Week 3 The Media’s Impact

I have decided to research a news article showing how the media is doing its job, serving as a social watchdog, and can encourage public discussion on this important topic.

Dylan Voller, a victim of false accusations on the media.

How the media is doing its job: The media can have a good and bad impact on the nation and the media itself. in this article, it demonstrates how this New York Times article shares information on how a media news outlet in Australia  ABCTV Program “Four Corners” exposes an image of Dylan Voller who was then detained in a chair wearing a spit hood and their also facebooks post on their page caused various false accusations. The media’s job is to inform the people and update them on information not just about social problems but also about the media themself such as ABCTV.

**More info about the case: Dylan Voller ends ups suing Facebook for the false accusations instead of him confronting the commenters since that facebook probably was not aware of this situation.**

Serving as a social watchdog: Now in days people can post hateful or disrespectful comments and get blocked temporarily, even whoever is in charge of the facebook page you can monitor the hateful comments.

Voller states that he did not ask Facebook to pull down the comments on their page before the lawsuit since they should take responsibility for the comments even though they might have been aware of it. Therefore the media outlets are second thinking about what content they share and limiting the engagement with the readers.

Now facebook included a new feature that allows the page administrator to turn off the comments on the post and can still be sued for comments left under a post. But Australia states that section 230 of the communication Decency Act holds the platform automatic immunity from what people say in third-party comments. Therefore it apparently is not the media’s fault either.

Encouraging public discussion on the topic: This topic can be discussed furthermore and if third parties should take accountability for third-party comments since they are only sharing the media or should they be responsible for the reaction of their audience. Media such as Facebook can be a great influence on a large number of their audience and releasing false information can also affect them.

link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/technology/facebook-australia-comments.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Technology

Caroline Rodriguez