Abstract

Journalists regularly use trending hashtags for story ideas and to promote their own initiatives on social media. To what extent do these practices constitute solidarity in journalism? This chapter provides a framework for assessing the quality of journalism using a solidarity lens. Growing concerns about digital silos, selective exposure, and polarization that worsens online may make social media seem incompatible with the logic of solidarity. This chapter argues that journalism in a social media context still has both the capacity and a duty to help enhance people’s awareness of their moral obligations to communities that experience ongoing social injustice. At the same time, an overabundance of attention to social media among journalists may risk further marginalizing communities whose struggles and needs are not visible on social media. Practices aligned with solidarity, both online and offline, would better position journalists to fulfill their public service role in diverse societies.