AlWatan Newspaper

I recently participated in a seminar titled “The Journalist in the Digital World”. As an opinion article writer at Al-Watan and an academic at the University of Jeddah, I do not only depend on my experience in writing opinion articles, but I also use my academic experience in researching and analyzing information before writing.

When I arrived at the seminar, I found a few knowledgeable women who participated in the discussion and added value to it. Some of them were interested in journalism and attended the seminar specifically to learn more about the responsibilities of journalists in today’s digital world.

There have been major changes in the field of journalism, such as the rise of social media users, bloggers and individuals reporting as citizen journalists. One phenomenon in particular that is somewhat alarming is the sudden appearance of people whom we know very little about, who suddenly become the center of news and with millions of followers online.

This phenomenon raises a number of important questions: What actually is journalism? Who is going to pay for any mistakes that may occur after something is reported or published? Whom do we call a journalist?

Until recently, the answers to these questions were clear in that a journalist is usually a person who collects and writes news or other current information and distributes it to the public. However, in today’s technological world, we find a large number of people who claim to be journalists.

Social media has opened the door for anyone to share information with the public regardless of their actual job or who they are. The question is: Do we call anyone who shares information with the public a journalist? Let us say that I created a personal blog and that I started sharing news related to culture, politics, society and arts, would that make me an actual journalist? If I posted on Twitter or shared posts on Facebook or any other social media website, would this be enough to get myself a journalist’s ID and allow me to call myself a journalist?

Some journalists say, “If journalism is to let people know what they want to know, then what I do is journalism.” Others say, “Tweeting and blogging is journalism.” But isn’t journalism about investigating and understanding the ways of writing and publishing reports without crossing privacy limits?

The Society of Professional Journalists in the United States shared on its official website the Code of Ethics that every journalist should follow. This includes many responsibilities and some of them include seeking the truth when reporting. This means testing the accuracy of information, identifying sources whenever feasible, and supporting the open exchange of views even views that one does not agree with.

The second responsibility of a journalist is to minimize harm, meaning to show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. The third responsibility is to act independently and that includes being free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.

Finally, a journalist must be accountable, which means being accountable to his/her readers, listeners and viewers, admitting if mistakes are made and correcting them promptly.

So, let us get back to our question: “Are social media celebrities considered journalists without even belonging to a journalism group?”

Of course, over the years, journalism has always undergone change. However, the change we see today because of social media and technology is negatively affecting journalism and making its future unpredictable. Due to the quick sharing of information without adhering to any unified code of ethics, the journalism profession is being negatively affected. Journalism along with the general public will pay the price of the rise of social media because journalism is one profession that should never be commercialized. On the other hand, citizen journalism should never be a source of information since the citizen is reporting information based only on his views and personal beliefs.

A professional journalist commenting on the radical changes in reporting and publishing news said that these changes will affect journalism and we will most likely see news being covered by both professional and citizen journalists. So, professional journalists should accept the contribution of citizen journalists in publishing news, but will digital journalism, in cooperation with citizen journalists, create a perfect media product in the future?

According to many opinions that I have heard expressed by journalists, there is a willingness on the part of many journalists to accept the participation of the public in sharing information. Indeed, this has become a reality that must be accepted.

One experienced journalist suggested creating an environment to invest in this cooperation in order to follow a code of ethics. This would include investigating the authenticity of information through editing, researching and analyzing. In fact, this would help to strengthen journalism and help it to cope with this digital era if the right writers were provided with the right supervision.

A famous journalist once said: “We visit places our audience is unable to visit, we dig deep into topics and places our audience will not be able to look into, and we devote our time to researching and ensuring the truth wherein others would not bother to do so.” And another said: “We used to say that only journalists are capable of reporting but today anyone present when a certain incident occurs can report on the issue. Journalists now are almost in competition with random reporters.”

Does all of this indicate the end of journalism as a profession? Of course not, but what I would recommend to actual journalists is to find new ways of interacting with their audience and cooperating with them because people can, in fact, access information easily in today’s technological world.

This reality is changing the way that news is reported. It is obvious that not everyone, especially social media personalities, is qualified to report on news or events, but people still follow those on social media and believe what they say due to their quick sharing of information. I encourage journalists to deal with this phenomenon and not sacrifice quality to gain followers or likes and to allow journalism to be a profession open to anyone, regardless of the level of their popularity.