Journalism May Be Too Slow to Remain Credible Once Events Are Filtered Through Social Media

Journalism may be too slow to remain credible once events are filtered through social media

House Speaker Mike Johnson updates reporters about budget talks on Capitol Hill. AFP/Roberto Schmitt via Getty ImagesIn the first weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a strange pattern emerged in Western media coverage. Headlines oscillated between confidence and confusion. Kyiv would fall within days, one story would claim, then another would argue that Ukraine was winning. Russian forces were described as incompetent, then as a te…

Journalism may be too slow to remain credible once events are filtered through social media

by Charles Edward Gehrke, US Naval War College, [This article first appeared in The Conversation, republished with permission] In the first weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a strange pattern emerged in Western media coverage. Headlines oscillated between confidence and confusion. Kyiv would fall within days, one story would claim, then another would argue that Ukraine was winning. Russian forces were described as incompetent, th…