Virginia shooting: is it dangerous to watch graphic videos?
Murder of journalists 'a macabre reminder' of how cyberspace has become a conduit for scenes of death
Video footage showing the murder of two reporters in Virginia has reignited the debate around watching and sharing graphic content online.
The introduction of auto-play options on Facebook and Twitter means it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid seeing gruesome videos that routinely circulate on social media.
Footage of this week's shooting was shared thousands of times and is yet another "macabre reminder of how cyberspace has become a conduit for scenes of death," writes Rhys Blakely in The Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Journalist Gideon Lichfield argues that people who watch and share these videos, much like the footage of executions carried out by Islamic State, are playing into the hands of the murderers.
"Images don't have agendas," he writes for Quartz. "Those who spread them do. When you next are tempted by a link with a self-conscious 'WARNING: GRAPHIC' before it, ask not 'Is this going to be too gruesome?' but instead 'Why do they want me to see it?'"
Poynter, a non-profit school for journalism, argues that there has to be a purpose to justify the use of such graphic content, such as resolving disputes of what occurred – such as the recent cases of US police officers killing unarmed black men Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Defending his decision not to show the video of Islamic State militants executing US journalist James Foley last year, New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet said: "There is no journalistic value to my mind of showing what a beheading looks like."
Journalist Sarah Frier agrees, writing in Bloomberg: "Images of violence against Foley can be seen as spreading a terrorist's message, while publicising Brown's death shines a light on a perceived injustice."
However Yael T. Abouhalkah, a journalist at the Kansas City Star, argues that the public should watch the Virginia video in order to fully confront the issue of gun crime and make clear the depth of the tragedy. "We need to see literal, grisly truth of carnage caused by guns in America. It's not a video game, people," he tweeted.
But psychologists warn that such videos can cause long-lasting damage to a person's mental health. "It is very important that people do not underestimate the disturbing effect of material such as this," says Rob Gordon, a clinical psychologist who specialises in trauma counselling.
For anyone who has experienced any kind of trauma, viewing such footage can easily cause them to relive their own experience, he warns. "People who are struggling with or carrying tragedy really need to keep away from that stuff, just like a person with a compromised immune system needs to keep away from someone with a bad cold," he told WANews.
"But ultimately, the power no longer rests solely with the heads of media organisations," writes Tara Culp-Ressler in Think Progress. As New Yorker journalist Philip Gourevitch recently argued: "we are, to some degree, our own editors when we choose to click or not."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - March 16, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - pointed commentary, Haiti in trouble, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 hilarious cartoons about the RNC's MAGA takeover
Cartoons Artists take on RNC funding, Lara Trump, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Trump's presidential run: a bad bet for Republicans?
Talking Point The GOP is taking a 'big gamble' on former president's 2024 White House bid
By The Week UK Published
-
Why are kidnappings in Nigeria on the rise again?
Today's Big Question Hundreds of children and displaced people are missing as kidnap-for-ransom 'bandits' return
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
How the idyllic Galapagos Islands became staging post in world drug trade
Under the radar Ecuador's crackdown on gang violence forces drug traffickers into Pacific routes to meet cocaine demand
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Armed gangs, prison breaks and on-air hostages: how Ecuador was plunged into crisis
The Explainer Gangs launch deadly revenge after president declares state of emergency following escape of feared drug boss from prison
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Ecuador tips toward chaos amid prison breaks, armed TV takeover
Speed Read New President Daniel Noboa authorized the military to 'neutralize' powerful drug-linked gangs after they unleashed violence and terror across Ecuador
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Prague shooting: student kills 14 people at university
Speed reads Police believe suspect, who killed himself, may have shot his father before carrying out mass murder
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Ex-US diplomat confessed spying for Cuba to undercover agent, FBI says
Speed Read DOJ says former US ambassador Manuel Rocha perpetrated 'one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the United States government by a foreign agent'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Death of first non-binary judge in Mexico instils fear in LGBTQ+ community
Under the Radar Jesús Ociel Baena's suspected murder reveals dangers to transgender and non-binary people
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published