Victims and MediaVictims and Media

Chiung-wen (Julia) HsuAssociate Professor

Department of Radio and TelevisionNational Cheng Chi University, Taiwan

Guess what happened Guess what happened from pictures?from pictures?

Liberty TimesLiberty Times

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China TimesChina Times

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United DailyUnited Daily

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Do we need to shoot her?

FactsFacts• What happened? Any clues?• Casualty (heavy or not), why?• What else?

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FactsFacts• The bus, carrying 27 passengers, collided with a

pick-up truck on Highway No. 3, crashed into the retaining wall and fell off the bridge dropping more than 10m to the slope below.

• A female passenger said that most of the passengers were sleeping when the accident occurred at around 5:35am.

• The driver of the pick-up truck that collided with the tour bus said he suspected that the bus was going too fast.

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The Lead from Taipei TimesThe Lead from Taipei Times• Seven people were killed and 21

injured when a tour bus traveling from Taipei to Pingtung careened off a bridge on a highway in Kaohsiung County early yesterday, local police reports said.

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A picture is worth a thousand A picture is worth a thousand words !words !

Would you said so in this case?Would you said so in this case?

Why we need this one?Why we need this one?From Apple DailyFrom Apple Daily

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Think about it!Think about it!• One of the victims might be dead.

How would their beloved families and friends feel about this picture?

• How would the injured victims think about this picture?

• How can we follow the golden rules in journalism—victims, with no concerns at all

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Twice-hurt to VictimsTwice-hurt to Victims

Cruel PicturesCruel Pictures• Misuse of photo 1

November 2005, bloody photo of Shao, Shiao-Ling, the wife of mayor of Taichung city, due to car accident, was sensationally carried by Apple Daily

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Cruel PicturesCruel Pictures• Misuse of photo 2

April 2008, the China Times, the Apple Daily and the United Daily News carried the photos of a crocodile with a human hand on its mouth without post-handling on their

front pages.

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Cruel PicturesCruel Pictures• Misuse of photo 3

February 2009, photo of blood-stained helmet and crime scene of gunshot in Taichung was carried without covering up.

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Whose faults? Journalists, Whose faults? Journalists, editors or someone else?editors or someone else?

Victims' Cry-outs as Victims' Cry-outs as Precious Nature SoundPrecious Nature Sound

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Sensationalism in News Interviewing Sensationalism in News Interviewing and Gatheringand Gathering

• Hurting the interviewees by inappropriate enquiries

• January 2007, Inappropriate enquiries (Are you worried about losing your daughter?) to family members of Shu, Wei – Ren, a TV star under first-aid was made by reporter from CTI TV, which caused sever criticism.

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Sensationalism in News Sensationalism in News Interviewing and Interviewing and

GatheringGathering• Emphasizing on victims’ emotions

• August 20th, 2007, a CI-120 Boeing 737-800 flight of China Airlines caught fire then exploded while landing on Naha airport, Okinawa, Japan. The reporter emphasized on the description of the disaster scene, play up with sensation in their report, and repeated for days, which hurt the feeling of the public and the victims and their relatives badly.

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Sensationalism in News Interviewing Sensationalism in News Interviewing and Gatheringand Gathering

• Make up or exaggerate news

• September 2005, furious parent roared at reporter who knock over the spirit tablet of a boy whose death caused by suffocation in kindergarten bus. But the title of this news footage was grafted as “Parent Roared at the Director of Kindergarten” to make up news.

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Here comes the worse case

How miserable victims areHow miserable victims are• A former graduate student, Hung

Hsiao-hui of National Tsinghua University who murdered her love rival and mutilated her body in 1998 was released on parole yesterday after serving more than two-thirds, or nearly 11 years, of her sentence for the crime.

• Case study (time code 19:03:26)

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Guess what happened Guess what happened after the main news?after the main news?

Case study (time code 19:05:00)(time code 19:05:00)

How to Interview Victims with How to Interview Victims with Compliance of Journalism EthicsCompliance of Journalism Ethics

• In the current state, the common ways to interview victims are usually lack of consideration of being sensitive and being careful enough to prevent second victimization. Under such circumstance, teleological journalism ethics have been often used (the right to know and public interests). The guiding principles of interviewing victims are provided through multi-actors’dialectic conversation toward deontological ethics(victims’autonomy).

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Who should I take into Who should I take into consideration?consideration?

The ProblemsThe Problems• We need to develop curriculums in

journalism and communication education and on-job training for possible hurts on victims.

• We need to establish an atmosphere of respect victims and to put blame on those who handle trauma news with victims improperly.

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Small Group DiscussionSmall Group Discussion(from Cait)(from Cait)

• What steps need to occur for more ethical and respectful reporting of survivors and victims in my media?

• Editorial decision making of traumatic content-issue for editors.

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My WorksMy Works• Journalism ethics revisited for covering

victims (journal article in Chinese)• Journalism guideline revised• Status quo by survey and in-depth

interview to see the region differences• Introducing concepts of trauma news

to academia and practices in Taiwan

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My WorkMy Work• “Trauma News Watch” supported by

NCCU, Taiwan• Planning and executing on-job

training and curriculums supported by NCCU, grass roots organizations and NGOs

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My WorkMy Work• Translate Dart Center materials into

traditional Chinese with Taiwan scenarios and future for other Chinese-speaking networks

• Future research on differences on standards of better Trauma news stories between regions and other topics, such as impacts on audiences, solutions on region-difference basis

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Thanks very muchThanks very much

Possible Trauma on News Possible Trauma on News Interviewing and GatheringInterviewing and Gathering

• Ignoring the working safety of reporters• July 2008, with the striking of

typhoon Phoenix, all TV stations ignored the safety of their reporters and requested them to have stand-uppers on dangerous spots and led to the accidences that reporter was hit by falling rocks or hurt by strong wind.

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More dangerous, Better More dangerous, Better NewsNews

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