Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Several weeks ago, I was watching the NBC nightly news when I saw a story about the problems with and possible recall of Toyota vehicles. I was horrified to hear a 911 tape immediately preceding the death of a family of three broadcast for all of America. I doubted they would have wanted millions of viewers to hear their final exclamations of horror as the driver couldn’t control the car.
NBC recently went even further in distastefully airing a tragic event by showing video of the fatal luge crash of Georgian Olympian Nodar Kumaritashvili. Including the video in the coverage was downright disrespectful and unnecessary for any purpose other than hoping to reel in viewers.
NBC certainly is not the only network that has bought in to sensationalist journalism at the expense of respectability. These instances are more of a testament to the way our society has changed (and perhaps just what the media will do for attention).
Sometimes it is necessary to show violence or death in the news. During times of war, citizens should be able to understand the great costs of violence. They should see that soldiers really are putting their lives at risk, and they should fully realize that civilians are killed during conflict.
One arresting video swept the airwaves and Internet in June. The video showed the gruesome death of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan, an innocent civilian shot and killed on the street near anti-government protests. The footage immediately became ammunition for the anti-government movement in Iran and for human rights advocates around the globe.
In this case, the video of such a personal tragedy became a symbol of advancing human rights protection and speaking out against oppressive governments. Obviously, showing this video underlay the coverage of a political movement; it was not simply sensationalizing death.
The press should retain all the freedoms democracy promises. Sometimes, though, it is tactless to exploit a tragic moment for the sake of boosting ratings or adding “juice” to a story. To its credit, NBC quickly made the decision to stop showing the video of Kumaritashvili’s crash during the Olympics.
All news providers should remember to use basic ethical reasoning in evaluating what should and should not be put on the air.
— Cosby is a sophomore from Overland Park in political science.
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