The metamorphosis of journalism principles in the social media age

The Metamorphosis of Journalism Principles in the Social Media Age The Metamorphosis of Journalism Principles in the Social Media Age Rapid technological progress, the popularity of networking and social media had an impact to the media. Media had to adapt and prepare for communication with the public in social media. It is widely believed that online media have become one of the most important media types not only in the world but also in Lithuania. Online media outlets attidude and methods are based on quickness and society doubts journalists competence. The most important thing for journalism are ethical princples. Journalists have to use those principles in order to do their job well. But social media has its own ways to affect media outlets and the most important journalism principles are tested. In this master thesis reasearch local Lithuanian journalists discussed and expressed their opinions about journalism priciples and how social media affects their represented media outlet. There were 10 interviews with online media, television and radio journalists. It was found that journalists know really well the most important journalism principles. Furthermore, they said, that those principles are really usable and they can’t complete their tasks in high quality without using them. What’s more, journalists expressed their thoughts about social media effects and said, that clearly social media is the area where journalists have to be very careful and use all the journalism principles and their own skills. On the other hand, journalists expressed that they are satisfied with how social media errupted and gained popularity. Journalists think, that social networks are really useful because of the amount of circulating information and really fast way of contacting people. What’s more, journalists think that social media, the way how information flows in the society had its toll on the journalism principles and some of them may have changed their shape. The research revealed that journalism principles are tested, but journalists use them becouse it’s the most important thing in their jobs. It was also revealed, that social media impact really changed some of the ways journalists work nowadays. These changes can be described as metamorphosis