Testimonies are the Journalists of Tomorrow

What is the purpose of social media? I think at it's core it was designed to be a place to share individuals' things: going-ons, testimonies, advice. But, as these sites became more and more dense with information coming from individuals, it has become perceived as a place to find information. I know I justify my social media usage with, "but I learn so much from it."

In some ways this is true, it is wonderful to learn about niche things that are usually passed from person to person because their triviality means they could never make it to TV. It is also great to hear individual's testimonies because perspectives are rarely one size fits all. Even things like medical advice, different doctors have different advice because different treatments are varyingly effective on different patients.

Unfortunately, one of the rare things I would consider purely factual should be the news. Not people's opinions of the news, but the purely factual information: where? when? how long? who? how many? etc. The information that enables outsiders to form their own opinion. On media platforms today, that information is nearly impossible to find. Big businesses like popular news platforms realized how lucrative a grabbing headline and a few extra clicks was and RAN with it. I do not know a single news platform that I would trust to relay unbiased information to me. Whether the news networks are politically or monetarily motivated (or both) there are few stories that ever reach the public before being hyperbolized or twisted in order to fit a narrative.

Ironically, the only remotely reliable source of news I trust-ish is firsthand accounts from platforms like TikTok. Countless times during Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine, I saw actual people from Ukraine on my for-you-page telling their story. Do not get me wrong, I understand that these testimonies are just that, an individual's perspective, but I see these stories as invaluable to painting a fuller picture of the world's biggest events that are boiled down to clickbait. The other thing social media provides when looked to as a news source is a broader scope of events. On social media, I often hear about smaller things happening simultaneously to other bigger events that would be completely drowned out on traditional news platforms.

The only way to navigate the news today is by listening to as many perspectives as we can. Listing to the news with a bag of salt and searching for more intrinsically motivated sources elsewhere. In order to get a full picture we must hear a story from every angle and that is a feat of dedication.

Bye tty soon,

Jordan