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The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

The Student Newspaper of DePaul University

The DePaulia

Social media reveals little of stabbing victim’s character

On Saturday, Sept. 3, The DePaulia ran an online story about 19-year-old Rodney Kyles Jr., who was fatally stabbed in Lincoln Park after attending a party. The story contained the details released by the police and the latest tweet from the victim reading: “I’m drunk as hell tired of these young hoes.”

There were no testimonies from friends or family, just a blueprint of Kyles’ last tweet, published one hour prior to Kyles’ death.

This propelled a substantial amount of controversy from not only friends and family of Kyles but also DePaul students. Users flooded The DePaulia’s website, Facebook page and email accounts expressing their outrage. After reading the article, I, too, could not help but feel that the story insinuated something about Kyles. The contextual ambiguity of the tweet left it open to several interpretations, most of them negative.

Kyles was an African-American college student in his second year at Roosevelt University. He had a passion for music and was well-liked amongst his peers. This was not the Kyles that people read about, however. The story focused on Kyles’ bluntly stated final tweet. The tweet, quite frankly, made Kyles seem like some sort of thug. As it stood alone, it served as the most prominent display of who the murder victim was.

DePaul’s Black Student Union discussed the article at their first general body meeting, and the subject was met with strong reactions. Junior Aasia Bullock, a communications major, expressed her frustration with the story.

“It was of poor taste,” she said. “It seemed as if the paper was suggesting things [about him]. As a reader, I feel it lacks journalistic credibility to use Twitter as the basis of a story.”

The use of social networking sites as sources for stories is hardly a new occurrence. That’s partly why every college kid is told to be cautious about what he or she posts online. Whether it’s Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, access to material is readily available to anyone.

There have been countless situations in which people have paid the consequences of their online profiles. That being said, it is a conscious choice to use these outlets. There needs to be a persistent cognizance that you are creating a representation for yourself that is at the discretion of the viewer.

Online editor of The DePaulia and author of the article, Jeremy Mikula, was very open in discussing why he chose to include Kyles’ last tweet.

“I was careful and verified that it was, in fact, Rodney’s Twitter account,” he said. “I included it because of the time frame in which the homicide occurred and when his last tweet was—within one hour, likely about 40 minutes, of the incident… The story was about his unfortunate death at the hands of violence and some of the context around it.”

According to Mikula, the intent was never to provide context for Kyles’ character but to report the story.

“It was never meant to cause a controversy or to make Rodney appear in a negative light but to give some surrounding information to it,” Mikula said.

It is very clear in hindsight to see where the readers and writers got mixed up in this situation. The anger of readers is very clear as well as the position of the author. It must be noted once more that social network users choose to subject themselves to scrutiny and should be held accountable for what they write.

It’s a somber thought that perhaps your last tweet or status update may be the lasting impression you leave.

It should never be forgotten that social media operates in limited confines. Much of the outrage came because readers were not reading about a murder victim but about a friend, family member or acquaintance.

It should always be remembered that there is a real person behind the tweet.

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