By Starting with an expose in the Wall Street Journal published Feb. 13, a flood of articles have been written decrying anti-Semitism found in videos by YouTube’s biggest celebrity, with over 53 million subscribers, Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg.
It’s your standard media pile-on of a celebrity in disgrace, except for one thing: that original article published by the WSJ is as problematic as any content PewDiePie produced, just in a different way. Because, even if Kjellberg’s attempts at humor are as anti-Semitic as the writers at the WSJ think, their article shows deep breaches of journalistic ethics that are fueling a greater opposition to media in general.
That’s the real problem: what happens when a reputable outlet is really performing a hatchet job?
After reviewing several months of videos from Kjellberg’s channel, the WSJ article was focused on exposing the fact that “since August, PewDiePie has posted nine videos that include anti-Semitic jokes or Nazi imagery.” One video featured an Indian man holding up a sign that read “Death to All Jews” on commission by Kjellberg as part of a joke aimed to be critical of the Israeli online freelance service Fiverr. After the WSJ reached out for comment from Maker Studios, a media company partnered with Kjellberg that is owned by The Walt Disney Company, contracts between Kjellberg and Maker were terminated – the major business-related scoop of the piece.
A groundswell of support from several other major YouTubers and a response video from Kjellberg followed. While Kjellberg apologized for the primary offensive joke, he also pushed back and insisted that the WSJ had largely taken him out of context in an effort to cause damage to his reputation.
Now, whether or not people find Kjellberg’s jokes and commentary to be offensive is ultimately a matter of subjective opinion, and the 27-year old Swede is definitely not innocent in this conflagration. After reviewing the videos highlighted by the WSJ myself, there’s a definite trend of PewDiePie edging closer and closer to lines of indecency by including more risque humor and Nazi imagery on purpose
But, viewing every single incident highlighted by the WSJ article and the context in which they’re originally delivered reveals a chasm between Kjellberg’s apparent intent and the spare descriptions in the piece.
An example: the article describes a video where Kjellberg, “posted swastikas drawn by his fans on Oct. 15,” but neglected to mention that the video was titled,”STOP DOING THIS,” in reference to those very same swastikas and that he directly tells his audience such behavior isn’t acceptable.
Even the primary example featured in the article, the Indian man commissioned to hold up a sign reading, ”Death to Jews” by Kjellberg, has omitted context in the WSJ article. While it’s decidedly offensive, that is partly the point – for it wasn’t meant to just be commentary on the Fiverr freelancer for hire service. Omitted from the article is what the man was hired to say next, “Subscribe to Keemstar!”
Daniel “Keemstar” Keem, is a constantly derided YouTuber that had been ostracized by most on the channel after being caught on video shouting racial slurs at fans and encouraging his young audience to do likewise – several times. Even though this is a joke that falls flat no matter which way it’s sliced, that context is still important. Without knowing that this was a dig at a pretty definite actual racist, it appears that there was just malicious intent on Kjellberg’s part.
All of the examples listed in the WSJ article that started the media firestorm have some element of this context cutting occurring. While the article isn’t libelous because it does stick to absolute facts, it’s often in a very narrow sense. Even if well intentioned, so much context removed and actual fiscal damage done due to the article it’s impossible not to call the actions of the WSJ into question on journalistic ethics.
The third rule in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics is, “Provide Context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting previewing or summarizing a story.”
This decontextualization is a major reason many of Kjellberg’s fans are galvanizing around him.
Another example: in the WSJ article it states that Kjellberg, “watched a Hitler video in a brown military uniform to conclude a Dec. 8 video.”
That segment is from a video titled, “I’m Racist?” where Kjellberg directly criticizes what he considered slander and libel from media outlets portraying him as racist over comments made in a prior video. The focus was Kjellberg pointing out that outlets decontextualize things people do or say to purposely misconstrue them in a negative light. For 30 seconds at the end of the 12 minute video, he dresses in a generic military uniform and watches a Hitler speech as an example of the type of footage that journalists will cut around to show that he’s secretly a Nazi.
Even using Nazi imagery, the joke is about how media outlets purposely look for anything they can use to paint enemies as Nazis. That is bait, and the WSJ went and fell for it.
No matter what the positive intentions are in any piece, ethical standards need to be maintained. They exist for more than just keeping journalists out of a courtroom, they’re also there to maintain the public trust.
If and when there are any discrepancies between a narrative told to the masses and what they can discover for themselves, they write off everything an outlet is going to say next. The trust is gone.
It’s difficult to argue that cutting context doesn’t demonstrate malice. And if you’re doing an expose on someone where you carve out context, it’s really stupid to pick clips where they’re essentially calling you out in advance for doing exactly that.
Attacking PewDiePie will probably allow the Wall Street Journal and the cascade of copycats to generate some ad revenue for the month. But for a generation that’s grown up on him, they’ve just learned to never listen to a word a journalist says. That’s not exactly helpful considering the current state of mistrust of the media finds itself in right now.
