For those expecting to read a blog post about Susan Powter, move on. However, for those that were dumbfounded when analysis of last week's tragic events surrounding eight teenagers in Florida beating of another Florida teen started to appear, read on. Anick Jesdanun at the AP penned one of many stories that followed on the breaking news titled, Video of Teen Beating Raises Questions.
This was one of many stories that appeared saying, don't blame the companies posting the videos, they're just doing their civic duty. In the interest of full disclosure, I don't have teenagers but I have to tell you, I was no less sickened than the majority of Americans when almost every news organization ran the video in its entirety. Now that the authorities are working due process, let this ugly saga play out where it belongs, in the court of law. The eight teenagers that felt they were doing their own civic duty to tape and post the video, acting as citizen journalists, may have felt they were no less duty bound as well.
And unfortunately the experts weighed in seeming to excuse what happened, brushing it under the carpet of freedom of expression and the proverbial people's need to know:
"In fact, they (YouTube) have a duty to share the video, said Kelly McBride, the ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Fact that the video was shot because they were seeking publicity was secondary."
Say what? The fact the teens got what they wanted, publicity, was secondary? Perhaps in the age of citizen journalists, we need to create a new position, citizen PR person. But, I'd like to see this new position take on a little more responsibility.
Imagine this if you will: Citizen journalist asks citizen PR person to help with promoting illegal activity, in this case savage beating of another person. Citizen PR person thinks for one millisecond and responds, no thank you.
As the video can no longer be found on YouTube, perhaps cooler heads have prevailed this time and there's more than one citizen PR person in the making at the company. We're not talking about freedom of expression here, especially when it entails an illegal activity. We're talking about responsibility and stopping the insanity.
