As Twitter increasingly becomes a tool for journalists — and now a tool for political acts — they must find ways to filter their streams to see relevant content. That’s what Jen Preston, of The New York Times, did Friday after President Obama asked people to tweet their support of a debt ceiling compromise.
Wondering how best to filter the tweets, Preston tweeted at White House staffers. What’s the hashtag associated with the tweets, Preston asked. A White House aide responded with “#compromise.”
“As [Obama] said, it is ‘time for a #compromise on behalf of the American people,” tweeted Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media.
Preston, rather than rewriting Phillips’s tweet, retweeted it. Apparently, the Daily Caller, interpreted the retweet as having been written and endorsed by Preston. The blog wrote a post to that end, accusing Preston of media bias. The tweet associated with the story read, “New York Times reporter advises White House media staff on Twitter.” The story was picked up by Drudge Report and other news sources, and continued to circulate. Preston was slammed by Twitter users accusing her of media bias.
SEE ALSO: White House Aide Says Tweets Influenced Debt Ceiling Deal
It appears the Daily Caller story has since been updated to reflect Preston’s side of the story. It now includes a line at the end that says it was updated after being published, but doesn’t include an explicit correction.
Monday morning, Preston published a Storify timeline that shows how the whole scenario played out.
What do you think of this situation? How could it have been handled differently — either by the Times or the Daily Caller? Share your thoughts in the comments.
[View the story "What's The Hashtag? " on Storify]
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Posted on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:26:11 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/Elie0kF085o/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/01/jen-preston-compromise/#comments
Wondering how best to filter the tweets, Preston tweeted at White House staffers. What’s the hashtag associated with the tweets, Preston asked. A White House aide responded with “#compromise.”
“As [Obama] said, it is ‘time for a #compromise on behalf of the American people,” tweeted Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media.
Preston, rather than rewriting Phillips’s tweet, retweeted it. Apparently, the Daily Caller, interpreted the retweet as having been written and endorsed by Preston. The blog wrote a post to that end, accusing Preston of media bias. The tweet associated with the story read, “New York Times reporter advises White House media staff on Twitter.” The story was picked up by Drudge Report and other news sources, and continued to circulate. Preston was slammed by Twitter users accusing her of media bias.
SEE ALSO: White House Aide Says Tweets Influenced Debt Ceiling Deal
It appears the Daily Caller story has since been updated to reflect Preston’s side of the story. It now includes a line at the end that says it was updated after being published, but doesn’t include an explicit correction.
Monday morning, Preston published a Storify timeline that shows how the whole scenario played out.
What do you think of this situation? How could it have been handled differently — either by the Times or the Daily Caller? Share your thoughts in the comments.
[View the story "What's The Hashtag? " on Storify]
More About: Debt Ceiling, journalists, new york times, twitterFor more Media coverage:Follow Mashable Media on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Media channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad
Posted on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:26:11 +0000 at http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/Elie0kF085o/
Comments: http://mashable.com/2011/08/01/jen-preston-compromise/#comments