So, the people have spoken and Elon Musk says he is going to step down and hand the CEO reins of Twitter to somebody else.
I don’t think journalists or Twitter subscribers should spend much time worrying about who the new boss will be. Musk still owns the platform so concerns about the free flow of ideas and content appear to remain justified.
A year ago, at this time if you had asked me who runs or owns Twitter, I couldn’t have told you without looking it up. I didn’t care, I didn’t have to. Twitter was simply there. The boss could have been Mortimer Von Twitter for all I knew, it wasn’t a daily news item. (By the way, Mortimer Von Twitter sounds like a good name for a parrot or some other talking bird and since I cannot stand birds, it’s yours for the taking).
Now of course, I know and I never have to look it up. So why is Elon Musk and/or Twitter now part of the daily read in?
Twitter is a major tool for the journalist and the news media as a whole. We promote our coverage and our stations and we report actual stories and events there.
One can never say we are entitled to it or we can claim a right to it to exist and for us to make use of it. But unlike Facebook or Instagram, Twitter has become a little bit less of a toy than the others and something we work with, particularly in news.
When those who post dangerous content and false claims are suspended or removed, we expect that. In fact, we appreciate it, we want a watchdog. There has to be rules, we need to be safe. But those rules need to be clear and accessible and not arbitrary.
To see a half-dozen journalists summarily suspended a couple weeks back certainly raised red flags. Not because it can happen but because why it happened seemed dictatorial.
As we know, those suspensions were lifted following a Twitter poll indicating a majority of those voting thought they should be. Well, it’s good to be on the winning side when it happens.
Independent Journalist Aaron Rupar (one of those blocked) said the suspensions may impact the way reporters cover Musk or even the next CEO, “it will have a chilling effect of coverage of him”.
That’s distressing. There should not be that type of fear.
Rupar says Twitter is a valuable currency for the news media and the suspension was a reminder of how reliant we can become on the platform.
The UN even expressed concern over the suspension of those journalists, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric calling the outlet, “a needed tool”.
“Media voices should not be silenced on a platform that professes to be a place for freedom of speech”, he said.
Agreed. The rules are no longer clear. The reinstatements came about because of a poll.
Musk is agreeing to step down (reportedly) because of a poll.
What happens down the road is anyone’s guess. We should not worry about the ultimate success or failure of a business we have come to depend on.
Instead we should worry whether or not we can depend on that business while it’s still here.
Bill Zito has devoted most of his work efforts to broadcast news since 1999. He made the career switch after serving a dozen years as a police officer on both coasts. Splitting the time between Radio and TV, he’s worked for ABC News and Fox News, News 12 New York , The Weather Channel and KIRO and KOMO in Seattle. He writes, edits and anchors for Audacy’s WTIC-AM in Hartford and lives in New England. You can find him on Twitter @BillZitoNEWS.
