Rephrasy vs Stealth Writer

Social media has forever changed the way news is reported, consumed and promoted, and created a climate of misinformation and unchecked statements.

Independent newsrooms often operate with much fewer resources than their legacy media counterparts. Local reporters at smaller papers often follow topics that the national media consider in silos. They follow a school board, or a police department, or a particular beat, understanding the interconnections over time.

The same platforms that helped find a home for independent journalism are now curtailing its reach. Feeds are bombarded with too much information to sustain undistracted engagement with original reporting, analysis, and commentary. When everything is a click away, getting through to informed readers is a race against competing headlines.

Verification is therefore key to a journalist’s success. Reporters can establish their credibility by making their motivations clear, by explaining their methods when covering a story or investigating a person, and by fact-checking and admitting error. They also confirm the identity and expertise of sources, so that readers may assess for themselves whether they should accept their claims. Reporters can show the path that they took to their conclusions, presenting details about who they interviewed and how they investigated, or by placing documents in the public record.

Independence matters, too. Journalists hold the powerful accountable in part because they work for entities that are themselves not directly subject to the political, business or social pressures those in power can exert.

Money remains a great mechanism for focusing the minds of journalists and outlets. Readers want to know who is paying their news providers. Subscriptions, donations and memberships are increasingly used to fund journalism, replacing advertising, which has declined as consumers switch to ad-free online services, as online ad sales have been cornered by Google and Facebook, and as the increasing use of smartphones has fragmented advertising revenue.

The distinction between independent and platform-dependent media will play a major role in how we use social media. Strong outlets use social media as a tool to broadcast their own stories, not as the primary host for their content.

In a crowded newsfeed, it’s hard to know whether to trust “legitimate” news or headline “baits”. Only when a journalist deeply investigates the story behind such headline labels can readers decide what they want to trust.

Independent journalism gets a new lease of life in social media times

Social media has changed the way people are being exposed to the news. A video from someone can go viral before a reporter even arrives, and a claim may take off from some anonymous person on the net before anyone ever investigates. Twenty texts per minute is an opportunity and a responsibility to independent journalists: to investigate what is going on, without assuming popular is proof.

Small news sites don't necessarily have the same size audience or access to the financial resources of big news companies, but they can draw attention to issues that might not be covered otherwise. Local journalists can be present at council meetings and can follow-up with residents after the excitement over an issue has died down and view the public records. Outlets and freelancers can also contribute knowledge and views that help to diversify public debate.

These features that enable journalists to connect with the audience can, instead, make journalistic work more difficult. Social-media feeds favor the quick reactions and careful reporting requires time. By the time a true picture is coming out, it may be too late to undo the damage of a false clip that the public has been told. Journalists have been subjected to harassment for questioning a popular line of thought to be expanded and the algorithm change of a platform can drastically affect an outlet's reach.

The verification hence plays a key role in the job. Reporters can find out from the footage when and where it was shot and contact witnesses and request documents that might shed light on the issue. They can describe what they know, what they don't know and how they have come to a conclusion. That's a process in which audiences can evaluate evidence, something they can't do with a repost.

Independence matters, too. An independent newsroom is more likely to ask tough questions — and to be more likely to ask them, you need a newsroom that is independent of a political party, independent of the government, independent of a powerful business. Independence does not imply lack of accountability. Disclosure of funding, publication of editorial policies and willingness to present evidence make it possible for readers to determine if an outlet is trustworthy.

Access to funds is still an issue. The dollars from advertising, in particular, do not always go with the original reporting, particularly when a lot of the chatter takes place on platforms the newsroom doesn't control. Investigations can be supported by subscriptions, donations and grants, but both offer their challenges that journalists have to shoulder as transparently as possible.

Independent journalism hasn't been destroyed by social media. It has drawn attention to the importance of distributing information and reporting it. The best independent outlets are utilizing online tools to get source material and to share their findings in an evidence rather than engagement-based editorial process.

The only place that value might be most apparent is when a journalist asks one more question after a viral post seems to have put the question to rest. That's slower, responsible feeding and it's a necessary function of public good in a crowded feed.