Involuntary Witness: Amanda Alvear and the Coverage of the Massacre in Pulse in Spanish-Language News Media

Abstract

In this essay, I analyze the way in which the U.S. Spanish-language television media have utilized the Snapchat video posted by Amanda Alvear, one of the victims who died in the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando on June 12, 2016. While Alvear was filming a celebration moment with her friends in a Snapchat 10-second video, she accidentally recorded the first few seconds of the Pulse massacre. I argue that the Spanish-language news media transformed Alvear into an involuntary-posthumous- testimonial voice of the horrific incident while using Alvear's 10-second video as a tool to explain the magnitude of the tragic event at Pulse. Through the essay, I discuss the danger of seeing and disseminating this recording as evidence of what transpired at Pulse is that it imposes an intentionality upon Alvear that belies her video’s intended purpose, positioning her as a mediating figure charged with bearing the burden of proof.