With the news cycle ever accelerating, how can PR practitioners track public sentiment on social media and, if need be, correct erroneous information? Join us for a discussion about real-time ethics and accuracy in social media, with examples ranging from breaking Supreme Court decisions to celebrities' Twitter tussles with airlines.

1. Real-Time Ethics:
Balancing Journalism
and Social Media in the
Digital Age
Jake Batsell, Assistant
Professor
SMU Division of Journalism
@jbatsell

2. June 28, 2012

3. Credit: @garyhe

4. In 2012,
News =
Galaga

5. The 2012 News Landscape
• The threshold for news is lower.*
• Stories unravel in real time.*
• “Google juice” makes micro news have a
macro afterlife.*
• Journalists increasingly rely on social
media for source material.
• Gatekeepers are losing control.
* “Rules of the Road: Navigating the New Ethics of Local Journalism”
www.J-Lab.org/ethics

6. What does this mean for
PR?need to stay informed and monitor
• You
your message ON ALL CHANNELS.
• If misinformation circulates, you need
to correct it quickly.
• If unfavorable – but true – information
circulates, you need to act quickly.
• People distrust spin more than ever.
• When ethical dilemmas arise,
transparency and authenticity win the
day.

7. In 2012,
‘Never has it
been so easy to
expose an error,
check a fact,
crowdsource and
bring technology
to bear in service
of verification.’
Craig Silverman, “A New Age for Truth,” Nieman Reports Summer 2012
www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports

8. In 2012, a PR crisis
can erupt instantly (&
outside the filter of
mainstream media)

9. In 2012,
fake spin is sniffed
out in a heartbeat –
and can damage a
brand.

10. Credit: Time
In 2012,
insensitive tweets
are amplified
exponentially.

11. “In an era where we have
nearly unlimited amounts of
information at our fingertips,
one of the key issues is how to
separate the good from the bad,
the reliable from the unreliable,
the trustworthy from the
untrustworthy, the
useful from the irrelevant.”
Dan Gillmor, Mediactive(2010)
www.mediactive.com

12. Thanks!
jbatsell@smu.ed
u
@jbatsell
Slides
http://j.mp/batsellprsa