On the relationship between mainsteam media, social media and academia 1: Mainstream media and social media’s complex relationship

This series of posts is an examination of the relationships that exist amongst three of the types of writing that I have been associated in one way or another for the past few years. As an academic, I have been trained to keep “an objective position” (please do note my quotation marks – given that I’ve been also trained in qualitative research, I know how hard and almost futile it is to maintain such objective position).

This series of posts is inspired by the constant flurry of articles I see both on the mainstream media and in new media outlets debating on whether mainstream media is becoming less relevant and less fast at gathering facts, whether it is being replaced by blogging or whether they can have any sort of good relationship. Furthermore, I am someone who conducts academic, peer-reviewed research and publishes in international journals. I am used to talk to mainstream media (MSM) outlets and have my findings disseminated to a general audience. But furthermore, I *am* a blogger. I love writing and I love writing about my research too. So, while I don’t see myself as a media outlet, I have relationships with media and I am also involved in writing.

The debate centered on the instantaneous nature of social media and how it has sometimes beaten mainstream media to the punch is exemplified with the case of the US Airways plane ditching on the Hudson River, where the first photograph of the plane was taken by someone who uploaded it to Twitpic and disseminated it on Twitter.

Frankly, given that I am friends on Twitter (and in some cases, in real life) with folks from the mainstream media who *are* trying hard to understand the social media world, I am always amazed at the heated discussions that arise between journalists and bloggers. Heck, even The Huffington Post has recognized that it won’t replace The New York Times! I have written about the complex relationship between bloggers and journalists before.

I would like to bring academia as an additional actor in the dyad bloggers-journalists. I am not sure yet how to frame it, but this series of posts should help me frame my thinking around it. I also would like to point out that the changing and ever-evolving relationship between blogging and journalism is part of what Michael Geist calls “The New Normal”.

There’s one point where I am thinking blogging, academic writing and journalism converge – sources and speed of publication. An academic is required to double, triple-check their facts and conduct thorough research that, naturally, slows down the speed of publication. This standard of research depth is part of the training academics have. I’ve also seen journalists say that they are required to double and triple-check their facts and sources, whereas apparently bloggers don’t (I have to say that I disagree with this point, because a lot of bloggers DO do a lot of research and are extremely accurate in doing their source-checking, fact-checking and cross-linking). But one thing is true – in the spectrum of publishing speed, the fastest you can get is through publishing a blog post, then a newspaper article, and the slowest time from generation to publication is for sure the academic journal article.

Of course, as with all my posts, feel free to chime in your thoughts.

Related posts:

1. 2008 – A year in review – social media
2. The slow merging of my two worlds (academia and blogging)
3. Social media tools and academia
4. Coverage of Pride Vancouver by the mainstream media
5. Developing thicker skin in academia and in blogging