Cellphone reporting in Family Disputes
I totally admit that this story caught my eye because the "bad father" was a Packers fan, and let's just say I'm from Chicago... yet beyond the wacky news/ha ha quality of the story, note that the mother documented the abuse with a cellphone and showed that to police.
How many domestic moments where one parent or the other loses it temporarily have gone unnoted in the past, with the result that without public intervention, the family got itself back in balance. Now I do admit that there are plenty of instances where a picture in time, could have saved a beating or even a life. I just think this new dimension of the possibility of involving a global audience in our most intimate moments, many of which are not our finest or proudest, is something we should talk about as a society. Any comments?
The boy refused to wear the jersey Saturday, when the Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks in a playoff game, Smith said. Smith said the incident sounded strange when reported at first, but the mother took pictures with her cell phone and that type of evidence is difficult to dispute.Source: chicagotribune.com via biverson
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3 comments:
Nothing new here. "Old" media has long known that this type of story increases ratings (murders, disasters, domestic battery, etc.). The fact that it was covered using "new" media is a side note. I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Look at the cellphone video which was shown extensively during the VT shootings. I think the challenge is for journalists to properly vet a story and determine if it's newsworthy in the first place, regardless of how the content was acquired.
What you say is true. I was thinking about the issue from the human/family side. How many people act badly but learn from their mistakes. If we are all under surveillance, all the time, what does that do to our humanity?
Again in this case, it sounds like the mom empowered herself to report what sounded like an abusive husband. In the old days, maybe she just told a friend or called the cops. The cell phone was the tool she chose to get her out of a bad situation. It was her choice. I think the kind of surveillance you're worrying about is the government unauthorized type that we can't turn off when we want.
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