Although I have been talking about photography and visual journalism
since the beginning, this new idea came to mind during our last
class session.
Last year during Gezi protests in Turkey, I was out shooting along with other journalists from newspapers, TV stations and websites. Early on, one night when the events peaked, CNN Turk televised a documentary on penguins instead of broadcasting what was happening out in the streets live. This drew a lot of attention/reaction from the public as well as CNN International, which at the time was covering the events live.
I knew there were CNN Turk reporters. I heard repeatedly how frustrated they were because they were doing their job but nothing was getting televised. It was also widely discussed that the channel was afraid of the government pressure. Producers and editors were afraid of losing their jobs. So they were just following whatever instructions they were given. I also witnessed citizens aggressively reacting to the reporters in the street on this topic, arguing that they were useless and not doing their jobs. They should be showing what Turkish people were going through.
Alike or slightly different scenarios occurred within other major media organizations. (Anadolu Agency, A1pages of major newspapers)
Now, as we were talking about Milgram's obedience experiment, I thought that what we experienced was basically the idea of authority obedience and professional responsibility. However for journalists, the questions would remain the same. As journalists, who are we mainly responsible to? People or authority? To what extent do journalist inform the public? And to what extent do journalists feel obliged to be obedient to their employers or the political forces (can generally be classified as the "authority")?
I don't think my questions are clear and well defined yet but this is basically the rough idea.
Also I feel like this research might have something to do with the media sociology as it is connected to the relationships amongst the hierarchical members of the newsroom and forces outside the newsroom.
My only worry is that I hope to and plan on focusing my research on visual journalism. So writing a paper like this, would it make me look like my interests are all over the place? Like I am not focused enough?
I can maybe entail this back to visuals as entertainment, numbing, and hypnotizing people? What do y'all think?
Last year during Gezi protests in Turkey, I was out shooting along with other journalists from newspapers, TV stations and websites. Early on, one night when the events peaked, CNN Turk televised a documentary on penguins instead of broadcasting what was happening out in the streets live. This drew a lot of attention/reaction from the public as well as CNN International, which at the time was covering the events live.
I knew there were CNN Turk reporters. I heard repeatedly how frustrated they were because they were doing their job but nothing was getting televised. It was also widely discussed that the channel was afraid of the government pressure. Producers and editors were afraid of losing their jobs. So they were just following whatever instructions they were given. I also witnessed citizens aggressively reacting to the reporters in the street on this topic, arguing that they were useless and not doing their jobs. They should be showing what Turkish people were going through.
Alike or slightly different scenarios occurred within other major media organizations. (Anadolu Agency, A1pages of major newspapers)
Now, as we were talking about Milgram's obedience experiment, I thought that what we experienced was basically the idea of authority obedience and professional responsibility. However for journalists, the questions would remain the same. As journalists, who are we mainly responsible to? People or authority? To what extent do journalist inform the public? And to what extent do journalists feel obliged to be obedient to their employers or the political forces (can generally be classified as the "authority")?
I don't think my questions are clear and well defined yet but this is basically the rough idea.
Also I feel like this research might have something to do with the media sociology as it is connected to the relationships amongst the hierarchical members of the newsroom and forces outside the newsroom.
My only worry is that I hope to and plan on focusing my research on visual journalism. So writing a paper like this, would it make me look like my interests are all over the place? Like I am not focused enough?
I can maybe entail this back to visuals as entertainment, numbing, and hypnotizing people? What do y'all think?
AR: These are great questions, but they are questions that have long been explored in the field of journalism. Moreover, I see difficulties in carrying out this study -- You are not likely to find any Western journalist that will tell you they wanted to become a journalist because they aspire to do everything their bosses ask for -- instead, most will speak of the desire to contribute to social good, to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. In fact, that's why most of us believe in the press as fourth estate, isn't it? But at the end of the day, a pay check is a pay check is a pay check especially in today's media environment where more journalists are laid off every week. Based on your existing framework, what would you do beyond this point?
ReplyDeletep.s. I am not sure Milgram's study on obedience applies here...
I agree with your idea about the role of journalists and the discrepancy between what's going on outside and what's actually reported. Like Turky's experience you mentioned, the same also happened in Korea and it is true that many Koreans are skeptical regarding the role of media. I totally agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be better if you select a specific event or happening...or something and find some theoretical grounds to support your idea. I think there should be a lot of previous works that have been done with similar topics.. I don't know what theories can be applied to this idea, but once you specify what you are going to research on, it would be a really meaningful work!