Social media
has become the go-to source of news online, with internet users receiving breaking
news from apps like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and
Instagram instead of the traditional newspaper. Now you don’t go to news, news
comes to your world, your chat and share apps
Gone are the days when newspaper clippings were cut and saved to share information. With the age
of social media, news is consumed every second of the day and it not bound by
any restrictions. With apps like Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram and
YouTube, the compulsion to read the morning newspaper is getting weaker. Many
Goan newspapers have understood the importance of social media and are already
on all the leading virtual platforms.
According to Forbes.com, in a recent survey, 50 per cent of
Internet users surveyed said that they hear about the latest news via social
media before ever hearing about it on a news station. Many internet users will
see the breaking stories on their feed and go to the news sites to learn more.
The survey found 57 per cent increase in traffic to news sites referred from social
media.
Kevin Godinho from Taleigao has been reading newspapers from his
school days and continues to do so before he leaves for work. “I start my day
by reading the newspaper and only Herald. I started reading the newspaper in my
school days and it is a habit that has stayed on even after social media took
over. If I can’t read the whole newspaper, I at least read the headlines.
Compared to social media, newspapers give an elaborate view of reports with
facts and analysis,” says Kevin.
Lisvan Rodrigues is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism
at St Xavier’s College, Mapusa. While he believes that reading the newspaper is
important, he has observed that students have options for catching up with the
latest. “I teach second year and third year students and I have noticed that
they don’t read the newspaper. They get all the news over social media,
especially apps like Whatsapp and Facebook. Twitter is rarely used. We make it
compulsory to read the newspapers as we have to teach them to analyse news from
other newspapers. We usually get all the newspapers to class and ask them to
read and bring down the components of the newspapers. The first year and second
year students have a subject with newspapers while the third year students
additionally have to deal with social media and blogging,” says Lisvan, who was
also a student of Journalism at St Xavier’s College, Mapusa.
Nikita Chodankar, the Head of Department of Mass Communication
at Don Bosco College, Panjim, understands that this is the age of online media
but newspapers open a door to good journalism. “It is not compulsory for the
students to read the newspaper but we do have exercises and topics related to
the newspaper, where they have to compare reportage on all five English
newspapers in Goa and identify the stories and photographs. We get the
newspapers from the library to class for them to see how the stories are
reported and their importance, which cannot be seen on stories online,” says
Nikita, who is also an assistant professor.
Issac Martins from Vasco-da-Gama finds it helpful to access news
with the click of a button, especially while travelling. “Facebook is a go-to
site for news as I am connected to different newspapers and news channels on a
single medium. There are breaking news reports and discussions on varied topics
and there is no need to go to individual newspaper sites. The news is quicker
on social media as you don’t have to wait for the next day’s paper to know what
has happened. Checking news on social media is very helpful while travelling
and on holidays as you don’t feel that you are missing out on any news,” says
Issac.
When
it comes to news shared online, there is the major issue of unreliable sources
and fake news propagated especially via social media. Here, newspapers have the
upper hand as the end product is the work of people who can be held accountable
rather than difficult-to-trace electronic systems.
