Citizen journalists
16/08/05 12:45 Ethics
One of the less noticed elements of the London bombs
was the arrival of 'Citizen journalism'. For the
first time I can remember, broadcasters including Sky
and the BBC were actively asking people to take
pictures on their phones and e-mail them in.
It's a logical extension of what was common practice before. How many times did the broadcasters use 'amateur film' of some major event at which they didn't have a camera crew? Quite a lot, is the answer.
But this is different. This is asking, soliciting the viewers to send stuff in. Now, that's fine in what you might call 'harmless' situations - the protest meeting, the gathering for whatever other reason. The risks are pretty minimal if it all stays peaceful. What, though, about situations like bombs? Whilst watching the BBC and others say 'please send us your pics' I didn't hear them say 'and we'll indemnify you in case of injury'. Nor did I hear them issue guidelines about not doctoring photos to liven them up - again, that's one thing for clarity, but how long will it be before someone jazzes up one of these 'citizen' pictures and maybe adds something to the scene, falsifying what happened? Is the contributor expected to indemnify the broadcaster in case some sort of visual libel is committed?
The idea of getting people sending pictures in, as long as they're understood to be amateurs and everyone accepts the quality implications, sounds reasonable enough at first. But the possible ramifications are vast, and will need careful thinking through and a policy statement from everyone who's likely to use them.
It's a logical extension of what was common practice before. How many times did the broadcasters use 'amateur film' of some major event at which they didn't have a camera crew? Quite a lot, is the answer.
But this is different. This is asking, soliciting the viewers to send stuff in. Now, that's fine in what you might call 'harmless' situations - the protest meeting, the gathering for whatever other reason. The risks are pretty minimal if it all stays peaceful. What, though, about situations like bombs? Whilst watching the BBC and others say 'please send us your pics' I didn't hear them say 'and we'll indemnify you in case of injury'. Nor did I hear them issue guidelines about not doctoring photos to liven them up - again, that's one thing for clarity, but how long will it be before someone jazzes up one of these 'citizen' pictures and maybe adds something to the scene, falsifying what happened? Is the contributor expected to indemnify the broadcaster in case some sort of visual libel is committed?
The idea of getting people sending pictures in, as long as they're understood to be amateurs and everyone accepts the quality implications, sounds reasonable enough at first. But the possible ramifications are vast, and will need careful thinking through and a policy statement from everyone who's likely to use them.
|