If a tree falls in the forest ...

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following column appeared in the April 21, 2017 edition of the Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY)

By Michael J. Fitzgerald, columnist

Philosophy students still ponder this centuries old question: If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Now the question in our 21st century cellphone-camera-video-media culture would be more like: Did someone capture a video clip, photo or audio file of the tumbling timber?

Consider the recent media-frenzy/brouhaha over a United Airlines passenger dragged off a plane when he refused to give up his assigned seat — a seat United wanted to reclaim for an airline employee’s use.

The incident escalated overnight from a Kentucky airport dustup to an international incident, fueled by cellphone videos taken by other passengers, then posted on Facebook and Twitter.

In social media jargon, the videos went viral.

Then numerous mainstream news reports were published worldwide about the incident, including the links — all followed by hundreds of clever memes and commentaries that had a lot of fun at the expense of United Airlines.

This isn’t to diminish any mistreatment of passenger Dr. David Dao, the stunning clumsiness of United Airlines’ handling of the incident or the upset experienced by other passengers who watched Dao hauled roughly from his assigned spot and dragged down the narrow aisle.

But if those cellphone videos hadn’t been posted to social media and circulated widely, would this incident between a passenger and security at a regional airport been any more than a small footnote on the back pages of some newspapers?

You don’t need to be a philosophy student to answer that question.

Similarly, consider the police-vs-water protector clashes at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. Activists would not have garnered a fraction of the attention without the tsunami of video, still images and powerful audio recordings that spread nationally and internationally.

We see the power of images often.

Dozens of snippets of videos have been posted from protests at NY GOP Congressman Tom Reed’s office and town hall meetings, adding strong visual and audio elements to Reed’s statements, also reported in print media.

His widely viewed video reply to a question about responsiveness to his constituents, “I try to listen to that silent voice,” is particularly popular among his critics.

Until the group We Are Seneca Lake suspended its arrest-generating protests at the gates of the Crestwood Midstream facility near Watkins Glen, video and photos frequently circulated widely on social media, encouraging mainstream media locally and across the state to pay attention.

The same for videos at local courthouses when protesters had their day in court.

That video attention put added political pressure on the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to be especially diligent in its continuing review of Crestwood’s proposal to store millions of gallons of liquid propane gas in unlined caverns.

But as informative as this imagery explosion can be, there are plenty of troubling elements.

Overexposure — sometimes called information overload — can prompt a numbing desensitization to situations. Or sometimes promotes assumptions based on just seconds of video footage, often out of context.

Perhaps the most problematic is deliberate manipulation of video or images.

Several weeks ago California prosecutors charged two anti-abortion activists with 15 video-related felonies. The charges stem from their roles in the filming, editing and distributing of secretly recorded videos that inaccurately portrayed Planned Parenthood and prompted waves of threats.

The since-discredited videos — which might be called “fake news” — were edited to smear Planned Parenthood and were a major factor in prompting a dozen state investigations into allegations against the health-care provider in the last two years.

The question for 2017 has become “If an incident happens and it isn’t videoed, is it still news?”

This fake news vs. real news debate makes me long for simpler times and debates over “if a tree falls in a forest ... ”

Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He splits his time between Valois, NY and Pt. Richmond, Calif. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@ gmail.com and visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.