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October 4, 2010

Mitchel Olszak: Klan robe photo sparks need for quick response

Mitchel Olszak New Castle News

NEW CASTLE — There’s an old saying about lies traveling halfway around the world before the truth puts on its shoes.

That was coined long before the Internet burst onto the scene.

Today, it’s almost as if the truth doesn’t have a chance. Combine devious intent, limited knowledge and the unbounded capacity of humans to jump to conclusions, and any Internet posting — no matter its absurdity — gains a solid foothold.

It happens all the time. Everything from celebrity news to political ideas are fair game for Internet posters.

Anyone armed with a camera and a computer uplink can pretty much send out what he wishes.

And there are plenty of places on the web that will accept it. Sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and countless lesser creations allow a virtually unfiltered conduit to the world.



PHOTO FLAP

Last week, an e-mail showed up in my office inbox, purporting to be from the parent of a Mohawk student. Attached was a photo of a teacher standing in front of a classroom. Next to him was a student dressed in full Ku Klux Klan attire.

My immediate reaction: Holy crap!

That’s probably what the sender was going for. In a note accompanying the photo, he (or she) expressed offense at the idea of a teacher in a mostly white school district having students put on a Klan robe. According to the anonymous writer, “The clueless students follow the teacher (sic) lead by taking pictures and making derogatory jokes in class to the amusement of the teacher.”

Of course, sending such material to the local newspaper is no longer the only option for the outraged or the malevolent. In short order, it turned up on a CNN website that encourages the public to post items of interest or concern. The responses started to pile up.

And word of the posting spread. Representatives of the local NAACP showed up at The News, expressing anger at Mohawk’s use of a Klan robe. Then at least one Pittsburgh TV station pounced with a quick report that stirred things up — yet explained little.

Here at the New Castle News, we too were looking into the matter. The difference is that we try to take the time to delve into something such as this in the hopes of obtaining a fuller explanation for our readers.

With the Internet, however, that becomes a decidedly more difficult process. If other “media” outlets are putting out whatever is thrown their way, or not bothering to do the investigative grunt work, people wonder why the newspaper is slacking on such an important matter.

We’re not slacking, we’re digging.



SCHOOL WOES

Meanwhile, Mohawk officials were blindsided by the whole thing, unable to offer an explanation of the dramatic photo or why a student was wearing a Klan robe. They said they needed to investigate.

In this era, such an investigation had better take place in a big hurry. On the Internet, a day is a lifetime. And those who are unprepared to respond to harmful allegations run the risk of being run over by rumors.

At this point, it looks as if authorities at Mohawk survived this brush with Internet notoriety. As any thinking persons would conclude, the Klan robe wasn’t being employed as a gag. Rather, it was intended as an educational tool to flesh out an ugly aspect of America’s history.

A statement from the district defended the use of the robe in the classroom for this purpose, while acknowledging that having students wear it probably wasn’t the best idea anyone ever came up with. I think that’s an appropriate stance — especially since doing so made the photo in question possible.

What’s the lesson in all of this? I think it’s largely the same one that existed before the Internet: We need to avoid jumping to conclusions.

A single photo offers no detailed explanation of what’s happening in a classroom. In this case, it sparked legitimate concern. But it’s up to viewers and readers to realize there may be more to it.

Unfortunately, there’s ample evidence that people frequently swallow what Internet posters serve up. Those who are unfairly portrayed as a result need to be prepared to respond quickly — or suffer the consequences.

And those of us in the news business — the real news business — daily need to find the right balance of timeliness and thoroughness. The Internet makes that an uphill battle.

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