Walking into the Science Museum of Virginia for the SMC of Richmond event was a breath of fresh air. Beverages were chilled, ceveche appetizers were on every other table and enthusiasm about the event was in abundance. Attendees were meeting new people, chatting with friends and talking about – you guessed it – Social Media.

On tap for the event were a panel of Richmond journalists, reporters and business consultants. It started out with questions we all wanted the answers to but one general topic sent an electric shock through the audience – journalist vs. commentators. Muahhhhh – insert Dr. Evil pinky and bald cat.

What should we as consumers expect from a journalist and a commentator. Well the crowd in attendance overwhelmingly believed we all know the difference between the two and even thought that commentators are viewed as talk show hosts – and not the good ones…

I tend to agree. When you hear news from one of the big network anchors you want to believe they have done some fact finding, talked to someone or tracked down some leads. Where as with a commentator (they shall rename nameless) you have a gut feeling that they are completely telling you a story not based on fact or any real research but rather just how they feel that day – depending on what side of the bed they woke up on.

At the end of the day we all get our news from different sources but we have to take them all with a grain of salt. We also need to do a little research on the story and not take someone’s word for it. One panelist noted he gets news from three to four different sources just to balance it all out.

There were several other topics discussed, if you were in attendance or just want to hear more send me a tweet @modalinc and we can share insights from the event.

This was a great event to have in Richmond. Modal will be back!

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