اتجاهات محرري الصحف الإلكترونية السعودية نحو شائعات تويتر

Abstract EN

This study aimed to show the attitudes of Saudi e-newspaper editors toward the rumors of social networking site "Twitter".

In addition to other objectives, which include the definition of e-newspapers and its importance and knowledge of how editors of Saudi electronic newspapers cope with Twitter rumors during the news industry among the most prominent Saudi e-newspapers, as well as knowing the extent to which editors of Saudi e-newspapers understand the concept of rumors and how they damage national gains, in addition to revealing the impact of the reliability of electronic newspapers due to rumors spread on the pages of the social networking site "Twitter".

This study belongs to descriptive studies, as it was conducted on a sample of journalistic editors working in the most five read Saudi electronic newspapers according to the global Alexa website, which are (SABQ, ALMOWATIN.net , AJEL.SA, AL-MARSD, ARGAM e-newspaper).

A questionnaire was designed by the researcher for the purposes of the study, and the results showed that the level of awareness of the Saudi e-newspaper editors of the concept of rumor was high, with an average of (3.67) and a standard deviation of (1.18).

Also, the most prominent concepts of the term "rumor" from the point of view of the editors of Saudi e-newspapers is "rumors are news or event, capable to spread and transfer from one person to another" which was in the first rank, and in the second rank, the concept that defines rumor as "the news that spread among people and may be true or false" and in the third rank was the definition "false, unreliable and uncertain news that spreads among people." The study also showed differences in the attitudes of Saudi e-newspaper editors towards both the concept of rumor and appropriate methods to confirm the truth of the rumor circulated and the accounts in Twitter that the respondents trust, depending on the gender variable in favor of females.

As for the attitudes of Saudi e-newspaper editors toward (the phrases that are presented as a concept of the rumor) and (the accounts on Twitter that the respondents trust in reliability) depending on the age variable, the results were in favor of sample members within the ages (over 45 years).

Based on the study results, the researcher recommended organizing training courses for journalists working in e-newspapers to council, guide, advise, and inform them about the harm that rumors cause to society and its peace and stability when it depends on rumors and inaccurate news.

In addition, the researcher recommends to increase research related to the topic of rumors through the media and modern technology.