Cable News Takes Home Social Media Shorty Awards

By Jordan Chariton 

Sarah JonesTVNewser was at last night’s Shorty Awards in New York City, where both MSNBC and Al Jazeera America won awards for their respective social media activities. Our sister site Lost Remote has the full awards recap.

MSNBC.com won the best use of social media for news category, awarded for their Google+ Hangout series on marriage equality. The network beat Al Jazeera America’s social media show, “The Stream,” and The Guardian’s #AskSnowden social campaign, where NSA-leaker Edward Snowden answered reader questions.

We caught up with Executive Editor for MSNBC.com Richard Wolffe after their victory was announced. “For a short person, winning a Shorty is a big deal,” Wolffe joked to TVNewser, adding his take on the success of the social campaign. “You have Andrea Mitchell talking on-air about people she had spoken with on these hangouts…and that was very cool, seeing that integration of digital, and TV, and social media with really respected, experienced journalists.

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Al Jazeera America won two awards: best news twitter and best social media journalist; the latter awarded to AJAM deputy news editor, Sarah Jones (pictured above). During her acceptance speech, Jones thanked all those on social media who support under-reported news, and added a request.

“If we can keep the hashtag #freejournalists alive, that would be great,” Jones said, referencing imprisoned journalists in Syria and Egypt.

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