Elon Musk makes Twitter an unfriendly place for journalists. But they still don’t quit.

As Twitter’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk is overtly hostile towards “Mainstream Media” journalist.

He said he plans to strip journalists of their verification checkmark badges. new york times and CNN, allowing thousands of previously suspended accounts to return to the platform and spout misinformation and harsh language, sometimes aimed at reporters.

But while many high-profile journalists have expressed concern over Musk’s actions, and some have moved to new social media platforms such as Mastodon and Post, few have abandoned Twitter entirely.

Since Twitter’s inception, journalists have been some of its biggest power users. They provide free and reliable information on their platform, especially around major events, from national elections to sports games. His relationship with the platform shows not only how the journalism industry has adapted to Musk’s leadership style, but whether the billionaire’s version of Twitter lands or fails in major constituencies. .

So if Twitter isn’t exactly looking for journalists, why are they sticking around?

“I mean, I’m stuck,” said freelance tech reporter Jacob Silverman. “When it comes to my beat against crypto, a lot of that stuff happens on Twitter. , that’s how people tend to find me.

Silverman, like many journalists he knows, said his relationship with Twitter was “a kind of torture” and “complacency”. There’s still some fascination in following. These days, there’s often some confusion surrounding Mask himself.

“Twitter is still a place where those in power and those in power can reach out to the masses.” Sometimes I feel a mild catharsis when I crack it.”

Some journalists, like Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz, haven’t quit Twitter, but are posting more on other platforms. Lorenz said he stepped away from Twitter a few years before Musk took charge. That’s when she started noticing that her audience was moving to Instagram and she to TikTok.

Even with a diminished Twitter presence, journalists can still be harassed. Lorenz, who has more than 300,000 Twitter followers, has long dealt with harassing comments and stalkers on the platform, but when the harassment became too severe in the past, she turned to Twitter’s Trust and Safety team for help. Now that many members of that team have quit or been fired, she doesn’t know who to talk to. Covering her social media is part of Lorenz’s job, so she stays on the platform.

Some journalists are quietly starting to cut back on their platforms as they face an unwelcome environment under their masks. I post less frequently, don’t go into too much detail about my personal life, and mostly post to promote my work.

“This is like one of the ‘Why I’m Leaving New York’ essays,” Lorenz said. “I don’t want to declare anything publicly.”

Despite its bugs, Twitter is still an efficient source of news gathering.

One of the main reasons journalists are still on Twitter is that it hasn’t broken yet.

After Musk cut Twitter staff by more than 75% through furloughs and resignations, many fear the platform will crash under the pressure of increased usage during the 2022 US midterm elections and World Cup. I was worried about it. it didn’t happen.

Instead, Twitter is becoming increasingly buggy. Users report slow speeds, notifications not working, and irrelevant suggested tweets popping up. But for most journalists who are power users, it is still usable.

Ben Collins, who reports on NBC News’ misinformation, wrote in a Twitter message for Recode: “I cover information warfare, which has always been the primary battleground,” Collins wrote.

For reporters whose job it is to find news before it happens, Twitter (despite all the problems) is the most effective way to track breaking events, connect with sources, and find experts quickly. one of the best ways.

Laura Hazard Owen, editor of the Neiman Journalism Lab, said, “I reach out to a lot of people via DM, which I think is usually faster than email. “And it’s less creepy than trying to find their phone number and text.”

While Twitter doesn’t have as large a user base as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, it does have an influential set of politicians, academics, business leaders, and other subject matter experts on the platform, and reporters need to talk to them. On a daily basis.

Perhaps if the same kind of related source is on another platform, the reporter can reach out there.

Alternatives are still too niche

Journalists looking for an alternative to Elon Musk’s Twitter, which Recode spoke to, have largely fled to two new apps, Mastodon and Post, both of which have so far achieved the same reach as Twitter. I’m having a hard time.

Mastodon is an app with features similar to Twitter, but with a DIY spirit, running on open source technology. It became popular among journalists concerned about Musk’s leadership on Twitter, forming a “journa.host” server with about 2,500 active his users.

But Mastodon’s biggest limitation is its complexity. Setting up a new server requires technical expertise. Unlike major social media outlets, Mastodon has no centralized content moderation and relies on user-to-user policing. And, as reported by the New York Times, there’s already an infighting among journalists about what’s allowed on journalism servers.

While such an app is popular with certain users, it proves difficult to achieve mainstream adoption on the scale of large social media networks. And that’s a problem for writers who want a wide audience.

Post is another Twitter alternative app, started by Waze co-founder Noam Bardin, that will allow journalists to charge for content directly from their readers. The site’s interface is simple and easy to use. However, it is still in early beta and is only available in web browsers. This site also has bugs. After about 10 minutes of use, when I clicked on another journalist’s profile, I got an error page.

It’s too early for journalists to assess the success of both of these two apps. Neither has become a true competitor to her on Twitter so far.

Prominent journalists from Mastodon and Post also have active Twitter accounts, including Lorenz, Collins, Kara Swisher, and Mike Masnick.

“Journalists are not isolated entities. They are there to interact with senators, lawmakers and academics,” Lorenz said. “So I think it would be very difficult to recreate the network effect on a new platform.”

Twitter leaks may still be coming

Dean of the Columbia Journalism School and staff writer for The New Yorker, Jelani Cobb is one of the few high-profile journalists to quit Twitter entirely.

Cobb first announced his resignation on Twitter, then later claimed in an essay that the platform “subsidizes billionaires who understand that free speech is synonymous with the right to abuse others.” did.

After leaving Twitter very publicly, Cobb said he was inundated with hate mail, including people calling him the n-word. said it might.

“My theory is that people might just quit quietly,” Cobb said. “I also think the sentiment I’ve heard from people is that they’re sticking around to see what happens.”

At the same time, some left-wing journalists and other celebrities have been kicked off the platform, even as Mr. Musk seeks to revive some of the suspended far-right figures. Several anti-fascist organizers and journalists have been suspended since Musk took office, according to The Intercept.

Andrew Lawrence is the vice president of rapid response at the left-leaning blog Media Matters. Stopped for ‘Spam’ As NBC’s Collins noted, Thursday morning, shortly after Lawrence tweeted comments critical of Musk’s Neuralink project and right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson. account has been reinstated.

Collins told Recode he doesn’t understand why his account was flagged as spam. It’s unclear if his suspension was intentional or due to a mistake (Musk had posted on Twitter the night before). Mass purge of bots from the platformwhich may have led to some false positives), but if journalists find themselves unfairly suspended, it adds even more uncertainty and can be a reason to leave.

Twitter did not return requests for comment. Under Musk, the company eliminated its communications division. This is another challenge for reporters trying to confirm news about the platform.

Just because journalists aren’t abandoning Twitter en masse doesn’t mean it won’t happen gradually. Especially if the platform continues to be an unwelcome place for media types.

Twitter has always been a news-centric platform. Journalists add value to the platform by tweeting credible new information in real time, often before articles are published. As journalists increasingly turn away from the platform or withhold the most profitable scoop, Musk could suffer new setbacks in the already daunting challenge of making Twitter a financially viable company. I have.