How can we reclaim the power against public shaming?
By James Armstrong, Phoenix Futures.
Following on from our recent blog looking at the public shaming of primary school teacher Ms Atkin, you can read that blog here, we have been considering the nature of public shaming.
An academic paper that analyses the portrayal of online shaming in contemporary online news media highlights that media framing plays an important role in forming public opinion (Muir et al 2021). It was notable that when looking at the shaming example featured in our recent blog that not only did the shaming shape the social media response, but it also resulted in significant social media engagement. For example, The Mirror’s Facebook post for the story titled “She’d only been employed for a month” was clearly presented for ridicule.
This is public shaming as entertainment.
The Mirror’s post attracted more than 3,000 comments and a similar level of reactions (the options Facebook offer on the Like button). The Mirror’s posts from that week have an average of around only 50 reactions. The framing of the story seems to have generated a huge increase in social media interest for The Mirror.
Looking in more details at the nature of the comments for that story we can see that:
35% were supportive or compassionate comments such as
“Leave her alone, she’s is need of help and support. She educated herself enough to become a teacher, support her to recover and move on.”
20% were critical of Ms Atkin, for example
“She deserved to be sacked what kind of example was she giving children disgusting”
45% were intended to be humorous or sarcastic.
So, we see a mix of supportive, critical and sarcastic. But looking at the 3,000 like button reactions in more detail we can see which type of comments attracted the most reactions:
80% of reactions were for the ‘humorous/sarcastic’ responses
And only 20% of reactions were affirming the supportive comments
It appears that the framing of the story as ‘humorous’ by the Mirror gave permission to readers to make a joke out of what was obviously a very complex and difficult situation for Ms Atkins.
This is only one media outlet. The story featured online in many publications with many more thousands of comments. Ms Atkin’s story was picked up by the media from the public release of a Teacher Misconduct Panel Outcome Report related to what is essentially a private employment matter that was made public by the Teaching Regulatory Agency. Ms Atkin had already been subject to penalties following the panel. The TRA’s decision to make the report public, on the basis that it was in the ‘public interest’, led to a second wave of punishment in the form of public online shaming.
In the aforementioned research paper (Muir et al 2021) the researchers highlight a number of consequences experienced by people who have been shamed online. They identify outcomes such as social ostracism, strains on relationships, loss of employment and even receiving death threats. Furthermore, they go to identify immediate mental health impacts such as feeling upset and ashamed, and longer lasting impacts such as PTSD and even suicide.
How can we reclaim the power against online public shaming?
The stigma related to substance use means people affected by substance use are more likely to be seen as a deserving target for online public shaming. We need to recognise it is happening, or is a risk. The Anti-Stigma Network recommends that
Organisations making personal information public under a public interest argument should balance whether the public’s right to know is outweighed by the public’s capability to act responsibly with what they know. Consideration should be given for the potential for online public shaming and the likelihood of damaging consequences for the subject of that information
The media should follow the Reporting of Substance Use Media Toolkit created by Adfam and SFAD. The toolkit is a resource for journalists and editors looking to report on alcohol and drugs with dignity and respect.
See the Reporting of Substance Use Media Toolkit here.
Social media users should consider that, whether framed for outrage, shock or entertainment, behind every online public shaming incident is a real person with a more complex life experience than is being presented to them
References
Muir, S, R; Roberts, L, D; Sheridan, L, P (2021) The portrayal of online shaming in contemporary online news media: A media framing analysis.,
Computers in Human Behavior Reports, Volume 3.