(ThyBlackMan.com) The media is a love hate relationship because they should report the truth of a matter regardless of the person they are reporting about. Truth is supposed to be unbiased and it should supersede a degree of feeling. Those that work in media have a difficult job because if they do that job well they will be hated on more days than they are loved. They have a responsibility to give us the facts on the things happening around us regardless of how painful it may be. They are supposed to be a part of the accountability structure for those in leadership, and those that are tasked with serving the public. This could be very understandable regardless of feelings if the media was indeed non-bias. Sometimes it feels like a race to get the story out, at times, with no regard to those it will affect.
Many people felt TMZ was out of line for breaking the Kobe Bryant story because supposedly the Bryant family was not notified of the loss before the public. This was problematic, and in the eyes of the public, it was heartless to say the least. Of course, TMZ stands by the position that they were given the okay to break the story, so they’ve done nothing wrong. This began the discussion of how the media dispenses a story to the public especially when death is involved, and the lack of care in the media.
No one wants to find out they have lost a love one via social media or the news if the authorities know. This raised the question of do the police have an obligation to contact the family and gag the media until that is done…there are questions on if that is even legal. The media is protected by law in many ways though this is not a question of if they should report…but more so when.
In addition to when they break a story…the media should try to get their facts in order before they began to give information. At one point it was reported that Rick Fox was on the helicopter, at first we were given a number of five people lost, but it was more. All of this plays into the public arguing that the media should care about the families in a given situation when reporting. The question of humanity in media is what’s on the table. There are many mothers and wives in black community and among POCs that may have concluded the media isn’t always a matter of care…when the victim looks like them.
Black people in this country have always had an antagonistic relationship with the media in some form. Shock value and dehumanizing practice has taken precedence on too many occasions when we have been mistreated and slain in the street. There has not been consistent respect for lives lost in our community and the information isn’t always accurate.
We have to be concerned that those we lose will be depicted as a criminal in some way when they are indeed the victim. We are going to continue to fight for equality and non-bias reporting in the media. With that being said many of us are not surprised that TMZ appeared to care about a news break more than the victims and their family. Unfortunately, that behavior is nothing new.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.
