Work. Life. Limericks.

I know this event hasn’t been in the news for a while, but hearing about a friend’s trip to SeaWorld reminded me of the ethics controversy immediately after Dawn Brancheau was killed at SeaWorld when killer whale Tilikum grabbed her by the hair and pulled her underneath the water. News agencies were fighting for the right to obtain the videotapes of the incident (and then, as an afterthought, deciding how and if they would even use the video in their coverage).

Family members and the aquatic park itself both asked for the security video that shows the incident to not be released to the public. Though the security video was the property of a private entity (SeaWorld) when it was filmed, the video entered the realm of the public record once local police confiscated the videotape during an official investigation of the death.

A temporary injunction was granted by Dawn Brancheau’s family to stop release of the video and the family members are seeking to permanently ban the video from being available to the general public. Kelly McBride, an ethics scholar at the Poynter Institute, wrote in a March 10^thpost to her Everyday Ethics blog that journalists should continue to fight to keep public records such as these open – mostly because if they don’t, it sets a dangerous precedent on how future public records could be prevented from getting to the public.

She wrote

“Sealing this video in order to uphold the family’s desire for privacy makes it more likely that future records will be sealed for reasons other than the public’s interest.”

What is on the video may or may  not be worthy of airing (although the high interest in the event – particularly because it happened in front of park spectators – does mean there is already a built-in audience for seeing what actually happened), there are plenty of circumstances the video could reveal that would make the video of Brancheau’s death a pathway into quality journalism.

For instance, there were rumors shortly after the death that there were safety protocols in place for dealing with Tilikum that Brancheau may have violated when interacting with the animal. This could help determine if there was a lack of adequate training at SeaWorld. Additionally, the video could be considered worthy of attention if that lack of training or irresponsibility on SeaWorld’s part was in part or wholly ignored or even covered-up by investigating law enforcement, as pointed out by McBride. Despite the likelihood that the video would be used in a sensational, irresponsible way if it’s released, the first tenent of journalism is to tell the truth and report it as fully as possible. This cannot be done unless journalists know what was on the videotape and if there’s any truth that should be reported.

What to do with the videotape?

Just because the public interest is high doesn’t mean that newsrooms should make the video available to the public if it does get released as a public record. As Poynter Online Group Leader Al Tompkins points out in his March 10 blog post in Al’s Morning Meeting, there are circumstances involving this case that make it tempting to put online but also questionably ethical. Since the video isn’t record from a public agency and no one has been accused of a crime, release of the video for reason other than displayed corruption or dangerous working conditions would be irresponsible.

What about the killer whales?

Very briefly, the ethics of keeping creatures such as Tilikum in captivity must come into play. While there have more than two dozen attacks on handlers, intruders and other humans by killer whales held in captivity since the 1970s, there are no recorded deaths of humans due to an attack by a killer whale in the wild. There is some evidence that stress (including small living spaces, forced social groupings that wouldn’t exist in the wild and chemically-altered water) may contribute to the aggressive nature of captive killer whales as opposed to killer whales in the wild. Life expectancy of captive killer whales are significantly shorter than those in the wild. Additionally, killer whales that are held in captivity show a number of pathologies that differentiate them from creatures in the wild, including collapsed dorsal fins.

According to Billy Hurley, chief animal officer at the Georgia Aquarium, in a Feb. 26, 2010 Associated Press article:

“Shows to go on at SeaWorld, King of Orca Business,” killer whales have no malice in their aggression. “In the case of a killer whale, if they want your attention or if they’re frustrated by something or if they’re confused by something, there’s only a few ways of handling that,” he said. “If you’re right near pool’s edge and they decide they want a closer interaction during this, certainly they can grab you.”

The video may fuel public debate on the matter.

Photo by Allie_Caulfield