Today, I went to a POY judging session on issue multimedia pieces. Before we arrived for the session, two winners were already picked out. This was very different from every other POY session that I have been to in the sense that it was not all "In." "In." "In." "Out.". (If you've been to a POY session before, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about.) The two pieces that we were shown were both around ten minutes. The first piece was filmed in South Africa and followed around a group of young teenage boys who were sent to camp to erase the notion of a "Rainbow Nation" and to instill a sense of racism in them. Throughout the short span of the film, we see the boys go from not having a racist bone in their bodies, to being completely okay with racism and wholly believing in it. You can check out that video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFWEtdZ5TWA. The film has very interesting editing techniques and is filled with English subtitles due to the native speaking people on the video. The feelings and emotions that were captured in the video are intense and sincere and bring a human connection to the story even though we are thousands of miles away from South Africa. This film took no specific stand towards the coverage and simply told the tale of the Africaners.
The second video that was played was called "Too Young To Wed" (watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYleXcpbzKY) and addressed the hundreds of thousands of young girls that are forced into marriage each year by their families. The girls that are interviewed for the film are so very young that it definitely tugs on your heartstrings. One girl's story was especially touching and heartbreaking - she was taken to the desert by her father-in-law and he proceeded to cut off both her nose and her ears; she lives to tell the tale of the wretched event. This film definitely took a stand as to what it was trying to do, and that is to make the world know about this horrible tragedy and to put a stop to the horror that the thousands of young girls face every year.
These films address topics that are so sensitive that you might feel slightly uncomfortable watching, I know that was the case for me. At times I felt that I was peering into such an intimate story from a young teenager's life that I was doing something wrong. However, the films are outstanding and cover topics that need to be covered. After the films were shown, the judges answered questions from the crowd. This idea was brought up - are we, as journalists, interested in such heartbreaking and tragic stories? OR are we simply expected to report on them? I almost think it's the former. As a young child, I once heard that all news (referring to news on TV) is bad news, because that's what people want to watch; that's what people want to know about. Now, I know this is an extreme, but it almost rings true. You hear much more about stories such as murder of young children than you do about children's baptisms (rough example, I'm just saying...). I think that we feel a sense of obligation to convey tragic stories to our audiences. How do you feel?
Hey Whitney,
ReplyDeleteI love that you raised this question. I think we all struggle with these daemons as journalists. And I think I have become desensitized to it. I remember when I first starting assisting a photographer and he told me about a shoot he did with KKK members and I was horrified and thought I could never do that. Now, after 3 years of Mizzou J-school, that sounds completely normal. And I used to agree that journalist look for the most intense stories, but now that I do journalism daily, I say, of course you look for the most intense story. Otherwise you are wasting your time and that of the viewers. There is a difference between doing a tough story and taking advantage of subjects and I think it is important journalist don't cross that line, but still do important work.