SOCIAL MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS:

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS DIVERTED THE MINDS OF JOURNALISTS

By Maritim Kipngetich

Lazy journalists follow social media pages of bigwigs to get information they claim to be from authoritative sources and yet they cannot take time to verify if such information is really true, Amos Kibet, Media Monitoring Officer at the Media Council of Kenya, said when he was addressing journalism students of the University of Nairobi on Thursday.

Kibet said scoop journalism is common nowadays and media houses have rushed to publish information that they cannot fully verify.

He said media houses should not fully rely on information they get from the social media since accounts of some people in higher ranks in both government and private institutions are sometime hacked by unknown people. He gave an example of the deputy president’s twitter account which was hacked by al-Shabaab terror group in March this year.

Kibet cited citizen journalism as the main threat to professional journalism saying that professional journalists sometimes hide information considered to be sensitive to the public only to find that citizen journalists have posted in the social media. He said photos of massacred people are always not portrayed in the mainstream media, but their photos are found circulating in the social media.

However, Kibet blamed journalists saying they are the one posting sensitive photos in their social media accounts since more often than not they are the first one to get to the scene of mayhem to take photos before the public arrives. He, therefore, warned journalists to use their social media accounts with caution.

He never gave an upper hand to media houses who publish sensitive photos in the name of public interest. He said there is need to teach media houses what public interest means in journalism.

“Definition of public interest is required for media houses to know what it really means. They are using it blindly,” Kibet said.

Veteran journalist Dr. Samuel Siringi also addressed the students and he said social media has diverted the minds of journalists.

“Social media has caused a serious dilemma in the media houses and journalists should be wary about it,” Dr. Siringi said.

Dr. Siringi said there is need to have social media policies to guide journalists who are using social media.

“Who is setting the agenda? Is it social media or mainstream media houses,” he asked warning that journalists should be careful when getting views of a certain issue from the people using social media. He said that some people run several social media accounts and one may use one’s accounts to comment on the issue. And in search scenarios, journalists will rush to the social media and start writing stories basing on “the views of Kenyans in the social media” and yet it may be only two people giving their views.

The Chairman of Editor’s Guild, however, said journalists are advised to use social media accounts of the people in government and private institutions if only they can ascertain that they are their official accounts.