The concepts of bystander and upstander have been very relevant to the analysis and efforts to overcome different forms of violence. Now, the increase in media lynching and media trials, and growing concern about them, make necessary a more detailed description of the diverse roles of different people in responding to those situations.
Two decades of analysis and reflection on this theme have led to the identification of 17 roles that are consistently present in media lynching and media trials. All those roles have also been identified in what Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian, called “Death by a Thousand Headlines,” in reference to the case of Jason Arday.
Of course, any classification is simultaneously reductionist and indispensable for understanding the phenomenon; there are as many roles as individuals. One of the transversal criteria that multiplies these roles is the point in time at which they are performed; it is not the same to be a supporter during the lynching as it is to become one when it has been overcome. However, this classification maintains an equilibrium between precision and manageability, like the balance required in the maps we use, for instance, in GPS navigation.
A) Aggressors
1. Initiator
First publish allegations about events or conduct that may be real but have not yet been proven, exaggerated, or fabricated.
2. Producer
Provides the content used in the initial publication or in subsequent publications targeting the same person or group subjected to the media lynching. The initiator could be of not the producer, for example when someone fabricates an allegation and the journalist publishes it.
3. Reinforcer
Likes or reposts accusations, believes the accusers, or spreads the accusations to new audiences while saying that they do not know whether they are true, but that they could be.
4. Amplifier
Spreads the accusations to new audiences without saying that they may be true, but also without acknowledging that they may be false or without seeking information from those who could provide evidence of their falsity.
5. Legitimizer
A person or institution with authority that lends legitimacy to the public attack.
6. Facilitator
Individuals, media outlets, social media platforms, or institutions that allow themselves or their resources to be used for the attacks.
7. Isolator
Threatens to attack those who support, or refuse to acuse the targets of the media lynching, thereby isolating the targets.
8. Escalator
Makes decisions that harm the targeted individuals in their professional or personal lives.
9. Marginalizer
Avoids interacting with the targeted individuals out of fear of becoming a target themselves.
10. Bystander
A passive observer who neither actively contributes to the attack nor actively defends the targeted person.
B) The Braves
11. Sympathizer
Privately provides interpersonal, emotional, professional, material, or other forms of support to the targeted person while avoiding public disclosure of that support.
12. Supporter
Publicly challenges aspects of the attack that are unfair, false, unfounded, disproportionate, or dehumanizing.
13. Upstander
Actively intervenes to stop or mitigate the media lynching and to defend the rights, dignity, or fair treatment of the targeted person. Upholds due process and procedural safeguards despite social or professional pressure, mobilizes others against the attack, and intervenes despite foreseeable personal or professional costs.
14. Resolver
Supports those who defend the targeted individuals when those defenders themselves become targets of retaliation.
C) Rectification and Reparation
15. Rectifier
Acknowledges that accusations they had disseminated were unjust and publicly corrects them.
16. Repentant
Explicitly acknowledges the harm caused by their own participation and apologizes to the targeted individuals for their contribution to the attacks.
17. Repairer
Takes active measures to repair the reputational, personal, professional, institutional, or social harm caused by the media lynching.
Serra Húnter Fellow of Sociology at Universitat Rovira i Virgili.
Former DAAD-Gastprofessorin at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
1st with the most total citations of all categories, among those authors including in Google Scholar "Gender Violence" as one of them.