April 15, 2013. Two bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring 282 people.
April 18, 2013. FBI after taking over the case, released photos of two suspects, asking assistance from the public to help identify them.
The media went frenzy, and the manhunt had begun. Stories started on social news site Reddit, with several users claiming on the forum that a Brown student, Sunil Tripathi was being sought by thousands of police and SWAT team officers over the attack. Different leading newspaper followed suit and wrongly printed stories on the student being one of the culprit. Within hours, the story gathered pace on social media, with tweets about Tripathi being retweeted more than 3,000 times, his Facebook page being attacked, and dozen news vans camping outside the family’s home in Radnor, Pennsylvania.Yet all chose to ignore the fact Tripathi had not been named by police as a suspect.
However, the student was no where to be found. He was already missing! And Police, on Tuesday found a body near the Providence River, Boston and thinks it is ‘very possible’ that it is Tripathi’s body. And beside Reddit, no other major media company that posted the story have come forward to apologize for their mistake.
Student Missing After Wrongly Accused in Boston Bombing
In the book, The Filter Bubble, Eli Pariser mentions the importance of companies being responsible for their actions in chapter, “Escape From the City of Ghettos”. He explains how online companies have to ‘recognize their public responsibility soon’ (pg229). People trust these huge companies to provide them with honest information, and these companies in return should honor that especially when they have so much power and strength in their hands. After all, ‘it is an institution invested with enormous power in the community, the power to affect thoughts and actions by the way it covers the news- the power to hurt or help the common good.’ Therefore these companies should take more time, put in more effort to find their new sources then just blatantly post uncertain news they themselves are unsure of, just so as to increase traffic. This is a very serious matter, given that a small mistake of theirs could lead to some innocent person’s life.
This is unbearable. I hate the fact that because of the media, bullying became such a big and easy part in our existence. Even a story like that, leads to cyber bullying. It reminds of the situation, where a nurse from Kate Middleton’s hospital killed herself. Although it was a practical joke, that joke led to falsely accusing someone which resulted in a tragedy. Media has so much power to ruin someone’s life. People who posted and wrote about this guy, had dominance over this powerless individual. Most of the people who are behind their keyboards on an a social network or even behind the newspapers have a lot of sovereignty when no one sees them but to step out and apologize, they don’t have the guts. This is so disturbing; it blows my mind, of how evil people can be.