NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW Volume 90 Article 9 Number 5 Social Networks and the Law 6-1-2012 Social Media and the Press Lili Levi Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Lili Levi, Social Media and the Press, 90 N.C. L. Rev. 1531 (2012). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol90/iss5/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Law Review by an authorized administrator of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE PRESS* LILI LEVI'* The Internet and social media are transforming news as we knew it, yet the precise consequences of these changes are not yet clear. Journalists now rely on Twitter, crowdsourcingis available through social media, facts and stories are googled, traditional print newspapers have websites and reporter blogs, "open newsrooms" invite community participation in the editorial process itself, video from citizen journalists is commonly used in mainstream media storytelling, bloggers consider themselves journalists, and media consolidation marries entities like AOL and the Huffington Post. In turn, changes in the news-access practices of readers are increasingly influencing the length, breadth, and subjects of reporting, whether online or in print. While recognizing the reality of the many positive changes facilitated by social media-including the potential for an Internet-mediated renaissance of public engagement with news-this Article explores some particularchallenges posed for the democraticpress by the new reality of social media.