Fredricka Whitfield vs. Everyone Else (Blog Post 5)

              CNN news anchor Fredricka Whitfield hasn’t been having the best week. On Friday, she spoke on the shooting of the Dallas PD HQ and hailed the shooter as courageous and brave. Word spread like wildfire by the means of video and quotes through Facebook, Twitter, and the like. Personally, I noticed it through Facebook’s relatively new featured stories column that gives focus to trending topics on the site with a one to two sentence description of the story. The issue with this feature is that it does not allow users to get the full story but rather HOW individuals are responding to it.

              Ms. Whitfield underwent immediate criticism before she even had time to excuse or explain herself. Once she did apologize, her explanation was only a foot note in most articles. The focus became on heightening the anger and ridiculousness of her quote and drawing in more users. Many articles feature popular tweets and angry responses online right in the middle of the story.

              More than ever, one simple mistake can change someone’s career. Not to speak on if she had real intentions or really did misspeak, Fredicka Whitfield became victim to the cruel and quick responding nature of social media and its users. A mob mentality quickly engulfs someone who may not normally be so vocal or quick to act without ingesting the story first. It seems that as media sites aim to get news out quicker and views higher, users in turn respond more harshly. Before modern media, reporters had time to get a story out and the consumers time to formulate a proper response.