Topic: anyone else getting annoyed at twitter posts being news

[superdave]

I read the news specifically to hear from people who are supposed to know better than the people on twitter.  I don't want CNN to just sit there and read people's twitter feeds for a half hour and calling that news.

[Beleth]

CNN has made itself irrelevant, and broadcasting tweets unfiltered is just one of the symptoms of that.

[superdave]

http://ww_.cbsnew_s.com/2300-501465_162-10011295.html

if only it was just CNN

Link purposefully broken to not inflate their web numbers.

[MisterMarc]

How is this any different than the phenomenon of reporters interviewing each other about events? "And now, to discuss the feasibility of a Presidential run by Joe Blow, we bring you...Fred, a talking head from another news show on this network! So, Fred, what do you say? Does Joe Blow have a chance?" 

[Citizen Skeptic]

I'm a luddite. I don't tweet.

[superdave]

How is this any different than the phenomenon of reporters interviewing each other about events? "And now, to discuss the feasibility of a Presidential run by Joe Blow, we bring you...Fred, a talking head from another news show on this network! So, Fred, what do you say? Does Joe Blow have a chance?" 

Even random talking head has at least a bit more credibility than random twitter user.

[DG]

It's in the same league as news print here finishing their stories with "If you know more contact us on _____" Which could be translated to - we aren't journalists, we expect the stories to come to us.

[moj]

This is one of the main reasons I stopped watching CNN. Seriously, knock off the "this is what the mass's think" junk. I don't care about that. If I'm turning to a network news I want them to hire smart people to give good analysis. I want experts on the subject and investigation pieces. Not all this fluff crap. CNN is worst about this.

[MisterMarc]

Even random talking head has at least a bit more credibility than random twitter user.

Not sure I'd agree with you, there. They're journalists, they don't necessarily have any expertise in anything they are...punditizing...about.

The twitter thing is similar to the old "man on the street" interviews. As long as they're put in the proper context, I don't see it as particularly awful. The only danger is that they're subject to cherry-picking...but then, what news opinion isn't these days?

[jmars]

I'm a luddite. I don't tweet.

I'm with you. Never been to the site. I also dropped of of FB and choose to be "in the dark" as so many people have labeled me.

Twitter and fb just make us incrementally stupider with each mundane post.

[Dirty J. Martini]

Even random talking head has at least a bit more credibility than random twitter user.

Not sure I'd agree with you, there. They're journalists, they don't necessarily have any expertise in anything they are...punditizing...about.

The twitter thing is similar to the old "man on the street" interviews. As long as they're put in the proper context, I don't see it as particularly awful. The only danger is that they're subject to cherry-picking...but then, what news opinion isn't these days?

I think the thing that bugs me is that I can go read Twitter if I want to know what people are saying on Twitter. It's not like in the past where your news sources were all giving you perspectives you wouldn't get in your own small town. But Twitter is just another network service I can already subscribe to for free. I don't need anyone else to read it to me! It's just really lazy. At least for the "man on the street" stuff they had to send a crew out to the street to film them, or have someone open the mail to read the letters!

[MisterMarc]

I think the thing that bugs me is that I can go read Twitter if I want to know what people are saying on Twitter. It's not like in the past where your news sources were all giving you perspectives you wouldn't get in your own small town. But Twitter is just another network service I can already subscribe to for free. I don't need anyone else to read it to me! It's just really lazy. At least for the "man on the street" stuff they had to send a crew out to the street to film them, or have someone open the mail to read the letters!

Good point.

Twitter and fb just make us incrementally stupider with each mundane post.

Yeah, that's what's making us stupider.