The power of social media is that it has the ability to shed light on untold sides of a story, and better yet, supply mass audiences with visual evidence. Media is used towards the journalistic ethical principle of “Seek Truth and Report It,” as we discussed in our previous journalism classes here at Lehigh. The SPJ Code of Ethics states that journalists “should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information,” and thank goodness that the truth was exposed of George Floyd’s murder to the nation in a way that is telling, unarguable and inexcusable. In this case, it was an average citizen, Darnella Frazier, who filmed the murder of George Floyd and acted as a responsible journalist by sharing her documentation. Her act of courage at only 17 years old did a service to the country by leading to local authorities taking in the four officers involved in Floyd’s arrest within 24 hours. Now at age 19, she has been a public figure for two years and has received death threats for her act of bravery in revealing to the public via social media how the officer killed Floyd.

The article states that the public “gained the chance to play jury,” after the video circulated the Internet and news outlets. Other video documentation of the event was shared via social media and helped the investigation to know what really happened leading up to Floyd’s murder. What is amazing about this is that the civilian videos of police interactions challenged stories made up by police officers, digging deeper and deeper for the truth of the matter in how race relations in America affect police-civilian interactions.

Outside of sharing just videos of the event, those who were not present at the murder scene could use social media to express sympathy and support, circulating the Twitter hashtag of George Floyd’s name, “Black Lives Matter,” and “Say His Name.” Officers are held accountable by the mass audiences learning of the larger issue of racism perpetuated in the country, and directed towards similar stories and murders by police officers of Black individuals through the power of social media. As the article reminds us, “George Floyd’s Death is the latest in a long line,” meaning other murders did not have the opportunity to tell any other side of the story other than the official police reports that brush injustice under the rug. There are other cases, such as Ahmaud Arbery’s murder when he was out jogging, in which white father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery, were only charged after a video was released. The power of video is becoming a crucial tool for truth-telling in reporting, but what is scary is what is lost if this documentation/evidence of an unjust murder does not exist.