The Sun Also Rises

According to Wikipedia, the term “bullying” loosely comes from engaging in interaction with bulls. Bull fighting, as written in The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, “it is not just brutal like they have always told us. Its’ a great tragedy.” Bullying is a lot like bull fighting, where bulls are baited and then slaughtered for entertainment and sport.

In the article by Roy Malone, A Hoax, a suicide – a journalistic dilemma, the tragedy that occurs is the suicide of a young teen, possibly a result of cyber bullying. The journalistic dilemma is whether or not to expose the possible contributor to the cyber bullying a.k.a. the neighbors. Since the internet is the Wild, Wild West, or in this case the Plaza de Toros, the alleged bullies have not broken any laws according to the article, “police, prosecutors and the FBI said they could find no law had been broken” even though the neighbors fessed up to the bullying. The journalist, Steve Polkin, a writer from the Suburban Journals of St. Charles County, after much thought and consulting with his editor decided not to name the bullies in his reports. When the story was published readers were outraged over the neighbor’s involvement and went on the attack. They wanted the names of these Tereros. The names did get out via the blogosphere. Ultimately Polkin bore the heat of the lack of privacy laws protecting one on the internet and was the fall guy in the court of public opinion. Why did he not rat out these vial people? What kind of reporter holds on to this information?

Ethics, privacy, secrecy and the discretion are all dilemmas facing today’s journalists. One could argue that Polkin and The Journal were exercising the art of discretion. Let’s look at the facts, the self-proclaimed Picadors had broken no laws so in the eyes of structured society they were not “bad guys” and had the right to be treated as such. Maybe Polkin and his colleagues recognized that raw fact. Bok defines discretion as “the intuitive ability to discern what is and is not intrusive and injurious”. (Page131) I see Polkin justifying from his journalistic objective view and saying these bullies are not lawbreakers so by exposing them would I have implied they were and is that right or my charge? And by doing so I would have been the one throwing them to the wolves and is that not injurious? “Kantian theory would suggest that the journalist treat even the indiscreet source as the journalist herself would wish to be treated, making publication of the indiscretion less likely. (Page 131) Maybe Polkin looked at the dilemma from his own shoes; what if he had not broken the law would he expect to be then protected?

A week after the story was written by Polkin, The St. Louis Post Dispatch ran the story and did name names. By that time, according to the article, “the usual protections about naming names had been trampled”. The Post may have taken a run through Ross’s list of prima facie duties. The names were already out all over the Net, was the promise to protect the innocent broken and therefore the ethic of protection eroded? Sadly, or not, the peto has been removed. Then they debated the “right to know”, let’s face it, the cat was out of the bag and all over the internet, everyone knew. And what was the harm in all of this? For the journalist, Polkin, would his reputation have been jeopardized by revealing the name(s)? Sadly, his reputation was harmed with the public for the fact he did not reveal the name(s). It seemed the public trusted the journalist to tell all. Again, privacy and justice was on the side of the bullies, remember they had broken no laws.

The family of the victim has called for tougher regulations/laws for those who use social media to bully according to Good Morning America. (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3882520&page=1). I do think social media should have to intervene if they know something, but by knowing they would be policing the sites and I am not sure how I feel about that. But one thing is sure, there has to be tough laws for bullying at any venue. And what would I do as the journalist? It is hard for me to say which way I would have gone in revealing the names of the bullies. I can argue both sides. But what I do know taunting a bull always results in a death, either the Matador or the bull. Never fails. Ole!