Do You Believe that Social Media has Increased the Quality of News and Information or Decreased it?

 What makes a good news story, as per John Zhu, a good news story follows the following guidelines:

• The # of staff produced stories
• Number of sources cited in the story the more the better
• Number of Typos -  fewer errors indicates professionalism and sufficient time to properly research and edit
• The # of investigative stories produced - more indicates experience and depth of research
• The # of follow up stories to a breaking news article - articles looking further into the case indicates thorough investigation 
• Story should answer the 5 W's and H's
• Action items - Does the news story provide an opportunity for the reader/listener to respond or contact someone in regards to the issue. (Zhu, 2009)

Are these still important to the masses of today in this era of the real-time web? Today information travels at a greater velocity than that of traditional media (newspaper, radio, magazines) and so people want and expect different things from traditional news sources.   As per Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada, "Social media has fundamentally changed the two most important aspects of traditional news, namely breaking news and commentary. As a result, it is no longer sufficient just to provide the news. The expectation of the masses is now to be able to participate in the news, to share it, shape it, comment on it, define it and to use it as a tool to democratize the entire creation and dissemination process (CNW Group, 2010). The masses participate in the news through social networks, video sharing, photo sharing, podcasting, blogs, microblogs and wikis.   Pew researchers  were told by 92% of Americans, that they seek out news from a variety of platforms, and 59 % saying that on a typical day they look to both the Internet and offline media for information. In the digital era, news has become omnipresent.  Americans access it in multiple formats on multiple platforms on myriad devices. The days of loyalty to a particular news organization on a particular piece of technology in a particular form are gone (Purcell, Raine, Mitchell, Rosenstiel, Olmstead, 2010). 

Social media tools change the the way we recieve news and allow us to be engaged in the news and information process. Social networks allow people to partake in live debates, to spread their favorite news with others, comment on and discuss articles, post and or comment on information of all sorts and to follow specific journalists,  professional or citzen. Video Sharing allows news stations to post video news and for the public to post videos they have that relate to current stories, what should be a story on products or general information.   You can also view videos on current books - book trailers. Podcasting allows IPod users to recieve highlights of current news stories or upload their favorite radio show.  News blogs often serve as a preview fo upcoming news stories, a pointer to interesting stories about a subject, or stories that don't make the paper or T.V.. With blogging you can also comment on news, magazine issues, products and radio shows. Twitter allows for delivery of news flashes, comments on topics, resource for ideas for future stories, and view novels in short snippits. Wikis have not been successful as readers flod sites with inappropriate material. Citizen journalism allows everday people to collect, report, analize and disseminate news and information. Are these tools providing better quality news and information? 

I have heard from friends that they heard about stories from a social media source long before that news was relayed through traditional news services.  With the general public being allowed to upload live news videos / stories, stories that might have been traditionally blocked by the goverment are now being seen/ heard. Does this represent quality? You might think it is great to hear about what is happening in other countries but would you want the rest of the world to know about these things? Is it possible that the information could lead to war or economic downfall? Even on a smaller basis companies might close or loose their good reputation all because of unqualified or incomplete comments. 
We want to believe that when CBC or CNN  reports a story, their professional approach ensures objectivity and the highest available degree of accuracy. Individual posts meanwhile provide little proof of their veracity. The references and links used might be from sources just as dubious. Does the number of people that agree on any subject make it any better or representative of the truth? How many people believed, in times past, that the earth was flat? Did the breaking news that earth was round get immediate buy-in by the masses? Heck, there are people in 2010 that still refuse to believe that the earth is round.

Given the opinions above, statistics and through my own personal opinions, Istill believe that quality has improved, not because of the stories that amateurs post or through their shared opinions listed online, but because news outlets, manufacturers face a check of their work; You can no longer film and edit a news story, editorialize, and market products as would have been the case in the past, as people are more informed and informed from a variety sources all at a much greater speed, thus making it difficult as it were to pull the wool over ones eyes.   

References

CNW Group. (2010). Experts to discuss and debate social media's impact on news at DigitalJournal.com's future of media event in toronto. Retreived October 12, 2010, from http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2010/25/c4926.html

Flat Earth Society. (1998). Retreived  Oct 12, 2010, from http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm 

Purcell, P., Raine L., Mitchell, A., Rosenstiel T., Olmstead, K. (2010). Understanding the Participatory News Consumer. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Online-News.aspx

uwacomm2203 ( June 11, 2008). Citizen journ vs traditional journ. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU5LonkXbCE&feature=player_embedded

Zhu, J. (2009). How do we quantify the quality of newspaper journalism?. RetreivedOct 12, 2010, from http://www.john-zhu.com/blog/2009/04/06/how-do-we-quantify-quality-of-newspaper-journalism/