Half-facts can become half-truths

Nov 22, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Teachers are very much in the news these days. A few weeks ago, the body of a school teacher was found in a cemetery with broken bones and injuries to her head. She subsequently died.
The story caused a commotion. Guyanese jumped to conclusions without having all the facts. On social media, they began to target a police officer who had allegedly picked up the woman. Without a shred of evidence implicating the officer, they began to treat him as the prime suspect simply because the police arrested him first.
Then days later, they did the same when the police arrested another suspect, another policeman. The same thing happened days later when the child father of the now dead woman was arrested. Then the police impounded the car of another suspect.
With twists and turns in the story, people were changing their reaction. People have to avoid the threat of being gullible. They must get all the facts in the instance and then assess these facts before rushing to judgment.
The same reaction which emerged when the body of the female teacher was found is the same reaction that is happening with the allegations against another teacher who is facing some allegations of sexual misconduct. Before the full facts were known, there was a big uproar.
A picketing exercise was even commenced outside of the school because of something the Headmistress was alleged to have said to the students. No one has interviewed the head teacher to obtain clarification of what exactly she meant by the comments she was alleged to have made. No one has yet obtained a comment from her as to what she meant. But persons are already demanding that she step down.
How fair can that be? Is the head teacher not entitled to a hearing before she is condemned in the public?
The first rule of journalism is to get all sides of the story. It is the test of fairness. This is a rule which the public should apply before they take sides in a matter. If you have not had the benefit of all sides of a story, then do not take a position because you may end up embarrassing yourself.
This past week, social media was rocking with the allegations against the teacher. There were persons who were calling for the teacher to be brought to book. No one questioned how it was that judgments were being made after only one side of the story was heard.
The other side has now been heard and it has opened a can of worms. The issues to be investigated are no longer the allegations about the teacher. There are now counter allegations about personal motives of the accuser and allegations of abuse of power.
All of these allegations have to be investigated. All sides have to be heard. The public should allow due process to take its course.
Other persons on social media are up in arms because a teacher is alleged to have asked students why they did not defend the teacher who is being accused of something. But what is wrong with the teacher asking this question, if that teacher believes that the teacher should have been defended.
There is equally nothing wrong with another teacher saying that the teacher should be condemned if he or she believes that the allegations are true.
The fact of the matter, though, is that all parties should equip themselves with the full facts in the matter. This is elementary journalism and it can be applied to this case. Persons should not jump to conclusions unless they have heard all the sides of the matter.
There are other rules which people should apply before jumping to conclusions. They should question who is making the allegation and whether that person has any special reason or interest in making the allegation. They should consider the credibility of both the accuser and the accused before arriving at a conclusion.
A good rule is not to take any side at all but to try to examine all the facts dispassionately. Do to rush to condemn others because not all the facts are revealed at the same time and sometimes what is said, in the first instance, is just half of the facts.

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