Are Journalists aware about their filter bubbles?
I 've been thinking about writing this for a long time. What are you going to read here are just my thoughts from intuition. I have no factual data to show you. So, these may not apply to all and I am happy if my thoughts are proved wrong. My thought process for this is very inclusive. I write this for all of Media people, as a Media person. Do not attribute this to my organization.
Of late, I am seeing a pattern of a specific type of behavior among Media people. I am really worried if my perception is right, we will be doing a great disservice to the people who read and share what we write and speak.
Indian Media is right now in a very unique situation. We have so many youngsters, digital natives boldly doing Journalism. At the same time, Senior Media people who come from print are now connecting technology and their experience in a matured way to give us great stories.
I do not feel everything is alright.
I think we might have a problem with how we perceive social media.
We need to talk about the 'Filter Bubble'.
What is a Filter Bubble?
A filter bubble is a state of intellectual isolation that results from personal searches when a website algorithm selectively guesses what information the user would like to see based on information about the user, such as location, past click-behavior and search history. As a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles. (Wikipedia)
I have a feeling that people now perceive social media as a collective voice of the society. Media now puts more effort into pleasing the social media audience than the on-the-ground society.
In my perspective, Social Media can never be taken as a collective voice of the society.
Every single social media platform has algorithms. Every single person in social media lives in their own filter bubble. People are becoming more IDEALOGICALLY ISOLATED.
Media people and Journalists are now under serious threat from their own ideological bubbles.
This is one reason why fake news thrives here. We've all seen incidents where professional journalists have fallen prey to fake news.
Social Media keeps us hooked because it keeps rewarding us. It's a psychological thing. Don’t you love it when you get likes, comments, shares, retweets, reposts, mentions etc.
Media people need to be a bit more self-aware on how we perceive social media and how we make our opinions from this space.
On-the-ground journalists are less prone to this idealogical threat. But the digital game is also forcing media in a different way. As a result, Desk Journos are more prone to this threat. This may be the reason why certain new media sites focusing on social media attention keeps falling for fake news and false opinions.
Every single person in SM has his or her own bubble filter. Its natural for media persons to have their own bubble too. What matters is whether we are aware of it or not? Whether we put more effort in looking beyond the bubble or not?
In a few years, all of the information you receive from media will be 100% personalized for you. This is a double edged sword for both people and media companies.
This is a boon to any intuitive government, individual or terrorist organization who are willing to put effort into changing people's opinions.
I humbly request people in media industry to burst their filter bubbles and work towards hearing the collective voice of the real society apart from SM.
I am wondering if this whole thought process has arose from my own filter bubble. Sad ..!
R. Raja Ramamoorthy
**********
A Plea to comman man / woman!
Please make sure you get the idealogically challenging opinions and thoughts. If you are not, then it's time to break your filter bubble.
(written on 21 November 2017)
