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That whirling sound you heard was “Uncle Walter” * (see bottom of page) spinning in his CBS grave while the accompanying thud above ground was in the mainstream news media outlets across the state and the world. They were hearing for the first time that the majority of news consumers are being fed by social media.
Egad’s.
Say it isn’t so is the likely biased response in the MSM newsrooms as they knew this day was coming and “whoomp there it is!”
The Reuters Institute Digital News Report ruined the day of all those reporters and news honchos with this finding.
Around the world 54% get their news appetite fed by social media while 52% still sit in front of the boob-tube and another 51% still go to newspaper web sights since readers pretty much don’t go to the front door any more to get a copy of their friendly rag.
If there is any solace in the numbers it is that the contest is not a complete runaway. But don’t fool yourself. It is only a matter of time before that 54% figure mushrooms into the 60-70% range with a corresponding drop in the other two categories.
And you’re saying, “So what?” (Hopefully not,)
Great question.
Back in those innocent days when social media was just beginning to weasel into the “news biz”, when giving a speech, one would ask where do you get your news. And over time, each time it was asked the response “Facebook” would surface. Which gave the speaker an opportunity to do a little preaching about how that medium was not a form of real journalism. Virtually anybody at anytime, if they had a lap top, an IQ higher than the average temperature during winter, and with something to say, could act like a reporter and put it out there to see how many “hits” one could get. Lost on the masses was the fact that before a bona fide reporter put his or her finger on the key board, it was a good bet they did some fact checking to make sure their story was as close to the truth that one could get. No such standard was require on the Internet. In fact to do so got in the way of allowing anyone to say anything they wanted and let the chips fall where they may.
To which you may repeat, “So what?”
Turns out when it comes to the publishing of political news, the so what is a biggy for one reason.The Democracy holds Freedom of the Press in high regard because the accuracy of what is being shared wth the citizenry is aimed at proving reliable information they can use to judge the kind of work our elected officials are doing.Then at election time, one can use that to make voting decisions. If it’s garbage in from social media, it’s bad news on the Democratic side coming out the other in.
Yet as we see with this new Reuter’s data, 54% of the public is using perhaps, one of the most unreliable political news doubted that one could digest. And to make matters worse, it’s a good bet that the social media users are gravitating to the “news” that supports their own views rather than explore the news from all political angles including the one straight down the middle in the MSM.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You believe the MSM is just as bias as everyone else. That to be saved for another day.
The climate on this issue in the United States is even worse in that 56% are social media news hounds, 45% go to the TV and 45% to newspaper via the Internet. But when you add up all the social media options, it wins going away.
– 36% in the U.S. go to Facebook.
– 33% hop on You Tube.
– 18% on Instagram which is down slightly.
“X” logs in at 16% along with Tik Tok at 10% and 9% at Reddit.
Podcasts are like noses. It seems like everyone has one and 14% of the news audience is listening.
And then there is radio with 10% of the news audience and the newspapers at 8% and drowning.
However here is what is driving these number regardless of platform.
– 45% claim they “often” avoid the news.
– 28% “sometimes” don’t read, watch or listen and 17% have no interest at all. Aren’t you glad you are reading this column?
If there is a glimmer of hope in all this, glum on to this: 75% express their concerns about online misinformation.
Ya think!
* For those too young to know or remember, Uncle Walter is Walter Cronkite, former anchor of the CBS Evening News and often revered as the most trusted person in America…before they had all this other stuff now.