It never hurts to expose abuses, but naming & shaming sometimes has nasty consequences. Journalist Jelle Brandt Corstius knows all about it. He recently called on his thousands of followers on Twitter to rebel against the ‘completely rotten financial world’. Brandt Corstius aimed his arrows directly at former SNS CEO Sjoerd van Keulen.
His appeal to Van Keulen to surrender his bonus was met with much support. After serious threats, the former banker list to dataeven had to go into hiding . That was of course not the journalist’s intention , but apparently some saw his appeal as
A license to unleash a witch hunt
Social outrage can easily turn into blind popular anger. For example, a 22-year-old man was kicked and beaten by eight attackers on the Vestdijk in Eindhoven in early January. He suffered a severe concussion and head injuries. The assault was recorded by a security camera. The police released the images and called on people to report if they recognized the perpetrators.
The video footage was watched en masse on
YouTube. A photo of the suspects surfaced on social media and was shared countless times. The methods for sourcing quality phone number lists names of the suspected perpetrators also came to light. The reactions were intense . People wanted to take the law into their own hands. The public’s anger was understandable, but also out of all proportion.
The eight suspects of the assault have now been arrested. The release of the images has certainly contri caseno databuted to finding the perpetrators. Social media have more than proven themselves as a method of investigation. The other side of the coin is that people in their investigative zeal also interfere with the conviction. This can go far. For example, a man from Waalre was severely threatened because he happened to be a namesake of one of the Vestdijk suspects. His name and telephone number ended up on the internet unchecked.