Live Video of WDBJ7 Shootings Sparks Debate About Autoplay
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| ibtimes.co.uk |
Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, died from their injuries. Gardner, 62, is recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery.
Later, a POV video of the shootings filmed by the gunman was
posted on Twitter and retweeted more than 800 times before the account was
blocked. It was shared more than 380 times on Facebook. In the video, Vester
Flanagan is seen pointing a handgun at Parker before opening fire.
Some major media outlets linked or embedded the original
video, but others posted it straight to Facebook and Twitter. Because of their
autoplay feature, many people have seen the video without looking for it, sparking a debate about automatic exposure to violence on social media. One person asked
CBSN to take down the video of the shootings from their Twitter feed, while
another compared the issue to the widespread exposure of a video showing the
beheading of American journalist James Foley in 2014.
Hey there @CBSNLive - perhaps ditch the autoplay video/gif of the Virginia shooting you've put in your twitter feed?
— Ben Lewis (@benlewismedia) August 26, 2015
Auto play on social media is an issue. It happened with James Foley. Happened with others. It happened again today.
— Ross Maghielse (@Maghielse) August 26, 2015
Social media sites like Facebook have introduced autoplay as
a way of making videos a smoother experience and increasing ad revenues, but its
removal of choice makes graphic videos harder to avoid. A similar controversy surrounded a video of the fatal shooting of a homeless man by Los Angeles police in March.
I REALLY wish I hadn't seen the video of the two reporters being shot. Thanks to Twitter autoplay, people don't have much of a choice.
— Elena Cresci (@elenacresci) August 26, 2015
Social media users used to make a choice not to view harrowing videos, it is dangerous that in stream autoplay takes that option away.
— Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) August 26, 2015
Some people have questioned whether the video of Wednesday's shootings should be shown at all, saying that it’s an exploitative, non-essential form of reporting which trivialises death.
.@mathewi it's overkill, gruesome, non-essential -- those posting the video wouldn't admit, but doing it is a traffic play.
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) August 26, 2015
Please think before you embed that terrible video, or worse, leave it on autoplay. | Your death could become content http://t.co/hRHYM8nBxS
— Natt Garun (@nattgarun) August 26, 2015
The video has now been mostly scrubbed from the Internet –
if you want to see it, you’re going to have to look for it. But some feel that
this has gone too far toward censoring the horror of gun violence, overprotecting
the public from a very real problem.
It shows the awful reality of gun violence, and a murderer who captured his crime like it was a game.
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 26, 2015
Aaron Waterhouse
Aaron is a recent English graduate from Durham University who is now working as a content writer intern. An enthusiastic traveller, he hopes to become a journalist and report from around the world. Follow him @AaronAtSMF.
Live Video of WDBJ7 Shootings Sparks Debate About Autoplay
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Friday, August 28, 2015
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Friday, August 28, 2015
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