Editor’s note: Last week, News 5 published an article on Miss American National Pageant‘s newly crowned Miss Alabama. A Facebook post with the link to this article went viral and thousands of commenters shared their thoughts on the pageant winner’s appearance. These comments motivated this article on journalism ethics and content moderation standards.
MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — An Atmore woman’s wish for years to become a pageant winner finally came true over Memorial Day weekend.
But the criticism on social media that followed his coronation was swift and harsh.
Sara Milliken’s quest to be named Miss Alabama in the US National Miss Pageant began eight years ago.
That’s when event organizers sent out letters looking for interested participants.
Milliken responded to this call, known as “open call.”
She competed twice for this honor but did not secure a spot.
Milliken’s third release, in 2024, turned out to be the right one.
Excitement built for the 23-year-old as she placed in the top ten, was selected as one of five finalists and ultimately won the state-level competition.
Perseverance paid off for the self-proclaimed “plus-size” participant.
“No matter what your body looks like, no matter where you come from, You can do anything you decided to do it,” Milliken said in a recent WKRG interview.
The National American Miss pageant aims to foster a “positive self-image by highlighting inner natural beauty,” its website states.
Participants share their hopes and dreams during a one-on-one interview, meet with a selection panel, appear on stage in front of an audience, prepare a resume and volunteer in their community, according to the site.
Summer Poole, News 5 digital reporter invited Milliken to the WKRG-TV studio Friday to learn more about her.
Subsequently, Poole published a behind the scenes photo of the visit on his Facebook page, and WKRG Facebook page I shared it, with a message linked to his story about Milliken.
The station received more than 2,000 comments on the post, seen by 1 million people, according to Facebook Insights.
Newsroom staffers noticed numerous notes of congratulations, often referencing Milliken’s appearance.
“To know is to love” Tracie Stephens Brooks wrote. “This young woman has a heart of gold and will lend a helping hand to anyone who needs it. A beautiful obese diva with style, sass and a lot of class.
“So proud of her!” Samantha Thrash Duff wrote. “We watched her all weekend and prayed hard that she would come home with this title! She is an incredible, sweet young woman and she is going to do great things! »
“Great to no longer see 100 pound blonde hair, blue eyed, wanting world peace to win!” » David Junior wrote. “Congratulations to Alabama and this queen!”
But overall, reactions have been mixed.
Many people criticized the National American Miss pageant’s decision to crown Milliken as Miss Alabama.
“To call her beautiful is fine, it’s all in the eye of the beholder,” Scott Eckles wrote. “But let’s be honest with ourselves… she is extremely unhealthy and it’s a slap in the face to young girls who have worked hard and maintained a diet to become a beauty queen.
“This is an embarrassing situation for the state of Alabama.”
WKRG received hundreds of comments that weren’t so measured — insulting Milliken and calling her disrespectful names.
“This should have been the winner of (M)iss Jack in the Box,” John Mason wrote.
“I thought it was a beauty contest” Blaine Tom Mierthoughts wrote.
“Is this actually considered attractive in Alabama? » Randy Hicks wrote.
The harsh comments weren’t just directed at Milliken; Poole’s Facebook direct message inbox and the public comments section of his page were also filled with mean-spirited remarks.
Critics accused Poole of being a Satanist for allegedly subverting beauty standards, they said she opened Alabama up to mockery for simply reporting the pageant result, and they mocked the appearance of Poole.
Following the personal attacks against her, Poole limited comments on her post.
WKRG-TV made the same decision for its Facebook posts about Milliken.
Other posters then responded negatively.
“You deleted (and) censored comments, incredibly immature for deleting stuff,” Matthew Barner wrote. “This is America and there is freedom of speech. It’s 2024, you can’t post a Mac truck and expect us not to comment lol.
“A television journalist who hides the truth and shows what suits her? Zafar Khan wrote. “What’s new?”
“Womp womp, if you stop people from expressing themselves, then you believe in censorship and you shouldn’t have the job you have,” Hunter Parker wrote.
In fact, Poole and WKRG-TV took ethical steps to minimize harm – an accepted and recognized practice called comment moderation.
The primary mission of news organizations is to “seek the truth and report it” accurately and fairly, according to the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists.
A key to that mission is to “boldly tell the story of the diversity and breadth of the human experience,” the code says. “Let us seek out sources whose voices we rarely hear. »
Furthermore, “ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and audience members as human beings deserving of respect.”
While another goal is to “support the open and civil exchange of views, even views they find repugnant”, the SPJ distinguishes between reporting on various issues and allowing uncivil comments and of discord in the comments section.
WKRG-TV rarely limits discussion in the comments section of social media posts.
The station exercised this option after comments on this story strayed from heated discussions and became personal attacks.
“We report on a wide variety of topics and ideas every day,” said Gene Kirkconnell, news director of WKRG-TV. “We invite people with diverse perspectives into this process. We listen to them and interact respectfully with them. So when people participate in this dialogue, we simply ask them to do the same.
Milliken said the harsh comments bothered her at first, but she was able to move past them.
“I’ll be honest, it lasted me about five minutes,” she said.
Then something incredible happened.
People from Massachusetts, Maine, Canada and California – “really all over the country” – found and followed his Facebook and Instagram profiles, according to Milliken.
The potential setback suddenly became “the biggest blessing” as she gained 1,500 and 1,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, respectively, overnight, she said.
Now people are offering to sponsor Milliken for the NAM national competition, which will take place Thanksgiving week in Orlando.
Those deals include a dress, earrings and products worth thousands of dollars to enhance her presentation, she said.
Milliken may be accepting of the harsh reaction to her state’s victory without hesitation, but she said that’s not the case for other victims of cyberbullying.
And she wants those who attacked her appearance to understand something.
“Their words can hurt,” Milliken said. “Even if it’s online. Even something you type on a screen can have a lasting impression on people.
This lasting impression, in particular, can include self-harm.
“Reports of cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are increasing in the United States,” the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law said in a February 2023 publication.
In fact, “14.9% of teens have been victims of cyberbullying and 13.6% of teens have made a serious suicide attempt,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the publication notes.
“Even though I’m not at that stage, it can make people do very dark things to themselves,” Milliken said.
Educating people about the impact of their words is one way to turn a negative into a positive, she said.
“I always wanted to spread positivity, and this put me in a position to do just that,” Milliken said.
