Sadly a fellow Malaysian has made world headlines with something not to be proud of. The cartoonist Zoy, from Berita Harian has drawn a cartoon of Ultraman running away from the Tsunami which he thinks will be entertaining because of the Japan Earthquake disaster which just happened.
Ultraman running from Tsunami comic
According to international laws by United Nations, we should have the freedom of expressing (Redford.edu n.d.). People these days have the power because the internet enables them to voice their thoughts. It was reported that in a short period of time, few politicians commented on the incident and urged for action to be taken via the internet. This wasn’t possible in the past because communication was difficult. I view it as a milestone because people are now able to voice out something to get the support of others, and as a group they have power to defend themselves.
Adding comment and groups of people with common interest are formed
To comment on ethical publishing, we know that the cartoon was published under the context of a disaster that happened, and it was aimed at entertaining the audience. Under ethical publishing issues, everyone has a different view to what is acceptable and what is unacceptable hence we see a majority of people condemning the cartoon. With the power that everyone has to have their own publication, which is by voicing out their thoughts, the collective expertise from this has the power to bring down an organization. Henry Jenkins in ABC Radio National (2009) said that YouTube is interesting because in individualistic terms, people are able to form mini groups, and it will slowly morph into larger scale social collectives.
Visuals are very sensitive and we could see that Ultraman running away from Tsunami, directly linking the cartoon to the incident because the Tsunami happened in Japan and Ultraman is a Japanese cartoon hero. Schriver (1997) cited that people interpret visuals based on the context and situational variables that has a few contributing factors such as mood, interests, cultural, social, physical, and technological setting. She also note that the interpretation of visuals is a “dynamically changing knowledge state”.
In conclusion, freedom of publishing is a law; however insensitive publishing due to visuals can evoke anger protests. The use of Ultraman is directly a joke as how I interpret it, and if the visual is without Ultraman, it would not spark this fury. Sometimes it is a contradiction to the law of freedom of publishing and what makes worse is many people have taken this as unethical. With the power of technological advancement, people have the power to take action and it can be dangerous such as the Egyptian turmoil. In my opinion, a group should be set up to govern the laws of freedom of publishing and a little bit of control is necessary to ensure ethical publishing.
Referencing
Radform.edu.au n.d., International Media Law, viewed 9th June 2011, <http://www.radford.edu/wkovarik/class/law/1.14intl.html>
ABC Radio National 2009, Media work and media practice, viewed 9th June 2011, <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2009/2436725.htm#transcript>
Schriver, K A 1997, The interplay of words and pictures, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.
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