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How Does The News We See On Social Media Differ From What We 're Being Presented With On Television

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How does the news we see on social media differ from what we’re being presented with on broadcast? Which is likely to have more of an influence on citizens?

Throughout this essay I have selected to focus on the difference of news we see on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to what we’re being presented with on traditional media platforms such as television and radio and which of the two is more likely to have an influence on us as citizens who are consuming the news.

I will discuss the role of both platforms mentioned earlier and how they have had an influence on the public thus far and how they differ on the deliverance of news and which is more credible. I will also talk about which has the most influence over citizens …show more content…

This is all without looking into a news corporations agenda, political stance and reliability.

It’s difficult to say whether citizens are more likely to be influenced more by the news they receive on either social media or on television. A lot of the younger generations are likely to say social media is more influential, whilst many of the older generations who aren’t as, or at all active on social media would claim broadcast is their most trusted source of information. In his book News and Journalism in the UK: Fifth Edition, McNair shows that a report commissioned by Channel 4 in 2008 noted that “TV remains the most popular source of news across the British public as a whole. By then, 54 percent of the 25-34 age group were using online journalism regularly, and the trend was clear – further fragmentation of the journalism market, further migration of audiences from print and broadcast to online, with young media user moving furthest and fastest.” (McNair, 2009, P.142). In earlier editions of his book, another survey was conducted and people still listed television as their most trusted source. This correlates with my point earlier, while television may well be the more trusted source, younger citizens reading the news are likely to be influenced more by what they’re reading online and on social media

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