Is public shaming a type of cyberbullying?

When we think about public shaming, we think of something that happened ages ago, when offenders were put on a stage and the public got to mock them for their offense…right? The issue is a bit more complicated. What initially appeared as a form of punishment, became in time a form of harassment when the victim is followed everywhere and constantly reminded of what they did. Public shaming mainly occurs when somebody does something that society considers immoral.

Nowadays, many persons are being subjected to such treatment without the possibility to escape. In the majority of the cases, the victims are public personas or are somehow connected to them. Many times the perpetrators of the public shaming are the journalists who want to know everything about what happened without thinking about the impact of their behavior.
Furthermore, as the appearance of the internet made the phenomenon flourish, and despite the journalists’ part, we as consumers of media also play an important role due to our possibility to comment on every topic.

Through the journalists’ involvement, public shaming transitioned from an ancient way to punish „immoral crimes” to a way of cyberbullying. Through the online, the victim is constantly reminded of their behavior. This practice is invasive and it „suffocates” the victims, making the issue appear larger than it actually is. Here, the victims do not have the possibility to properly identify their bullies as it happens in most cyberbullying cases. Due to the large coverage that the journalists have, they can often create the illusion for the victim that the harassment comes from everywhere. Because of this, victims may develop trust issues and could have a difficult time in future relationships.

To tackle the effects of public shaming and cyberbullying, we as media consumers should not encourage the journalists to write about such subjects. Furthermore, we should not become the ones that through social media get to maximize the impact of public shaming. Beyond our screens, there is always another person who might get hurt!