Reporting Graphic Content: The WDBJ Virginia Shooting
At the end of August this year, tragedy struck in Roanoke, Virginia for local television station WDBJ-TV. Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward were doing a live interview for their station when they were shot to death. The shooter was a former reporter for WDBJ. The shooter recorded the whole incident and soon posted it to social media for the world to see. The two main ethical issues with this case are: 1) should other news stations and websites show the video of the shooting and 2) are pictures of the shooting too severe to post to those same platforms.
From our PowerPoint on “Ethical Thinking in Reporting Graphic Content,” we learned three questions when it comes to reporting graphic content. The first question a journalist should ask is “What does the viewer need to know?” The second question a journalist should ask is “How much detail is necessary for viewers to get the truth of the day’s news?” The final question is “How much effort do journalists make in the pursuit of truth?” The shooter posting the video on all forms of social media means he wanted people to see it and spread it which makes these three questions tough to evaluate. In response to the tragedy, news director from WDBJ Kelly Zuber said “’Vester Flanagan raised the bar on murder. We need to ask, how do we raise the bar on journalism?’ She added that it was appropriate for viewers to see that they were in pain as a group of people, and not stoic journalists somehow removed from the situation,” (spj.org). Zuber wanted to make sure that journalism and reporting was not undermined by this incident. She understood though that there is a limit in how they could do that.
The video is the worst graphic content one could show and is way too much detail. It is not necessary for the viewers to get the truth of the day. It would simply be overwhelming to watch for most, the viewer can picture the scene and the event with an accurate article that is thoughtfully written. The journalist needs to go above and beyond to describe the incident without the use of the video to respect everyone. Photos on the other hand, I believe, can be used if desired by the station or platform. Photos are still an extremely heavy medium which could potentially overwhelm many. The photo will help set the scene to its full extent though so I believe they can be used. This tragedy is one that can actually benefit the journalism world and deserves to be talked about. The main thing journalists should take away from the situation is you don’t have to have the hard evidence that can overwhelm people to make headline news. The videos of this were taken off all websites and news stations but it was still very prominent in the news. Accurate writing and hard work makes the article, not the vulgar video.
Works Cited
McNamara, Mary. “If We Watch the Virginia TV Shooting Is the Suspected Shooter ‘winning’?” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
“Society of Professional Journalists Improving and Protecting Journalism since 1909.” Journalists Discuss Coverage of Virginia News Crew Shootings during EIJ15 Session. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
Zhong, Bu. “Ethical Thinking in Reporting Graphic Content.” Lecture.