Twitter isn't news
by Annie Brown
April 14, 2019 09:24 PM Earlier this year, news outlets and journalists alike immediately pounced on a viral video from Twitter that showed several Covington Catholic High School students on the National Mall. According to the initial narrative, they were harassing an older Native American demonstrator.
By the time a full hour-and-a-half long video was released clearing the names of the students involved, the internet had already circulated the shorter video, making the world believe, if only briefly, that those kids with their "Make America Great Again" hats were racists, bigots, and bullies.
According to a study from the American Press Institute, “9 in 10 Twitter users, or 86%, say they use Twitter for news.†In 2015, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey tweeted his thanks to journalists for making Twitter a news site: “Journalists were a big part of why we grew so quickly and still a big reason why people use Twitter: news. It's a natural fit.â€
And yes, Twitter has proven to be revolutionary for news consumption. Yet, as tempting as it is to treat it as a true crowd-sourced news-gathering organization, it is far from that. And it isn't getting any closer, either.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/twitter-isnt-news