With the advent of high-quality smartphone cameras and social media, citizen journalism has become a staple of our society. We see videos every single day that individuals take of events they witness and subsequently post on Twitter for the whole world to see. The role of a citizen journalist has become especially important and has taken on a new meaning in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent movement for Black Lives Matter.
We have the ability to take high-quality photos and videos of events we encounter and can often get them out in the world of social media before a broadcast news team even arrives on the scene. When we post, we share our media with our immediate circle of followers, but a video can go viral in a matter of hours without much effort on our part if the content is shocking or funny or gruesome enough. Because citizen journalists can have so much influence, there is the question of whether they should be held to the same ethical standards as journalists who work for a news organization. This chapter went in-depth about the ethics of using photo and video and journalism and the many steps journalists have to go through in the process of deciding to take a photo or video and whether to use it in their story. Citizen journalists do not really go through the same ethical decision-making process, they simply take a photo video and post it on social media. Because there is not a rigorous ethical decision-making process in these circumstances, there is potential for someone to be harmed or exposed by the act of posting a photo or video. Journalists employed by news organizations take this potential for harm into consideration when making a decision to use or not use a certain media element. However, photos and videos posted by citizen journalists can be critical for understanding the full extent of certain situations, especially if the parties involved include institutions with significant authority and power.
This past week, citizen journalism has been in the spotlight during the murder trial of Derek Chauvin. Darnella Frazier's video of Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck set off the spark for the wave of Black Lives Matter protests last year and has been instrumental in the prosecution of the case. By posting it, she gave the public a look into what really happened and prevented the police department from just writing off Floyd's death and burying it in paperwork. Without Frazier's video and other eyewitness videos, the police department may have been able to write off accusations of police brutality and the truth may have never come to light, as the police are an institution with authority and a history of abusing the power they hold.
Frazier has since received accolades and awards for recording the event and is a key witness in Chauvin's trial. She gave an emotional testimony last week about what she experienced that day and the effect witnessing Floyd's death and posting the video has had on her life. In her role as a citizen journalist, she informed the world about what really happened to George Floyd. If we analyzed the ethicality of the act of posting the video, as journalists do when deciding whether to use a photo or video, the principle of utilitarianism could be applied. One could argue that while posting the video did do some harm, as it may have been traumatizing for people to watch, especially Black individuals. However, without the video, the truth may have never come out about Floyd's murder and the national attention on the Black Lives Matter movement would not have been as significant or possibly nonexistent. From this perspective, posting the video was ethical as it sparked nationwide protests demanding changes to policing and conversations about the racism Black individuals face on a daily basis. Posting the video could also be considered ethical under communitarian standards as well. This perspective emphasizes an act's contribution to society and social justice. Sharing the video most definitely contributed to social justice movements and had a big impact on society, so it would be considered ethical under communitarianism. Frazier's video and other videos of Black individuals suffering at the hands of the police have become a type of citizen journalism aimed at holding police officers accountable for the brutality and racism they demonstrate. While these videos help show the truth of what Black individuals face at the hands of the police, they are traumatizing, triggering and difficult to watch. It should not take a viral video of a Black man being murdered by a police officer for Americans to realize the extent to which racism is embedded in our institutions and in society.
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