[contingencies]

In defense of social media, the first two weeks of the revolution in Tunisia (the start of the Arab Spring) were completely absent from international media. That taught me a lot about journalism. In the current crisis in China, social media is a very important element in interpreting official reports. It's also important for unpicking PR and marketing fantasies. As we say in Australia, keep the bastards honest.

[Traster]

I think it's actually an issue of journalists on social media. The benefits you're talking about are almost exclusively the effect of 'citizen journalism'. It's a practically new form of direct reporting. However, because of the reach of these real journalists (people actually reporting new information with new perspectives), you have traditional media trying to get in on this. So you've got hundreds of traditional journalists pushing their think pieces on twitter, and their hot takes - all of which have the cumulative effect of reducing trust in the media organisations and creating more heat than light.

[pelliphant]

what's wrong with it taking 2 weeks for news to be reported in other parts of the world?

Do we really need to know what is going on on the other side of the planet right now? Isn't it better to have correct information rather than fast information?