The social media platforms and the internet are now bombarded with news and there is so much information that it is almost next to impossible to find out fake news from the real one. Sometimes, even fake news by a citizen journalist may be taken up by a professional and legitimate journalist and developed into a story that may hamper the journalist and his agency’s efforts at establishing and maintaining credibility and reliability with the audiences.
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The presence of a news agency or reporters on multiple social media platforms is also important as the same information or news from the same source should be seen by the public, otherwise it easily comes to the notice of the society for discrepancies and damages the degree of trust between the news agency and the public. Twitter and Facebook which are the most common and popular social media platforms have made the journalists dig in for breaking news from interview sources and personal tweets of celebrities and eminent personalities in various fields. Sometimes, these journalists even copy those personal tweets or make comments on it which becomes news from their news agency’s or public account
SOCIAL MEDIA
Many researchers have come across the interchangeable usage of the terms “social media” and “Web2.0”; however, these two terms are closely related yet not exactly synonymous, and they differ in terms of usage. For the purpose of this research, and in order to avoid any confusion, the above mentioned terms will be defined, despite the fact that social media is the central gravity of the research. In regards of the term Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly, the founder of O'Reilly media, has coined that "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform." He has further provided a general business aspect in relations of Web 2.0 as the “harnessing of collective intelligence”, in which Web 2.0 provides platforms and fills the Web with user-generated content where all individuals – the former audience are able to take part in instead of important decisions made by a few people. Alternatively, Web 2.0 is a platform whereby content and applications are continuously modified and exchanged by all users in participatory and collaborative manner, and no longer merely created and published by individuals. There are still many ongoing debates and discussions regarding social media’s universal definition; as social media has been transforming and merging into the evolving development of New Media
JOURNALISM PROFESSION
Journalistic professionalisation is one of the critical variables in every comparative analysis between media systems. Pioneering research deals with the nature of the legitimising creed of media institutions and, more specifically, the distance between the reporter and external interests. The latter is understood as a place of tension between an ideal concerning the journalist’s professionalism and audience and the interrelated political and economic interests affecting the media system. Professionalisation is one of the dimensions used to clarify some problematic concepts. They illustrated some of the variations in professionalisation criteria among their four models of media and politics, dividing them into three dimensions: autonomy, distinct professional norms, and public service orientation. Hallin and Mancini paid more attention to the systematic body of knowledge or doctrine generally required to be recognised as a profession (compared with doctors and lawyers) and consequently on the fundamental variables regarding formal training and education. Though a direct link between the education rate of those who work in journalism and their degree of professionalisation cannot be made, the 2021 Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) data provides an encouraging sign regarding the comprehensiveness of the training of contemporary journalists. The portrait of the profession that emerges from our data illustrates that journalists do not have the time for further training. The integration of the temporal dimension in contemporary journalism becomes a challenge in terms of the ability, for example, to connect the present with the past and the future (developing through education and professional training the skills to do so), and thus the possibility of playing a more active role in setting the public agenda. The value of immediacy has slowly been translated into the need to contribute significantly to the news flow. The problem arises when the definition of newsworthiness itself is linked to the search volume of different online queries over time, and the trends that sanction the popularity. Journalists are therefore increasingly dispossessed of their ability to set their own agenda and have professional and satisfying working time.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND JOURNALISM PROFESSION
It is not surprising that the modern journalists are increasingly using social media tools and platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap chat, and others to remain abreast of the latest happenings around them and get their hands on interesting and unique stories and news to present to the world. This form of reporting adopted by the modern journalists is more individualistic, open, and prone to speculations. On the positive side, the social media and the other micro-blogging platforms offer the unique advantage of second-by-second update of changes in a news or story which can be effectively captured by a professional journalist and turned into a mature story for the society. The most interesting benefit of using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook is the opportunity to get hands on small, real-life, and mostly unknown stories of the common man which are an insightful read for the public. Facebook, on the other hand, helps capture public opinion which is critically essential at deciphering the pulse of the society at the given moment and working upon some urgent as well as optional issues, such as terrorism, political corruption, education reforms, and so on. There is a clutter of information, links, posts, videos, and other details on the internet which may make a journalist lose his thoughts and patience and unconsciously, resort to unethical course of action when prioritizing speed over accuracy. There are top management pressures, obligations to remain updated and competitive, desire to succeed, and other inner and outer battles which may serve as the breeding ground for ignorance, denial, or the lack of common sense for journalists trying to find truth from the indefinite clutter on social media. Even more, there has been so stiff competition in the media and journalism industry today that even the established and reputed news agencies and houses are willing to risk their legacy for accuracy and credibility for being the first in publishing breaking news on the internet. They are willing to include falsified facts and incorrect information, only to be on the top and have increased market share, thus promoting the breach of ethics and professional integrity at large.