ONLINE JOURNALISM IS LESS CREDIBLE AS COMPARED TO
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
Credibility of online has been question by public lately whether the
sources are credible or too much information. Some of the news has been
manipulated and spun to fulfill certain agenda. According to Swope (1882), the
first duty of a newspaper is to be accurate. If it follows that it is fair. But
the online media is aimed to put the mainstream media to shame.
Online
media contain too much information that lead to overload. The information was
not exactly telling the truth. It is all rooted back to the human behavior.
There are standard of journalism are being ignored. One of the controversial issues
is media bias, especially on political issues. However people keep on accepting
the untruth as truth. In addition, most people
neither have time to verify its accuracy nor go back to the same site because
the browser may fail to find it again.
The
credibility on online journalism also affected because of the source of
information. Somehow, the source of information also cannot be trusted. This is
because; the information is taken from wrong people who have zero knowledge
about certain issue. Some of them give information because of money. When the
source of the information itself is not valuable, same goes to the information
on online journalism. They are not being fair on giving information.
The
immediacy of online can affect the information because the write is human being
and they makes mistake. According to
Lynch (2009) online users want information right away after the incident
happens – and that means deadlines around the clock. Some editors say that's
simply what wire services have been doing for years. Others argue that the
pressure to publish has never been greater – and with that comes new questions
about accuracy, credibility and balance.
Other
than that, the credibility of online journalism also becomes less credible when
plagiarism takes place. With only by clicking the mouse, they can copy image
and information and claim it that it is theirs. The culture of the online is
based on openness and sharing and the culture of newsroom is despised copying
of any kind. Besides that, linking, cookies (online tracking devices) and
advertising relationships are among the most pressing ethical issues
confronting online journalists. But they are far from the only situations
raising new questions.
Moreover,
some news on online journalism is manipulated and in some cases people trying
to break peoples down and put them in risk. This is directly shows that people
nowadays don’t really care about others and people lose their humanity for a
good story. This kind of story may affect the victim’s life and also the
family. Some people lose their job because of this. This also shows that
technology indirectly affects people life in negative way.
As
for the conclusion, it is true that online journalism is less credible compared
to mainstream media. For those who prefer to get an information from online
media should seek for more detail and prove before publish anything. This is
where research is important.