Professional violations: Local media outlet publishes a video of a man fatally beating his wife

  • 2020-06-08
  • 12

Akeed – Dana Al Emam – A local media outlet published a video showing a man beating his wife to death in front of their child, committing a professional and ethical violation. While this video encourages violence and insults the human dignity of the victim, it does not add any information of journalistic value.

 

The media outlet linked a video of the crime in their re-publication of the news piece, reported by a foreign media outlet. The crime occurred in a public place in front of the child while the husband allegedly responsible for the killing was intoxicated, under the influence of alcohol.

 

Although the electronic media outlet blurred the identities of the man and the victim, and placed a warning message before the commencement of the video, the fatal beating and hitting were stll evident in the video, which Akeed commits not to publish to avoid contributing to its promotion.

 

When it comes to crimes, it is best to avoid publishing recorded content, whether it is a picture or a video. This is especially pertinent as any person or media outlet can republish the video after cutting out the warning message appearing at the beginning of the video.

 

Akeed notes that the material being referred to contains other professional violations, including showing the child in a state of fear and failing to mention the location of the incident in the title, which gives a preliminary impression to the readers of the local website that the incident occurred in Jordan.

 

Professor of Media Law and Ethics, Dr. Sakher Al Khasawneh said in previous remarks to Akeed that such videos do not add information of journalistic value to the material, adding that its publication encourages violence as opposed to deterring it or ascribing it as a criminal act.

 

Akeed has recently highlighted a number of similar violations in several reports, namely: “Publication of video of an attack on a physician in an Arab country… encouraging violence”, “Professional and ethical violation of mentioning details of a crime in an Arab country” and “Moral and legal violations in publishing a video of an attack on a physician.”

 

Therefore, Akeed reiterates the need for media outlets to adhere to professional and legal standards when publishing any material that contains violence by not showing details of acts of cruelty, torture, and abuse, and not publishing or broadcasting content that advocates violence or contributes to the spread of crime.

 

In addition, Akeed calls on media outlets not to offend personal dignity of subjects and emphasizes the need to respect human dignity and the value of human life, as well as respecting family values and dealing with women’s and children’s issues in accordance with ethical and professional standards.