In the current digital area that we are living in, there is no effort needed to get to know the latest news all around the world. News is easily accessible and we are curious about every little aspect. We want to know more and more and be constantly updated, which results to a more competitive market for the media industry. They all aim to be the first and are willing to do a lot to achieve it. However, has is gone too far?
One of the most recent examples that shows this problem is the case of Anne Faber. Everyone in the Netherlands followed the case closely and the last couple of weeks was full of updates, whether it be in newspaper, television, radio or social media. Everyone wanted to know what happened to her and the media did everything it could to report the news to the people, however, didn’t they take it too far?
The media showed occasions of improper behaviour and have been disturbing the police with the search of the girl several times. There had been live footage at the lake where Anne’s bike has been found. They showed the lake and the personnel working there, which not only invades the personnel’s privacy, but is also indecent toward the family and relatives. After receiving more news about the whereabouts of the girl, the police fenced off the place and asked not to disturb. However, certain media outlets decided to fly above the crime scene and took several pictures of it, hence disregarding everything the police said. It also appeared that a media outlet already announced that a body has been found before the police even had the chance to make it public.
Instances like this shows improper behaviour of the media and it is happening increasingly more. The media is invading the privacy of people concerned, hindering the search process, while there appears to be no sign of sympathy, discretion and sensitivity. It seems as if the ethics are long forgotten and they only focus on getting the best headlines, pictures and story without even considering the feelings of the victims.
Baneke, I. (2017) Media zijn onnodig ver gegaan in berichtgeving rond AnneFfaber. Available at https://www.trouw.nl/samenleving/-media-zijn-onnodig-ver-gegaan-in-berichtgeving-rond-anne-faber-~a7ebce8b/
Van Dijk, T.F. (2017) Journalistiek en Anne Faber: mediacode noodzakelijk. Available at http://f-site.nl/3378-2/
Thank you for your post Carmen! Last week I was following the updates on the missing girl Anne Faber closely. I have to admit, although I was very curious about the true story behind her missing, I also felt very bad for her relatives when I looked at the news. Everybody seemed to have an opinion about it and everybody had created its own storyline about what must have happened. I can imagine this must have been an awful situation for her relatives, even on top of her being missing anyways…
However, I was also wondering, how much has actually changed over the past decades in this kind of situations? For example, everybody wanted to know what happened with her. However, is this any different from a few years ago? People would have wanted to know the same right? I agree, advanced technologies have made it easier to be informed about any update on the topic. Also, innovative products such as drones have made it easier to enter a site which would normally not be accessible. Nevertheless, you always have these thrill seekers, which go out to the crime scene to feel the excited or to get some sort of information. Just like last week, news channels would have lined up just before the announcement of her dead and people would have go search for her grave after the crime scene had been released. Looking at it from this perspective, I don’t feel much have actually changed.
People were and always will be looking for excitement. Eventually, this will always affect the people involved most.
Hi! First, thank you for your post.
I agree with your post regarding that the media is going too far especially in the situation when they flew above the crime scene. Baneke (2017) stated that the media used a drone to fly above the scene and take pictures. Drones are nowadays often involved in situations of invasion of privacy, mostly because the laws for drones are not optimized yet. Most drone law describe where they can fly and where not. However, who regulates or controls that? I join your opinion, and in my opinion there should be a law regarding police investigation and drone use, just like the media is shut out on the ground.