By Mandy Vocke

Citizen Journalism

Think before you post: social media’s impact on investigations

Aug 2, 2019 | 2:43 PM

PRINCE GEORGE— Social media is a primary source for many to share and consume content. It’s an efficient way to gather news, but there can be negative consequences that come with anyone being able to post on social media.

The concept of anyone being able to share content online is known as citizen journalism. RCMP are finding with the rise of citizen journalism, there’s an added challenge during police investigations. People often times post information that shouldn’t be posted online, and should instead be reported to police.

“We have to speak to a lot of witnesses and we could be tainting witnesses memories,” BC RCMP Media Relations Officer Chris Manseau says. “We want to get their first hand knowledge of what they saw [and] what they heard. If they are only re-reporting things they may have seen online, then that’s not going to be an accurate representation of what they saw.

“It will really change the court process in the future.”

In the midst of the manhunt for two suspects wanted in relation to three murders in Northern BC, Manitoba RCMP are urging people not to post information to social media.

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In some instances, citizen journalists have posted photos of investigations that shouldn’t be online. Some criminals can use social media to determine where police are investigating and where to avoid them.

There is also an issue with people assuming everything posted online is the truth.

“As people are watching what’s happening on social media, they are tending to forget that the people that are posting are not necessarily trained journalists and are not necessarily telling the truth,” SAIT Radio, Television and Broadcast News Instructor Laura Knop-Wright says.

There isn’t a concrete solution to prevent people from posting things that should instead be reported to police. It’s the responsibility of citizen journalists to think before they post, and for people looking at posts to fact-check to confirm what’s fact and what’s fiction.