Is social media making reporters lazy?

Jamila Bey, Jennifer Nycz-Conner, McLean Robbins, Lindsey Mastis, and Arthur Delaney talk social media.

Mary Fletcher Jones

Six notable local journalists gathered tonight at Busboys and Poets on 14th and V Streets in downtown Washington, DC to discuss how they use social media in their work. “Twitch: Public Relations in the Age of Social Media” was organized by Miller Littlejohn Media Group to examine the way reporters gather news through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and the way public relations professionals are interacting with the news media online.

Offering their views on social media, news gathering, and public relations were Jamila Bey of National Public Radio, Jennifer Nycz-Conner of Washington Business Journal, Arthur Delaney from the Huffington Post, Lindsey Mastis of WUSA9 News Now, and McLean Robbins, who writes for Washingtonian Magazine and DC Magazine.  NBC Universal's Jim Long moderated the panel.

The Value of Social Media for Journalists

All the journalists on the panel appeared to embrace social media as indispensable to their work.  Lindsey Mastis stated, ”I rely on social media every day for every story I'm working on.”  McLean Robbins asserted, “Everything I've done with social media has allowed me to be more connected to the people I'm talking to.”

Jennifer Nycz-Conner talks about the value of social media for journalists in this video.

Jamila Bey offered interesting insights before being called away early from the discussion on Haiti-related reporting business.  While Linda Mastis extolled the merits of Twitter, Ms. Bey mentioned that she found Facebook more important in her work.  "I guess 140 characters just doesn't do it for me,” stated Ms. Bey.  She shared a story of how she located a contact on Facebook for a report on home child-birth, and how the connections and interactions on that platform helped her develop the feature story.

Is Twitter Truly Representative of Public Opinion?

Arthur Delaney strongly dissented that Twitter was useful at all, however, asserting that in a year on Twitter, he had never really found it useful in his reporting work. “Twitter's for girls,” he jokingly said in a sneering tone.   While Twitter is heavily used by both reporters and public relations professionals, it would be difficult to use Twitter as a barometer for general public opinion, or to gauge consumer trends, although some of the panelists said they did just that.  AskMen.com conducted a survey in late 2009 and discovered that 87% of American men surveyed were not on Twitter.  The Pew Internet and American Life Project put that figure at a slightly lower 83% for the U.S. male population online in late 2009. 

Insights on Pitching to the Media

Credit goes to Amanda Miller Littlejohn for a well-organized, sell-out event that the audience appeared to enjoy.  There were few lightning-bolt revelations about social media and pitching from the panel, however.  Perhaps all the good advice has been said before, but if the reporters' expressed frustrations with publicists is any indication, the messages have yet to take hold in the PR community.  Before leaving, Ms. Bey cautioned that publicists shouldn't pitch her (at NPR) if the people the publicists represent aren't willing to talk on air.  Advice related to social media and online relationships echoed from similar panels presented by WWPR and PRSA-NCC not too long ago: don't become overly familiar with reporters online, tailor pitches to the reporter's beat, list press contacts on the company web site, and other good, common-sense advice. 

Has Social Media Made Reporters a Little Lazy, or Not?

What was surprising, however, was to hear the reporters admit that social media may have made their jobs a little too easy.  Jennifer Nycz-Conner admitted, ”There are times when it made me a lazy journalist.”  Jamila Bey referred to the all too easy temptation of not thoroughly verifying online resources, although she did claim that she stringently did so.  And Linda Mastis mentioned that she routinely used Twitter to measure whether a story had merit or if there would be interest in it.  She referred to an example where she suspected there was a problem with a local cable company.  However, on searching Twitter, she only found two complaints about the company.  Therefore, she dismissed the story as a non-issue.

DC Social Media Examiner Mary Fletcher Jones covers social media-related news and events in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Only stories and resources with a local focus are considered. Coverage may include reports, interviews, photographs, and video.  Please send social media-related press releases, photographs, event announcements (at least two weeks in advance for events), invitations, and video links to mary@fletcherprince.com.  (She also writes about local marketing and public relations news and events as the DC Marketing and PR Examiner)  Follow Mary on Twitter @FletcherPrince.