“Every
second that you’re not current, a thousand people are changing the channel!”
exclaims a furious Reese Lansing, President of the news network.
The
response: “It’s a person. A doctor pronounces her dead, not the news.”
And
so began our interesting conversation in this morning’s staff meeting, where we
discussed an ongoing trend since social media was accepted as a viable form of
receiving news: timeliness trumping accurate reporting. An unfortunate
side-effect of the second-to-second news cycle now available via Twitter and
the like is the chaotic flurry of information immediately following a breaking
story. In the struggle for news superiority, often, the facts take a backseat.
This
is one of the negative aspects of social media. With smartphones and a culture
that’s plugged in 24/7, everyone is a reporter; and while John Q. Public isn’t
required to answer to an editor or confirm the facts, word still spreads like
wildfire on the Internet and influences public knowledge and opinion.
The
attention gained from being the initial whistleblower is negated when the facts
you presented were unfounded or off-base. The reputation you’ve crafted as a
reliable source of news is diluted by your desire to be the face presenting the news. Confirm the
facts before blasting to your followers online.
The gripping seven-minute
scene (warning: language) surrounding Gabrielle Giffords in The Newsroom is as much Sorkin’s social-commentary
as a plot-point. In the race to be first, in the monetization of the media, the
truth is sometimes the casualty. This indictment of the news business can serve
as a cautionary tale going forward, where confirming the facts returns to the
industry standard and emphasis on ‘being first’ is put on the backburner.
-Carter Breazeale
PR/PR Public Relations
