Opinion: Pros and cons in stampede reports(2)

Media does its duty

To Fudan students:

It's always easy to accuse others of occupying the moral high ground, because that saves us the trouble of trying to resolve issues. In this age of the Internet, everyone can choose to make public part or all of his/her information, which is not considered private.

We have access to all kinds of social networks, and the information they contain may be used by all, including the media. Besides, our social activities inevitably involve exchange of information.

In the stampede case, journalists quoted information on one of the female victims that were openly available on the Internet. Journalists also interviewed the victim's family and classmates.

No one has ever hacked her e-mail account or tapped her friends' telephones. So, how did journalists violate privacy?

Still, people have the right to protect their information from being made public.

Besides the open letter, some online posts signed by Fudan University students said that the media should not interview her family (and that her family should not give interviews to the media).

Do not demonize journalists. If her family members want the victim to be remembered as a live person instead of a cold number, they have the right to talk to the media and narrate their part of the story, but her schoolmates have no right to say what the media "should" or "should not" do.

One thing is certain: the whole process has nothing to do with Fudan students, who claim to be overtly concerned about her parents and other family members, but who have never inquired about their opinions. Please do not act like a bureaucrat before you become one.

From an anonymous reporter

Journalists mostly play by rules

Fudan University alumni have criticized journalists for filing sensational reports on the Shanghai tragedy. The alumni said journalists used the stampede to attract eyeballs. But the fact is that, journalists are doing their job and sharing information with the public.

After such tragedy, people expect journalists to inform them about the details. They want the media to be their agents of information. In this sense, journalists act as a bridge between the people and events. And that is exactly what journalists should do.

Of course, journalists have to have high morals. But more than anything else, they should exercise discretion while reporting on sensitive issues. An unwritten rule in journalism is to share the grief of people who have lost their loved ones.

Besides, the Chinese government has laid out the ethical code for journalists, which requires them to share the feelings of victims and their families, and avoid hurting them during interviews.

Journalists across the world have established some detailed principles, which includes not causing pain to victims, not using words or expressions that could hurt the victims' families, and avoiding the publication of bloody images and close-up of victims.

Zhuang Yongzhi is an associate professor of journalism studies at Nanjing University and a former anchor on CCTV.