The Daily Tar Heel
URL: http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/09/tweets_have_no_place_on_the_dths_front_page
Current Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:08:41 -0500
Tweets have no place on the DTH’s front page
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TO THE EDITOR:
In the past few issues of the DTH that I’ve read, I have noticed a new trend emerging on the front page: news articles supplemented with the idle musings of Twitter users.
It’s understandable how the instant, moment-by-moment life span of Tweets can be appealing to journalists looking for hot tips on breaking news. But recently, the DTH has been using this tool as an end unto itself.
The reason that I — and I am sure countless other readers — pick up the paper is for well-thought-out news stories and editorials that have insight and have been triple-checked for accuracy, not random Tweets from “NotTheFake_Jake” and “Kais3r_Wilh3lm.”
This is not to say that Tweets couldn’t be utilized on the opinion page alongside the Kvetching Board or online as an amusing diversion. But sewing front-page packages together with both news articles and Tweets comes off as lazy editing.
If I wanted to decipher hashtags and witty user names, I’d get a Twitter account. But if I want to know the news and happenings of the University and community, I turn to the DTH.
Matt Sampson
Senior, Math and Music
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8 comments
u mad bro? I think you’re jelly your tweets didn’t show on the front page.
This is a very good letter in subject. Stop printing tweets, no one cares that @unccargoshort69 says “OMG tornado? class or not? #terrified”
Expect a counterargument.
Sorry to burst your bubble Matt, but if you wanted to “know the news and happenings of the University and community” then you would find more of that on Twitter than in the DTH.
I’m just glad everyone he said my Twitter name was witty. Clearly, he knows and appreciates German history. In other news, I hope my fame hasn’t peaked at 20 for having a tweet appear in the DTH…
*no everyone
Sam, I don’t live in a bubble, so you’re hardly able to burst it. I may not have articulated my point well enough in the letter, but the point is that while it’s true that Twitter may have a lot of information – way more than can be printed in the paper – it is the responsibility of the journalist to filter the relevant information for the reader, provided with some analysis and quotes from primary sources. If you took everything that is on Twitter as news, then Kanye West would have died years ago, since rumors of that sort are propagated weekly without evidence to back it up. Journalists should find the facts to substantiate the rumors found on Twitter.
kais3r_wilh3lm, glad I can help launch your career.
Yes, the lowly scum know as twitter has no room being grouped alongside the AMAZING material reported by the daily tar heel’s LEGENDARY group of reporters who are all absolutely BRILLIANT. Twitter belongs in less sophisticated publications like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. sarcasm being laid on heavily
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