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Warning: This presentation contains graphic content. Photographs remain copyrighted by the original photographers and are used for illustrative purposes only.

All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

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Images from the Boston Marathon fueled an ongoing debate among professionals about the publication of graphic images and whether or not it is acceptable to alter spot news images digitally. While photojournalists have been having similar discussions since the dawn of the profession and the publication of graphic images from the Civil War and World War II, professionals and non-photojournalists responding to a 36-question survey after the Boston Marathon agreed that publication of graphic, spot-news images was acceptable as a reflection of what happened at a major news event. Photojournalists and non-photojournalists also agreed that manipulation was generally acceptable in photo illustrations but not at all acceptable in hard news images establishing some boundary on when digital manipulation can be used in a photojournalistic setting. Nearly 100 percent agreed that “The highest and strictest standards should be applied to hard-news photographs.” In regard to the manipulation of specific spot news images, however, professionals and non-photographers disagreed with non-photographers, with non-photographers accepting the blurring of the face of a victim of the bombing and the digital removal of broken bones in a New York Daily News image. To provide guidance in such circumstances, only 40 percent of professionals had any written policy regarding digital ethical conduct. While establishing a written code of ethics may prove helpful, in this age of instantaneous publication online and in social media, photojournalists and editors need to discuss expectations before spot news happens since publication may occur straight from the camera with no chance for intervention.

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Page 1: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Warning: This presentation contains graphic content.

!Photographs remain copyrighted by the original photographers and are used for illustrative purposes only.

Page 2: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics,

I Learned in Kindergarten !

Presented by Bradley Wilson, Ph.D. Midwestern State University

Page 3: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Ethics: An Age-Old Discussion

Ethical issues may pit the photographer’s professional duties against his or her own conscience. Ken Kobré

Page 4: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Discussion on ethics

“Every day, every edition, we face challenging decisions. We know that many of the calls we make in a few minutes on deadline can have a lifelong effect for someone, particularly a subject of a story. We consider it an awesome responsibility.” David Boardman Seattle Times

Page 5: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Discussion on ethics

“Although many editors found the images [of 9/11] disturbing, the overwhelming reason for publishing them was that they added to the visual storytelling about what happened during and after the terrorists attacks. Many editors believed that readers needed to be exposed to the disturbing images in order to fully understand the story of the day.” Renee Martin Kratzer and Brian Kratzer “How Newspapers Decided to Run Disturbing 9/11 Photos” Newspaper Research Journal, Winter 2003

Page 6: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Digital Ethics: Evolving Standards

One of the major problems we face as photojournalists is the fact that the public is losing faith in us. Our readers and viewers no longer believe everything they see. John Long

Page 7: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Sports Illustrated, December, 2012

Page 8: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Never

Hard news

Feature

Illustration

Always

0 10 20 30 40 50

19.17

25.83

11.67

2.5

40.83

22.64

29.25

11.32

1.89

34.91

27.76

30.6

8.54

2.49

30.6

Professionals (n=285)College students/advisers (n=108)High school students/advisers (n=120)

Sports Illustrated, on Nov. 26, 2012, altered the color of the jerseys in the football players at Baylor University. In which of the following photograph types would you accept this computer editing change?

Percent

Page 9: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Boston: Another Study in TragedyI always wondered what it would be like when I see photographers covering this stuff all over the world. It’s haunting to be a journalist and have to cover it. I don’t ever want to have to do that again. John Tlumacki !!

Photo by John Tlumacki

Page 10: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Boston: Another Study in TragedyResearch questions:

What are the ethical standards both in terms of what can and should be documented and published and how? How far is too far when it comes to the digital manipulation of spot news images?

Page 11: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 12: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 13: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

12.3

87.7

12.94

87.06

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

Online, huffingtonpost.com ran the image with no alteration. Was this acceptable?

Percent

t = 0.24 p > 0.05 no difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 14: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 15: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

11.48

88.52

14.04

85.96

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

The Philadelphia Inquirer was one of the many news publications that chose to crop the image as it was used on page 1 of the April 16 print edition. Was this acceptable?

Percent

t = 0.88 p > 0.05 no difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 16: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 17: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

41.32

58.68

57.25

42.75

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

Online, the atlantic.com ran the image with Jeff Bauman’s face blurred. Was this acceptable?

Percent

t = 4.41 p < 0.001* significant difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 18: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 19: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

23.48

76.52

31.1

68.9

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

In addition, theatlantic.com later added a disclaimer. Should the website have added this disclaimer?

Percent

t = 1.07 p > 0.05 no difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 20: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 21: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

11.57

88.43

8.07

91.92

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

Online, huffingtonpost.com ran this image with no alteration. Was this acceptable?

Percent

t = 1.14 p > 0.05 no difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 22: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 23: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 24: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten
Page 25: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Yes

No

0 25 50 75 100

66.09

33.91

81.79

18.21

Professionals (n=285)Non-photographers (n=122)

In print, the New York Daily News ran an altered version of the image with the leg injury on the left removed. Was this acceptable?

Percent

t = 3.33 p > 0.001 significant difference between professionals and non-photographers

Page 26: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

1

2

3

4

5

Cropping Color correction Removing distracting elements Removing larger objects Adding/Removing people Moving objects

AllHigh SchoolCollegeProfessional

Q20

How appropriate is it to do the following types of computer adjustment to news photographs that appear on the front page or in the news section of your local daily newspaper?

0 = never 3 = sometimes 5 = always

Page 27: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

92.4495.45

Professional Non-photographers

Q21

“Accurate representation is the benchmark of our profession. We believe photojournalistic guidelines for fair and accurate reporting should be the criteria for judging what may be done electronically to a photograph.”

t = 2.06 p < 0.05* significant difference between professionals and college; small effect size

Page 28: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

85.95

95.04

Professionals Non-photographers

Q23

“Adhere to the principle of reproducing photos that represent reality. Documentary news and feature photos should not be manipulated.”

t = 3.84 p < 0.001* significant difference between professionals and college

Page 29: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

66.1

83.51

Professionals Non-photographers

Q24

“Altered images should be obviously false to the reader.”

t = 3.96 p < 0.001* significant difference between professionals and college

Page 30: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

91.7495.77

Professionals Non-photographers

Q25

“Any manipulations should simply include routine cropping, color correction to restore the color balance to what appeared in the actual scene, or dodging/burning to improve reproduction quality.”

Page 31: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

85.7190.32

Professionals Non-professionals

Q26

“Readers should know that an imagewas altered.”

Page 32: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

10095.04

99.29

Professionals Non-photographers

Q27

“The highest and strictest standards should be applied to hard-news photographs.”

Page 33: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

0

20

40

60

80

100

40.84

17.65

35.1431.95

All High School College Professional

Q29

“Do you have any company policies that would limit the amount of alteration in an image?”

Page 34: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

• Non-photographers are more tolerant of digital manipulation than professional photographers.

• Manipulation should be obviously false. • Manipulation of spot news images should be

minimized and generally kept to what it takes to improve reproduction quality.

• Editors are gatekeepers but in light of evolving technology, street photojournalists need to be trained as editors.

Conclusions

Page 35: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Conclusions

• Companies, colleges and universities and schools need to discuss and to adopt policies regarding photojournalistic ethics — in advance of incidents.

• Discussing all the facets of ethical decision making is still a worthy endeavor.

Page 36: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

Conclusions

While specific ethics changes from profession to profession, their foundation does not. The foundation is basic, simple honesty, the kind you learn in kindergarten: Don’t tell us stories about things that didn’t happen. Don’t show us things that don’t exist. Ben Brink |“Question of Ethics: Where Does Honesty inPhotojournalism Begin?” News Photographer | July 1988

Page 37: All I Needed to Know About Photojournalism Ethics, I Learned in Kindergarten

By Bradley Wilson, PhD Midwestern State University

[email protected]

[email protected]

Twitter: @bradleywilson09

©2014