Bearing Witness

1/27/2020

Bearing witness is a very important part of journalism, but it’s not a thing for only journalists. There have been many cases where big news stories were first recorded and published by civilians who just so happened to have their phone camera ready, and decided to bear witness instead of turning away. With most cases of police shooting civilians for no particular reason, the event was recorded and shared by random people that saw something seemed off and decided to record and share what had happened. Bearing witness is not an easy thing to do, and can be traumatic and scary. But it is a very important thing for us to live safely while knowing what is actually going on in our world.
In many cases, bearing witness as a journalist can save lives, and get the people in the wrong put in jail.This is the case with Ron Haviv and his work documenting war crimes and the people committing them. Instead of being afraid of the threats to his life, he shoots the photos he’s told not to and get the true criminals arrested. He also tries to save people from being wrongfully killed if he believes he can stop it. But stopping it is not always an option, and documenting it is the best thing you can do for the people wrongfully killed, and other people in danger. I believe that bearing witness is a very important thing to do as not just a journalist, but as a person with the ability to document crime at their fingertips. Simply taking out your phone and hitting record could change so much and save so many.