In this article I ask if the media should show graphic scenes if
they are recorded on film or even audio. Should we have shown the man
burned alive by ISIS, or the murder of innocents by gangs in Chicago, or
Louisiana or our U.S. Mexican border? I say yes it all should, and I will
tell you my reasoning.
Why I say yes: The reason is because I feel we are
blind sometimes to the reality of what is going on in the world. We lack
perspective when the news says a certain number of people were killed in a
roadside bomb in Iraq or Afghanistan. It does not completely sink in with
us because we cannot see it. Then you add the footage of the event, or
the aftermath and it provides perspective to the event. It actually makes
you say WTF and think for a few seconds. The movie "Hotel
Rwanda" said it best, people will hear genocide in Rwanda on the news, say
that’s terrible, and then go back to eating dinner. But once the stomach
turning footage is shown we can no longer just look away. We actually
want to take action to stop the event, or prevent it from happening again. I
mean remember Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite reporting on the Tet offensive
with all the bodies being dragged away? It was that footage that changed the
opinion of the American people with respect to the Vietnam War. These images
have power. But the media today is fearful in my opinion of said graphic
footage. Some have an agenda, while others worry about how graphic the
footage is in the first place. But not showing it does not allow people
to wake up and see the world with their own eyes and the horror we must resist.
The world is filled with violence, maybe it is time we stop hiding from
it.
Conclusion: As I said, this is my opinion, and it is
nothing more than that. I just feel that we are not getting the full impact
of why it is important to stop the violence committed by ISIS and other violent
groups. We should be shown graphic footage so that we awaken and see not
just the pleasure and innocence, but of the darker half of society and our
social ills. Things need to be said without fear, and showing a shooting,
a murder and similar on TV and the ones responsible will help change us I
believe for the better.
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