Journalists must meet challenge of social and digital media

Journalism and communication are essential to the functioning of our democracy. Our founders recognized this and inscribed it into the Constitution.

Over the last several years, social media has been changing how we communicate and consume news, often in fundamental ways. We experience this in our everyday lives: sharing photos with loved ones a continent away; tracking news events as they unfold in real time; and watching headlines increasingly dominated by the Twitter feeds of prominent individuals, whether they are in the business of entertainment, journalism or politics.

As with many innovations, however, the good comes with some bad. One of the negative aspects is what academics and social media experts have described as the “echo chamber” phenomenon. For years, these experts have described a society – ours – that is increasingly less tolerant of dissenting views. While not exclusive, nowhere is this more pronounced today than in our shared experience of our relationship to our government.

There is no doubt that the relationship between journalists and politicians has reached a fevered pitch. One can point to other times in history where our nation has been divided and differences of opinions have seemed so extreme. However, what perhaps is most unique in these modern times is the use of social media and how it can create and foment growing conflicts that dominate the daily news and our daily lives.

The use of social media and its ability to directly connect with individuals has redefined the way public figures communicate with their audience. This is most evident in the way that presidential candidate and now President Donald Trump has communicated with his intended audiences. What radio was for FDR and television for JFK, social media is for Trump. His use of Twitter has been highly effective in allowing him to drive the news cycle and communicate directly to his followers without the usual, and important, vehicle of the traditional news media. While reactions to the president’s pronouncements vary, no one is surprised anymore by his use of social media to bypass news media and communicate directly with his supporters.

And increasingly, how individuals react to the content being generated by the president, or anyone else, depends on their predisposition regarding the message, and increasingly, the messenger. We now live in a country in which it is increasingly difficult to escape the shroud of personal beliefs.

According to the 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, 52 percent of the general population in the United States say they do not regularly listen to people or organizations with whom they often disagree, and are nearly three times more likely to ignore information that supports a position they do not believe in. This approach to news consumption can produce individuals who become entrenched in their perspectives, choosing to dismiss other viewpoints as illegitimate.

In this environment, it is more important than ever that journalists – and those who communicate with them – rededicate themselves to transparency and facts, while also working to create more opportunities for active engagement and open, respectful give-and-take with readers and viewers through digital and other platforms. These platforms should encourage civil discourse and dialogue that avoids denigration and demonization.

We are still in the early stages of understanding the full impact of social and digital media on the role of traditional news media. As the new administration continues to engage this nation in new ways that challenge our traditional understanding of representative democracy, the one idea that must prevail is the notion that facts and truth will carry the day. And, that responsibility for facts and truth extend to everyone as we engage in civic dialogue.

As Edward R. Murrow, one of America’s most respected newsmen, said more than a half century ago, “To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”