Listening Posts

The task of setting up listening posts for news media is a tricky one, as multiple posts are needed in an area for a more encompassing, non-biased understanding and report of current events. I found that Facebook groups are an effective means of gathering information from different perspectives of a story, as they bring together people of similar interests, but often with differing opinions and viewpoints. Many of today's events such as shootings, police brutality, and political events tend to elicit the creation of Facebook groups, typically in remembrance of someone who died or to discuss viewpoints on the events that took place. A drawback to this system is factional division among those involved. Hypothetically, a strongly right-wing republican isn't as liable to participate and contribute to a Bernie Sanders support group on Facebook, nor a strongly liberal democrat on a Trump support page. However, by following information from groups on differing sides of an issue, one can piece together a whole story with a rather small margin of error.