Eye witness news

When I studied History at school I remember that it seemed very important to review evidence that was available to examine what happened and why it happened. My history teacher was very keen to explain the difference between primary and secondary evidence. The reliability of the evidence was something that always had to be evaluated.

When the historians of the future study the past, our present, they are going to find a huge amount of primary evidence. With the advent of the mobile phone and its ability to capture video it would appear that every potentially notable historical event has been documented by a digital device of some kind.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/EyewitnessBBC.JPG/220px-EyewitnessBBC.JPG

Over the last week the Boston bombings, a plane crash and the explosion of the fertiliser factory in West, Texas have all been documented by members of the general public on a mobile phone. It always amazes me how quickly a news channel gets footage from someone's mobile. Today I saw some shocking video taken by a motorist sitting about a mile from the West fire. He films as the explosion occurs and is instantly hit by the blast. You can hear his daughter screaming that she can't hear and how they need to get out of the car. That footage will make good primary evidence for anyone studying this in the future.

But on their own these videos don't tell the whole story. Not even half of it. They show the actual events but not the reasons behind their happening. There maybe many videos out there that show the Boston bombs but they don't show who left the bombs there or explain their motivation for doing so or describe the events that came before shaping their reasons for carrying out the heinous crime.

To explain events just seeing them happen might not be enough. Although fascinating these videos clarify the what but not the why.

 

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