Atom Araullo on how he deals with social media: ‘It’s an extension of my work as a journalist’

It’s no secret that award-winning journalist Atom Araullo is vocal on certain topics on social media, especially on Twitter.

In an episode of “The Howie Severino Podcast,” Atom shared his own ways of dealing with social media as a journalist.

“My rule is as much as possible, the things that I say on social media, not just Twitter, I want to be able to defend that. Ibig sabihin (it means) I wanna make sure that I’m comfortable putting that in one of my reports or one of my documentaries so that there’s not really a divide,” he said.

“I still believe that it’s an extension of my work as a journalist,” Atom added.

“If I do share opinions, I think they are informed opinions. I try to back it up with facts. And I try not to do cheap shots or to dunk on anyone just for the sake of dunking on them.”

The journalist also said he kept an open mind and responded to people in a respectful manner even if they had contrasting views.

“I still think there’s a slight space for productive discussion on Twitter even if it’s just 280 characters. But I also think it’s a platform where journalists should also learn to use the methods that we’ve been talking about and help shape public discussion,” Atom said.

He added that he’s only human and some stories affected him, but he did his best not to tweet out of anger or frustration.

According to Atom, when that happens, he drafts a tweet but does not post it. He said this practice was a form of “catharsis” for him.

However, he also said that sometimes, one could not just remain silent.

“When you talk about people in power, they have huge influence. We know this. And when they say something, it’s going to be echoed by their supporters, by their base, and I feel like we can’t just sit on the sidelines if we know that there’s something wrong about their representation of reality,” he said.

Atom said that at the end of the day, whether or not journalists engaged on social media was up to them.

“I think the bottom line is, different people are comfortable with different things. And some journalists are not comfortable engaging on platforms like Twitter and that’s totally fine,” he said. – Kaela Malig/RC, GMA News