Networked Journalism Case Study

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As the nature of modern day conflict evolves, the news organization has also been forced to change their practices in order to adequately represent these conflicts to their audiences. “Networked journalism” has played a large role in covering modern day conflicts and its benefits have been instrumental for the work of journalists around the world. While networked journalism has permanently changed the way traditional media outlets operates, it has also created significant challenges for journalism pertaining to the verification of information, the capacity to build networks and adjusting older business models. (Beckett, 2010) For the purposes of this essay, I will use the case study of reporting the crisis in Syria, specifically the civil war and coalition fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), to illustrate the challenges associated with networked journalism. …show more content…

The network race to “break news” is increasingly occurring on social media and important stories such as the plane crash into the Hudson river, plane crashes and even electoral victors are all happening on social media. (Beckett, 2010) The result of expanded participation on social media has presented a challenge for networked journalism as it must learn to deal with increased dissemination of false, inaccurate information. As the race to break news first amongst networks continues, Beckett warns that the basic rules of journalism still apply and journalists must make sure they are cross checking information from social media with other sources. It is nearly impossible for traditional news organizations to perform the same level of checks that “official sources” might allow and network journalism provides little or no mechanism to hold sources who disseminate inaccurate information to account. (Mansell & Beckett,

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