Echo Chambers of Anger: Online discussions are a poor indicator of newsworthiness
What, precisely, is the relationship between real-world events, traditional media organizations, and online political activists? A recent development allows us to shed some light on the matter: several asylum seekers had recently assembled underneath the Brandenburg Gate, one of Berlin’s most prominent landmarks, to protest what they regard as the unbearable conditions of the German asylum process.
When the protesters arrived in Berlin, they aroused the attention of several activists from the ranks of the Pirate Party. The Pirates quickly proclaimed their solidarity and within a few hours, a veritable discussion was underway on Twitter about the misconduct of the German state and the police forces.
However, the discussion didn’t stop with verified information about conditions in asylum centers, about the reasons for the limitations imposed on asylum seekers, or about the fate of the protesters who had assembled in downtown Berlin. The internet is filled with information about the inhumanity of the asylum process, about the inadequacy of asylum camps, or about the cruelty of government officials and especially of policemen against asylum seekers. But not all this information can be described as “independent” in the journalistic sense of the word. Interviews with those affected by the asylum process don’t always include critical question and don’t allow the government to tell its side of the story.
The problem is that unverified reports are frequently quoted with the same conviction as fact-checked journalistic reporting and analyses. The culture of indignation on the internet has produced a certain consensus about the truthfulness of statements by those who are repressed and embarrassed by the state, as if they did not have interests of their own that might undermine the veracity of their statements.