Ethics in Photojournalism

According to The Guardian (2011), this news is about a newspaper in Jewish, Di Tzeitung removing Clinton’s photograph from a picture of a meeting with Barack Obama regarding the killing of Bin Laden. Di Tzeitung altered the picture and took away the lady, Clinton because it believed that “women should be appreciated for who they are and what they do, and not what they look like”.

Photojournalism is where a news story is being presented through photographs accompanied by written essays. (Answers.com, 2011) According to Daniel R. Bersak (2003), news images often shape our culture in both thoughtfulness and reflective. Merriam-Webster (2003) defined ethics as “the good conductor for an individual or a group of people”. Webster also said that it should be of moral, principles and standards. This is because photo can reveal the truth of what is happening around us. It helps people to understand and it somehow connects people from all over. The code of ethics is about what should and should not a photographer do. One of the ethics is “photographic truth” where the image portrays the subject or it deceived the audiences. Besides that, photojournalist should be faithful and comprehensive depiction. For example, should a photojournalist alter the photo? Is it ethical for a photojournalist to do that? For example, the case of the Napalm Girl who is running naked on the street. Should the photojournalist put down his camera to aid the girl? (Daniel R. Bersak, 2003)

(Image Source: free7blog.wordpress.com)

According to Professor Paul Martin Lester, there are six ethical philosophies that can aid photojournalists namely:

1. The Categorical Imperative

It means what goes for an individual must go for everyone. One should be considerate.

2. Utilitarianism

There must be both balance- positive and negative to maximize the wholesome of other people.

3. Hedonism

Doing things that will make one feel good.

4. The Veil of Ignorance

Take consideration of other people’s feelings before posting something.

5. The Golden Rule

Treat people as what you would like to be treated. The decision is up to the photojournalist.

6. The Golden Mean

Compromise everyone. It is to create a win-win situation or all-or-nothing approach.

(Daniel R. Bersak, 2003)

References:

Answers.com, 2011, Photojournalism, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://www.answers.com/topic/photojournalism

Daniel R. Bersak, 2003, Ethics in Photojournalism: Past, Present and Future, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://web.mit.edu/drb/Public/PhotoThesis/

The Guardian, 2011, Orthodox Jewish paper apologizes for Hilary Clinton deletion, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/10/jewish-paper-apologises-hillary-clinton