What was your first job as a journalist?
my first job as a journalist In fact, that's the kind of profession we're in. When I joined the profession 16 years ago, many seniors told me it was a profession that was risky. I still came to it. Almost all of us have come here knowing the risks of this profession. Even then we are working.
I think every day we have to face risks and challenges. Journalists must always be prepared for such changes and challenges. .
Have you ever used a typewriter?
I prefer pitches via email. I do respond if I'm not going to cover the story you pitch me. If emailing, my ideal email length is 4+ paragraphs and it is ok to follow-up on emails. I always check newswires for new story ideas.
How is social media changing news?
In a recent survey, 50 percent of Internet users surveyed said that they hear about the latest news via social media before ever hearing about it on a news station. Many internet users will see the breaking stories on their feed and go to the news sites to learn more. The survey found 57 percent increase in traffic to news sites referred from social media.
However, there has been a decrease in how much of an article that people read. Most people will just scroll through their newsfeed and stumble upon relevant news content but just read the headlines or a short video clip of the piece. An average visitor will only read an article for 15 seconds or less and the average video watch time online is 10 seconds.
However, social platforms have a control over what news and information we see. Our social media friends have become the “managing editors” deciding what we see. An article needs to be "liked" and shared multiple times before many people see it in their feed. Therefore social media and your social friends have control over what news pieces you see and what you do not. There are also many "fake news" websites that compete for attention with sensational headlines and ridiculous storylines that tend to get shared more often due to the lack of readers fact checking or reading more than the headline. That means that authentic content is hard to come by now. In fact, fake news is actually more likely to spread than the truth.
