Anthony Adornato, recently presented a paper at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Montreal. His paper was titled “Forces at the Gate: Social Media’s Influence on Editorial and Production Decisions in Local Television Newsrooms.”
Adornato, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism, conducted a nationwide survey of news directors. The results show popular, or trending, content and topics on social media are a significant factor in choosing stories to cover. The study also explored how these stories are treated in newscasts versus those gathered through more traditional sources, and how relying on social media can increase the chance that newsrooms will spread misinformation.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20140918112203438