Pornography of Grief

I deplore the tendency of media to gravitate around the dramatic and sensational in their coverage of the news. Their frenzied hunt for tears and wailing amounts to what we can only call a pornography of grief.

This egregious practice became annoyingly evident again during the coverage of the execution of the three Filipino drug mules in China last March 30,2011. Reporters went all over town covering and catching on camera the emotional reaction of members of the convicted drug mules' families. They made sure that they recorded every tear, every shriek and every utterance of their subjects while networks competed on who could present the rawest most dramatic coverage of the execution drama. But what was the news value of this?

Sensationalist reporting is not merely a neutral or harmless exercise in bad journalism. It destroys something in our national psyche and degrades us. For the subjects of the reportage, not only is their privacy violated but their dignity is taken as well when they are shown in their most abject and vulnerable grieving state. For the news viewers, the quality of information that they get has a bearing on the opinions they form and decisions they make. For example, when people see an emotional person deny to high heavens something against evidence and circumstance, other people too feel entitled to shamelessly bend truth in their favor when they or their families are concerned. Thus, truth becomes a casualty when it is subordinated to drama.

Another bane in this kind of reporting is that it promotes mendicancy when people become comfortable crying before the camera to get cash and sympathy.

The major rival networks are always in a shouting war with each other in proclaiming that they are the station that delivers genuine public service. But who are they kidding? What they do is a great public disservice.