by Christian Duque
By now everyone has heard and/or seen Milos Sarcev’s meltdown on Xavier Wills of Desktop Bodybuilding. Milos also had a similar blowout with Ivan Bodybuilding over a story that went out dealing with a competitor he worked with. The difference between the two breaks, however, is Desktop Bodybuilding had a record of the conversation, released their take of what happened, and included the audio/video for the world to see.
I personally, don’t have an issue with recording calls. I don’t do it myself, but the state I live in is what’s called a single party consent state. That means that so long as one person consents to recording a call, the other person(s) don’t have to. In fact, they may be recorded without their knowledge. If you can record the call, you may be able to use it for news purposes. That being the case, I don’t think Xavier did anything illegal by recording the audio/video call. I don’t know how the laws in Australia work and/or what state Milos resides in, but chances are it’s all on the up and up.
But what about ethically? Should calls and video chats between two individuals – no matter the context – ever be made public? What about privacy? Well there’s a lot to talk about there.
Now Milos did say on the call that he had no issue with Xavier releasing the transcripts. By this, I take that to mean the texts, but I don’t think it would extend to audio and/or video. Should Milos have known that he was being recorded? I think that’s up for debate. But we’ll talk about that later in the article.
The idea of whether or not phone recording just should be included in new stories is one that’s up for debate. We live in a highly wired age where most people will use their cell phones to communicate. Whether that is through social media apps, text messages, or Whatsapp. All of these methods are recordable and the more seasoned you are when it comes to technology, the more paranoid you are. I would say prudent but that doesn’t address it squarely. I would say paranoia has become a virtue. You have to doubt everything and everyone. You cannot believe that the person you’re talking to is going to keep your communications private.
If you operate in that manner something like what happened to Milos would never happen to you. On the flip side is it newsworthy? Well, I think that people have a voracious appetite for bodybuilding news. And I think that the more private the content, the more hits it’s going to get. Again call it eavesdropping or just plain being nosy. The bottom line is the fans would do anything to be a fly on the wall for a conversation like this. For them to be able to have their very own copy of it, is almost liquid gold. But what about journalistic integrity?
Well, journalistic integrity and professionalism are both very subjective tests of the professionalism of a writer. What may be professional to me, may not be professional to you. I do think we can agree on the fact that certain things remain private, for example things that involve families, wives and husbands, children. I think these are all off limits. But again what I think is off limits may not be what is off limits to you. I think that the conversation between Milos and Xavier was one that was very volatile and very hurtful. I could understand why Xavier would want to share its contents – if anything just to protect his website and his reputation. On the flip side I can see where Milos would be highly offended by that dissemination and might want to take Xavier to task. At the end of the day, it is one of those things that you just hope will blow over. But the question remain, are private calls newsworthy? That unfortunately is something you would have to decide. I cannot sit here and pass moral judgment. Would I record a call? It depends.
I would record a call if I felt that the contents of the call could somehow jeopardize my career or my well-being. What would I do with the recording? I would save it in the event of a trial or save it in the event of needing it to protect myself and my business. But would I put it out as a news story? No, I would not. But I cannot fault Xavier for doing so, either.
I will tell you that I received quite a bit of blow back from my Instagram Live from folks that thought that Milos actually was in the right. They believe Xavier should never have released this content. I’m not going to say I was surprised because I understand the issue at hand is one that divides people in all walks of life. Politics, sports, bodybuilding, you name it – it divides people. But if recordings are so prevalent, why did Milos drop his guard? Why did he speak so freely?
Well that goes to the fact that many people say that Milos and Xavier had a very long-standing relationship where Milos would give Xavier pieces of news that he could use for news stories. Again I don’t know the specifics and if that were the case I could see where maybe Milos might be a little bit more candid than he would be with someone he didn’t know. On the flip side, does that mean that because Milos was more comfortable speaking his mind and that Xavier violated his trust by releasing the audio and video? Again, that would be a judgment that only you can make.
I would say that I could see why Milos would feel more comfortable being 100% unfiltered, but at the same time why should he behave like he did? At the end of the day Xavier is a journalist. I would say that you could also say that Milos was being unreasonable by prohibiting Xavier from putting out a story that would do right by his website and in such a way that would still do right by the athlete. Some might say that Milos was being incredibly unreasonable and when he didn’t get his way he blew up on Xavier.
I will tell you that although the media might make it seem like the whole world is on Xavier’s side and everybody condemns Milos, I did receive quite a bit of correspondence to the contrary. Some people feel that Milos was done wrong and that privacy still matters for something. Again, all I can say is that recording phone calls is legal in many places. I can also say that what’s moral and what’s ethical is a personal judgment call. I can also say that I personally would not record a phone call and use it for a news story, but I can also not throw the book at somebody else that does.
At the end of the day Milos made a series of mistakes. I do believe he tried to intimidate Xavier, I do believe that he insulted Xavier, and I do believe that he took it to a level that really was not a good look for him. I think Xavier maintained his composure, tried to reason with Sarcev, and in all honesty was basically a punching bag for the duration of the call. It’s also not a situation that Milos is trying to quiet down or walk away from, either. He is actively keeping the story alive by engaging folks in the comments. So in the end I don’t know how much of a victim Milos is. The story has certainly made the rounds and the topic of whether or not phone calls are newsworthy has become a major debate.
In the end all I can do is look at both sides, try to weigh in, but ultimately leave it to you to decide. What do you think about phone calls and 1:1 video chats? Are they newsworthy? Does it matter what the context is? As always I appreciate you reading my article, here, at Iron Magazine. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments.
