Media ethics?
Friday, April 27, 2007
I don't recommend that you check out the front page of Al-Balad newspaper today.
I have to say, even though it is nothing as bad as some of the ghastly pictures I have seen, I find it rather distasteful that they would print such stuff, and on the front page to boot.
Which begs the question of media ethics: how far one should/can go, in the name of media freedoms or even for a much nobler cause such as condemning and spreading awareness against such criminal behavior?
posted by Angry Anarchist @ 4/27/2007 01:27:00 AM,
5 Comments:
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At April 27, 2007 at 7:26 AM,
Moussa Bashir said...
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right again. but ur warning lured me to albald's front page. sad
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At April 27, 2007 at 10:02 AM,
Unknown said...
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Were you yesterday at West Hall attending Robert Fisk's lecture?
He mocked the western media and journalists' coverage to the Middle East questioning ethics too. -
At April 27, 2007 at 10:25 AM,
Angry Anarchist said...
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No, I wasn't at the lecture...
To be honest, I used to like Robert Fisk, but he lost me a bit after the Hariri assassination. Still, no reason to undermine his previous contributions during the civil war, and the Qana massacre in 1996...
I have to admit I am a bit unsure about this whole thing, one the one hand, I think it's important for such things -- especially if political in nature -- to be shown, just like the scale of atrocities in Iraq needed to be shown at the time of "shock and awe" and to this day. I think the public is deliberately kept ignorant of these crimes, and the media can potentially play a political role in waking up public opinion (it did to a certain extent in the Iraq war, although the Americans did have a tight control over the media). But then, you have to wonder if it's actually right to publish these images on the front page of a DAILY NEWSPAPER (as opposed to a specific website with adequate warning). My stomach can tolerate such images, but most people's stomachs don't. Plus, and especially if it is an isolated incident, did they get clearance from the family of the victims to spread photos of their mutilated bodies?? I think that's very much doubtful given the whole timing of the front page and the fact that I don't think that in the heat of things for the two families they would have gone and bothered them with the request for permission. -
At April 27, 2007 at 1:28 PM,
Unknown said...
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I recall here Azmi Bishara's objection not to publish images of the neighborhood's destruction (needless to say about human bodies) when he visited Southern Beirut after the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. He said (I like to write in Arabic) "7atta l7ijara laha 7ormatoha"..
Here I decided that I won't use my camera to "race" on archiving an awe I haven't experienced. -
At April 28, 2007 at 10:44 AM,
Puppeteer said...
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Anarchist,
I've tagged you for the Thinking Blog Award. Pass by my blog if you like to participate.
