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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Mashable = Media Self Censorship

US & World

In Wake of James Foley Beheading Video, Journalists Rush to Self-Censor

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James Foley in Aleppo, Syria in November 2012. This photo was circulated widely as part of a backlash against the release of a video that claimed to depict his murder.
Image: Nicole Tung
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By Jason Abbruzzese
It took only minutes before screenshots of a video claiming to show the brutal murder of James Foley spread widely on Twitter.
Just as quickly, journalists realized that this social media dissemination is exactly what extremist group the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS/ISIL) had hoped for.
See also: Islamic Militants Post Video Claiming to Show Beheading of U.S. Journalist
Social media can seem like a runaway freight train at times, barreling forward with little control or consideration about its impact. The images of Foley will almost certainly be found in perpetuity in the dark corners of the Internet. However, most media outlets and journalists declined to share the graphic video or photos, recognizing that word was already spreading without them.
For its part, CNN chose to show stills from the video, a move that drew criticism. (In its coverage, Mashable published two still images from the video.)
Extremist groups such as the Islamic State use social media as an easy way to sidestep the checks employed by media organizations to stop the spread of propaganda. Vice reported in April that British jihadists in Syria had ramped up the use of social media to spread their message, and intimidate opponents. Vice said the posts are mostly in English, with some videos showing people speaking with a London accent. The man who allegedly kills Foley in the video posted on Tuesday was also noted by many to have a London accent.
Twitter and YouTube took steps to stem the flow of graphic images from the Foley video. Zaid Benjamin, a journalist for Arabic-language radio station Radio Sawa, who tweeted a screenshot from the video, had his account briefly suspended by Twitter.
YouTube later took down one version of the video, citing its terms on violent images.
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Image: Andrew Kaczynski/@BuzzFeedAndrew
Despite this censorship, some journalists believe the video should be seen as a brutal reminder of what has been going on in parts of the Middle East. The Islamic State has been accused of killing hundreds of civilians, many by beheading, Al Jazeera reported.
The Islamic State is not exactly invisible online, with some journalists keeping an eye on known social media accounts. Following the release of the Foley video, some of these accounts appeared to be leaving Twitter to avoid being banned.
Backlash against the militants developed quickly, with #ISISMediaBlackout trending shortly after the video's release. The hashtag logged more than 3,800 tweets in less than two hours, according to analytics firm Topsy.
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