The last day of class before spring break, we were treated to a presentation by Zizi Papacharassi from the University of Illinois-Chicago. She was the special guest for the annual Nieman symposium hosted by the Diederich College of Communication. Her presentation focused on the impact of social media particularly related to breaking news. It was a fascinating talk, and it was even more interesting that we got to live tweet it as well, which related so closely to the subject matter. Papacharissi presented a lot of analytics related to twitter reactions to lay out the effect of a breaking news event by the numbers.
Seeing the spike in activity by the numbers was eye-opening. It truly demonstrated the power of Twitter, and therefore, the responsibility journalists have to presenting the truth to their followers. Papacharissi also talked about how certain patterns in the way that people report facts during a breaking news event and how that should actually be improved upon. Sometimes, reporters merely repeat themselves and state only the fact of what is happening.
Instead of just repeating certain facts, it is important to also capture the scene. For example, the Trump rally in Chicago recently was a case where there was a prominent Twitter activity and reaction. However, few reporters actually explained what the scene was like and what was happening in and around the event.
As we continue to learn more about aspects of digital journalism such as live tweeting, it is important to always keep in mind the importance of both the truth and to transport the reader to the scene.