The Crisis of New Media Reporting.

In recent years  there has been a move from print based journalism to digital journalism causing may characteristics of the art of  journalism to change. As in many other technological advancements there is always a loss, in this case it seems as though we are fundamentally replacing traditional aspects such as, seeking the truth, reporting that truth by way of verification and diligence. Not to forget the ethical and aesthetic responsibility to uphold. In this new era of everyone having the affordance to actively participate in news it becomes a constraint due to the fact that ‘citizen journalist’ create facts from fiction and spread it. These journalist do not do their due diligence and properly investigate but build a narrative built on pure speculation which I believe goes against everything journalism stands for.

In pure curiosity I did some research on what are the guidelines or oaths journalist and reporters adhere to . To my surprise I came across numerous websites that backs my initial thought that journalism has the duty to seek the truth by means of honesty and integrity. According to, The Sedona Observer, a website that thoroughly explains the code of ethics of journalism, it states that  “…journalism becomes a sacred trust in which the public accepts information as the truth and holds journalists responsible for upholding it.” Now with that said, I find it hard to believe that any of us who report on any media site takes into consideration the code of ethics that comes with reporting. I think the fact is many people only hold one obligation and that is to themselves. This media induced obligation that we must report our opinions, our feelings, our interpretation, and somewhere along the way we forgot that we actually have to report the truth.

In, “Photojournalism in the Age of New Media”, an article by Jared Keller, I came across an  interesting sentence, it read, “while a single snapshot may tell a thousand-word story the trick is to get the story right.” Bloggers, tweeters, Facebookers, and all other social media users drag from what they see. They pull together stories and create a new meaning under false pretenses. Now, do not get me wrong news being reported on a social media site is whats wrong but what comes as a result of it. People pick and choose on what to report, they misinterpret, and they make false allegations. Take for instance, the Reddit and the Boston Marathon bombing incident that was discussed in Brian Carroll’s, “Writing and Editing for Digital Media”. Sunil Tripathi was falsely identified as the Boston bomber after his image was placed alongside the actual bomber. The initial accusation on Reddit then spread to Twitter where the story transformed into a user claimed to have gotten the information from a police scanner. After which the tweet became viral. Tripathi was in fact not the bomber but had his character defamed due to hear say and the lack of verification of information and sources. People were so invested emotionally in the horror of the incident they forgot to investigate the truth from credible sources such as the Boston police.

Although, new media users have gotten a bad rep for performing acts of citizens journalism due to their messy and reprehensible acts of reporting sites such as Watchdog Cityoffers a platform which offers regular people who do feel the obligation to report on matters of injustice and social issues a platform to do so in a manner that does respect the dying guidelines of journalism. On Watchdog City, independent journalist register an account where they present their work to be evaluated by the sites credibility rating system and must follow a code of ethics as stated by the site. As so much damage has been done by reporting in a new media age a site such as this combines the new of the digital media and the old of the responsible to the public in a way that produces quality work based on diligence, credibility, and verification. We must remember that our words add to a global story and what we report is not just for our own personal debriefing but for the world to feed off of. It is our responsibility to report the truth even if we do not agree with it.

Response Blog #3- Wikipedia

As a young writer in middle school and high school I always geared towards using Wikepedia as a reliable source and useful guide for information. I never thought there was anything wrong with the site as it seemed to be the encyclopedia of the internet. It wasn’t till I entered my freshman year in college that I was specifically told not to use Wikepedia as it was not credible and could not be trusted. Let’s just say curiosity killed the cat and what was the first thing I did? Look to Wikepedia to help me on my paper. Then I began to notice the little inconsistencies of misspelled words and incorrect dates.

In my opinion,  Wikipedia is not a credible source. Wikipedia is increasingly used by any and everyone,  especially those in the academic community, from students to professors, as an easily accessible source for information about anything and everything. Therefore, I do not cite Wikipedia in any research papers I produce. Considering anyone can edit information at anytime whether because it is a malicious act or they think their knowledge of the subject is better than what is provided on the site, does not particularly sit well with me. Throughout my educational years using this site as a guide to writing my papers,  who knows how many countless errors I read through unnoticed.

I personally think Wikipedia is good for providing readers with a general understanding of a subject but to use it specifically for bits and pieces of viable information I wouldn’t do. There are countless books, articles and appropriate sources that can be used to undergo research, Wikipedia is definitely not essential to research whatsoever.