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Nettets rygter har en social funktion
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Journalister må erkende, at under kriser er folk optaget
af både rygter og reelle nyheder af én og samme grund
Af Helle Nissen Kruuse, hnk@djh.dk
Der var trængsel af rygter på nettet efter katastrofen
i USA 11. september. Det svirrede med myter, teorier om sammensværgelser
og apokalyptiske spekulationer. Mange landede i de professionelle
medier (se
eJour i nr 8 oktober ), som stedvis dementerede dem.
Men lige lidt hjalp det.
Det skriver Stephen D. O'Leary, lektor på USC Annenberg
School for Communication, Californien, i en artikel
5. oktober i Online Journalism News:
»The rapidity with which these stories have gained credibility
among ordinarily sensible folk indicates that the impact of the
terrorist attacks is several orders of magnitude above that of
any news story since the birth of the worldwide computer network.«
Behovet var uendeligt. Og føden lå lige for på
nettet.
Folks behov
Hvad der kan være svært for almindelige journalister
at forstå, er, at der praktisk talt ikke er nogen forskel
på den sociale funktion, som rygter og 'real news' har i
krisesituationer. Det mener O'Leary og fortsætter:
» People spread rumors via the Net for the same reason
that they read their papers or tune into CNN: they are trying
to make sense of their world.
Those who practice journalism as a profession take the view
that their job is to ferret out facts and separate them from unproven
rumors, and this is surely true. But we all saw, in the past few
weeks, television and print journalists trying to cope with what
we might term the mythic function of news: the anchors choking
back tears, the reporters so overcome by the sacrificial imagery
they were mediating that they had no words to encompass the depth
of emotion.
The types of stories that spread in the wake of this catastrophe
tell us something about what people wanted and needed to hear.«
Journalistikkens rolle
»The Internet has become a new arena of conflict, an
ideal environment for the spawning and evolving of propaganda,
disinformation, and the collective mythologies which provide ideological
support for both religious fanatics and secular nationalists.
Journalists may report on rumors in order to debunk them, but
even the most skeptical reporters cannot avoid spreading false
stories to credulous people.
It hardly matters how strongly we resist being drawn into the
dissemination of propaganda and rumor; in a context so laden with
emotion, our work must inevitably contribute to the evolving of
cultural myths. It will be instructive to observe how this mythmaking
in the global village will both respond to, and affect, the conflict
that is to come.«
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