Reaction to New York Times Video

Picture of the video taken from NYTimes.com

The words of a well-versed journalist are powerful and touching. However, sometimes an image or video is needed to supplement a story being told. The story of the accidental killing of the two Reuters employees in Baghdad was based on the video of the pilots in the helicopter. The New York Times appropriately published the video on their website to better tell the story.

When deciding whether to publish such content, it is important to consider how it contributes to the story, the audience, and availability of the content. The video was the basis of the story and validates the points made. Since it was timely and was recently released on WikiLeaks, it was necessary to put a link in the article. Though shocking, the video tells the truth and the shock factor creates the newsworthiness of the article.

Kenneth Irby’s guidelines include maximize truth-telling, and in this case, the video would increase the validity of the story and points being made.

The audience of the New York Times should be considered in the decision to put the video up also. Generally, a more mature audience reads the paper with the purpose of getting the news. If the article were published on a magazine website with a different target audience and reason, the decision may have been altered.

The video was available to those who wanted to see it, but readers were not forced to view it. To decrease unwanted views, a warning was included in the article about the graphic content. There was an alternate video offered for people who wanted to watch a shorter version to get an idea of what happened during the attack.

This falls under Irby’s guideline to minimize harm; with the warning and edited version, there was less harm to the viewers who may be offended by it. By making the video more public, it raised awareness of the mistake made by the military and the danger that journalists are in. Harm could be lessened for the journalists in these dangerous situations.

Act independently is Irby’s last guideline. While the reactions to the video may vary, it is still important to understand the power that the video has, particularly with this story.

Each case is different and should be taken into context. In this case it is better for the audience to see and hear what went on in Baghdad that day and how the Reuters employees were harmed. The benefit of online versions of newspapers is that it gives the reader access to multimedia and additional content to print stories. There should be additional content, including video, if it is appropriate and in this case it is.