By Katie Tabeling
Opinion Editor
At 9 p.m. on Feb. 24, millions of Americans tuned in to 85th Annual Academy Awards to celebrate films, revel in glamour of celebrities, and watch history in the making. Several age- related records were set in the 2013 race for the Oscars. Emmanuelle Riva, age 85, was the oldest actress ever nominated and Quvenzhané Wallis, age nine, was the youngest nomination in the Best Actress category for their work in “Amor” and “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” respectively.
However, this record-setting feat was soon forgotten in light of a satirical Tweet published by The Onion. The Tweet read, “Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a c**t right?” and was up for an hour before The Onion removed it due to public backlash. A week later, The Onion has officially apologized to Wallis and the Academy, but a firestorm of criticism directed towards the satirical newspaper has spread as screenshots of the offending Tweet are still circulating the Internet. The Tweet has not been forgotten and quite possibly will not be forgotten for a long time for its senseless personal attack directed at a young girl.
Although The Onion is a satirical newspaper, this incident demonstrates the precarious relationship between journalism and social media. With the rise of modern technology, people everywhere have Facebook and Twitters accounts in order to keep up with the world around them. They narrow the communication barrier between person to person; a quick quip gets you caught up on your friend’s lives, and we find out breaking news by logging onto our sites. To compete with this hunger for fast information, news organizations have ventured into social media to communicate directly with their audience.
Long before the rise of Facebook, it has always been a race against time to get the facts in the information world. Reporters are constantly fighting against deadlines and competing news outlets to get the scoop. With the added pressure of social media, information is streamlined with very little consideration of the facts or the people behind them. As reporters, it is our first duty to seek the truth and report it; but a close second is to minimize harm for the subjects. In the search of the story, it is easy to forget that these are real people who can be affected adversely by news coverage. Without a humanizing aspect, a story is just a list of facts. The story does not just depend on people; it often is the people behind the facts. Treat them with respect and compassion.
In a rush to break the story, misinformation can seep through the cracks and do immense harm. In the case of the Sago Mine disaster in 2006, several news broadcasters had eagerly reported that 12 of the 13 miners were found alive, trying to beat each other to the punch. Families rejoiced over their loved ones safety, only to have it wrenched away when it was revealed that only one miner had survived. Due to eager reporting, rumor was believed as fact, and news reporters inadvertently lied and harmed not only 13 families, but the entire nation as well. The misinformation circulated for four hours, resulting in thousands of erroneous headlines and articles the next day. Imagine how fast the word would travel via Twitter.
Mistakes do happen- but we can all do our part to mitigate false information by making sure our sources are correct. As with the world, the news is constantly evolving around us. Live posting information, whether it’s a reaction criticism or straight news, should be done with care, as the story could change at any moment.
While past technology required more time and effort to create a newspaper, and more time to check the facts before publication as a result, modern technology can make anyone into a commentator on a global scale. Think twice before you press the Post button, whether you’re a reporter or just an average Joe. The line between fact and fiction is blurred online, and words are treated as information. Information should be handled very carefully and maturely- never without the whole story and the people in mind.