Twitter as a reporting tool for journalist

 Looking at the coverage by the three journalists concerning the Lonmin shooting, they look different from each other. The journalists took different angles in covering the whole incident because the first journalist which is Cathy Mohlahlane from Enews did not break the story but then decided to do the aftermath of the incident. She then focused on the court case brought to the miners and the reaction from the police. The mistake I think she did: was to start the story with the court case because she is tweeting to people so they should get a background of what happened.

Again I think she assumed that people already heard about the massacre so she wanted to give update on the whole issue. Twitter is suppose to supply breaking news to the society so Cathy should have broke the story before covering the whole court issue. Looking at her coverage on the court case though, it is well informing because she is giving out all the information out there.

Moving to the next journalist Aki Anastasiou, His coverage was not well informing for a person who does not listen to radio because he was just giving a brief and then saying people should tune in to TalkRadio 702. For a person who does not listen or own a radio it is not informing but for a person who listens to a radio it becomes easier for them to be updated. I love the fact that he was considerate, even though he was not doing the story but he was able to update listeners of TalkRadio 702 and that for me is brilliant journalism.

Poloko Tau the third journalist from The Star newspaper is the outstanding man for this. He started the whole coverage from the strike on its own and gave out all the important details, step by step. Out of the three journalists, I say he is the best because he managed to break the story while it was still “wet” and went on with it and now he is busy with the court proceedings. For me that is an outstanding performance for a journalist and I am proud of him.

Twitter as a reporting tool for journalist is a good privilege and we hold the advantage of utilizing it. Most stories break on twitter and most definitely by journalist so it a privilege to have it as a reporting tool because it makes journalism easier for us and people get informed quickly and stay updated.