THe disturbing video footage of two college girls fighting at a bus stop in a Northland town raises the question of whether the media should broadcast the film, as part of the story. I have read discussion among my own colleagues, on line, on it being simply voyeuristic, a means to drive traffic to a news website.
It is true that it is incredibly disturbing that someone would film a prolonged and savage fight between two teenagers, and people would stand by, without any kind of intervention. That is an excellent question to ask ourselves, and what allows us the means to question this behaviour is the video evidence of it.
It is the role of the media to challenge the public with what is demonstrably "wrong" behaviour in our society. It is far too easy for the public to dismiss bullying as part of the rough and tumble of high school, as part of toughening up and growing up. A colleague online dismissed it as "just another day" at the high school he went to, and there seemed to be an element of pride that he came through a tough school. Films and TV play on this concept, of taking your knocks, getting on with it, and winning the day. This fiction usually involves boys, such as Spiderman's Peter Parker, or the Karate Kid, suggesting you had to be beaten down before you could become a hero.
Well, that's a cultural Kiwi myth that needs to be exploded. Bullying is colossally stressful, brutal and sadistic. Teenagers kill themselves out of sheer stress and fear. The best way to present evidence that this is real and dangerous is to put it on your screen, right in front of you. The morality of filming it is a separate issue. Sure, I agree, it's disgusting that someone would stand there and record it. But let's look at what's in front of us: the matter of fact, documentary evidence that it happened. The police needed to see it to make an arrest. We all needed to see it to destroy a myth that bullying at school isn't a big deal, and consider the mentality of the audience at such a fight.
Coincidentally, the video is from the same town, and almost certainly the same high school, that I went to. One other thing to consider: if there are certain "truths" you don't want the media to broadcast, at what point are you going to draw the line with images that might be challenging?
