Bullying in media - reporting, or fear-mongering?

Somewhere, in a generic school, a generic student is being bullied by the generic school bullies. They throw their generic punches and the kid gives them his generic lunch money. His generic parents then throw a hissy fit and demand justice. It is your typical situation, happening in schools all over the world, all the time.

The next morning, the newspaper said something like "BULLIES ARE THE DEVIL AND THEY SHOULD BE BURNED". Of course, sales rose.

Sounds familiar?

Where's the line?

Obviously, the media have a responsibility to report the news. You cannot just ignore the case of bullying, after all. By shedding the light into the situation, it creates awareness and prompt actions from authorities, knee-jerk it may be, but actions nonetheless.

But there are differences between responsible reporting and exploiting the base emotions of people to sell your paper.

From BBC News

It's a very common media tactic: by painting the bullies as a 'menace', they basically do the thinking for the readers. It panders to the base human instinct to label the society around them as a world of 'us' vs. 'them'.

While we can never deny that bullying is bad, how the media shows it seems that it will be the end of the society as we know it. Always shine the light on the surface of the problem, ignoring the inner body nor the shadow it cast.

Rights of victims

It is even worse when, in a bid to sensationalise the story, the media impinge on the victim's right to privacy. Private affairs, for example the victim's sexual orientation, should be left alone. By doing this, the media reinforces the idea that the victim was being bullied for not being 'normal', planting fear into other children who would believe that they should not show their differences and diversities, but hide it because the paper suggests that "I'll get bullied if I do so".

From Daily Mail

This is not helping at all. Kids are getting increasingly afraid to seek help, fearing that they will be the next target. Family of the victim not only have to deal with the victim's being bullied, but also have to carry the burden of being associated with the victim's 'shortcomings'. Of course, the one who have it worse is the victim: forever branded with the 'curse' of being 'different'.

So what should the media do?

What the media should do is to report the news objectively: provide facts, and not viewing it through only one perspective. It is not always black and white. It should tell why such things can happen and what should be done, rather than just printing hot air.. No need to reveal the skeletons in the closet for all to see. It's bad enough that they are bullied physically.

BY MUHAMMAD NURUDDIN B. W. M. GHAZALLI

Source: 1. 2006. School bully complains 'rising'. (online) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5293008.stm (18 March 2011)
           2. 2010. Probe into suicide of 13-year-old boy bullied by classmates for being gay. (online) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340769/Probe-suicide-13-year-old-boy-bullied-classmates-gay.html (18 March 2011)