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In today's ever-changing world there has been a dramatic paradigm shift between the role of citizens and journalists as technological mediums have begun to blur the line between the two. There used to be a strongly held belief that the news and media only existed to provide us with factual information to be used to our benefit. Now there is a strong inclination that these media empires built upon our trust and the foundations of Normative Theory are not the beacons of truth we once believed they were.
The most recent example would be the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police, there was a strong inclination by the media that the BLM movement is nothing more than disorganized rabble causing trouble. Some of those within our government went as far as labeling them as a terrorist organization.
Even when high profile celebrities, such as Colin Kaepernick, adopted the message for the sake of social responsibility, he ended up being crucified by the media and accused of not caring about the troops, being un-American, etc. The NFL was happy to downplay the movement and smear Colin's credibility because an African American taking a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice is bad for business. The white owners of every NFL team were happy to collude against him and shut him out of the NFL with the blessing of the commissioner, Roger Goodell.
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| Colin Kaepernick kneels during the National Anthem |
Now suddenly after the horrifying footage of George Floyd's murder by the Minneapolis Police Department, we see a dramatic backpedal from both the media and organizations that widely condemned the BLM movement prior to these events. Without citizen journalists, there wouldn't have been anyone to capture George Floyd's death on video, and the narrative would most likely still be the same in regard to social justice. It would have been a dead man's word vs a few corrupt cops and as history has repeatedly shown, nothing much would have come of it.
We have a responsibility towards the truth and social justice in an age that is steeped in misinformation, social bias, and prejudice. Political and social interest groups dominate the flow of information in our society with seemingly little regard for truth or justice. As citizen journalists, there is an ethical demand for the unmitigated truth and proliferation of social justice in the form of free-flowing ideas and information untainted by the crux of partisan bias. Unless there are those willing to stand up for truth and justice despite the risks and social implications, we will have neither.
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