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Journalists and their sociopolitical opinions on Twitter

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Alma, Jun 26, 2020.

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Do you think less of sports journalists sharing their sociopolitical views on Twitter?

  1. Yes -regardless of their views

    20 vote(s)
    38.5%
  2. No - regardless of their views

    16 vote(s)
    30.8%
  3. Yes - if they have views that don't agree with mine

    3 vote(s)
    5.8%
  4. I think more of journalists who have my political views

    5 vote(s)
    9.6%
  5. Depends on the sociopolitical issue

    9 vote(s)
    17.3%
  6. No, if it's about a politician I don't like

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. No, if I think the sociopolitical issue is relevant

    6 vote(s)
    11.5%
  8. Yes, but, if you saw my behavior on Twitter, you'd think no, because I have to follow the herd

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. I think more of journalists who have views different from my own

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Show your work here.
     
  2. SoloFlyer

    SoloFlyer Well-Known Member

    No, your argument is specious and disingenuous, a prop to push your own personal beliefs.
     
    Mngwa and 2muchcoffeeman like this.
  3. DSzymborski

    DSzymborski Member

    I stay away from politics on Twitter, that's just me. I'd hate to lecture writers about what they should or should not be tweeting, but it *does* get tiring beyond belief when sportswriters go on 40-50 tweet storms about politics. I personally rather alienate my readers with the stuff I normally write rather than the stuff that zero people read me for.
     
  4. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    About the importance of getting kids back to school? Sure, I believe that.
     
  5. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Borrowing your sentence, your argument suggests something that may not have any basis in reality.

    It might be nice to get children back in school, but it might not be the sane and realistic decision.
     
  6. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    It’s absolutely a sane and realistic discussion.

    Remember when a vaccine was going to take 3 years and, if you thought otherwise, well, GFY, asshole, because science?

    We may have one by Christmas.

    America could do this. It has little will to do so - it’d rather finger point - and even less awareness. Educating children is boring, so it doesn’t rate.
     
  7. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    We will have a limited vaccine if we have one by December. A placeholder that if it even works, might prevent death, not illness.

    These are the smartest people in any room doing highly precise work under immense pressure.

    There cannot be a clock just because you feel like writing about football again.
     
    2muchcoffeeman likes this.
  8. Alma

    Alma Well-Known Member

    Oh, forget football. I'll live not watching it. I'm not talking about football.

    Kids in school really matters.
     
  9. 3_Octave_Fart

    3_Octave_Fart Well-Known Member

    I agree with you on that. I wish that would be the priority- it so clearly isn't.

    It falls somewhere behind getting Trump re-elected and deciding the next NBA champion.

    Have people at the top considered the endemic clinical depression that is going to be with us if we have to go through 6-12 more months of this?

    'Because I can tell you' the home-schooling is not good for business, and it is not something we are necessarily trained to be doing.
     
  10. stix

    stix Well-Known Member

    You've got scholarships to rob from kids!
     
  11. RedCanuck

    RedCanuck Active Member

    I think social media has changed so much and not always for the good - and that applies whether you're right or left. I think we all know about how we can curate our own echo chamber to amplify our beliefs and we also know that trust in traditional media and gatekeeping seems to be at an all-time low with these new streams of information. I don't necessarily think more voices are bad, but I don't know that everyone has learned the critical thinking skills to be able to sort through the mess and find balance.

    My personal thought as a journalist was that unless you're paid to write opinion you probably shouldn't express one. It's just easier that way and you don't alienate potential sources or readers because you never know, even in sports, when you might have to deal with politics. We always wanted to be seen as objective and to be the independent, even when itching under the surface to express a belief. Maybe some would see openness about those subjects as some sign of humanity that could boost connections though.

    I do wonder about that concept of objectivity of the press, though, and wonder if it was just an ideal of my age. I'm not sure if it spilled into the sports pages, but before the forced merger of a lot of titles, we used to have more newspapers who were unabashedly the left voice or right voice in town. I wonder if we're just getting back to it and that idea of the objective, third person reporter is going to be more and more a thing of the past.

    I guess I do like the idea that company profile = work and personal profile = personal, but I think it still isn't a road I'd go down.
     
    Alma likes this.
  12. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Does anyone here work at Twitter or have reliable contact info for higher-ups there? If you do, PM me, thanks.
     
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