Scorn if you like, but I like the deets

By Ivan Morgan

Okay. Prepare to roll your eyes but also prepare to hear me out.
I have been a media hound my whole life. I have been a reporter, a journalist, a communications hack and a columnist, but mainly I have been a follower (in modern terms a consumer) of media.
I still read and take in a great deal of journalism and news reporting. When there is a crisis that goes quadruple. The recent fire crisis had me all over various media, especially (sorry CBN and other places) when it looked like it would spread to my own town.
I always have a radio with batteries for such events and was glued to VOCM radio. To my mind they are far and away superior to any other outlet for that sort of “on the spot” coverage, keeping me posted at all times on whatever the latest developments were.
But I am here to tell you there may be a new kid in town: social media – specifically Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Let me explain.
I am reading an autobiography of an American newspaper journalist you’ve probably never heard of, James Ruston, whose career spanned 60 years – the 1930’s to the 1990’s – covering, among other things, 10 Presidents.
Ruston wrote about starting his career as a cub reporter in the early 1930’s when everyone depended on newspapers for their information. He noted there was a lot of scorn at the time amongst older journalists for a new upstart media – radio. His bosses saw it as a flash in the pan, a gimmick – and unreliable too.
He wrote about how decades later radio and newspaper journalists looked down their noses at another upstart media bound to fail – television.
That got me thinking. During the coverage of these wildfires, from time to time politicians, communications flaks and mainstream media people took the time to diss social media and caution people to only pay attention to government info. A lot of scorn was heaped on news from Facebook etcetera.
Is there a pattern here? I don’t know and that’s why I am asking.
I’m not a conspiracy nut. Government is not out to get us (they’re not competent enough). I still think it’s sound advice in an emergency to listen to government officials, who mean well. But only officials? When a politician heaps scorn on those using social media for news, they are basically implying you and I are too stupid to tell the difference between fact and fiction. We’re not.
A lot of stuff that happens around here is never covered by traditional news media. I have been following two Facebook sites, the unfortunately named “Newfoundland Skeets in the Street” and “NFLD Bulletin.” I have no skin in their game. I have no idea who runs these, or why, or what – if any – is their agenda. This is no endorsement other than to observe they often break news hours if not days ahead of other media. Stuff you won’t read almost anywhere else. Especially regarding the enormous increase in crime in this province. If you are interested, and I am, they cover a lot more than the vague, terse, “mind your own business” style of RNC releases, which are often just faithfully copied by the mainstream media. They give you deets. They seem reliable.
Like any new media outlets of the past, scorn, disdain and open hostility from established sources is part of the business. I know, I have certainly experienced my share over the years.
I have no idea if this is a new trend or if I am a silly old fart blowing smoke. But for those faceless folks posting online media reports and being laughed and sneered at, I offer this quote often attributed to Mahatma Ghandi: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com