ABC - Murder by Proxy

In a recent ABC report on Tibet a reporter on the ground was talking to some villagers about the issues of Tibet and China. Those being interviewed looked very uncomfortable and kept indicating that the police would be there soon and they did not want to be caught talking to foreign reporters.

The reporter persisted and got his sound bite about how they were not happy with the Chinese occupation of Tibet. With the officials nearing he left.

The name of the village was given in the report and clear shots of the faces of the villagers presented in the report. Given the human rights record of China and the lack of concern for foreign opinion if any of the story gets back to any Chinese official, say through the Chinese Embassy, then the results are predictable and there is a good chance that those villagers will never be seen again.

This has happened before with the ABC where people were afraid for their lives, asked that their faces not be shown, and when they were they were killed or vanished.

Who takes responsibility for this? Certainly not the reporter who is free to put individual and group lives in danger all in the name of the story and the desired sound bite. Not the ABC, they just edit and show the clip. Not the government they allow this kind of story to be presented with challenge and without adding any regulations.

Some might suggest that in this case the responsibility is with the Chinese for taking action based on a report but this is a very thin excuse.

It is time that the media, particularly the ABC, is held responsible for deaths caused by this kind of story. The reporter should also be held accountable. He (or she) is warned what the consequences might be for those being filmed but this is ignored in the hunt for the story. This is personal profit from other's deaths and under different circumstances would be considered at the very least manslaughter.

Members of the media hold some specially protected place in society that gives them rights that others do not and cannot have including the right to commit murder by proxy. It is time that this is stopped.