Social Media’s Impact onJournalism and NewsMedia Organizations
Senior Capstone ThesisBy Ruth Harper

TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2INTRODUCTION 2LITERATURE REVIEW 3METHOD 7 RESULTS 8
Circumstances Surrounding Traditional MediaExplanation of Social Media and Social JournalismSocial Media ToolsMySpaceDiggFacebook TwitterCurrent Event Case StudiesMumbai attacks (2008)Bozeman, Mont., explosion (2009)Iran Protests (2009)Fort Hood shootings (2009)Ethics, Journalism and Social Media
The Future of Journalism: Social Media‟s Continuing Effects on News CONCLUSIONS 20 WORKS CITED 22 APPENDIX 26
Interview Transcript

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this senior capstone research project is to report on how the social mediarevolution has changed and will continue to change journalism. By examining news and broadcastorganizations, a researcher can obtain a clear view into how the so-called social media revolution came about and what‟s in store for the journalism‟s future. This report focuses on one central, simple question: What impact has social media had on journalism, and how will this impact affect the future of news andinformation? Anyone in communications knows how quickly the field is changing. As more people becomeinvolved with social media, journalists and media professionals need to understand not only what socialnetworking Web sites are, but also how news audiences use them to obtain information fromorganizations and from friends, how these organizations can —and should— leverage these sites and,finally, what the news media will probably look like in the future once it has fully grasped the somewhatfreshly concocted concept of social media.In short, through this report, one will see and understand how social media is shifting journalismand news organizations from one-way communication outlets to two-way community-centricorganizations that can engage their audiences in the world‟s news
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INTRODUCTION
Twitter. Facebook. Digg. MySpace. LinkedIn. The list of social media tools could probably run on for paragraphs, and today‟s technology changes so rapidly that many industries, incl uding corporationsand news media, can barely keep up. In the traditional world, newspapers, corporations, governments orother types of leading organizations simply had to give out information, and people would generally reador look at it. But this seemingly tried-and-true method has begun to transform. Simply giving information is not enough for today‟s public. Today‟s audiences expect to be able to choose what they read, and most believe they should be able to contribute content and opinions, too. This shift, sometimes called the social media revolution, is not the death of journalism as America knew it during the 20th century; it‟s the birthof a democratic movement that emphasizes some of journalism‟s key factors: transparency, honesty and giving a voi ce to the person who doesn‟t have one.

Many traditional and non-traditional media outlets report and comment on how the Internet andsocial media, especially social networking, have begun to seriously affect news organizations and how they operate. Although newspapers currently face a crisis on how to make the news profitable in the digital age, that isn‟t this report‟s main focus. How papers will make money has been talked to death. So, instead, thisreport will focus on how social media, especially social networking sites like Twitter, has begun to affectthe news organizations and changed
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for better or worse
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how journalists perform their jobs every day.The main purpose of this report is to learn how the social media revolution has changed and willcontinue to change journalism and news organizations. To understand social media and its effects, onemust read and analyze information gathered through journal articles, interviews and observations as thisreport has done. The report is broken into subtopics: a summary of the current state of traditional media;definitions and background information on what social media and social journalism are; social mediatools professionals use and why; current event case studies in which social media played a role inreporting the news; ethical issues surrounding the social media shift; and how the future of the newsmedia might look as a result of social media.The report will respond to one simple, yet rather complex, question: What impact has socialmedia had on news organizations? A question like this cannot be answered straightforward but mustinstead be explored. While the report will focus on what has already occurred, it will also look to thefuture and will consider whether public opinions of the mainstream media have helped spawn andaccelerate the birth of the social media revolution. Results will lead the report to offer three areas within journalism that social media has significantly touched: the public‟s trust of the news media in relation to social media; the relationship between local news organizations and social media; and how news is and will be covered using social media tools.
LITERATURE REVIEW Media industry publications and critics often mention a media shift from traditional outlets, likenewspapers and magazines, to digital news sources. Going a step beyond simply being online, mediaorganizations have begun to consider how news organizations use social media tools to keep theiraudiences and, most importantly, to keep bringing in funds to support themselves. Myriad opinions andideas on the topic exist on social media‟s presence in the journalism world; the volume of information can

seem overwhelming. However, this report will attempt to explain what has occurred and hypothesize on what the future holds for a world containing independent journalism and social media tools. The researchgathered for this report can be grouped into four categories: the current state of traditional and socialmedia; popular social media tools and how media use them; ethical issues surrounding journalists‟ use of social media tools; and how a two-way, conversationally driven world will change journalism.Understanding where traditional news organizations currently stand requires one to understandhow audiences consume their news and what they think about the news business as it stands. Surveys by news organizations and foundations offer a way to understand the public‟s thoughts quantitatively.
ThePew Research Center for the People and the Press conducted a survey in which it found, overall,respondents have less confidence that news organizations strive to report accurate, politically unbiased news than they had a few decades ago. In fact, the public‟s confidence has reached its lowest level in morethan two decades (“Public” 2). Despite this, the Pew survey showed most respondents still think watchdog journalism is critically important (“Public” 10-11). The poll also monitored consumers‟ most -used newsmedium, finding audiences tend to obtain national and international news from TV and the Internet
(“Public” 4). However, this and a survey study conducted by the National News Association (NNA) found the opposite seems to be true for local newspapers, especially weeklies (“Annual”). The NNA‟s survey found the majority of respondents spend at least 40 minutes a week reading their local newspaper andoften prefer the print over the online edition
(“Annual”). A MediaPost article discussed a survey thatfound males tend to be more open to new media than females, and, to little surprise, the 18-to-34-year-oldage group has seen the largest decline in traditional media usage (Loechner 1). This survey also found while most people said newspapers needed to change to remain relevant, users wouldn‟t be willing to pay to read print magazines online (Loechner 1-2).Before being able to define the relationship between social media and journalism, it‟s vital toexplain journalism‟s purpose and troubles within the media industry as a whole. In a letter in the American Journalism Review
, Kevin Klose wrote journalism in its purest form is about witnessing anevent and recording them for others to see and read (Klose 2). Similarly, in another American Journalism Review article, Pamela J. Podger says journalism is about listening to those who have something to say (Podger 36). In his blog post titled “Social Journalism: Past, Present and Future,”
Woody Lewis offerssimilar sentiments regarding what a “social journalist” is. He explains social media is about listening as

well as interacting with others (Lewis). Another blogger, Vadim Lavrusik, described the change from one- way communication to a community affair and how the change will assist journalists. Others, includingtwo authors for the fall 2009 online issue of Nieman Reports, Robert G. Picard and Richard Gordon, andChris Martin of Chris Martin Public Relations, also expressed social media can help journalists do their jobs more effectively. Journalists aren‟t the only ones who benefit from news organizations‟ increased presence on social media. Others have evaluated the news media and determined social media has notonly benefited journalists but has also helped give individuals a way to speak up to the world. In a book titled “Groundswell: Winning in a World Trans formed by Social
Technologies,” Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff argue social media has empowered individuals and has forced the idea of “news media” to morph whether or not the industry has desired this change (Li 5 ). In his book “Twitter Power,” Joel Comm arguesa similar case, stating social media allows anyone to publish ideas at a relatively non-existent price(Comm 1). Despite its positives, some have found problems with journalists in the social media world. Inarticles written for the fall 2009 edition of Nieman Reports , Michael Skoler discusses the media‟s flawed business model and how social media could help, while Geneva Overholser argues journalists need to talk more about social media (Skoler; Overholser). Finally, in his article, “The Continuing Need forProfessional Journalism,” Shel Holtz argues how bloggers‟ habit of covering what interests them rather than hard news that needs to be covered could seriously damage investigative journalism (Holtz). Without tools and applications like Twitter, social media simply wouldn‟t exist.
Many mediaprofessionals have reported on how journalists can use these tools. In an article for
Wired magazine,Steven Levy discusses how user-oriented, real-time Twitter is changing the news media (Levy). In anarticle for the American Journalism Review titled “The Twitter Explosion,” Paul Farhi discusses theseaspects, relating them to those in journalism and media careers (Farhi). Two writers, Courtney Lowery and Leah Betancourt, discuss how to use (and how not to use) social media tools like Twitter for journalistic purposes (Lowery; Betancourt). Lowery goes a bit deeper than Betancourt by describing her own newspaper‟s experiences with soci al media tools in her Nieman Reports article (Lowery). In herarticle for the American Journalism Review
, Podger explores the importance of social media in journalism but doesn‟t force employees to use the tools.
However, a large number of Americans use themanyway, perhaps even more than e-mail, according to a Mashable blog entry written by Adam Ostrow (Ostrow). Facebook and Twitter are becoming more important than ever, and part of the tools‟ popularity stems from the ability to easily create one‟s own applications, as Gordon‟s class did. The class made a tool called NewsMixer for Facebook (Gordon). Also, Christine Greenhow and Jeff Reifman conducted a study on Facebook community involvement by creating and observing different Facebook applications (Greenhow). Finally, while these tools are popular and important, they aren‟t alone. Tools like Digg.com allow users to “digg” an article or Web site they like and share it with others (Li 3). Both Li and Skoler suggest Digg.com is so useful because users trust what other users suggest for reading material as opposedto what members of the mainstream media, such as editors, might suggest (Li; Skoler).The third literature topic required a wide use of newspaper articles because it evaluates coverageof recent international and national events. Four major events show how useful social media tools,especially Twitter, can be. The most recent event is the Nov. 5, 2009, shootings in Fort Hood, Texas. This report examines the situation using a weekly news report from Pew Research Center‟s Project for Excellence in Journalism and an article from the
Columbia Journalism Review ‟s Web site. Both of these articles discuss how social media tools
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especially Twitter —allowed journalists and the public alike toreport occurrences quicker than in the past, although possibly with some errors (“Pew Research”). Megan
Garber ‟s article at cjr.org titled “Fort Hood: A First Test for Twitter Lists” examines Twitter‟s new list feature and how journalists used it to report on the Fort Hood shootings (Garber).The Iranian protests during summer 2009 offer the second example. In their article for
The NewYork Times , Brad Stone and Noam Cohen discuss what occurred on and off Twitter during the protests. Also, Brian Stelter wrote two articles on the social media coverage of Iran for The New York Times, one discussing CNN‟s coverage and another discussing the protest and citizen journalism in general (Stelter;“Real-Time”). Although, according to the Pew Research
Center for the People and the Press, the protests were one of the hottest topics of its week, some voiced concerns with the mainstream media‟s vast amount of coverage on the so- called “Twitter Revolution.” In his article titled “Iran: Downside to the „Twitter
Revolution,'" Evgeny Morozov discusses two problems with calling it a Twitter Revolution. First, he writesthere may not have been as many eye witnesses tweeting as expected for numerous reasons. Secondly, hesays those Iranians who did use Twitter or blogs took a risk in being associated with Americans andconsidered spies (Morozov 10-14). In an InformationToday article, Michael Baumann also mentions thedangers Iranians who use social media would face; he quotes Morozov a couple times in his story

First and foremost, the researcher gathered preliminary information using two main strategies:staying up-to-date on current events and industry news and following conversations and communications professionals on Twitter. In this report‟s case, the researcher watched CNN most weekday mornings and checked in with Twitter a few times a day. The researcher received and scanned multiple daily e-mails,including social media-related newsletters, from MediaPost and AdvertisingAge. Also, the researcherengaged in a few
Monday “#journchats” on Twitter to see into professional journalists
‟ minds, hear—or,rather, see— what they talk about in relation to the industry and perhaps even engage in conversation with said professionals. In fact, the researcher located public relations professional Chris Martin, by pitching a request for comment on the project‟s topic via Twitter and the #journchat.
The tweet read: “I‟ mresearching journalism & social media for a school project
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anyone willing to chat with me for a few minutes some time? #journchat 7:11 PM Oct 12thf rom TweetDeck
.”
In addition to keeping up with the news and Twitter, the researcher also found numerous articlesand related excerpts in communications-related books, journals, magazines, Web sites and blogs. Mostarticles and data were found using search engines and databases provided through the FriedsamMemorial Library. Finally, it was also important to locate surveys trusted research organizations like thePew Research Center had conducted on journalism and news organizations. Combining information fromarticles and secondary surveys gave the researcher quantitative and qualitative data that was used to discuss the report‟s purpose, which is to ide ntify how social media has impacted journalism and newsorganizations.
RESULTS
Before jumping into social media, it is important to understand the current circumstancessurrounding traditional news media outlets. According to Jack
Loechner, “Newspapers h ave a legacy of breaking news and uncovering stories of historic proportion, yet they are losing ground to a generation of consumers embracing digital and mobile alternatives” (Loechner 2). Despite this, according to a
Pew Research Center survey on public perceptions of the news media, TV remains the dominant news source, with 71 percent of respondents saying they favor TV and 33 percent citing newspapers as their preference
(“Public”). While TV may dominate right now, the biggest declines in traditional me dia usage are with the18-to-24-year-old market. Loechner found young adults of this age group rank the Internet as more

important than TV (Loechner 1). Wi th the younger generation‟s lack of patience comes its desire for speedy news and information, and the Internet can give just that. However, this desire troubles GenevaOverholser.
“It strikes me that most people don‟t care as much about who publishes news (or what are often rumors) first these days as they do about whether the sites they rely on have it right when they want it. Now, as we all know, news and information need to be on the platform we‟rechecking, wherever we are” (Overholser 1).
In the Pew perception survey, most respondents, although more critical of media than in the past,still see traditional news outlets as important to watchdog journalism (“Public” 10
-11). However, the public‟s assessment of news organizations‟ accu racy and media bias are at the lowest in decades (“Public”
2). According to the Pew public perception survey, 29 percent of respondents said the media generally report the facts correctly, while 63 percent said news stories are often inaccurate. In contrast, in 1985, 55percent of the survey respondents said the media are accurate most of the time, and 35 percent said mediaare often inaccurate
(“Public” 2). The public isn‟t finding news organizations to be unbiased, either. According to the survey, about 26 percent of respondents said news organizations are careful to remainunbiased, while about 60 percent said news organ izations are politically biased (“Public” 2). Only about20 percent said organizations were “independent of powerful people or are willing to admit theirmistakes”, which matches all
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time lows (“Public” 2).
Local news organizations may be a different story, though. According to a National Newspapers Association (NNA) press release, “(Stories about newspapers failing) tend to be based on readership and advertising numbers for the major daily newspapers in America, usually the top 100, sometimes the top250
. Yes, absolutely those are big papers, important papers. But they are not the whole story” (“Annual”). Also, an NNA survey found 81 percent of respondents read a local paper each week, and 73 percent readmost or all of it (Strupp). Interestingly, this survey also found 53 percent of respondents never read localnews online while 12 percent said they often read local news online (Strupp). The Pew perception survey summed this up by saying online news lags behind newspapers, which remain the most popular mediaoutlet, according to the perceptions survey
(“Public” 4).
Michael Skoler argued as news conglomeratestook over local news organizations and made changes people began losing trust in the media. Skoler wrote, “Surveys show a steep drop in public trust in journalism occurring during the past 25 years”

(Skoler). In addition, Robert G. Picard found social media tools to be more useful for national and international news organizations than those on the local level. He wrote, “(Social media tools) offer the competitive advantages of making the brand omnipresent in the face of the myriad of competing alternative sources of news and information” (Picard). Before defining social journalism, a combination of social media and journalism, one mustunderstand what journalism itself is: A person witnessing and recording an event (Klose 2). According toKevin Klose, “In its simplest, but perhaps most profound, form, journalism is as old as human existence” (Klose 2). Monica Guzman, a news gatherer at seattlepi.com, sai d, “Journalism is about listening, so if you‟re not listening to people who are talking, then you‟re not doing your job” (Podger 36). But what‟s social journalism? According to Woody Lewis, a social journalist can be defined as a person with apremeditated watchdog role who uses social media to communicate and collaborate with readers. Crowd dynamics shape the social journalist‟s stories more than editors do (Lewis 1). Vadim Lavrusik offers a similar definition by saying the goal of social journalism is to build a community through engagement. He wrote,
“In a way, social networks are the new editorial page, rich with opinions and ideas”
(Lavrusik 3).Gordon also related to the collaboration concept by saying the media‟s current biggest mistake is considering news to be a one-way, rather than a two-way, communication form (Gordon). Gordon pointed out that digital communities aren‟t brand new; his newspaper began creating discussion boards in the late1990s.
“We didn‟t think that cultivating community or moder ating discussions were appropriate or necessary roles for a journalist. And we ignoredevidence right in front of us
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our own behavior as online users
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thatthe most powerful and persistent drive of Internet usage was that valueof connecting with other people” (Gordon).
Joel Comm would probably agree with Gordon. He wrote those who use social media correctly don‟t create content but generate conversations, which creates communities (Comm 3). These conversations have become the status quo online and the main reason many people even use the Interneton a regular basis. Also, many people do not want to simply be fed information; they also want to find andshare it with others as well as connect directly with sources and writers instead of going through areporter or news organization (Skoler).
“(People) expect to be listened to when they have knowledge and raise questions. They want news that connects with their lives and interests.They want control over their information. And they want connection
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they give their trust to those they engage with
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people who talk with them, listen and maintain a relationship” (Skoler).
Picard wrote journalists can benefit from creating relationships with their audiences (Picard).Lavrusik also touched on this idea in his article quoting Jeff Jarvis, professor and director of interactive media at CUNY‟s Graduate School of Journalism. Jarvis said, “We used to always have the audience cometo us, but that‟s not the case anymore” (Lavrusik 2). Jarvis‟s statement shows the im portance of the shiftfrom media organizations being in charge to people being in charge, or, if not in charge, at least having asay. Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, authors of “Groundswell
: Winning in a World Transformed by SocialTechnologies,” wrote, “Lawyers and entrepreneurs aren‟t the most powerful force on the Internet. Peopleare. And people, empowered by technology, won‟t always go along. Media isn‟t neatly boxed into littlerectangles called newspapers, magazines and TV sets anymore” (Li 5). Comm w rote similar sentiments, saying major media outlets can‟t report information as quickly or as accurately as those who are actually at the scene of the event (Comm xiv). In the past, though, those who were on the scene before news organizations didn‟t have anywhere to speak up besides through journalists. Now, journalism has faced a dilemma because, in today‟s world, people can get online and publish their stories without ever eventhinking about a journalist
. “It can cost literally nothing to create content and make it available for otherpeople to enjoy,” Comm wrote (Comm 1). Giving consumers the ability to publish information more efficiently isn‟t good news for everyone,though; multiple problems emerge from the change. First, many blog posts are still opinion-orientedrather than first-coverage news oriented
, meaning most blogs don‟t offer journalistically reported news content (Holtz 2). Second, the emergence of bloggers means news media organizations now face muchmore competition (Picard). Thirdly, true investigative journalism, like that done to uncover the Watergatescandal, faces a threat that could render it impossible because bloggers may not want to perform themeticulous work investigative journalism involves. Bloggers will probably want to focus on what interests them rather than on what‟s important for the public. Also, even if they want to do the work, bloggers may not be able to financially (Holtz 2). However, whether or not critics embrace or discourage social media‟s arrival, it is here and cannot be turned away. But the news media industry can use social media to itsadvantage if it thinks quickly. According to Skoler, “Social media are the route back to a connection with the audience. And if we use them to listen, we‟ll learn how we can ad d value in the new culture. The new

journalism must be a journalism of partnership. Only with trust and connection will a new business model emerge” (Skoler).
To understand how social media has affected journalism, one should understand the mostpopular social media tools for journalists, the most popular of the day being Twitter and Facebook. Tostart, one could consider a story from Chris Martin, a public relations professional for more than 20 years.He said social media has helped him build and maintain relationships with reporters (Martin). Hisexample involved a health reporter in Chicago with whom he was friends on Facebook. The reporter began updating her Facebook status with stories she was working on, and one of the stories related to atopic Martin wanted to pitch to the media. So, Martin put her in contact with a few of his clients, allowing both reporter and PR professional to win in the situation (Martin). Other communications professionalshave also learned as they move around in the social media world. Courtney Lowery wrote about how her organization made “rookie mistakes” when it embarked on the Facebook and Twitter journey, but the organization was able to correct its mistakes to create a more effective presence (Lowery). While media organizations and journalists may seem to mention Twitter more than other socialmedia tools, it may not be the most popular with the general public. According to Adam Ostrow, Facebook dominates the social media landscape as the most popular way to share information online. E-mail comesin second followed by Twitter and, in last place, MySpace (Ostrow). However, this report will discussMySpace, Digg, Facebook and Twitter, with the focus heavily on Twitter.MySpace sprang to popularity in 2006, becoming the most popular Web site in the world in termsof page views (Briggs 28). News Corporation purchased the site in 2005 for $580 million (Briggs 28).MySpace as a journalistic tool can become a resource for contacting sources and communicating withaudiences, according to Leah Betancourt (Betancourt 3). In addition to MySpace, social bookmarking sitesare also impacting journalism. At Digg.com, users vote and comment on news stories, and stories receiving the most votes are featured on the site‟s homepage as the most popular stories (Li 3). Thecommunity atmosphere has made Digg and other social bookmarking sites rather popular among thepublic
. According to Skoler, “These social bookmarking sites help people find relevant news based on who is recommending stories
. Anyone can play, even if experienced and dedicated users have an advantage”(Skoler). In addition to stories like Martin‟s above, Facebook tools like the Facebook Connect Service can

help media organizations because the application allows Facebook users to log on to other sites using theirFacebook IDs instead of creating another site-specific account (Gordon). While the aforementioned tools shouldn‟t be forgotten, according to contemporary research,Twitter appears to be one of the most discussed by communications professionals at this time. The freesocial-networking service allows short messages to be sent to and received by self-designated followerseither using a computer and Internet connection or a mobile device with an Internet connection (Farhi
28). Also, unlike Facebook, Twitter‟s primary users are adults aged 35 to 49 who say they use the tool at work (Farhi 30). In addition, Paul Farhi wrote, “Twitter attracts the sort of people that media people should love
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those who are interested in, and engaged with, the news” (Farhi 30).Twitter‟s popularity has skyrocketed in recent months, attracting 17 million visitors in April 2009, an 83 percent increase from the previous month (Farhi 28). More specifically, Twitter has become a toolfor media members. For example, David Gregory of
“Meet the Press” had more than 520,000 followers,Rachel Maddow of MSNBC has more than 500,000 followers, and The New York Times’
David Pogue hasmore than 300,000 followers (Farhi 27-
28). Farhi wrote, “Some well
-known news media names now haveTwitter followers that are almost as large as the circulation of their newspapers or viewerships of their TV shows” (Farhi 27).
The public and journalists alike have found many uses for Twitter. Appealing features for journalists include its speed and brevity, which allow journalists to quickly post breaking news as well asswift-changing updates on stories (Farhi 28). The simplicity and asymmetry between writers andfollowers are also crucial aspects of Twitter for journalists (Levy 3). In addition, Twitter requires little careand interacting with the community via Twitter takes a limited amount of time (Farhi 28-9). Lowery discussed how her organization began using Twitter to push out stories as well as perform journalisticnews gathering tasks.
“We used Twitter to do live coverage of stories of our choice. There‟s anemphasis here on „choice‟. Live
-tweeting school board meetings mightnot quite work. Live-tweeting a high-profile court case, on the other hand, might. It‟s all ab out listening to readers and applying news judgment in deciding which stories lend themselves to which medium”
(Lowery). While useful for disseminating information, journalists can also use it to gather information.Farhi described Twitter as a “living, breathing tip sheet for facts, new sources and story ideas.” He added,

“It can provide instantaneous access to hard -to- reach newsmakers, given that there‟s no PR person standing between a reporter and a tweet to a government official or corporate executive. It can also be a blunt instrument for crowdsourcing” (Farhi 28). Some journalists see Twitter‟s usefulness in relation to story generation (Farhi 29). According to Dan Gillmor, veteran news media blogger and Arizona StateUniversity journalism professor,
“Journalists should view Twitter as a „collective intelligence system‟ thatprovides early warnings about trends, people and news” (Farhi 29).
Comm offered similar sentiments by writing, “Tweets are the means to an end. Twitter is just a communication tool” (Comm xviii
-xix).
The new tool isn‟t perfect, though. Farhi suggested problems relating to the sheer volume of information. Journalists may have to sift through a lot to get to a story idea that‟s worth a journalist‟s time. Also, the 140-character limit means links to Web sites and articles must be short, and viewers mightnot know what they are clicking on before they click. However, to avoid these problems, some suggestparing down lists to keep only the most consistent users (Farhi 3o). Another large issue surroundingTwitter is how one can make money from using it (Levy 5). Ethically, Steven Levy also voiced concerns about blending the line between confidant and audience. He wrote, “Allowing unrestricted following eventually meant that P. Diddy could share the progress of a tantric sex session with a hundred thousandfollowers, and the Kennedy family could use Twitter to keep the public informed about developments in
Uncle Teddy‟s funeral” (Levy 3
-4). Just like in TV and print, audiences can use social media tools likeTwitter for entertainment or for news.
In the end, there is also the concern that Twitter doesn‟t have muchstaying power and is simply a trend with “devoted followers that has never lived up to its gargantuanhype” (Farhi 31).
However, only time can prove or disprove this.Despite these potential setbacks, inside Twitter documents show the start-up company expects tocontinue gaining tweeters, hoping to become the first Internet service to sign one billion users by 2013(Levy 2). Whether or not Twitter will stick for a long time, in the here-and-now, the tool has helpedfacilitate conversation and build relationships among journalists, sources and the public, according to
Lowery and Martin. “Twitter enables reporters to reach people whe re they are. People are busy, but they‟re out there consuming and exchanging information on these networks. This is a way of bridging thegap with them and being more engaged” (Farhi 29). However, just because Twitter‟s and social media‟s futures might loo k bright doesn‟t mean other media forms are done for. Mark Briggs, author of Journalism 2.0
, wrote, “Just like the telephone didn‟t replace the face
-to-face meeting over coffee, and e-

mail didn‟t replace the telephone, social media doesn‟t replace other fo rms of connecting with people. It adds to them” (Betancourt 3).
To fully understand how social media has impacted journalism, one must also consider a few recent events. Social journalism itself has been in existence long before social media came into the picture.One example of early social journalism is when police beat Rodney King in the 1992. One man present when the police beat King kept his camera rolling and submitted it to the mainstream media to spread thestory (Lewis 1). The Internet also played a role in the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine (Baumann 1).This report will focus on four current events that used social media: the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in2008, an explosion in Montana in 2009, the Iranian protests in summer 2009 and the Fort Hoodshootings in November 2009.Many believe information about the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008 broke first on Twitter. Inan article on CNN.com, Neha Viswanathan, a former regional editor for Southeast Asia and a volunteer at
Global Voices, said, “
Even before I actually heard of (the attack) on the news, I saw stuff about this onTwitter. People were sending in messages about what they were hearing. There were at least five or six blogs from people who were trapped or who were very close to what hap pened” (Busari 1). In discussing the Iran protests in 2009, Matthew Weaver of
The Guardian told nytimes.com, during rallies andconflicts, tweets arrive first, then pictures, then YouTube videos, then the wires (Stelter 1). Weaver alsosaid what people rep ort “at one point in the day is then confirmed by more conventional sources four orfive hours later” (Stelter 1). According to the cnn.com article on the Mumbai attacks, eyewitnesses sent an estimated 80 messages every five seconds, providing updates and some even asking for blood donors to goto specific hospitals (Busari 1). The cnn.com article also reads
, “However, as is the case with such widespread dissemination of information, a vast number of the posts amounted to unsubstantiatedrumors and wild ina ccuracies” (Busari 1). Blogger Tim Mallon also felt the Twitter coverage wasn‟t great.He wrote, “Far from being a crowd
-sourced version of the news, it was actually an incoherent, rumor-fueled mob operating in a mad echo chamber of tweets, retweets and re- retweets” (Busari 2).
Twitter
wasn‟t the only tool involved, though. Witnesses posted “haunting images” of the aftermath of the attackson Flickr, a photo-sharing Web site, for the world to see (Busari 1).Twitter also showed its importance when an explosion in Bozeman, Mont., destroyed three businesses in the spring of 2009. Lowery, editor of NewWest.net, wrote, “Here in Montana, this explosion

was our „aha‟ moment in experiencing how social media, Twitter in particular, opens up new possibilities in journalism” (Lowery). She continued by saying both her news organization and the Bozeman DailyChronicle quoted from the Twitter feed. However, she pointed out an important step they took
. “Wefiltered the information and confirmed facts,” she wrote (Lowery)
. Also, one Bozeman-based journalist,Michael Becker, created a hashtag on Twitter to organize tweets about the explosion (Lowery). A hashtagis Twitter slang for a group of tweets on a specific topic, like #swineflu or #journchat (Farhi 29). On his blog,
Becker wrote, “For a long time, people have been talking about the potential of Twitter as a newssource. Today, Twitter earned its stripes” (Lowery). Becker continued by saying social media tools like Twitter will probably never replace the traditional media any time soon, but it “did a job that traditional journalism could not possibly do in a city of this size. It informed the people as quickly as events happened and let people know what they needed to know right away” (Lowery). Finally, Lowery also mentions the explosion helped her see a sort of “symbiotic relationship” between social and traditional media. Those on location can post quickly and traditional journalists can use these accounts, with some basic fact checking, to push vital information to the public in a more efficient manner (Lowery).The protests in Iran during the summer of 2009 also caught a lot of social media attention. Thestring of protests in itself was a fairly popular topic. Interestingly, two in 10 said they followed the Iranstory more closely than any other story that week. However, seven in 10 said they had heard about themedia ban, and six in 10 said they had heard about Iranians posting amateur videos on sites like YouTube(The Pew 1). In fact, news organizations tended to cover just as much about what was happening in Iranas what was happening in the social media world because of Iran. Evegeny Morozov wrote,
“In the first days after the protests, it was hard to find a television network or a newspaper (never mind the blog
s) that didn‟t run a feature or an editorial extolling the role of Twitter in fomenting and publicizingthe Iranian protests. The modish take of the usually sober
Christian Science Monitor is representative of the heavily skewed coverage: „Thegovernment‟s tight control of the Internet has spawned a generationadept at circumventing cyber roadblocks, making the country ripe for atechnology- driven protest movement‟” (Morozov 10). Media criticisms surrounding the Iranian protests often focused on CNN, which obtains footagefrom citizens via its iReport service (Stelter 2). People can submit videos and the organization attempts to verify its truthfulness by contacting the poster (Stelter 2). When the Iranian government barred western journalists from reporting on the streets and cameras were confiscated, people began using devices like

camera phones to submit videos and photos of the protests online (“Real
-
Time” 1). Such images include the video of Neda, who became a protest symbol, bleeding to death (Stelter
1). CNN wasn‟t the only organization using citizen reports, though.
The New York Times,
The Huffington Post and The Guardian published “minute -by-minute blogs with a mix of unverified videos, anonymous Twitter messages andtraditional accounts from Tehran ” (Stelter 1). However, these blogs were a unique form of journalism, according to Brain Stelter of The New York Times. They tended to be “a collaborative news style of news gathering
—
one that combines the contributions of ordinary citizens with the reports and analysis of journalists” (Stelter 1).
However, blogs weren‟t the only method used. Morozov pointed out foreign blogs require a lot of work, while Twitter is in real-time and easier to manage and maintain (Morozov 12). Some have disputedthose who called the Iranian protests a Twitter Revolution, citing many reasons. Morozov wrote it was just a way for “cyber - utopian Western commentators” to justify spending so much time with Twitter (Morozov 11). Patrick Meier, author of the iRevolution and Tufts University Ph.D. candidate, said Iranians posting to Facebook and Twitter simply doesn‟t make sense for two reasons: Iran‟s Internet usage demographics and the dangers protestors could face if the government catches them communicating with Westerners online (Baumann 52). Morozov said the media‟s Twitter coverage and discussions may have actually stolecoverage away from what was actually happening to the protestors in Iran (Morozov 54). More evidence of this can be found in examining the information above regarding how more people surveyed had heard about Twitter‟s presence in reporting on Iran than on what was happening in Iran (The Pew 1). Anothercriticism Morozov offered was in regards to reliability. He wrote, “This new media ecosystem is very much like the old game of „Telephone‟ in which errors steadily accumulate in the transmission process, and thefinal message has nothing in common with the original” (Morozov 11). Not all agree with Morozov. RobertMackey, editor of The Lede , a blog on The New York Time’s Web site, wrote, although some gave false claims, Twitter seems to be relatively truthful. “There seems to be very little mischief
-making. Peoplegenerally want to help solve the puzzle,” (Stelter 2). Some have also said Twitter acted as a media watchdog in the Iranian case (“Real -
Time”). While seemingly opposed to the idea of a “Twitter Revolution” in relation to Iranian protests, Morozov does offer one positive outcome of the social media conversation surrounding the protests: Thousands of young Iranians may now want to experiment withTwitter (Morozov 14).

In even more recent months, social media‟s effect on journalism was present during and after the
Fort Hood shootings Nov. 5, 2009. A number of people claiming to be witnessing the events at Fort Hoodtweeted and posted blog entries while the military base was locked down (Pew Research). Somemainstream media outlets picked up the stories from social media users, and some, including NBC‟s
Today show,The Huffington Post and
The New York Times, set up aggregated lists, a new feature onTwitter, to follow comments and conversations on the topic (Pew Research). Megan Garber wrote for the
Columbia Journalism Review: “Lists also represent, more significantly, a new — or, more precisely, anewly facilitated—way for news organizations to collaborate: They allow news outlets essentially to co-opt others‟ reporting. But in a good way — to the benefit of the news organizations in question and, of course, their audiences” (Garber 1).
However, while some of the information reported through socialmedia was correct, blogs and Twitter also may be responsible for spreading rumors, like one saying morethan one shooter had been involved in the incident (Pew Research). Paul Carr at TechCrunch, atechnology-focused blog, wrote,“For all the sound and fury, citizen journalism once again did nothing butspread misinformation, at a time when thousands of people with family at the base would have been freaking out already, and breach the privacy of those who had been killed or wounded. We learned not a single new fact, nor was a single life saved” (Pew Research
).In conclusion, Twitter continues to play a role in breaking news. To some it appears more resilientthan other tools because users can participate via a variety of mobile devices as long as an Internetconnection is available
(Stone 2). Morozov summed it up quite well: “In the past one needed a fortune, or at least a good name, to cause much damage (to an entity). Today, all one needs is an Internet connecti on” (Morozov 12). A number of new ethical considers emerge from the shift toward journalists‟ increased use of social media. One of the most discussed ethical considerations revolves around a journalist‟s personal and professional presences on social media and social networking sites. Journalists must know to verify comments before posting them (Farhi 31). But when is a journalist tweeting as a reporter and when as anaverage citizen? Many professionals agree while journalists can post their own opinions if desired, they must keep their news organizations in mind, and the same values that apply to traditional media alsoapply to social media (Betancourt 3). According to Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter

Institute, “For journalists, transparency is one of the most important values. That means you don‟t act asan individual, but there should be a caution gate if there‟s something that might embarrass yournewsroom” (Podger 34). Journalists have their own solutions to the personal
-work social media balance.Cheryl Rossi, an arts and community news reporter at the
Vancouver Courier in British Columbia, has two separate Facebook accounts, one for her work life and one for her personal life. Rossi said, “It might be me being technologically superstitious, but it just seems wrong for all of my friends and professional links to be in one place,” (Podger 36). To deal with the blending of the line between work li fe and personallife, newsrooms, including
The Wall Street Journal ,The New York Times,The Associated Press and The San Francisco Chronicle, have begun crafting ethics and etiquette policies surrounding social media(Podger 33).
“Traditional newspapers are eager to harness the power of social networks to find and distribute information, but they also want to do it ina way that fosters responsible use. The goals are to identify the tripwiresof social networks, avoid any appearance of impropriety and ensure the information can‟t be used to impugn the integrity of their reporters, photographers a nd editors” (Podger 33). Another hope of journalists and communications professionals is that the ethics documents will be dynamic
, “living” documents (Podger 34). Jan Leach wrote, “As (Mircrosoft CEO Steve) Ballmer put it,„Static content won‟t cut it for the consumer in the future.‟ Neither will static ethics; as media evolve so,too, will ethical guidelines” (Leach). One instance of changing ethical suggestio ns relates to an issue The New York Times faced. Young Times staffers began tweeting information discussed at a meeting. None were reprimanded, but the
Times made changes— they asked staffers to turn off devices and were sure to signify when information is proprietary (Podger 34).Before drawing conclusions it is also important to investigate wh at‟s in store for the future of journalism and news organizations because of the social media revolution. First, it is possible that journalism schools will slightly alter the way they teach new journalists. For example, DePaul University in Chicago plans to offer a course called “Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets” regardingTwitter and citizen journalism (“DePaul” 1). However, some think the important thing to learn isn‟t necessarily how to use tools since many young people are already using them (Greenhow). Instead,professors should focus on how “tools can be applied to enrich the craft of reporting and producing thenews and ultimately telling the story in the best possible way” (Lavrusik 1).

Few believe newspapers will completely cease to e xist, but few will deny newspapers‟ forms willchange in the years ahead. David Klein wrote, “But nothing in the foreseeable future (other than theInternet being dismantled) is going to enable papers to return to their old standard of living” (Klein 2).
Klein predicts daily newspapers will have smaller staffs doing more work and getting paid less. He alsopredicts every city will have at least one print newspaper for the foreseeable future (Klein 1). DeanSingleton, chairman of MediaNews Group, does not think the print medium will completely dissolve. He said, “I‟m still very confident that the newspaper industry will not only survive but will thrive over time. Ina bit of a different model, but it still will. And I think the print newspaper will thrive ove r time” (Rider 4).
Lewis wrote he sees journalists becoming more independent rather than belonging to single publishers(Lewis 2).
Mobile devices will also play a role in journalism‟s future. A Forrester Research report suggests mobile devices, especiall y cell phones, will become the primary social networking “hub” (Walsh 1). Amy
Gahran, consultant for the Knight Digital Media Center, also sees potential in mobile devices.
“Social media is one of the best ways to get traction with the mobile market. Far more people have crappy cell phones than computers. Thisallows journalists to reach lower and even middle-income communitiesand minorities that news organizations have been overlooking. Why are you a journalist in the first place?
—
Hopefully it‟s more t han writing articles and seeing your byline. It‟s to reach communities where they are,and they‟re on the phone” (Podger 36).
In the end, Picard offers a great quote to summarize what could become the future of journalism due to social media. “It is perh aps too early to judge given that experimentation with social media is in itsinfancy. It behooves all of us, however, to carefully observe and evaluate their development and effects.Then, we need to use what is learned to gauge whether and how a particular tool provides real benefit to anews organization or if it is depleting resources
—
financial and human
—
that could be used more effectively in other ways” (Picard).
CONCLUSIONS
Without a doubt, by examining the above data and results, one can conclude social mediacertainly has affected journalism and will continue to affect it in the future. While many aspects of journalism have been touched, social media has brought to light three fundamental areas within

journalism: the public‟s trust of the media; the importance of local news organizations and theirlikelihood to remain in print; and the manner in which news is and will be covered using social media.
The public‟s trust, or lack thereof, in the media may have played a role in causing the social m ediarevolution. Social media has shown the value of local news organizations as well as the advantages thenew tools can bring small media organizations. Finally, social media has given journalists new ways toreport and has opened the door for members of the general public who have something to say but can‟t go through a journalist for one reason or another.In general, although the American public tends to believe watchdog journalism is important,many Americans in this day and age feel reluctant to trust mainstream media, according to the publicperceptions survey. They feel big business or politics or other aspects have overshadowed independent journalism, and in many instances, some, especially the younger population, have lashed out by resortingto online and social media, although not completely deserting the mainstream news organizationsthemselves (Loechner). Social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube offer skeptical audiencesthe chance to receive news straight from the witnesses. Rather than relying on a reporter to speak withsomeone at an explosion in Montana, audiences can reach out and speak to eyewitnesses themselves. Or if they are one of those witnesses, they can share their story with the world before reporters even arrive onthe scene (Lowery).The situation in Montana brings one to the next important area: local media. As we become a more global world, we also become a more local world. We want to know what‟s going on internationally as well as down the street because all of it affects us directly or indirectly. While internationalconglomerate media organizations may be seemingly failing right now, these types of organizations may find the most success in social media in the long run. However, because fewer options tend to exist forlocal news, local news organizations traditional media are still fairly intact and will remain fairly strongfor the foreseeable future. In addition to maintaining traditional print and broadcast news, local news organizations like Lowery‟s in Mont ana have been able to add to this local media success using socialmedia. Also, this can help smaller organizations report important local information to large, distant mediaorganizations that may not be there right away. Local organizations can also obtain sources anddisseminate breaking news using social media tools. The way local news organizations use social mediacan also apply to international and national organizations. These uses are fairly obvious, but with a little

imagination, the possibilities and ways journalists can use social media will increase, improve and be ableto change the world of journalism, most likely making it more honest and transparent.Finally, as it has already done to a degree, social media will continue to change the way journalistsgather and report the news. Reporters can find sources and disseminate information using social media tools. Eyewitnesses will become reporters, but the world will still need “traditional” journalists to go in and verify the facts. Perhaps in th e future, professional journalists won‟t be so much pure information disseminators but truth disseminators. If you want to see what people say is happening right now, check
Twitter; if you want to see what‟s actually true and what might be false, check CNN or The New YorkTimes
. In the end, no matter the direction it moves in or the new shape or form it takes, newsorganizations will never cease to exist as long as democracy and freedom of speech exists.Researchers will develop plenty of detailed questions as the social media and journalism worldscontinue to collide. How can news organizations make money from this? How can audiences and journalists sort truth from error? What will happen to print editions of large newspapers? These andhundreds of other questions involving the future of journalism could be responded to in a milliondifferent ways, and the next generation of journalists and communications professionals will decide what will work best to preserve the basic premise of journalism: Witnessing an event and telling the story aboutit. After all, story telling, the defining thread of journalism, no matter what strange and new forms it may take, will never, ever cease to exist. WORKS CITED
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Betancourt, Leah. “How Social Media is Radically Changing the Newsroom.” Mashable
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Briggs, Mark. Journalism 2.0 How to Survive and Thrive: A Digital Literacy Guide for the Information Age
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Busari, Stephanie. “Tweeting the Terror: How Social Media Reacted to Mumbai.” cnn.com/asia . CNN, 28Nov. 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. <http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/27/mumbai.twitter/index.html?iref=newssearch>.
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“DePaul University offers Twitter Class.” Associated Press. Associated Press, 1 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Sept.2009. <http://www.wbbm780.com/Twitter-101--course-at-Depaul/5124560>.

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Greenhow, Christine, and Jeff Reifman. “Engaging Youth in Social Media: Is Facebook the New MediaFrontier? .” Nieman Reports. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Fall 2009. Web. 21Oct. 2009. <http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=101906>.

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31.3 (2009): 2. Print

APPENDIX E-mail from Chris Martin Date: Oct. 12, 2009. Copied from e-mail exactly:
Hi Ruth, Good to connect with you via journchat. By any definition or metrics, SM is a huge boon for PR professionals. Why? Because SM allows PR pros who monitor FB and Twitter for instance, to learnthings about reporters we could never know before.
I‟ve been doing PR for 20 years and in the old days you could develop a relationship by pitching good stories, knowing the reporters personally by meeting with them and taking an occasional meal with them.
However, it didn‟t take long for those days to become a distant memory. Today, few reporters get out of their office (at least the ones who have jobs) tomeet in person and socializing with them is rare. Where can we bridge this relationship gap that now exists? SM. Couple of examples:
I‟ve worked with Natalie Martinez from Channel 5 in Chicago for several years. We met when I was doing PR at a large Chicago hospital. We stayed in touch and I asked if she would emcee a local American Heart Assn charity ball. She agreed. This was in 2003 or so. Fastforward to current times.
I „m on my own and don‟t wor k for any local hospitals but she still does GA reporting. She started posting updates on her FB about stories she was working on..One of them had todo with stories about the recession or economy. Turns out, I had a story about how local dentists used bartering to attract new patients.
The story idea came from a blog post on the Chicago Dental Society‟s website! She interviewed the dentist and then she asked me if I had another doctor who bartered too.Sure enough, I also rep. the state podiatric medical assn and knew there was a doc who used bartering. Voila..story airs and client likes me more!I have a presentation at the National Association of Medical Communicators on some of these case studies and I‟d be happy to send you the link to that pre sentation as well as answer other questions you mighthave.Chris Martin, MPHChris Martin Public Relations630.670.2745 www.chrismartinpublicrelations.com www.cmpr.wordpress.com www.facebook.com/chrismartinpublicrelationsTwitter: @CMPR