KSAT.com special report on BCSO shooting: A debate in ethics

Technology changing the course of the conversation in journalism

Journalists face daily ethical decisions. When KSAT obtained video from a source recently showing two Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies shooting and eventually killing what appeared to be an unarmed man, many called the station’s ethics into question. 

 

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KSAT made an editorial decision on Friday, the day of the shooting, to freeze the video at the moment before the gunshots were fired.

 

On Monday, station leaders decided to release the full video online, but making it clear what a viewer would see. 

 

KSAT paid a $100 licensing fee to Michael Thomas, the person who shot the cell phone video, to publish the video.

To some, that has become a serious ethical concern.

 

Dr. Brian Brantley, an associate professor of communications at Texas A&M San Antonio, offered thoughts on the ethical debate sweeping the city and the country. 

 

He did not watch the video involved in this conversation. He said the recent shooting deaths of two journalists in Virginia gave him pause for watching the San Antonio video. 

 

In every case, Brantley said he looks to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. There are four principles he measures a situation by. 

 

“Any journalist’s responsibility, first you seek truth and report it,” said Brantley. “Having the opportunity to get video like this and not airing it, that’s not reporting the truth. That’s doing the opposite. 

 

“As far as minimizing harm, the second principle, the biggest concern with shooting videos is how much it could harm viewers potentially,” Brantley continued. “I think if you’re not giving people a choice, essentially, as far as whether they're going to be exposed to somebody getting shot to death, then you’re potentially harming those viewers. Whereas if you let them make that choice, then the viewers are ultimately the ones responsible.”

Third, Brantley said journalists have the responsibility to act independently.

 

“Journalists are supposed to serve the public. Journalists are not supposed to serve any interest other than the public,” he said. “It would seem like the station is almost working for law enforcement, as opposed to acting independently of law enforcement, if this video were available and it weren't made available to the public.”

The fourth principle is taking responsibility for explaining one’s work to the public.

 

“It seems like that’s been done,” Brantley said. “It does seem like there’s been an effort to communicate with your public outside of just showing the video.

 

Licensing fee

KSAT paid a $100 licensing fee to Michael Thomas. The man posted a social media message to the station asking what he could get for the video. 

Brantley said paying for content, like paying for a source, is not in the best interest of the public, unless that’s the only way the video could be shown. 

“When you balance the two, I think reporting the truth wins, as long as the video’s not edited,” Brantley said. “The reason why you worry about paying for information from a source is if that source has an axe to grind, or if that source has some interest in making somebody look bad, then they could skew the information to make the target look bad. Similarly, if you pay for a video, if the video is edited or some way that makes the target look bad, then you’re serving that person’s interest, you’re serving somebody’s interest besides the public. 

KSAT obtained the full, unedited video from Thomas. (Clicking this link will redirect you to KSAT's exclusive video of the shooting.)

Unfortunately, Brantley does not think this is the last time a debate will happen around gun violence, the media’s reporting of the subject and policing. He says it will happen more often because people can easily record video from the cellphones. 

“There’s going to be more raw video of violence as it happens and I think the more that people see a chance of people making money off it, that’s going to increase it even more. So I kind of worry about this as a trend and how the news industry is going to change as a result of it,” he said. 

Click here for a link to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.