In light of recent protests and their portrayal in the media, the credibility and bias of national news outlets have been brought into question. National news traditionally attempts to offer a neutral and balanced viewpoint. However, their coverage of recent protests has taken a certain bias and has left people to resort to Twitter to understand the full truth.
“Kill the Bill” demonstrations have been taking place across the country but the protests in Bristol have especially been a discussion point on the news. What had started as peaceful protests ended in violence between protesters and police. Videos of the violence went viral on Twitter.
When reporting on this, many newspapers focused on headlines like “police attacked”. This may, unfortunately, be true but doesn’t portray the whole series of events and immediately places the entire blame on protesters.
https://twitter.com/empowordjournos/status/1375500885430841356
Social justice movements are very heavily opinionated subjects so even national news, perhaps unconsciously, provides a biased report. If the matter is extreme enough to cause protests then evidently there are very strong opinions involved on both sides.
It is very difficult to keep a neutral position on such sensitive subjects and news outlets are often hesitant to openly disfavour the government. This is especially the case with the BBC, who usually try to provide quite unbiased reports because they were founded by the government.
The unconscious slight favouring towards the police and leadership in reports on protest only infuriates those with opposing views even more, as they feel once again betrayed by the establishment.
“Many turn to Twitter for information when they feel let down by the traditional media’s coverage.”
As an alternative, Twitter is able to provide insights into these movements that are hidden and censored from national news.
Twitter is very useful to use in conjunction with the national news. People are able to share their own experiences and opinions completely unedited and without having to fit the mainstream media’s image.
Consequently, many turn to Twitter for information when they feel let down by the traditional media’s coverage. Videos, images and stories are freely shared and there are so many users that you are quickly able to find someone who shares your opinion. It provides alternative views to the main narrative and allows people to feel that they are getting the real story.
Although it may be a useful tool, Twitter would not be a reliable source to get all your news from. Anyone can post on the platform, making it common for false news and misleading stories to appear.
“Bias doesn’t devalue Twitter as a platform as long as it is something you are aware of and as long as you do not get stuck in your own echo chamber.”
As well as that, there is also the issue of bias. Personally, I tend to follow and engage with those with similar viewpoints and political standings as me and so my Twitter feed typically has a bias towards these views.
Bias doesn’t devalue Twitter as a platform as long as it is something you are aware of and as long as you do not get stuck in your own echo chamber.
Some users turn to Twitter in anger and frustration after their stories have been hidden or told incorrectly by the national news which can, unfortunately, turn it into more of a defensive argument than a report.
These overly opinionated tweets are useful in their own right, educating us on how certain individuals and groups feel about events, but their primary usefulness is perhaps not telling balanced recollections of events.
“Maybe in years to come, Twitter will begin to replace traditional news sources but in its current form its reliability is limited.”
Twitter is invaluable in allowing people to share their opinions and add insights to censored national news reports but on its own would not be a reliable news source.
Both resources are more useful when used together as they provide multiple opinions to help provide a more inclusive and informative narrative and to avoid hearing very one-sided stories. Both are, of course, subject to bias that consumers must be mindful of, just Twitter is far more accessible so there are more instances of fake news and biased reports going viral.
The way we consume media is constantly changing so maybe in years to come, Twitter will begin to replace traditional news sources but in its current form, its reliability is limited.
Ella Gilbert
Tweet to @ellagilbertx
Featured image is courtesy of Zachary Keimig on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
Ella Gilbert
Ella is History and Spanish student at the University of Sheffield. She is the social media manager for Empoword and a keen writer for various publications. When not writing or studying (which is far more often than she'd like to admit), you can find her exploring the outdoors, going out for drinks with friends, or in bed with Netflix and TikTok.