As mainstream media begin to take notice of the social, political and economic power of black social media users, the LA Times has made a bold, and possibly strange move, in hiring a reporter to monitor current trends, rants and musings on #BlackTwitter.
Dexter Thomas has joined the publication to cover the latest happenings in and concerning the black community, as reported by Black Twitter.
“I rarely see Black Twitter agree on anything,” Dexter said.” There are a lot of conflicts within it. There are a lot of conflicts with other people.
In a recently released staff memo, Los Angeles Times Managing Editor S. Mitra Kalita said:
Dexter Thomas joins us today to cover Black Twitter (which really is so much more complicated than that). He will work closely with the newsroom and #EmergingUS to find communities online (Black Medium to Latino Tumblr to Line in Japan) and both create stories with and pull stories from those worlds.
To those unfamiliar with the collective known as #BlackTwitter, NPR’s Karen Grigsby Bates defines it perfectly with, “You cannot physically find Black Twitter. It’s not a place, although its members have a prominent online presence. Look at what’s trending on Twitter any day and many of the top trends come from Black Twitter…. “
The hope is that Thomas will keep readers of the LA Times better informed on trends, issues and discourses in real-time. It also will bring alternative perspectives into the mainstream.
However, many are not impressed by Dexter’s hire, some suggesting it might not be a good thing. The HuffPo’s reporter suggested that the LA Times hired a Black Twitter reporter for clicks and page views.
Despite the potential good Thomas’ presence has in the LA Times newsroom, there are ethical questions surrounding a major publication acting as a gatekeeper for what is newsworthy in and from the black community. This doesn’t mean publications like the LA Times have bad intentions. In fact, it most likely to the contrary. But this hire could be an unintended furthering of a capitalistic relationship between black culture and mainstream interests, as journalism’s new business model turns site visits and views to dollars and cents.
Additionally, as Huff Post points out, too often, #BlackTwitter reports and writes stories, breaks news, sets social media trends and sparks provocative discourse about national issues and events, then big publications swoop in and reap the benefits from its groundwork.
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(Photo Source: Dexter Thomas Twitter)
