My Third Blog Post – Misguided Photos
In my opinion social media platforms have zero responsibility for minimizing photos and content that is out of contexts. Their responsibility is to supply the public with a platform to express themselves and be individualistic with the stance they take on certain ideas and topics. I do not believe that they should have to “babysit” content creators for the ideas they produce. The internet is a very vast and chaotic place where ideas and collaboration can happen. And yes, there can be some bad content posted on the internet that has no context or fact associated with it, but it is also a place where ideas can grow and be exchanged.
The short term effects of out of context images is obviously controversy. If there is an image, even if it is doctored, it is going to stir controversy because people will believe almost everything on the internet. The long term effect could be less merit and belief in certain journalists and news organizations. If news organizations are constantly posting false and controversial content, the trust from the public diminishes substantially. And in turn, consumers will veer off from those news sources and resort to others.
In my opinion, news organizations should embrace the fact that visual content has emerged into the world of social media. If the content is true, it gives fans a different perspective into the world around them and keeps them more informed as opposed to word of mouth or words from a tweet. It adds an extra effect. But if the information is false, it can mislead the audience and lead people to believe false facts.
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