Situation Definition
On April 7, 2015, The New York Times published an article titled, “South Carolina Officer is Charged with Murder of Walter Scott”. The article reports on the sentencing of Michael T. Slager, the officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, who claimed he shot Walter Scott using necessary force, but video then revealed Slager shot Scott as he ran away eight times. The article includes the video evidence embedded. Multiple ethical concerns faced The New York Times when publishing this article. First is the question of whether or not it is ethical for the media to report on an act of violence considering the potential consequences of media violence. The second is the question of whether or not showing the actual footage of the murder was necessary, knowing that graphic images can offend and upset viewers.
Analysis
Because the murder was an act of violence, a national news source like The New York Times needed to decide if reporting the violent story to their audience would cause more harm than its worth. There has long been debate over whether or not the presence of violence in the media, such as the news media focusing on violent news, causes harm to society by giving them aggressive attitudes that see violence as the norm. However, the Journal of Communication article “A Content Analysis of Print News Coverage of Media Violence and Aggression Research” questions if the news media should really consider the impact on aggression in society as a potential harm. According to the article, “Both arguments seem plausible at the moment as scholars lack sufficient information about how news media cover media violence research over time. Such research is important as print news has a substantial impact on many areas of public opinion including social issues (Franiuk, Seefelt, Cepress, & Vandello, 2008), politics (Hoffman, 2006), and environmental concerns (Sampei & Ayoagi-Usui, 2009)” (Martins, 2013, p 1071). Although news sources have not reached a conclusion on the effects of media violence, the possibility should affect the decision to report violence.
In the case of The New York Times report on Walter Scott’s murder, I believe reporting on it was ethical because of the case’s newsworthiness. In the past year especially, many black men have been shot by police officers, and current public uproar questions whether the police have been using necessary force or just being racist and murdering innocent men. Many of the officers have been acquitted based only on their word with no other evidence to prove or disprove the victims’ innocence or guilt. However, Michael T. Sagler’s word was proven to be lies by video evidence of him shooting Walter Scott, who was unarmed. This is a rare first because it proves police officers cannot always be taken at their word, and that police officers can commit murder and try to get away with it. This element makes the story newsworthy and overrides the potential harm from media violence.
The second ethical question in the story is whether or not The New York Times was ethical in embedding the graphic footage of Sagler shooting Scott online with the print story. Graphic footage and images in the news has historically offended and upset consumers. Referring to the reaction to graphic images taken by the press in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010, the article “Too Graphic?” says, “Christa Robins of Chicago wrote a letter to The New York Times protesting the graphic images of corpses and destruction published by the paper…Robins wrote, ‘I feel that the people who have suffered the most are being spectacularized by your blood-and-gore photographs, which do not at all inform me of the relief efforts, the political stability of the region, or the extend of damage to families or infrastructure’” (Emmett, 2010, p 32). Posting graphic images, especially of death, can upset the public and cause trauma to families of the victims in the images.
Despite potential harm, I think The New York Times was ethical in including the video evidence of Walter Scott’s murder. For one reason, although the video shows the shooting and death, it does not show graphic close-ups with focus on Scott’s wounds or face; in fact, both his face and wounds are barely visible in the video and are not necessary for the video’s gist. The lack of these elements makes it less disturbing visually and less likely to offend/upset. The second reason is that the video is actually part of the news story. It is the evidence that proves Walter Scott was unarmed and running away from the cop that murdered him and tried to lie about it. That makes showing the video extra newsworthy. If video was not shown, the family would be more likely to be traumatized by the public debate over Walter Scott’s character and whether or not his actions warranted being shot. Therefore, the video helps instead of hurting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe that The New York Times made all of the correct ethical considerations when deciding how to report on Walter Scott’s murder and rightly decided to report on the story with inclusion of the video. This case teaches me that the best examples of journalism require ethical decision making to produce, and making a riskier decision ethically can actually work out so that less people are harmed. Discussing why The New York Times was right to report on violence with graphic video content is important because arguments only again reporting on violence can lead to censorship and therefore untruthful news. This story is tied closely to issues with racism, and being honest will benefit the discussion that focuses on stopping violent crimes based on race.
References
Emmett, Arielle. (2010). Too Graphic? American Journalism Review, 32(1), 28- 33. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=a7de825c-f164-4171-b848-7270902a329c%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ufh&AN=48772168
Martins, N., Weaver, A. J., Yeshua-Katz, D., Lewis, N. H., Tyree, N. E., & Jensen, J. D. (2013). A Content Analysis of Print News Coverage of Media Violence and Aggression Research. Journal of Communication, 63(6), 1070-1087. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=f8ee2202-d4e5-4251-9297-78e50ea243fa%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=ufh&AN=92673787
Schmidt, S. & Apuzzo, M. (2015). South Carolina Officer is Charged with Murder of Walter Scott. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/us/south-carolina-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-black-mans-death.html