A social media campaign is calling for a media blackout on images and videos of the murder of US journalist James Foley and Australian broadcasters and media are reacting differently to the campaign.
Social media users are asking people not to share the images in order to blackout ISIS and their acts of violence in the media so that the propaganda isn't spread further. The hashtag #ISISmediablackout has been used over 11,000 times on Twitter since Tuesday.
The Daily Telegraph yesterday ran a full-page image on its front page of Foley and his captors taken moments before he was killed. Papers in the US, including The New York Post have been criticised for showing the images, but other news providers are on board the campaign and are not publishing imagery.
Fairfax Media has also made the decision not to show the video or the explicit images on any of its news platforms.
A spokesman from Network Ten told AdNews, “We have taken an editorial decision not to broadcast the video and will continue with this stance.”
A spokesperson from Foxtel’s Sky News said that while they were not participating in the media blackout they were exercising strict editorial guidelines.
“Sky News decided not to show moving video or audio from the video however, chose to show carefully selected stills to illustrate the story for viewers in limited bulletins,” the broadcaster said in a statement
Twitter, which usually takes an open stance to content being shared on its platform, is taking a strong stand and is blocking "graphic imagery" and videos being shared and deactivating accounts that do share it.
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