Page 19 - Courting the Media Contemporary Perspectives on Media and Law

10 Geoffrey Sykes

Rolph reminds us that the Common Law has always adeptly negotiated
the boundary of private and public domains and there is no reason to doubt
that the advent of social media will not be met with deserved scrutiny. In its
rush to resolve problems of media through the emergence of social media, new
media theory can overlook outstanding issues of legitimation, privacy, equity,
policy and regulation that arise with any changes in media technology and
practice.

SUBJECTIVITY AND POINT OF VIEW

Videos and photographs, taken from the point of view or perspective of
one participant to an event, can be notoriously ambiguous and subjective. Per
Anders (―Your Words against Mine‖) shows how new forms of subjectivity
and hearsay can emerge in media forms. His example of a street incident in
print and visual media can be replicated many times over – the camera is not
necessarily a device for truth, but another layer of perspectival and relative
knowledge that invites and requires clarification and commentary in court. No
longer do police at a crime scene have to contest broadcasters‘ desire and
ability to document a crime scene – community bystanders produce their own
records that can become evidence, sometimes competing with official ones. In
addition to surveillance monitors, handycam records of street fights might be
the only evidence. It is relatively easy for any citizen to capture any event, and
portable equipment and videophones bring a new sense of citizen justice, the
horizons of which can only just begin to be visible. What will stop private
videos of court proceedings being anonymously circulated on viral videos?
Why can‘t clients obtain second and informal opinions and legal advice on a
plethora of websites such as they do on medical or consumer areas? If this
hasn‘t happened, when will it? How soon will a trial be disbanded because of a
juror‘s wireless leak on proceedings on their blog site?
Per Anders stresses the paradox at play in media reporting of contested or
judicial events. The media can act as quasi investigator, adopting a strategy of
balance and adjudication, as much as it can seek bias and quick judgment. The
issue of justice cannot be confined institutionally, but is played out across a
plethora of informal and media arenas.
That is why broadcast television relies on presenters and anchor persons,
and narrated commentary, to set the context and preferred public interpretation
to a perceived event, and acknowledge that to some extent a video shot of a
subject reflects the perspective and agenda of the camera person or producer as