Leona O’Neill: We need trusted news sources more than ever

When I first started off in journalism, the internet was in its infancy. It was used mostly to do research, gathering information that had been digitalised from books and the like. Social media was just a glint in its tech daddy’s eye.

They were simpler times. Times when you got your news on radio and television bulletins, or when the newspaper came out. They were also times that you knew the information you were getting, from trusted sources, was accurate, fair and well researched as it was people’s actual job to make it so.

Times have changed dramatically since. There’s a growing band of people who peddle disinformation and breed distrust in the media, who call journalists the ‘enemy of the people’ and shout ‘fake news’ at investigations that make them look bad. And those people aren’t all across the pond wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ paraphernalia.

Social media is the phrase ‘a lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes’ made flesh. And I find it incredible that the people who are peddling the lies are the most vocal about the actual truth seekers – professional journalists – being untrustworthy.

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People seem more willing than ever to believe things online that fit their own narrative and beliefs as opposed to absorbing the actual facts and forming an opinion. It is the modern way.

Because I was a journalist, I know the research, care and numerous legal and moral checks that go into putting information out there in the public. It is the reason it grates with me that people just throw information out with no care if it’s correct or who it hurts.

Social media used to be an excellent tool to find out information quickly. Most of the media outlets would use it to reach audiences swiftly with breaking news. When a worldwide incident happened, there was no better place that Twitter in particular to get the latest, up-to-the-minute information.

Not now though. If it’s accurate information you’re after, social media is the very last place you should look. Hopefully this wild west will see people returning to their trusted sources.

News outlets have had a tough time during these transitions, but you need only take one look at social media when a worldwide story breaks to realise that we need our professional news sources now more than ever.

Take the recent Trump assassination attempt. Wild claims were platformed as soon as the guns went silent. Someone posted a video of an injured man, who later died, being carried away by medics. The post said he was the shooter – he wasn’t, rather an innocent bystander – and the comments underneath took seething vitriol to a whole new level. The post was seen by millions and shared thousands of times before being deleted and not mentioned again.

When I was searching social media for information I was met with conspiracy theorists and wannabe experts, their posts and views shared widely. It was hard to wade through and get to the facts.

Just this week, following the horrific, unfathomable murder of children at a Taylor Swift yoga class in Southport, conspiracy theorists and those who peddle hate for their own aims were pumping out false claims to suit their warped anti-immigration agendas in the midst of a heartbreaking tragedy.

We saw the damage social media inflicted on those closest to the Nicola Bulley and Jay Slater cases, with horrific misinformation and disinformation pushed out across social media and consumed by a rabid public only too willing to believe.

Professional news outlets and journalists are so important because they shine a light on important issues, present properly researched facts, and bring in actual experts on the topic so that people have all the correct information to make crucial decisions about themselves, their life and their family.

Social media is the phrase ‘a lie travels around the globe while the truth is putting on its shoes’ made flesh

News outlets have had a few challenging years, battling against social media for audience attention. Social media might imagine that they’ve won that war, but when no-one knows what to believe any more they will come back to trusted sources, not Andy from Glasgow who took a notion about something and ran with it.

Social media is awash with folks who depend on people not to question anything and to consume their wild ideas, who will tear down professional news outlets and journalists to make themselves appear superior. It is full of people who are willing to trample over fellow humans and hurt and damage society with their disinformation so they can make money.

Human nature is what it is. People will continue to believe what is convenient to them, listen to people who tell them what they want to hear.

But we can still hope a revolution is afoot and that people will get sick of amateur social media sleuths and come back to real, trusted journalism.