look at me, looking at them
I’ve just read a really poignant piece by Paul Carr over at TechCrunch on the dangers of citizen journalism and how ego-fuelled reporting does not equal the truth:
I wrote a post a while back on digital rubbernecking and James Governor captured the feeling for me then in his comment.
With the widespread availability of technology for reporting is the race to capture “the” footage making us lose our humanity? Could you watch a girl die to be the first to capture a story or would you run for help? I know what I’d do.
Cross posted with my personal blog
Tags: citizen journalism, digital rubbernecking, ethics, social media
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Comments (8)
November 9th, 2009 at 3:10 am Posted by Craig McGill
I don’t see the reason for the shock here. Cameramen have been filming tragic and poignant moments for decades - why wouldn’t we expect the amateurs to do the same?
There’s also the point of involvement. Journalistic detachment is a staple of the industry for better or worse.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:47 am Posted by Becky McMichael
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Craig. For me, this comes down to amateurs/public being human first, citizen journalists second. For professionals, they are - as you rightly put it - trained to be detached and remain uninvolved, however do we want to live in a society where we all act like that?
The instant ego stoke that social media tools provide is clearly effecting a change on human behaviour or at least bringing out certain traits….it is natural that we’re not going to like them all….
November 9th, 2009 at 8:50 am Posted by Philippe Pham
Well… Under English law, a citizen does not have to help someone in danger, unlike most of other European countries where non assistance to a person in danger is punishable by law.
This cannot be changed as it would break the foundations of English law. I talked to several people in the law sector and it turns out if you want to be safe i.e. not being sued for injuries made to the victim while helping (it does happen a lot in the UK), you cannot be a good samaritan in the UK. If you choose to help, make sure you succeed… How can you be sure you can will succeed?
So here, i find the cameraman’s attitude is not that much different from an ordinary samaritan who knows the risks of helping someone in danger. Yes he filmed it so others could see it, but he was not obliged to help therefore by English law, he has not done anything wrong. In Europe he would have been prosecuted for not helping.
Shocking to most of European people including myself but that’s the truth.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:53 am Posted by Philippe Pham
When i said “In Europe he would have been prosecuted for not helping” i obviously wanted to say “In most of other European countries he would have been prosecuted for not helping”. My apologies for the error.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:04 am Posted by PaulieA
i think a huge majority of people would save the girl / get help rather than film her dying, even journalists. All the ‘quest for truth’ stuff is nonsense, whether its citizen journalism or trad journalism.
I can understand journalistic detachment of course, and that someone might want to get the story AND save someone. But anyone that watches someone die to get a story is inhumane.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am Posted by Philippe Pham
I agree, it’s inhumane that’s why for example in France, you MUST by law try everything you can to save someone. It doesn’t work this way in Britain where there are so many cases of helpers being sued / jailed / lost everything because they tried to save lives.
Not a long time ago, someone saved a person who got stuck in his car. Believe it or not, the helper got sued by the victim about some injuries sustained during the assistance and had to pay something like £13000 to the victim.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:24 am Posted by Philippe Pham
oops, sorry again, the story was about someone stuck in his crashed car… My bad, it’s Monday.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:49 am Posted by sam
“Look at me, looking at her, looking back at me.”
I think this quote applies to the state of professional journalism as well. In the US, there has been a slow trend since the 1980s away from serious journalism to infotainment where news anchors are as focused on their celebrity status as much as reporting. Being first to report is now more important than checking sources and getting the story right.
Celebrity reporters, along with reality television, are the role models for citizen journalists who take advantage of the moment and see reality through a new lens made possible by technology that allows anyone who happens to be at the center of a national story to provide the content faster than any journalist could possibly arrive, learn the story, and prepare a report.
If the standards for journalistic reporting were higher, we would not tolerate the misinformation, hype, and unethical conduct of citizen reporters, but based on our current standards, what’s the difference between the “professional” and “citizen” journalist? It pretty much boils down to who got there first.
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