Nowadays, more people get news from social media, such as Facebook and Twitter than ever. According to the report released by Pew Research Center in 2018, it was found that about two-thirds of people in the U.S. prefer to receive news from websites. Despite that statistics, a substantial amount of those people perceive news with skepticism and disbelief. Reportedly, though, their mistrust in the news on social media does not interfere with their orientation in current events. Americans believe that the news on social media is more “convenient” and practical than other news sources.
This argument is especially widespread among young adults with dynamic lifestyles, as they prefer to read the news on their phones on their way to work, for instance, or even at work. Social media websites, such as Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter excel among other news sources for their exceptional amount of users who share news on their platforms, making it easier for other users to search up any piece of useful information.
There are undoubtedly demographical differences in the way people read their news. More so it depends on their views and lifestyles. Older people tend to have their traditional methods of reading news, as they have lived the majority of their life without being exposed to such phenomena as the Internet. Older generations cannot adapt to using phones, for instance. Therefore, it is easier for them to grab a newspaper and read it, or in some cases, watch the news on television. Younger people, on the other hand, have gotten used to having gadgets around them at all times. Therefore, it seems more convenient for them to use their phones, tablets, computers to read the news.
Furthermore, such a phenomenon as the digitization of news content prefers young people who spend more time on their gadgets than on television and in print media.I like to read the news on social media because it is fast and available. The power of social media in the 21st century is undeniably strong, with the number of active users and content covering various topics, ranging from politics to food recipes. Popular news outlets, including BBC and CNN, have used social media as a way to gain a mandatory element of a modern market strategy. Reading news in BBC’s official page on Instagram, for instance, has become a modern way of promotion, and an additional source of income, and a form of audience development.
In the era of digitalization of information, it has become impossible to rely on only one news source. It is very well known that individual news companies partner with political parties, like FOX News and the Republican Party in the United States. They propagate Republican campaigns, report the news as they are told to, and filter the events in the world to create a particular opinion in their audiences. For example, provocative news and headlines are generally intended to cause a planned public outcry, turning into mass protest actions. Moreover, provocative news can be based on real facts and events. These pieces of information can significantly destabilize the situation in a particular region, industry, or sphere of life.
Although news, like any information, obeys specific laws and rules, it is hard to sort credible news from untrustworthy ones. However, the readers should pay attention to the nature and content of the press, try to understand the purpose pursued by the newsmakers. Sometimes it can be an attempt to discredit specific actions or words of representatives of the authorities, business, public figures, and sometimes it can be a very opinionated showdown of significant players in the economic sphere or the political arena, etc.
Readers should also be guarded by vivid, flashy images, quotes, memes, and archetypes in headings, context, photographs, illustrations, etc. The psychological effect of such illustration in the news disables the reader’s logic, and it becomes harder to discreet the news’ credibility.
Journalists are often characterized by having courage, a sense of humor, perseverance, dedication and honesty. Representatives of such profession should never appropriate egoism, vanity, unscrupulousness, cynicism, and corruption in their works. Journalists should sincerely seek to improve life through their ability to raise awareness in the society and work for their own ideological reasons.