Web 2.0: The Effects of Social Media on Accuracy and Timeliness in Coverage of the Sandusky Scandal
Open Access
Author:
Oh, Anita Hyun
Area of Honors:
Journalism
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Russell Frank, Thesis Supervisor Russell Frank, Thesis Honors Advisor Russell Edgar Eshleman Jr., Faculty Reader
Keywords:
sandusky scandal joe paterno social media twitter facebook accuracy credibility news
Abstract:
The platform of news media is constantly and rapidly evolving as the Internet permeates the ways news outlets communicate with the public, and the ways we communicate with each other. If previously, news organizations were the gatekeepers of journalism, now, the public voice can create a news network of its own by quickly sharing information through social media. Web 2.0 (namely, the social media networks of Facebook and Twitter) has re-shaped journalism, transforming the news industry into a much more comprehensive, feedback-oriented and instant realm of connection between the givers and bearers of news. The new media is the public media – a new generation of journalism spread in the form of “re-Tweets,” Facebook “likes” and blogs. An example of the new era of journalism is the breaking of the “Sandusky scandal” at the Pennsylvania State University in 2011, when reporters scrambled to be first in breaking the news, at times overlooking accuracy.
The questions this thesis will attempt to answer are (1) how did social media have an effect in the coverage of the events leading up to, during and after the “Sandusky Scandal” at the Pennsylvania State University; (2) has social media simultaneously created more pressure to break news first and a higher tolerance for errors; and (3) given new modes of communication and instant information, how will journalists maintain credibility in the future?
