Situation Definition: In 2014, well-known actor, Robin Williams, committed suicide during the summer. Because he was well-known, news station and papers wanted to be the first ones to get the story out. Sometimes just getting the news out there could be a bad thing because all of the facts and details are not there or have not been proven yet.
As we discussed in class, suicides are rarely reported on, but because Robin Williams was a well-known actor, it was a different case. He was also suffering from depression during the time of his death. It is a very sensitive subject to talk about it and some of the stations reacted poorly when it came to reporting about it.
During the coverage of Williams’ death, Fox News made two big mistakes. One being that Fix had mixed up the clips of Williams playing Mrs. Doubtfire with a clip of a normal civilian portraying him for Halloween. The other mistake was that of a news anchor calling Williams a coward for killing himself.
Analysis: Let’s begin with the first mistake which was the mixing up of the two clips. The clip that they aired during their news report about his death was from a YouTube video of a man dressed up as Mrs. Doubtfire for Halloween and acting out a scene from the movie “Mrs. Doubtfire.” It was put in a line of clips of him that a lot of people in a small square while the reporter was talking about his death. It probably was not recognizable to the average person or someone who never seen the movie.
This would cause ethical issues because they did not use the right sources or try to correct their wrong. “Journalists are most likely to turn to the web when they need information fast and they can’t find it quickly (Middleberg and Ross, 1999).” (Shin and Cameron, 2003) They also had claimed the footage came from 20th Century Fox which was a lie. People turn to the news for information and they trust that the news that they are seeing or reading is true.
The second issue was Fox News anchor Shepard Smith called Williams a coward for killing himself and leaving his 3 kids on each without a father. He put Williams in a bad light and also was not sensitive to the subject at hand which was suicide. Smith later on apologized for saying it. “The last thing I would ever suggest about a man I know nothing about personally, is that he’s a coward. That goes against everything I am. If those words, I used so innocently, offended his family, from the bottom of my heart, I could not be more sorry,” said Smith. (Newser, 2014)
As a news reporter, they try to stay away from voicing their own opinions as much as possible and he simply did not do that. It also put him in a lot of heat with not only viewers, but other news stations as well.
Conclusion: I learned that you should own up to your mistake when you make them. Fox did not really own up to their mistakes when it came to the video. They instead try to hide it from their viewers and in the end they got caught. I also learned that everything you want to say doesn’t need to be said. It could cause issues and make people see you in a different light.
Shin, J., & Cameron, G. (2003). The Interplay of Professional and Cultural Factors in the Online Source-Reporter Relationship. Journalism Studies, 4, 253-272.
Smith, S. (2014, December 23). Top 10 Media Ethics Issues of 2014. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.imediaethics.org/top-10-media-ethics-issues-of-2014/
Ariens, C. (2014, August 12). Shepard Smith Explains Use of the Word ‘Coward’ During Robin Williams Coverage. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/shepard-smith-explains-use-of-the-word-coward-during-robin-williams-coverage/236179?red=tn
Wilstein, M. (2014, August 11). Fox News Backs Robin Williams Death Report with Fake Mrs. Doubtfire Footage. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-backs-robin-williams-death-report-with-fake-mrs-doubtfire-footage/