Insensitive and Irresponsible Journalism
I pondered for quite some time before writing this entry.
The reason why I hesitated is because of the party involved in this whole issue. I don’t want to go too much into details, but I’ll just give you the background. I cannot stop you from researching this unfortunate event. But I will try to keep my entry vague so that it is not easy to dig.
A gal uses her handphone and took video clips of her having sex with her bf. Her handphone was stolen, and now the video clips is all over the web.
I got to know about this news thru some news aggregator which post links to a blog saying the details of what happen. It seems ok, just simply revealing the school the gal is from. But what makes me sick was that this entry prompted more digging and someone even trackback another blog that reveal the gal’s name, school and CCA. Yes, well done Sherlocks Homes. You managed to dig out so much information about her and expose her to everyone. It is alright to write about the news. But what was your intention when you put her details on your blog? To show everyone how good you are at digging someone’s dirty laundry? Or to further humiliate the gal? Or for that few minutes of fame your blogs get? I don’t know.
I was quite pissed off by the news aggregator’s editors who allow such posting to be posted. What if the gal is your friend? What if the gal is one of your editors? Why was a blog revealing the identity of the gal allowed on the news aggregator? Why didn’t the editor prevented this gal from further humiliations? This news aggregator is being read by thousands of Singaporeans daily. The list of editors contains some of the big names in the local blog scene. Yet such irresponsible post was allowed to happen. They often defended themselves that they are just volunteers. But being editors of a large news aggregator, they should do things responsibly. I’m sad to see such irresponsible actions.
To add on to the problem, our national newspaper also publishes the story today. I guess the reporter might had gotten the news from the news aggregator. What shocked me was that the article contains her name and school too! Even drug addicts get fake name and mosaic face when they appear on news. What the heck is the reporter thinking? What if the gal’s relative reads about it?
Her name is currently the top search topic in some search engine.
The blog, the new aggregator and the newspaper are all insensitive and irresponsible. While there is a need to report the fact, there should also exercise some care while dealing with such issue. The identity of the victim should be kept secret. Yet nobody bothers.
I do not want to debate if the gal is right or wrong about keeping her sex video clip in her handphone. It is her personal choice. Even if it sounded stupid, she doesn’t deserve her identity to be written all over the blogsphere.
The reason why I hesitated is because of the party involved in this whole issue. I don’t want to go too much into details, but I’ll just give you the background. I cannot stop you from researching this unfortunate event. But I will try to keep my entry vague so that it is not easy to dig.
A gal uses her handphone and took video clips of her having sex with her bf. Her handphone was stolen, and now the video clips is all over the web.
I got to know about this news thru some news aggregator which post links to a blog saying the details of what happen. It seems ok, just simply revealing the school the gal is from. But what makes me sick was that this entry prompted more digging and someone even trackback another blog that reveal the gal’s name, school and CCA. Yes, well done Sherlocks Homes. You managed to dig out so much information about her and expose her to everyone. It is alright to write about the news. But what was your intention when you put her details on your blog? To show everyone how good you are at digging someone’s dirty laundry? Or to further humiliate the gal? Or for that few minutes of fame your blogs get? I don’t know.
I was quite pissed off by the news aggregator’s editors who allow such posting to be posted. What if the gal is your friend? What if the gal is one of your editors? Why was a blog revealing the identity of the gal allowed on the news aggregator? Why didn’t the editor prevented this gal from further humiliations? This news aggregator is being read by thousands of Singaporeans daily. The list of editors contains some of the big names in the local blog scene. Yet such irresponsible post was allowed to happen. They often defended themselves that they are just volunteers. But being editors of a large news aggregator, they should do things responsibly. I’m sad to see such irresponsible actions.
To add on to the problem, our national newspaper also publishes the story today. I guess the reporter might had gotten the news from the news aggregator. What shocked me was that the article contains her name and school too! Even drug addicts get fake name and mosaic face when they appear on news. What the heck is the reporter thinking? What if the gal’s relative reads about it?
Her name is currently the top search topic in some search engine.
The blog, the new aggregator and the newspaper are all insensitive and irresponsible. While there is a need to report the fact, there should also exercise some care while dealing with such issue. The identity of the victim should be kept secret. Yet nobody bothers.
I do not want to debate if the gal is right or wrong about keeping her sex video clip in her handphone. It is her personal choice. Even if it sounded stupid, she doesn’t deserve her identity to be written all over the blogsphere.
