Let’s Go Live — Facebook Live!

Going live on social media has become like the new it thing in the media world, especially in the news. Media platforms and news outlets are using this newer platform to connect with their audience more instantly. Live is also a way to get urgent or breaking news out quickly. Live allows for the audience to see the event like if it was first hand because it is actually happening while they are watching, unlike traditional videos that are previously recorded. With all of this in mind, I went out to cover a campus event on Facebook Live and hoped to reach an audience that I was able to connect with instantly, while I was still at the event.

Let me start off by saying that I might have chosen the wrong event to cover for a Facebook Live recording. I attended an event at Brooklyn College called Latinos and Mental Health. From the moment I walked into the room, I already knew that I was going to run into some issues.

The first thing I realized that the event was taking place in a pretty big room with a very small audience. Usually in a setting like this, people get very timid when someone is recording them and I didn’t want to have anyone feel that way. But as a journalist and media creator, I knew that my duty was to report story, no matter what.

The event was a very intimate one so I didn’t record for long. The event was informative yet still personal. It became interactive, as they started to ask the audience to participate in games. I went live during the interactive session because it was one of the less personal moments during the events. I did not want to go live in an event that was so intimate, where everyone was sharing personal stories. I didn’t want to make anyone feel like I was exposing them or putting out their business to the world.

I do think that if my mission was to record and edit the video of the event, I would have recorded more because I would have the capability to edit the video and leave out some of the more personal things. That’s why I decided to record this last video on my regular phone camera; I wanted to make sure that the person I interviewed felt comfortable enough to speak on camera about the event. Another thing that was a bit of a set back due to the event being so intimate was that most people didn’t want to get interviewed.

Covering this event made me realize how hard the job of a journalist is. Today I went into that event hoping to cover a very interesting topic and share a story, instead I walked out leaving with a very important and valuable ethical lesson; As good as the story is, you should always take into consideration who can be harmed by it. If I would of went in there and recored the entire event or even a full five minutes of it, some people would felt like I was envading their privacy — and I would have.