R. Noland, Argument essay

Speculative Journalism is Harmful

Journalism is a practice that has existed for many years and has been an invaluable tool for keeping the people up to date on what is going on in the world around them.Though if a journalist were to report on a story without all the facts by filling in the details based off their own assumptions, a dangerous litany of possibilities begin to arise. This method of journalism is known as Speculative Journalism.

Speculative Journalism has existed for about as long as journalism itself but in our modern society where media consumers are always itching to know what's happening as soon as possible this form of journalism has seen an extreme rise in use. This rise in use is most notably seen when the topic has political ties of any kind. 

 A prime example of speculative journalism being harmful comes from an incident involving three groups: one made up of high school students, one made up of a group of men known as ‘Black Israelites’, and a small group of native american individuals. The initial coverage of the incident was based on a video lasting three minutes and forty four seconds. The contents of this video shows a group of students many of whom are wearing hats that read “Make America Great Again'', standing around  a small group of native american individuals one of which is drumming and chanting at them which is reciprocated by the students with chants of their own as the smaller group beings to wade further into the crowd the lead individual, who was later identified Nathan Phillips approaches a young man and stops in front of him continuing to drum and chant, with the young man simply standing still and smiling in a manner that could be described as smug. Now initial coverage of this event was quick to take what little context in contained within in the shot video and paint a scene of ignorance and discrimination, claiming that the students approached and swarmed the native american indivuals and that “In some shots, the teens appear to be shouting, ‘Build that wall, build that wall.’ ” (Amanda Sakuma) though this cannot be verified as amongst the chanting the most that can be heard from the students are individuals wondering what is happening. This initial coverage led to a large number of people lambasting the teens with many targeting the boy Nathan Philips approaches. Although the school did not clarify what punishment the institution planned to dole out to the teens, their expulsion was reportedly on the table. Perhaps the most dire consequence of the initial story presented was that the personal information of many of the teens was leaked out onto the internet for all to see. This then led to the following according to Fox News: “Covington Catholic High School canceled classes Tuesday after threats of violence were made against the students over the now-viral incident over the weekend in Washington, D.C.”. 

The day after the story initially broke however, new information came to light in the form of more footage of the situation which greatly contrasted with the established narrative. This new video was recorded by a member of a group known as ‘Black Israelites’ the events of which take place before the first video the media covered the day before. In this video the students are shown to have already been gathered where they are depicted in the original video and the ‘Black Israelites’ are hurling insults and slurs at the teens which are met with students shouting excitedly almost drowning out the harsh words being thrown their way. The viewer is then shown the group of native americans being led by Nathan Phillips approaching the students with most of the students backing up as the group makes their way further and further into the crowd and which lines up with where the first video begins providing a great deal of clearly much needed context to the situation, shifting the students from the intolerant aggressors that the media’s use of speculative journalism made them out to be to the actual victims of the story.

It is important to understand why this strategy is so commonly used despite its capacity for harm. From a business perspective the use of this strategy is extremely beneficial for those that use it. If a news outlet were to wait to report on a story until they have all the facts they would more than likely be one of the last outlets in the news cycle and would subsequently have the least eyes on them. However if they were to report the story without all of the facts via speculative journalism they become among the first to enter the news cycle and the public eye. Even when their coverage turns out to be inaccurate then the company can receive double the amount of traffic if/when they release an updated version of their pieces. Using this method the media outlet can receive two stories worth of traffic/views for a single story.

In review, it can be clearly seen how the use of speculative journalism may lead to unintended and/or dire consequences on those involved. Though it also can be seen that this method of journalism has an extremely positive effect on the business side of things for the companies covering the stories. However, the benefits to business comes at a high price, that being the reputation and damage done to the lives of individuals involved. The journalist has a responsibility to the public to accurately inform them on the goings on in the world and to report on things without all of the facts in a bid to be the focus of the public so that a larger profit can be made shows an almost callous disregard of this extremely important responsibility and the people that rely on them for quality news coverage.