Sensitivity, is it a thing of the past?

            From November 25, to 30, reports about a school teacher sexually abusing his student started filling up the internet through multiple news websites such as wnd.com, truthrevolt.org,  lifenews.com, and even big news network companies such as lasvegas.cbslocal.com. Well, these sites are not famous locally, but eventually, it made its way through social networking sites which we, Filipinos are addicted to.

            What made me write this article is because of the unethical treatment of these multiple sites on the infamous case. They elaborately explained to the readers how the teacher constantly sexually abused his 15 year-old student, adding that his colleagues repeatedly saw both the 29 –year-old teacher and his student spend time with each other even after class hours.

            All of these sites even published the names of the abusive teacher, his minor student, and the school they are in.

            What made this case even more gruesome is when the teacher found out that the student was pregnant; he began an act of abortion in a way that you could never imagine. Surprisingly, the news websites described the incident in full detail.

            Is sensitivity and censorship not a factor in determining whether an article is worth being published? Is ethics a thing of the past?

            My exact point is that sensitivity and censorship to the readers is now rarely seen today and may be considered as an extinct norm. Why? Because websites such as those stated earlier prove it. We may be forgetting the fact that the internet is so open to everyone that no matter what age you are, as long as you know how to access a device connected to it, you’d see the dirty world the internet provides.

            To further elaborate my point, a perfect example is the fact that when the news broke out because one of the school’s officials released a statement about this, the victim began to be the butt of jokes by her classmates around the school. What’s worse is that she again became a victim of sexual harassment. Her classmates even call her a “slut” and “whore.” As a result, the student became emotionally distressed, and even thought of taking her own life.

            Considering that anyone can read such articles or reports, this may trigger things in a way that it can give the reader a feeling of lack of safety or mistrust to people around him or her. The perpetrator in the case was a teacher, someone who young students or people look up to, but again, this teacher is a not that kind of person. Readers, especially the young ones may develop a “mean world” syndrome where they incur lack of trust against people who surround them.

            Lack of censorship, even self-censorship, among articles may really lead to bad results. It can cause humiliation, or trauma to the victim’s families, or threat against the perpetrators.

            So to answer my question, is sensitivity and censorship not a factor in determining whether an article is worth being published? Is ethics a thing of the past?

            Seemingly, yes.

            The media today is overrun my unethical practitioners who seems to be careless and insensitive. I’m not saying that articles like this should not be published; I’m just saying that a little censorship and sensitivity should be applied because not all of us have the same way of thinking. We may consider these as acceptable, or also unacceptable, what matters most is that we deliver the news properly, without anyone being stepped on.

           

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(Editor's note: As much as we can, we do not support censorship of news items. However, the editor believes that the blogger refers to self-regulation or self-censorship with respect to sensitivity in the publication of details, and not government censorship.)