When an event happens, information is disseminated using different outlets and generally follows a timeline as depicted below.
Event Occurs
- The story breaks and is posted to social media.
- Information may be incomplete, false, or biased.
- Content is written by the general public.
- Example social media outlets: Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Mastodon, Instagram, YouTube, & TikTok
- News outlets (news sites/blogs, television, radio, daily newspapers) cover the story.
- Information may be incomplete, false, or biased.
- Opinions emerge.
- As time passes, information gets added/updated/corrected and verified.
- Content is written/reported by journalists.
- Example news outlets: television (CNN, Fox News); radio (BBC, NPR, CBC); newspapers (New York Times, Wall Street Journal)
- Weekly magazines offer more insight into the story.
- More context, interviews, related topics are included in the story.
- Content is written by journalists or professional writers.
- Example weekly magazines: Time; Newsweek; People; The New Yorker
- Monthly magazines cover the event and may include more robust reporting.
- Information may still be incomplete and include opinions.
- Content is written by journalists or professional writers.
- Example monthly magazines: Wired; Scientific American; National Geographic
- Professors and experts in the field publish scientific information/findings about the event in scholarly journals.
- Articles are well researched and peer-reviewed.
- Example scholarly journals: JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association); Nature; Journal of Business Ethics
- Depending on the discipline, scholarly journal articles may take up to two years to be published!
- Books and government reports are published.
- Information in these outlets provide in-depth coverage of the event.
- Content is written by the professional writers, experts in the field, scholars, and others.
- Examples of types of books published: nonfiction titles; biographies; textbooks; reference books
- Government reports may be on the local, state, federal, international level
