In a March 23 RTNDA post by Lauren Viera, Amy Webb, principal consultant for Webbmedia, an online media consultancy based in Baltimore, said journalists shouldn’t wait for content to be delivered to them. “All social networks have search tools, making it possible to discover new ideas, sources and more by simply using a keyword or two,” she said.
The idea of using social networking sites as venues to find sources has been around for a while — for some journalists since the advent of social networking — but only in recent times has the practice lost the stigma once attached to it. The Web is teeming with sites full of ideas and sources, and there’s really no reason journalists shouldn’t utilize them to their full potential.
In the article, Viera says discussion boards and blogs, among other sources, were almost off-limits to professional journalists and for some traditional journalists, they still are. But why should journalists cut themselves off from valuable sources?
I’m sure the same problems arose when recording devices and computers came into the newsroom. When did the time come when e-mail interviews became acceptable? (Assuming they are.)
Sites like Ning, which is based around the idea of creating unique communities, offer journalists a place to go when they need sources either knowledgeable or just impassioned about a subject. The same goes for message boards and other online communities.
The big question here is, how should journalists go about this? In many, many cases, journalists look out of place on social networking sites, they jump into a(n oftentimes tight-knit) community, asking questions and searching for answers. That can’t be conducive to good journalism.
Filed under: Digital media, integration, journalists, Lauren Viera, social networking, Webbmedia
