The danger of the VISUAL EVIDENCE!

The ´Murdoch-whale´ slid above waterfront, and just as sudden it showed it self, just as abrupt does it slips into the dark waters. At the same time there are thousands of small cases of media coverage that could be illuminated to generate daily discussions of media coverage’s. Cases that might seem insignificant to the metropolitans of the world, but which are just as good examples on the ongoing revolution of media coverage as the mysterious though overwhelming ´Murdoch-whale´.

One interesting question is the one of moving images. Moving images were once heavily produced, and continuously gave media organizations a headache concerning its endless need for resources. Now, moving images gush forth to meets its starry future as probably the most attractive medium of its all. The sociologist Thompson once mentioned how over world probably is going to be more influenced by ´visuality´. And as several scholars repeatedly have mentioned, media workers seem to confuse moving images with reality. As, for example as soon as something is ´live´ it is real. Although, several studies comparing the complexity of what is taking place in front of the cameras with the fragment of what the cameras actually were able to capture.

Recently an ongoing news story in Norway is illustrates the point.

The scene is a recent late night in front of the Parliament of Norway, situated in the middle of capital. At the Parliament two guards are placed to protect it. On their surveillance cameras they suddenly discover something unusual. Outside the Parliament, at the gateway a woman and a man have intercourse. At first it does not look ´that chocking´, as the woman does not provide much resistances. Even though there is something with the incident that make them call the police. Next the headline of our daily newspapers tells the chocking story of the guards at the Parliament that did not prevent the rape. In one way or another there is visual evidence that the woman was raped. Consequently the Editor in Chief for the online magazine ´The journalist´ is asking the tabloid news paper Dagbladet to explain the discrepancy between the big and screaming titles, as it seems as if the guards did not actually understand the seriousness of the situation. When the police arrived at the scene the woman was gone, and the rapist, a 15-year-old asylum seeker was caught.

As moving images, more easily accessed from wherever, with it core trait (at least among news workers) being capable of catching the ´truth´. And never ´truth´ was to be found in a simpler, and less expensive way. The problem is that moving images, not necessarily IS the truth. In the ongoing discussion of what we actually need journalists for, as raw material continuously seem to seek for a publisher, this is it.

Actually moving images as a medium is just like any other medium. It requires someone who is capable of interpreting it. Who meets the raw material with a sceptical distance, and is able to analyze it. It is a matter of credibility, not in what the viewer finally sees on television or Internet, but simply the credibility of news organization and its invisible production process.