The issue of the deep tension between the need to balance the rapid dissemination of information, and the duty to protect bereaved families and inform them of the disaster that befell them in a dignified and reliable manner, is a hot potato in Israeli society.
In recent years, social networks have become real competitors in the institutionalized media.
In an age where reliable or falsified information passes in a matter of seconds, quite a few situations have arisen where families have heard about the disaster that befell them before the official announcement of casualty informers, and worse, sometimes received false information that left scars on them for years.
The committee has reached conclusions, but it is doubtful whether they will bring about a fundamental change, Photo: Report
In the beginning, it is important to say a good word to the IDF, and especially to the IDF Spokesman, Brigadier General Ran Kochav (Rencho), and to the Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asur, who chose not to ignore the problem, but to go into depth. The spokespersons, the media and the victims.
Although the professional committee has reached important conclusions, it is doubtful whether they will lead to a substantial change in the existing situation.
In the age of Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, even if all the committee's recommendations are adopted and implemented, the chances of information dissemination on social media stopping are not high.
The committee members themselves also understood this, noting that "it will not be possible to completely eradicate the negative aspects of the irresponsible flow of information in the networks."
The most dramatic recommendation of all presented by the committee yesterday is a fundamental change in the army's attitude towards the unofficial disseminators of information and the creation of an ongoing dialogue with them.
In a situation where there is no legislation on the subject, there may be no other way to deal with the issue.
The problem is that there is no end to it, and there will always be new bloggers, amateur journalists and just curious people who will spread the information that the system wants to delay until the official announcement is made to the families.
And if that's not enough, the recommendation to provide information to anyone who has developed a multi-participant WhatsApp group could open the door for anyone to become a self-employed journalist, and require the military to receive information about casualties - before giving the official public notice.
To this must be added the opposition of committee member Razi Barkai, who believed that those group leaders and independent bloggers would not respect the agreements with the military.
The recommendation to give notice of casualties orally and not in writing is also a bit puzzling, since any journalist who receives the same message will immediately transcribe it, and send it in writing to all those parties to whom he would have forwarded it before.
On the other hand, there is a lot of logic in additional conclusions such as monitoring social networks and publishing an official announcement to the public without the details of the victims, in which case contact with a first-degree relative is delayed for an unreasonable period of time.
Therefore, despite the good intentions, in the age of social networks it seems that this is a problem that can not be solved, at least not through the basket of tools presented by the committee.
We can only hope that if the army does adopt the committee's recommendations, it will still be possible to minimize the phenomenon to the minimum possible.
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