Gil is a journalism and political science student and editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, El Vaquero. Having experience with the college’s newsroom and journalism department, he has found he especially enjoys graphics art and creative writing and showcases that in his work whenever possible.
No, I don’t believe identifying or asking readers to identify rioters was appropriate. However, my issue is almost entirely with the latter of the two. I consider myself a centrist, but regardless of political orientation, I’m viewing this question from the standpoint of the purpose of the media in general. Journalists and the publications they work for are not another branch of law enforcement. In my opinion, asking readers to identify rioters with the intention of delivering that information to law enforcement is not investigative journalism, or any form of journalism at all.
While I’m sure a great deal of the public would agree that the Capitol riots of Jan. 6 are insulting to our country as a whole, the situation becomes a lot scarier when publications abandon objectivity by asking their readers to get involved. The media is already largely controlled by government and private organizations whether you like it or not, but through this type of cooperation between publications, it’s readers, and the government, we’re setting the stage for the future of political relations within the U.S. We’re paving the way for the media to no longer observe, but to also report and punish.
As I mentioned, these riots were disgusting. Those who broke the law should be punished accordingly, but I’m not sure that news publications should be able to swing that gavel. There is definitely the argument to be made here asking how we’re supposed to punish these rioters if we don’t know who they are, and to that all I can say is…hindsight is 2020. Maybe next time don’t let them walk in.
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