The ethical principle of showcasing sensitivity and sympathy towards political and cultural dimensions in the media’s representation of young black men (Ward, 2015, p.75) should be done in such a way to humanize, instead of criminalize, young black men as to minimize harm. In turn, responsible and humanizing media coverage of police harassment of African-Canadians largely acts as a tool of social justice, aiming to reject the stereotyped image of blacks as a danger to white society (Bjornstrom, 2010). The coverage on racial problems sensationalizes individual cases instead of investigating the continuance of police disproportionately targeting young black men in their neighbourhoods (Gentry, 2015, p.4). Furthermore, it can be said that media
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The assumption that white police officers encounter African-Canadians already committing a crime, justifies the unethical carding of minorities, discrediting the fact that ‘Black Lives Matter’ (Banting, 2010, p.45). Rankin says that a theme in the series was “how do we make people care?” In terms of carding, Rankin discusses that a slim proportion of people carded in Toronto are white, again with no good reason. Rankin said that public understanding that carding affects everyone but disproportionally black men, is a stepping stone to ignite sympathy. That in turn gets people thinking as to why this is happening, acting upon Jürgen Habermas’ public sphere, the democratizing role of media, which protects and serves its citizens (Petley, 2013, p.xv) from unprecedented public …show more content…
Instead, Rankin swayed towards “experienced citizens” who “understand the risk of talking about the police.” Rankin explains that when citizens approach the Star with their video “you have to question and be fair.” He says that often times citizen journalism is one sided, the job of a journalist of Rankin’s position is that they have the sources to unfold all aspects of a story. He says, “we worry about exploitation,” where “raw and unfiltered video can feed into biases,” which leads to misunderstandings. If I were in the position of dealing with citizen footage, I agree with being cautious of the source, of investigating the incident; however I do believe that there needs to be a greater connection to the people who capture incidents on their phones and the professional journalist. Acting upon the watchdog role together (Kovach, 2001, p.28) will regain trust form those skeptical about the media protecting power instead of holding them accountable to the systematic racism in the
The assumption that white police officers encounter African-Canadians already committing a crime, justifies the unethical carding of minorities, discrediting the fact that ‘Black Lives Matter’ (Banting, 2010, p.45). Rankin says that a theme in the series was “how do we make people care?” In terms of carding, Rankin discusses that a slim proportion of people carded in Toronto are white, again with no good reason. Rankin said that public understanding that carding affects everyone but disproportionally black men, is a stepping stone to ignite sympathy. That in turn gets people thinking as to why this is happening, acting upon Jürgen Habermas’ public sphere, the democratizing role of media, which protects and serves its citizens (Petley, 2013, p.xv) from unprecedented public …show more content…
Instead, Rankin swayed towards “experienced citizens” who “understand the risk of talking about the police.” Rankin explains that when citizens approach the Star with their video “you have to question and be fair.” He says that often times citizen journalism is one sided, the job of a journalist of Rankin’s position is that they have the sources to unfold all aspects of a story. He says, “we worry about exploitation,” where “raw and unfiltered video can feed into biases,” which leads to misunderstandings. If I were in the position of dealing with citizen footage, I agree with being cautious of the source, of investigating the incident; however I do believe that there needs to be a greater connection to the people who capture incidents on their phones and the professional journalist. Acting upon the watchdog role together (Kovach, 2001, p.28) will regain trust form those skeptical about the media protecting power instead of holding them accountable to the systematic racism in the