SEEKING OUT THE TRUTH Elliot Coulson (Year 12) considers how the current conflict in the Middle East is being reported, and looks at social media’s role in the dissemination of news
N o-one can say for sure who coined the maxim that ‘the first casualty of war is the truth’; it has been attributed to many writers and politicians over the years. US Senator Hiram Johnson famously used the phrase in the US Senate in 1918, in relation to the First World War. Further back (and with less certainty), it has been claimed that Aeschylus said something similar. That this idea is so oft-repeated demonstrates that it encapsulates a sentiment that echoes throughout human history. Whoever said it first, the maxim rings as true as ever in regard to the current situation in Palestine, which, with its complex and polarizing history, sparks as much discourse as any conflict in the modern age. Over the past decade, discussion of this issue, a matter of intense debate since Israel’s establishment as a nation by the UN in 1949, has found its new home on social media. To dismiss the utility of social media as a source of infor- mation would be dangerous, and ultimately unhelpful. It is a key source of news for many (in a survey of 194 Dulwich pupils, 87% said social media was their primary or secondary source of news), and an unavoidable part of modern life: the average person with access to social media spends over two hours using it daily, equivalent to an entire month each year. However, it is important to be aware of the many risks of relying on social media as a source of knowledge. Firstly, we should look at social media in terms of its design, structure and economic models. Social media companies are motivated primarily by a single fac- tor – profit. Given that they are almost all free to use, their sole source of revenue comes from advertising,
and the more time a user spends on the app, the more advertisements they are exposed to, meaning that it is in the interest of social media companies to keep the user engaging with their sites for as long as possible. This creates a problematic issue when it comes to the reporting of events such as those in Palestine. Through analysing user behaviour, social media companies have It is also crucial to question why young people have become disaffected with traditional media
Artwork by Eshan Chharawala (Year 11)
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THE ALLEYNIAN 712
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