You’ll meet NBC News correspondent Hallie Jackson. With her mobile device in hand, Jackson is constantly connected to the audience while reporting in the field. While covering the 2016 U.S. presidential race, her producer even used an iPhone and selfie-stick for a live shot.
Miracle on the Hudson: Janis Krums tweeted out this photo in 2009 after a U.S. Airways plane made an emergency landing in the Hudson River. Within minutes of Krums sharing this image, news outlets around the world were using it as part of their coverage.
A modern anchor: David Muir, of ABC World News Tonight, uses social media to stay connected with his audience. This chapter includes a Q&A with Muir.
Chapter Goals
- Identify how mobile devices and social media are fundamentally different from past technologies such as television and the printing press.
- Discover how mobile devices and social media allow two-way conversations between the audience and journalists versus the old one-way model of mass communications.
- Learn how social media has led to the public’s active role in the news production process and changed how audiences consume information.
- Understand that while journalists retain discretion on what makes the “news,” an “active” audience plays an influential role.
- Explore the three areas in which mobile devices and social media are impacting journalists’ work: newsgathering, distribution of news, and audience engagement.