Every day there are ethical decisions that impact the hundreds or thousands of people who watch, read, listen, and/or click on a media source. The foundation for making the right decision starts with ethics classes in college. Students in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism will use this blog to reflect on ethical questions in the media today.
Isn’t that it in a nutshell: “I got caught?” This was photojournalist Allan Detrich’s excuse. What it was not, was an apology for violating his professional code of ethics by doctoring submitted photos omitting a pair of legs in a team photo. The omission of some extraneous tree limbs here, a utility pole there could be interpreted as good photography. After all, creating a good picture is as much an art as it is anything else. But this isn’t the point. Photojournalist are not called upon to create art, they are tasked with recording the reality that is reflected in a photo.
Bernie Madoff doctored photo
Think it’s no big deal? Try using that excuse for any other professional misconduct and see if it passes the acid test: Bernie Madoff … “I got caught.” Not good enough. Consider doctors or any number of other health care professionals who must document their work. Any tampering, additions or deletions to a patient's chart after the fact is a serious breach of professional misconduct and can cost someone who does this his or her license to practice. The stakes are high for some, and no less for the journalist who sullies the reputation of the media outlet that publishes bogus work. It should be everyone's business on the news staff to weed out these types of offenders and it starts at the top.
Photo Journalist or Fashion Photographer?
I think this is the point about ethics in journalism, especially photojournalism; whenever someone crosses the line to misrepresent what is actually being reported, the journalist surrenders his or her credibility and becomes something else.In the case of doctored photos it may be argued the photojournalist has become a fashion photographer at best, a propagandist at worst. The photojournalist is tasked with recording the news, not creating it.
Why risk your career by cheating?For some, it may seem like a small indiscretion made for the greater good of the story, but you loose the trust of one’s peers and the public for that artistic license if caught. Others may be moved to doctor a piece so they may impart an emotional impact the event may had on the journalist that is not represented in the actual photo, and by so doing, gain a greater recognition for one’s talent.I think, however, when it comes right down to it, people just get lazy.
A New York Times article “The Psychology of Cheating” (Carey, 2011, April 16) suggests the urge to cheat comes from a sense of unfairness and that cheaters follow a “slippery slope” of rationalizations. The temptation to cheat comes ever easier when it succeeds, and the bulwark against it weakens. In this sense, a culture of professionalism and ethics should be ever present. When we are regularly reminded about the consequences of our behavior, and our peers are there to check us as well as strengthen our resolve to be honest, we are not so easily tempted to cross that line. Honesty and truth are the greatest loss to any profession.
After all, if we can’t trust photojournalist to capture the real news, how will we know the real news when we see it?
No comments:
Post a Comment