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I read an article last week that delved into the debate over whether newspapers should continue use of social media to share online news stories.
I suspect the article came about after scrutiny developed when news broke last month that Cambridge Analytica, a data firm with ties to President Donald Trump's campaign, had gained access to profile information about 50 million Facebook users.
Reportedly, the data had been collected by a professor for academic purposes and in accordance with Facebook rules. But then it was transferred to Cambridge Analytica and others, which Facebook says is a violation of its policies.
The Facebook data included things like users' likes, online friends, groups and even the outcome of online personality quizzes these users may have taken. As a result, Cambridge Analytica was able to manipulate the data to supposedly help it target ads at Facebook users during the 2016 election.
Whether these targeted ads successfully moved voters toward Donald Trump may never be known. But it certainly raises the question.
Either way, one senator from Virginia, Mark Warner, said the ordeal provides evidence that "online political advertising market is essentially the Wild West."
Facebook and other social media platforms have increasingly come under fire for involvement in political issues, but criticisms don't end with the sharing of users' data. As I've frequently penned in this space, social media also can breed the quick and relentless spread of "fake news."
The article, which appeared in Editor & Publisher, a media trade magazine, presented alternate views of whether reputable news organizations should utilize social media.
Social media users probably already know the Tribune Chronicle utilizes Facebook and Twitter to share headlines and links to developing stories. While our print edition hits the newsstands and subscriber paper boxes bright and early every morning, social media has provided a great opportunity for us to reach out to the public throughout the day to let them know when news is breaking that they should know about.
As Alexa Diaz, a student journalist who serves as editor-in-chief at Syracuse University's student-run newspaper, pointed out in the Editor & Publisher article, "a Facebook without credible, professional news being pumped into newsfeeds in some capacity is a platform that does a disservice to its users."
Well said by this 21-year-old college student!
Keith Moyer, editor-in-chief and senior vice president of content for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, maintained that Facebook followers "will continue to turn to us if they can trust information provided under our individual nameplates and banners on Facebook streams."
To do that, Moyer says those using Facebook to share stories must accept an even greater responsibility to ensure fact-based information is presented with transparency.
But isn't that what reputable news outlets like the Tribune Chronicle already have been doing for more than a hundred years? We do it every day via attribution and citing sources for verification of authenticity.
Clearly, even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees the value in news and in newspapers.
It was in late January that Zuckerberg said Facebook's intent was to emphasize "quality, trusted news" for users. He highlighted what newsrooms already know well: Local news contextualizes daily life on and offline.
When Facebook came under fire last month, and its credibility and controls were being questioned, where did Zuckerberg turn to counter those attacks?
He went to the most trusted and credible communications medium that exists to this day -- newspapers!
Zuckerberg took out full-page paid newsprint advertisements in several British and American newspapers last month to apologize for a "breach of trust" in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
"This was a breach of trust, and I'm sorry we didn't do more at the time. We're now taking steps to ensure this doesn't happen again," read the ads appearing in the UK's The Observer, The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Express and Sunday Telegraph, along with American newspapers The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
It just might be true that newspapers and social media need one another.
blinert@tribtoday.com