Reader's View: Read news online with a critical mind

“Journalism as a process changes on the internet,” members of the Department of Communication Studies and Media Research at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, wrote in 2018 .

Both journalists and patrons of the news must change their practices online to inform the largest audience with relevant, reliable information. Change makes the world spin, after all.

I want to draw attention to changes that could help people stay better informed. I changed my media habits to become more aware online. I also started following the News Tribune .

The newspaper posts various stories on its social-media accounts, covering mostly local news. A look at its Facebook and Instagram accounts, side-by-side, revealed two entirely different feeds, however. After scrolling through 15 stories, I found a day-old post on Facebook matching the most recent on Instagram, only three hours old. If the News Tribune’s media feeds look so different, imagine the differences a national newspaper may have. Viewer A may see a story that wasn’t even posted on the platform Viewer B uses.

Waning attention spans in younger generations add to such issues. Journalists must capture readers’ attention with increased strategic tactics. Algorithms also affect the distribution of posts, which could cause more media loss. In the complex web of information on the internet, stories get missed.

Thankfully, studies show engagement with audiences combats these problems. Attention, selection, and distribution by audiences online help a story reach viewers.

Researchers also believe journalism should become a conversation, versus the straight-line distribution that tends to occur with printed newspapers. This means folks consuming news online should read with a critical mind and continue the discussion, sharing with others. This way, information can still pass through trusted, edited sources that can fact-check.

Overall, both editors and audiences need to take steps to keep quality, reviewed journalism alive.

William Bauer

Cloquet

The writer is a senior at Cloquet High School who wrote this originally for a college-level writing course.