黑料社区

PARIS: Few will lose as much as journalists if Twitter dies, having grown reliant on its endless sources and instant updates despite the dangers and distortions that come with it.
There has been fevered talk of the platform鈥檚 imminent demise since billionaire Elon Musk took over last month and began firing vast numbers of staff.
But most journalists 鈥渃an鈥檛 leave,鈥� said Nic Newman, of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually a really important part of their work.鈥�
Newman was working at the BBC when Twitter started making waves in 2008 and 2009.
鈥淚t was a new Rolodex, a new way of contacting people 鈥� fantastic for case studies and... experts,鈥� he said.
But Twitter also became a competitor, replacing newsrooms as the source of breaking news for the public when terrorist attacks, natural disasters or any fast-moving story struck.
鈥淛ournalists realized they wouldn鈥檛 always be the ones breaking the news and that their role was going to be different 鈥� more about contextualising and verifying that news,鈥� said Newman.
It also meant journalists were tied to the platform for announcements by politicians and celebrities 鈥� most famously the dreaded late-night and early-morning tweets from Donald Trump that left hundreds of journalists sleep-deprived throughout his presidency.

The dependency has bred many problems.
New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo spoke for many in 2019 when he wrote that 鈥淭witter is ruining American journalism鈥� with the way it 鈥渢ugs journalists deeper into the rip currents of tribal melodrama, short-circuiting our better instincts in favor of mob- and bot-driven groupthink.鈥�
By rewarding the most vehement voices, the platform tends to drown out the majority of the population 鈥� both moderates and non-elites.
鈥淭he debates that happen on Twitter are very much the debates of the elite,鈥� said Newman. 鈥淚t has definitely been a problem in newsrooms.鈥�
鈥淧aying attention only to Twitter tends to distort the way that many people, including journalists, see the world,鈥� agreed Mathew Ingram, digital media specialist at the Columbia Journalism Review.
Though he hopes they have grown savvy enough to deal with the distortions, journalists have been subjected to a 鈥渉uge tide of disinformation and harassment.鈥�
But for all the frantic talk over Musk鈥檚 volatile tenure, many believe the site will survive.
鈥淔or the record, I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 all that likely that Twitter will shut down anytime soon,鈥� said Stephen Barnard, a sociologist at Butler University in the United States.
But he said journalists have good reason to fear its disappearance.
鈥淭hey would lose access to what is for many a very large, powerful and diverse social network... (and) also a positive source of prestige and professional identity,鈥� Barnard said.
鈥淭here is no real heir apparent in that space, so I鈥檓 not sure where they would go,鈥� he added.
On the plus side, Ingram said, it could spur a return to 鈥渕ore traditional ways of researching and reporting.鈥�
鈥淧erhaps that would be a good thing,鈥� he added.