Hate Speech v. Journalists: What do we do?

Luke Steiner
ls290516@ohio.edu

Picture Courtesy of the Daily Princetonian

What is Hate Speech?

Depending on who you ask, Hate Speech is a type of speech that can have multiple different definitions, especially if the person you ask has been affected by Hate Speech. Hate Speech is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as, "abusive or threatening speech or writing that expresses prejudice against a particular group, especially on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation." The concept of Hate Speech has been around for a long time, originating in groups like the Ku Klux Klan or Nazi Germany. Some people believe that Hate Speech is more prevalent today than it was in the past because of the political climate of the world as well as social media. Sadly, hate is something that has been shown to thrive on Social Media, with innumerable examples.

Now v. Past

There are lots of changes in the world from the past to now, and all of the changes stem from a singular thing, Technology. The world has changed an incredible amount since technology has been introduced in all aspects of life and in all careers. It is impossible to be a successful worker in today's society without some set of technology skills. The way that people talk to each other is no different from any aspect of life that is changing with technology.

As technology has advanced, people have used that technology negatively in interaction with other people on the internet. This includes Hate Speech as well. Technology is feeding into Hate Speech because people on the internet are hiding behind a false mask that gives them the confidence to say bad things about other people. Some researchers even like to believe that now with technology, Hate Speech is more prevalent than ever before because people do not get punished for what they say on the internet because it is hard to find that person and confront them. Whereas in the past, when people used to talk only face-to-face, it was easier to confront someone that was using Hate Speech toward a certain group or ethnicity. Also, people will use the internet as an excuse for publishing Hate Speech somewhere, by saying that their account was hacked if it is brought up to them. Sadly, the internet is causing an uptick in Hate Speech, which is furthering groups apart in our society.

Example of Hate Speech on Social Media
Photo Courtesy of Convershaken.com

What can we do as Journalists?

As Journalists, we too have Hate Speech brought against us because of the job that we do. Certain people may not like what we say about a certain story, but the way that we approach Hate Speech is just like any other story. We need to do our job as Journalists, to tell the truth, and to not promote a certain agenda of one side of the story, that could include Hate Speech. Do what we are trained to do, stay neutral in language and just simply put the facts that we have researched down. It is imperative for us as Journalists to not let Hate Speech or any other type of bias to leak into our stories, especially if the stories may contain video. If there is a video that is shown that may contain Hate Speech, censoring should be used to protect the public. Some may think that we should show what is said, but it is giving the people that said such horrible things what they want. They want what they said to be heard, we need to keep it quiet to minimize harm as well as not give the bad people what they want. A perfect example of both how to and how not to do handle hate speech is the situation at Charlottesville in 2017. Certain media outlets did show hate speech and certain media outlets that did not. Nevertheless, if a Journalist does their job properly, there is no way that a Journalist could be promoting Hate Speech in a story.