Journalists discuss credibility in the age of social media

When the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com scooped every major media outlet in the country with news of Michael Jackson's death, it signaled that the age of new online media had arrived.

But that doesn't mean the traditional media outlets are going away. They just have to go with the flow and adapt, according to a panel of journalists who addressed the National Association of Black Journalists convention here Thursday.

John Klein, president of CNN, told about 400 NABJ members that "we don't worry about being first; we want to be fast but being correct is more important."

"The fact is that there was enormous interest in this story worldwide and we had record ratings during July," he said. "Who was first to report the story doesn't matter as much to the viewer as credible information."

"TMZ may have been first by minutes but it wasn't long before this story was spread throughout the world via Twitter and Facebook and other online outlets and social networks," said Terence Samuel, who runs the media Web site theroot.com.

Samuel and CNN contributor Bryan Moore told the group that the medium doesn't matter as much as the message and having credibility.

TMZ was not considered credible by the traditional media because it pays sources for news tips and runs with gossip. The 4-year-old tabloid site, which also has a TV show, has broken numerous
celebrity news stories including Mel Gibson's drunken, anti-Semitic rant and Michael Richards's racist routine.

TMZ was invited to attend the NABJ panel but declined, according to NABJ officials.

Klein says TMZ is able to take more risks with what it reports because of the audience is more forgiving of online sources that can be corrected with new information. "Our audience would not be so forgiving if we kept making corrections," he said.

Moore, who conducted the last in-depth interview with Michael Jackson in 2007 for Ebony Magazine, said that if journalists have a problem with accepting Twitter, Facebook, Flicker, YouTube or online blogs as credible ways to report information, they need to get over it.

"Whether you understand or not, this is our reality and you still have to use basic reporting skills; dig, uncover the facts and develop credibility," he said.

The National Association of Black Journalists 2009 Annual Convention & Career Fair continues through Sunday at the Tampa Convention Center