covert filming GARY WATERS / ALAMY llance


contributed to the profits of individuals and to global news organisations? Debating such videos now forms the entire –


comparatively cheap – content for US web-based television stations like Right This Minute. It can generate income for new organisations and for the people who take the videos. Professor Frost adds: “Any film circulated out of context,


without verification for its accuracy and without any supporting commentary is little more than a combination of art and daydream. We see the images but can’t be certain of their meaning, which in any case will be strongly affected by the sender.” What was revealed in court about Emma West, then 34,


was presented too late in the press. Emma was vulnerable, having experienced severe mental health problems and, on the day she took the tram, she was very poorly. She had taken medication with a known side effect for the user to ‘present unusual ideas’. She had arrived home that day – having taken the tram in the wrong direction – and told her husband she feared she had embarrassed herself. When she saw the national news she was humiliated and distraught. Far-right parties, including Britain First and the National


Front, hijacked her story, launching petitions and selling badges declaring, “Emma West Was Right”. Emma was desperate for it to go away and, by the time journalists were camped outside her home, she had twice tried to take her own life. She was at one point remanded in custody for her own safety amid threats. The person who filmed the clip and put it on YouTube was in a position to profit from it and later refused to remove it. Emma’s solicitor David Martin-Sperry said: “I don’t think


that the case was fairly dealt with in the press. None of the inaccuracies were corrected. “The press was wholly misled by the National Front who


had someone sitting in court and who got hold of a journalist and told them she was a friend and they supported her cause. Emma just wanted the whole thing to go away. She wanted peace and quiet. She was a prisoner in her home at one stage because the press were camped outside. “We live in an age when we need to tread carefully if we


don’t have the complete information. These things have completely unintended consequences.” The use of sousveillance journalism is increasing. Barely a


week passes in which a worker, a passer-by, a public transport user, isn’t filmed making a fool of themselves or being shamed for what is considered inappropriate behaviour. There is money to be made in the industry, of course


but also by the individuals posting the films. A video titled Charlie Bit Me, a 58-second clip of two young boys filmed by their dad, earned £100,000 in 2007. The income is shared between the site and the film’s creator. Many articles celebrate the best-earning videos on YouTube while others outline how you too can earn cash, while YouTube itself offers a video about “turning passion into profit” by creating virals. Professor Frost said: “It is a matter of concern, especially as journalists rely more and more on amateur contributions. Local World, for instance, is intending to rely solely on such material, sifted and organised by professional editors. “The pressure will be on such editors more and more to ensure context, framing, justification and commentary.”


theJournalist | 19


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