Wesley Minke
wm598119@ohio.edu
When it comes to our reporters today, and the way in which the world gives us our news to break, we are provided a position in which there is almost no way to win. Following the tragic death of George Floyd, and the uprising of racial injustice in our world, the media was forced to almost pick a side in the way they cover information.
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| https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/05/riot-or-resistance-the-way-the-media-frames-the-unrest-in-minneapolis-will-shape-the-publics-view-of-protest/?relatedstory |
When I say pick a side I mean these networks make you, the listener or reader, decide whether or not you want to support one side, or support the other. In this case it is either you support the protesters, whether violent or not, standing up for their rights and what they believe to be necessary. On the other hand you can support the police, whether violent or non-violent, who are trying to protect the city and gain public trust back in a time where the public is reluctant to do so.
To be honest it is an unfair spot to put the public in, and alongside that, it is very hard to cover biased media sources. It gives almost all of a site's credibility become almost irrelevant if they choose to pick a side because the odds they cover the other side is very low. Most people that choose to watch super biased media watch it because they just want to listen to people who agree with them, rather than trying to learn about something from someone who is different from them.
It is unfair to assume that everything you see is the honest truth because every single person that is in charge of these networks has to decide what side they want to air. However, there are always the extremes, and some networks like to air the extremes to prove a point. Whether that be some of the brutal attacks on innocent protestors like we have seen aired, or the protestors violently tearing apart local businesses. There will always be the extremes and it's a line that we shouldn't cross, but some choose to.
So we need to truly consider, what is the line, and how can we avoid crossing it? This becomes quite the ethical issue when we consider how we share the whole news. We have to make that split second decision of whether or not to give the audience the full story even if there are at risk to possibly be exposed to some pictures or scenes that would not be ok for all audiences. Without showing some of these pictures our stories could be incomplete however, so we must choose wisely. It is a big ethical conflict, but one we must always take very seriously.
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