In the City of Olipo in Syria, the rebel fighters against the regime of President Assad of Syria were doing their usual patrol and door to door military campaign. The military campaign targeted the alleged sympathizers and loyalists of President Assad in a war that has lasted for three years. On this particular day, the rebel militia in a group of more than five gun-wielding militia opened fire on an unarmed man in a blue tracksuit along the open street.
The video camera reported in Aljazeera captured the unarmed man take the bullets in broad daylight in amusement of the gun-toting rebels chanting kill his slogan. The video then captures an injured man pleading for mercy from these rebels who seem to enjoy torturing their victims. From their chants, the militia decides to investigate the captured victim and promises to kill him should he be Prea president Assad’s loyalist (Aljazeera-TV, 2012).
This particular video featured an unknown Aljazeera journalist or cameraman and distinctively showed the rebels directly firing the unarmed man several times at very close range (Aljazeera-TV, 2012). The two players in this video are the rebel militias and the Aljazeera journalist who captured the Aljazeera video. The photojournalist recorded the two main events in the video; the shooting of the unarmed man and torturing of the captured man.
The reporting journalist reports this video on the Aljazeera TV Network and shows the pictures of an unarmed man being shot several times by a group of militia against the Assad regime. The Aljazeera reporter also shows another captured man lying with blood on both hands as the rebels chant ‘kill him’ slogan. The lying man seems to be in pain and pleading for mercy in the full glare of the camera (Aljazeera-TV, 2012).
The values of the Aljazeera reporting journalist are careless and inconsiderate. The raw video of a man being shot several times and another in a pool of blood should be edited before airing in such a large media house as Aljazeera TV Network. Besides, the video showed excessive violence material to a global channel with family viewing. Thus, the Aljazeera journalist can be described as an irresponsible reporter (Brown, 2011).
The action of Aljazeera and the reporting journalist to air this excessive violent video is unethical based on the principle of ethical content reporting. To begin with, the media house did not consider how the family of the unarmed man who was shot several times would be affected emotionally before airing this video. Moreover, since the viewing age group of this media house is unlimited at the hour of airing, the action by the reporting Aljazeera journalist exposed the younger viewers to explicit material of violent nature. Such videos are known to cause a lot of distress and a nightmare to a young audience (Brown, 2011).
Reflecting on the content of this video, it was inappropriate for the reporting journalist and the Aljazeera media house to air the violent video material. Such videos cause unnecessary tension and emotional imbalances since the family members of the victims have to live with the trauma. Before broadcasting this video, the Aljazeera Network should have questioned their actions, weighing them on the societal norms scale, and offering a rational judgment that not only affirms the free will but also offering moral precepts of the reactions of the sensitive audience in the war-torn region. If the content directed to an audience is demystifying as was the case in this Aljazeera broadcast, the final effect would be traumatic on the audience.
On the other hand, if the content is inspirational, the audience may end up being an inspired lot. Besides, the interpretation of the message reported by Aljazeera in this video is not inclusive of the interface between the audience, the message, and the existing culture in the restively sensitive Islamic nation. Conclusively, airing the video of an unarmed man taking several bullets at close range in Syria was unethical. The storyline is very sensitive and of a violent nature.
References
Aljazeera-TV (Qatar).(2012). Syria: The War within [YouTube]. Aljazeera: Aljazeera Television Network. Web.
Brown, F. (2011). Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media. Alabama: Marion Street Press. Web.