JANE DODGE

Radio Freelance reporter Channel 4 News and ITN

By Megan Geall

How important is social media when it comes to current affairs reporting?

Social media plays a vital role in current affairs reporting in two ways. It’s replaced the newspaper cuttings, library, and phone book in offering a much faster way to research a story by contacting people via Facebook and Twitter, for example. It also offers numerous platforms to publish stories on, giving access to audiences – particularly young people – who don’t watch news on TV channels. It’s radically changed the industry since I left City. Social media also gives us access to far more material in terms of pictures. That means the ability to tell stories that we haven’t been able to tell before.