When a plane crashed in Denver last December, local media outlets had the standard outside accounts of the event.
Yet, the most compelling narrative came from inside the plane from @2drinksbehind.
And no one was picking up the feed.
Today, Steve Buttry, social media guru and editor at Gazette Communications in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will speak about the changing face of technology and ethics in journalism and how journalists can use them to their advantage at the Journalism 2.0 Ethics & Technology Seminar.
The plane crash story is just one example of how micro-blogging Web site Twitter is the most valuable tool for journalists since the spreadsheet or the cell phone, Buttry said.
“If a reporter has a beat with breaking news and he isn’t using Twitter, I will kick that reporter’s ass every time,” Buttry said.
Buttry, who uses Twitter, Facebook, and has a journalism Web site and a blog, will share his insights on the benefits of social media for journalism.
The four-part seminar runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Regency Room in the Nebraska Union.
Buttry is on the cutting edge with changes in the industry, said journalism professor Sue Burzynski Bullard.
“This guy is wired,” Bullard said. “For students, Steve is the classic example of what they need to know for their future in the profession.”
The seminar will focus on new media but reinforce old ethical principles.
It begins at 8:30 a.m. with a discussion on how Twitter, Facebook and other social networking can benefit journalists.
The second section deals with the guidelines of blogging.
Breaking news has changed with the proliferation of instant blogging via cell phones and the Internet, but the ethical principals of accuracy and verification still apply. Buttry will discuss the balance between breaking news first and the importance of accuracy in part three.
The fourth section will discuss visual journalism and digital manipulation of photos and video.
While the seminar is geared toward journalism students, Buttry and Bullard both said the ethical principals of communications apply to any student.
The ethics of a particular profession apply across many professions, Buttry said.
Bullard said the seminar is relevant to any media consumer because it’s important to understand the ethics and thought process.
Buttry said he thinks the tools and techniques available to journalists are changing faster now than at any point during his career.
“It changes the circumstances of journalism, and it changes the circumstance of ethical decision making,” he said.
Buttry will go through some scenarios and possibilities where social media and journalistic principals conflict and beg the question, “Are there some ways for the world to change dramatically enough that we need to adjust the principles?”
Bullard advises early arrival as she expects an overflow crowd of more than 100 at each seminar.
jordanpascale@dailynebraskan.com
Be the first to comment on this article!