Currents News Staff
Protests over the death of George Floyd have taken over the country, with hashtags like “Black Lives Matter” trending across Twitter and Instagram.
Protesters have taken to social media to post about the demonstrations and share their videos and pictures, but some of it includes misinformation which is retweeted or shared by others.
How can journalists sort through that information and find the truth?
There are some people in the Black Lives Matter movement who have been negative towards media coverage of the protests, saying too much of the narrative has been focused on the looting, and that journalists aren’t reporting on the police violence in the streets or the peaceful protests.
A few journalists have been arrested during these protests, even after identifying themselves to police.
Police say a lot of people impersonate journalists, so what should correspondents be doing when it comes to dealing with police on the ground?
President Trump loves to use Twitter, and now he’s in a battle with social media after the site flagged some of his posts as potentially misleading or glorifying violence. His executive order would no longer shield these websites from lawsuits.
Joining Currents News to talk about ways to report these events, as well as how to navigate the social media landscape during this time, is the director of the journalism program at Saint John’s University, Mike Rizzo.