The Ethics of Grief in the Media

With the rise of digitalization, comes great advancements but also of course consequences as well. Everything is published in the media today and it appears as if there is almost no boundary as to where a person’s privacy to their emotions or actions should be broadcasted or not. Social media has allowed us to be informed more than ever of events and news that is occurring all over the world. This comes with a vast majority of topics ranging anywhere from war, mass shootings, political corruption to light-hearted puppy memes or funny dance compilations. We see some of people’s worst moments like finding out their child is dead to some of their best like lottery winners hitting the jackpot. The highs and lows contradict human emotion and our ability to empathize with others. Journalists and media companies must reevaluate the severity of publicizing such vulnerable human images or emotions to better invoke empathy into society and stray away from desensitizing individuals. 

Media platforms must take into consideration how it affects a person to see constant bad news with horrific headlines and graphic images.

The Wall Street Journal just put out a piece this last October titled “The Spectacle of Grief through the Media '' sharing their own take on the media's impact on our emotions. 

“A standard opener on the nightly news might involve an innocent child being hit by a stray bullet in the back of his father’s car; a policeman, having been fired on first, killing a young black man; or an older Hispanic woman run over by a hijacked car. The stories often feature relatives of the deceased, interviewed through their tears. They usually tell the reporter what a sweet, generous, remarkable person the deceased was. (“She lit up any room she entered.”) They affirm that they want “closure,” and some plead with the murderer to turn himself in so they can achieve it.” This perfectly depicts most news highlights in the world right now. It is entirely intrusive and just numbing to watch on a day to day basis.

Headspace, a downloadable app for your phone or tablet is a platform where users can decompress by finding calming podcasts, talks, or even mediations. The foundation of the platform is to find space to be present within the day to day of our busy lifestyles. Some of the more positive impacts media has had are acknowledged by doctors interviewed by the Headspace team. Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, suggests that in order to process grief positively, we have to make new meaning out of it. “One of the ways people have done that traditionally is through journaling or painting, but journaling specifically,” she says. “Social media allows you to perform a similar event to journaling. It allows you to express those feelings, and it allows other people to validate those feelings, which facilitates your ability to make positive meaning out of it.”

Jeanne Atkinson, hospice bereavement coordinator at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, Minnesota, notes that the immediate support that social media provides is another positive impact on the way we grieve. “It [social media] allows for more public mourning and broader support from people. It’s not just your close friends that are nearby, but those friends you have in your extended life. That support reduces isolation.”

The aspects of finding a community to grieve with are all positive but with all the judgements and concerns for pleasing in social media that realm quickly can turn toxic or self depricating. From the perspective of John Mill’s Utilitarianism and the ultimate interest of pleasing the greatest amount of good with as little consequence as possible, it seems the correct way to proceed would be for journalists to take more consideration for the emotions they may be manipulating. Majority of people would find themselves feeling less depressed with less depressing news on and plus, there would be more room to have emotions for the people around us versus on television. 

In the book The Mourning News: Reporting Violent Death in a Global Age by Tal Morse, he shares a key point to the issue of grief and its association with media in the first chapter.

“The media is situated as a pivotal social institution whose performance during and in the aftermath of mass violent death events can serve as a ritual that provides moral orientation for global audiences about their interrelations with distant others" (p. 13) This rings true in that the people who closely follow the news are constantly waiting to see what their reactions are first and then they can make a decision for their own. The public is easily manipulated through their emotions by the media and when you toss grief into the equation it makes everything confusing and individuals aren’t able to properly assess their emotions and empathize with others.

A whole other issue of this, is that individual privacy is being invaded completely. Photos of grieving mothers and fathers from school shootings are plastered on the front of magazines and images of war are portrayed like it's no serious thing to be carrying an assault weapon with battle gear on. Our society has completely normalized that any moment you have outside of your bathroom, can essentially be captured and shared for views or clicks. The fact that gruesome images are so casually broadcasting should be alarming as most times, those kinds of stories are sad but not essential to news or media coverage. There has to be a line as to where it ends for morbid images and stories being shared excessively. Individuals are coming to a place where they have no emotion left to feel after viewing so much varying information with drastic situations. It isn't normal to see what our society is seeing on the news everyday.

Sources

Epstein, J. (n.d.). Opinion | The Spectacle of Grief Through Media. WSJ. Retrieved December 8, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-spectacle-of-grief-through-media-closure-journalism-tragedy-crime-death-mourning-11665576884

‌How Social Media is Changing the Way We Grieve - Headspace. (n.d.). Www.headspace.com. https://www.headspace.com/articles/social-media-changing-grief

‌Tal Morse. (2018). The mourning news : reporting violent death in a global age. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.