journalists need to work in any platform. And they must not forget their basic journalistic principles and let the sensationalism of social media sweep them away. And we need to groom journalists for the digital age there is an article on M&G about that http://goo.gl/zeQLEV.

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