Airing Uncomfortable Truths

In crisis's wake, focus is on 'citizen journalism' - Orlando Sentinel : Lifestyle In crisis's wake, focus is on 'citizen journalism' - Orlando Sentinel : Lifestyle

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech Massacre CNN received cell-phone video shot by Jamal Albarghouti through their I-report initiative, that encourages viewers to send in video and photographs to the network's website. The video recorded outside of Norris Hall caught the sound of several gunshots. Its the only footage of that catches the shooting as it happened. This video has been played over and over again on CNN over the last week.

In the past reporters usually arrive to the scene of a crime after the smoke has cleared and the police have taken away the bad guy.
Technology has made it easy for eyewitnesses to document events as they happened. Within a few hours the media can broadcast the footage for millions to see.

The key to Citizen Journalism is usually about being at the wrong place at the wrong time like Jamal Albarghouti was when he found himself outside of Norris Hall.

bringing the audience closer to the action and seeing it from the point of view of a direct witness tot he events rather then a reporter flow in to cover the story is an example of how citizen journalism can enhance news coverage.

A few days after the massacre NBC aired the video that the killer sent them. NBC received heat from the victims families for airing what they saw as propaganda of a delusional psycho while other people in the media argued that the public needed to see this to reignite the debate about what to do with the mentally ill and gun control.

Jeff Jarvis said that the video could have ended up on YouTube if NBC did not air it or another site.

"We need a debate in this country about our mental health and privacy laws." Jarvis said.
"It is Journalism's jobs to give us the uncomfortable truths."

When I first saw the footage my first reaction was why are we airing the rant of a madman? why are giving him any air time at all, to glorify the mass murder that he carried out?

After taking in the coverage I think Jarvis and other members of the media that have defended NBC for airing the clip. I have a hard time believing that NBC could keep the tape from ending up on YouTube once they realized what they had. As long as the video is not played every time they find a new detail about the killer.

You can see what the President of NBC had to say about airing the video at http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6405306


Protest of airing VaTech killer video


Should the video be taking off of YouTube?


Bringing uncomfortable truths to light to the public light is part of the media's job. It also their job to continue the public debate even of issues like gun control and how to deal with the mentally ill that have not been address in a long time.

The coverage should focus less on what was in the killer's head and more on how he was able to carry out this horrific act despite all the warning signs.

We need to reexamine our laws regarding the purchased of firearms. We need to take a second look with how we deal with mentally ill people. Most of we need to remember the victims and how 32 lives were destroyed in one day.

Tribune to victims

French outlaw "Citizen Journalism"

French gendarmes arrest a student on the Gare de Lyon rail tracks, as hundreds of demonstrating students blocked the rail tracks to protest against the new jobs contract in Paris, Thursday March 30, 2006.

On Wednesday a new French law took into effect making it a crime for anyone but "Professional Journalists" to record and distribute real-world scenes. The law is suppose to stop the practice of "happy slapping" where acts of violence are filmed and distributed on the Internet, however by going after anyone who is not a "professional Journalists" the French have made all citizen photo-Journalism a crime from a bystander filming an act of violence that they happened to witness to a film crew following the act of a terrorist so they can use it to spread fear.

The irony that this ruling comes exactly 16 years after George Holiday , an amateur videographer filmed Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King.
What do you think French police will do with a "citizen Journalist" if they catch French police beating someone on tape? Rodney king story may never have been covered if only Los Angeles police were allowed to arrest George Holiday for being at the right place at the right time to capture the video.

Punishing everyone is not going to stop the filming of violence or the actually violent acts from happening it will just become harder to tell who filmed what and why they were in the right place to film it. Yes it is horrific that terrorists and criminals film acts of violence and then upload them to the Internet to recruit new members and spread fear across the world wide web But how will cracking down on the people who film these events lower crime?

It won't. What it will do is give the French police the new power to decided who define who is a "Professional Journalist" and who is just a "Citizen Journalists". Once you let the government the power to decided who can cover certain events they will pick those publications that are friendly to them and chase everyone else out on some technicality.
What if something similar to the Paris riots of last March that occurred after the French government pasted laws that made it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers?
After the French police are done tracking down the rioters they can now go after any citizen journalists that took pictures in a futile attempt to control the message and save face if anyone accuse the police of mistreating the rioters.




Thanks to "Citizen Journalists" uploading these pictures to Flickr the world got see a closer view of the story that was beyond the control of the police and the mainstream media.
The line between "Citizen Journalism" and "Professional Journalism" should never be drawn by the government. They are bound to use it to limit access and neglect the freedom of the press.

Besides "Citizen Journalism" is growing by leaps and bounds and the French will have a hard time trying to track pictures posted on the Internet back to the person who actually took them. If they don't check a "Citizen Journalist" in the act of taking pictures or "Happy Slapping" they may never check them on the Internet where no one has to identify themselves to upload pictures and content. There already is a magazine in Europe called cafebabel.com, that runs stories by hundreds of volunteer contributors around Europe and translates them into seven different languages with a staff of just nine people. They also have 20 local teams to propose subjects recruit writers and organizing "cafe Debates" and public forum to discuss social issues.

Here is good definition of a "Citizen Journalism" that was written by Mark Glaser a blogger for PBS MediaShift program.