By Steve Schwaid, CJ&N VP of Digital Services
Please make it stop.
Too often reporters and anchors, immersed in the day-to-day mentality of the job, forget it’s not always about them. They lose sight of the context that it’s about the viewers, the users, and the people who rely on us for accurate, credible and confirmed information.
I’m talking about selfies. The mental lapses that cause high-profile people to put their faces on social media that in retrospect are foolish. In this day of challenges to journalism and amid claims of Fake News, our credibility as an institution is under attack. They play a critical role in earning and keeping the public’s trust, and that responsibility does not go away when the newscast is over.
Let’s not add to the credibility challenge.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the selfies you post on your personal pages of your nature hikes, playing with the family pet or at a sporting event.
It’s the selfies of reporters smiling at murder scenes, selfies of reporters putting on their makeup as they promote the upcoming coverage of the fatal fire or a selfie with a network anchor who’s in town to cover a disaster.
Whatever “good” you can find in them are far outweighed by the perception that journalists are all about themselves, “don’t care about us” and have “partisan agendas.” Reporting isn’t about showing off you’re at a fire, accident or crime scene. We know that from your story telling. Impress us with your reporting and your writing not your selfie smile.
I’ve spoken to numerous folks in the biz. Honestly, not one has defended these type of selfies other than “we don’t have a policy,” “our news director is afraid to tell the anchor it looks bad” or “corporate wants our folks to post as much as they can.” It’s almost becoming a parody. I can imagine a Saturday Night Live skit all about reporters taking selfies and which one has the most grotesque, upsetting or embarrassing background. The background music to this skit would be Don Henley’s Dirty Laundry.
The catch is that it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment, lose sight of the context, and it’s out on social media in two minutes it takes for it to sink in: “That was dumb.”
Below are selfies including one from a news crew after covering people were killed in Times Square.
Please make it stop.
Here’s a job hunting tip to “selfie” posters. As a manager I always looked at a job candidate’s social feed. If I see “embarrassing” selfies and other questionable photos, it would make me think twice about hiring that person. They might otherwise be a great candidate, but can I trust their spontaneous judgment?
As many assault the credibility journalists in these partisan times, let’s not add fuel the fire.
Take the high road. You never lose taking the high road.
Please, make it stop.
