The importance of "why" in journalism

Lindsay Wielonski

lw293117@ohio.edu

The #MeToo and Black Lives Matter Movements are two examples of movements that stem from essential issues that deeply affect people's lives each day. These movements have received large amounts of media attention worldwide that have ranged in journalistic quality. In the past decade, these movements have sparked ethical questions for journalists. What are the elements of journalism that make a piece of work truthful vs. sensationalizing an issue? 

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock 

Journalism's bad reputation of protest coverage 

Journalists have unfortunately earned a bad reputation when it comes to protesting coverage. Research published in The International Journal of Press/ Politics has shown that media attention to protests tends to be negative, stigmatizing protesters as deviant and depicting protests as violent (Chan and Lee 1984; McLeod and Hertog 1999). 

According to the Center for Journalism Ethics (republished by pointer.org), one common problem in protest reporting is that it often portrays protest coverage by framing it as "protesters vs. the police." Many other issues in protest reporting also stem from framing the story in a way that isn't representative of the movement. 

While covering protests, the Center for Journalism Ethics recommends that journalists should "Remember that protesters are part of the community and that they are citizens actively engaged in trying to bring about positive social change. Whether the audience agrees with them or not, it's important to see them not as troublemakers but as active citizens expressing opinions and attempting to make changes in society."

How can journalists cover protests and movements without sensationalizing them? 

Care, compassion, and empathy are essential when covering a protest. While sensationalizing focuses on the "wow" factor of a story, scare tactics, or clickbait, people-first journalism prioritizes the people part of a community who have something to say. 

Focusing on the "why" rather than "what" is an effective tool for journalists to produce good-quality work about protests. For example, a piece that sensationalizes an issue might choose to interview the person with the boldest take. It might include the most gruesome video/ photos for shock value. In contrast, a reporter who does a protest justice would focus on why people are protesting and get to the root of what social change people want to see. Asking "why" to get to the meaning of a cause is essential in protest coverage.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Photojournalists Should Keep it That Way

 Grayson Wolf 

gw825219@ohio.edu

We are told that a picture is worth a thousand words. I genuinely believe that. Pictures can convey a more vital message than just words can. This sentiment could not have been more accurate than during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Thousands of people flooded the streets in their local cities all over the country to protest the injustices they were seeing being done to people of color, most notably the killing of George Floyd.  

Photo Courtesy of Nieman Reports

What came out of these protests, along with significant change and great exposure, were the powerful pictures of these individuals' extraordinary passion for the cause they were fighting for. You could see it on the faces of everyone. Not only passion, but pain, love, agony, happiness, hatred, and power. There were also significant consequences, such as many people losing jobs because of appearing in those photos. Some were even charged with criminal action. So, that raises a question, should photojournalists be more careful when taking pictures of events like these and go even as far as blurring out faces?

When reading through our class reading from the University of Texas at Austin, the answer became clear to me, no. Photojournalists should not feel like they need to compromise their jobs to cater to the public. There is no sense of privacy when a person goes to a protest. Blurring faces also takes so much away from the power and meaning of the photos taken during these protests. The picture is no longer worth a thousand words when you blur faces. It takes out all of the emotion of the photo and shows signs and bodies with no faces.

In this beautiful video by MPB, their photographers take us through their thought processes while shooting the BLM protests. They talk about how it is about the story behind the picture and not just what is in the picture. In addition, two photographers talked about how they like to put their pictures in black and white to give the protestors some privacy. 

A picture is worth a thousand words, and I think it should stay that way. When taking photos at protests, I do not think it is necessary to blur out faces, and I do not think you should blur out faces. If protestors are worried about their job or possibly getting charged for it, I encourage them to hide their face. I believe it is ethical to keep the faces on photos taken at protests.

Changing How Protests are Covered

 Zoe Touris

zt700218@ohio.edu

Photo courtesy of KUT

Black Lives Matter protests erupted nationwide after the horrific video of a police officer killing George Floyd was released, causing an uproar throughout the country. Instead of framing these protests to publicize grievances from people who typically exist outside of the traditional power structure, the media chose to focus exclusively on the violence at the protests. Why is that? The Protest Paradigm

Scientists have dubbed this phenomenon the "protest paradigm." It's the idea that "the press contributes to the political status quo by reinforcing whatever the government thinks," which in this case was to frame these protests for justice as a nuisance. The role of journalists is to hold these powerful institutions accountable and look out for the greater public they serve. But when news companies' goals are to cater to the government to create the most editorialized stories, the role of journalism is lost.

For example, the Washington Post published an article with the headline "A night of fire and fury across America as protests intensify," and the New York Times released a similar headline, "Appeals for calm as sprawling protests threaten to spiral out of control." These headlines exclusively focus on the violence and negative aspects of the protests, casting a shadow over the true meaning behind these protests for justice in the black community. 

When the audience reads headline after headline painting these significant protests as a threat to our society, it creates a domino effect and undermines the significance of these justified protests. Instead of focusing only on the violence of these events, journalists must consider the causes of protests. Journalists are in the people's best interest as watchdogs for powerful institutions.  

Capturing Faces at Protests

Photo courtesy of the BBC

Another issue that must be considered concerning the coverage of protests is whether or not to publish photographs including protesters' faces. For example, during the coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests, journalists received backlash for publishing protesters' faces without blurring them out.

The police were arresting protesters involved with these protests and used photos published to identify who was participating in these protests. However, it is still essential to capture historical events like these. So what should journalists do?

The discussion should be about how/if journalists are getting consent from their subjects and informing them exactly where these photographs will be published and where they might end up. In addition, there must be an ethical and thoughtful approach to gathering these images instead of snapping someone's picture without any consent. 

Showing faces is essential for tying a connective issue when covering such an important issue. However, it is still the journalist's job to work from an ethical position and not overstep anyone's boundaries.    

Covering protests to the best of journalists' ability

Malaya Tindongan mt839718@ohio.edu 

Protesting is no new idea. It is in the constitution of the United States, as is freedom of the press. Protesting is a right as well as a function of democracy. In recent years protesting has gained more traction in fighting for human rights like the Black Lives Matter protests or the Women's March. Although journalists' job is to cover such protests, there have been some trends in covering that are unfavorable and harmful to protestors.

Photo courtesy of CBS News In an article by NiemanLab, brings up the traditional trends of covering protests by journalists and why it needs to change and how. In the past, media has been seen as reinforcing the ideas of the government and being biased toward the status quo. The media has also generally treated protests as nuisances and tended to see liberal causes more often than conservative ones. The language journalists use when writing about protests is crucial and often controversial. Generally, journalists use passive language with police and active with protestors. For example, saying "police-involved shooting" rather than "shooting by a police officer." The article says that Slate was the first publication to break the mold by titling a story as it happened, "Police erupt in violence nationwide." Other publications followed and began to write headlines to be more faithful to the actions. That raises more issues with wording choice, such as using phrases such as "unarmed Black man" that assume that Black men usually are armed. Newsrooms must also alter their processes in which protests they are covering and how they are covering them. NiemanLab brought up covering all protests and not just the most violent prominent ones. Covering only violent protests places the idea that all people protesting the same issue are doing so violently.

Additionally, covering the protests' goals is an essential part of covering the protest. However, although words are more than necessary, photos are essential in telling the story of what occurred during the protests. An article by PhotoShelter brings up the issue of whether one should blur the faces of protestors. The topic came up from another article claiming that there is a growing movement to start blurring or not including the faces of protestors. Following the article, a communications app added a feature to blur subjects' faces in photos. The issue was that no one quoted in the article said anything about blurring faces. Including people's faces in images from protests shows audiences and gives faces to the movement. It gives faces to the movement, but it also humanizes the protestors and the movement; they are real living people fighting for their rights. However, there are some things to consider when including a face in a photo. The final day falls on editors to determine if showing someone's face would be the best course of action. Although, journalists themselves must make their own ethical decisions based on context and location. Photos hold much potential, and once they are out there, they are out, and journalists must deal with the consequences, good or bad. For example, something can be legal but not ethical, like photographing homeless people or children without speaking to the individuals..

Journalists need to convey the world 'as it is'

Photo courtesy of: International Journalists Network 

Molly Wilson

Mw542219@ohio.edu 

Our reading this week asked whether it is more important for photojournalists to convey the world as it truly is or upholds ethical considerations of the person/people in the photograph. Photojournalists need to capture the "truth" and display events in the most realistic way possible. 

Each ethical code we looked at this year, including PR, reporting, and photojournalist codes, all noted truth as the most important consideration when considering such a question. Truth and the public's right to know to outweigh many other considerations like potential harm. The audience deserves honest photography that portrays events accurately. In reporting, many journalists believe it is essential to give the reader all the information available on a particular topic to understand the depth of specific issues and stories. That same principle should apply to photojournalism and the importance of publishing the most honest images possible. The public deserves all the information. The NPPA code of ethics also supports this. The first code says photojournalists need to "be accurate and comprehensive in representing subjects." Another NPPA code says, "Editing should maintain the integrity" of the image's content. That same code also says editors should not manipulate images. The purpose of a photojournalist is to convey reality, and blurring the faces of protestors distorts the events of protests. Doing so also weakens the meaning of such photographs. As noted in our reading, protests humanize events by putting faces to specific issues. In removing those faces from the images, that purpose is lost. It is vital to publish events as they occurred with images of the people who represented such movements. Non-distorted images are crucial to maintaining the integrity of events, their purpose, and the protesters' purpose. 

What truth does a photograph represent, though? 

When assessing the importance of keeping photographs in their original form, the question arises regarding whose truth the photograph represents. According to an article from the Zehr Institute, every image has a subjective element. He said that photographers make active decisions about what they choose to photograph, how they frame it, and what is included within the image. Even lighting decisions impact how an image is perceived. When covering protests, photographers must play an active role in what they shoot and how they do so. Thoughtful reporting and photography are highly critical in covering protests. 

Photographic "truth" also means something different for each audience viewing it. As noted by Alan Chin, the meaning of words is shaped by the context in which they are used. Such is also true with photography, he said. Framing and photographic decisions impact audiences differently. Blurring faces of demonstrators for one group of people may resonate on a more protective level. However, for others, blurring those faces might be perceived as undermining a movement or taking the voice out of those trying to use it for change. 

Thoughtful photography and reporting 

Consent is another way to practice thoughtful photojournalism. As noted in our readings, getting the name of those who you photograph is another way to ensure that images are reflective of events. It is also another way to humanize political issues that are often protested. Those issues not only have faces, but they have names. Finally, asking for names is a courtesy that photojournalists can offer to subjects in their photos. It demonstrates their willingness to cover the event accurately, but it serves as a layer of protection from people facing personal harm from the photo. 

Journalists need to convey the world "as it is." Still, it is essential to acknowledge how photos are influenced by the photographer and how they can engage in thoughtful photography that provides the audience with the most unbiased and comprehensive information. It is equally important to question how different audience subsets might interpret photographs. Everyone has their truth, but photojournalists need to sift through those biases and perceptions to capture the "world as it is." 

 

Reporting a Traumatic Event

One of the hardest things a journalist has to do is cover death, which may lead to many common mistakes seen by the public. When journalists chase just the story, whatever they think would look good on television and use it. It also means they may invade the personal space of grieving people. This approach is commonly seen when a journalist reports on a mass shooting and covers the shooter more than anything. This situation happens because the shooter is the more prominent and accessible story. The focus on the shooter can also lead to unconscious racist assumptions from the reporter, according to Journalistsresource.com, which says that one example of this is the Vegas shooting in 2017 carried out by a white, non-Muslim shooter and the Orlando shooting of 2016 carried out by an American Muslim of Afghani origin. The Muslim shooter of Afghani origin was more likely to be labeled a terrorist, whereas reporters didn't label the white, non-Muslim shooter that way. There are a lot of other examples where things like this happen. In a terrible situation, journalists should focus on the main story, and attention should be on whether the media was racist or not, instead of focusing on those who lost their lives or their loved ones. Talking to loved ones is probably the most challenging part of this because it seems like there is no way for you to fit into it and not disrupt someone who is already in a lot of pain. Also, it's tough for a person to approach another person about something after a loss like that. Especially when the reporter feels they are doing it for their benefit to get the story that they have to get. There are guidelines on doing this from places like Poynter.org, which says things like being transparent about who you are and why you are talking to them, and even what your story is. Reporting a story like this requires all reporters to be very careful because everything is magnified in those situations. That means that a good story is perfect for people, but a bad story is damaging to people.

Photo from Huffington Post UK

Don’t Expect Privacy When You Protest

Madeline Thomas

mt688819@ohio.edu

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

As soon as a person leaves the comfort of their home, aka private property, they leave behind the privacy that it provides. When a person goes to a protest in a public place, their right to privacy becomes even more limited. Citizen journalism is a new trend that people are still learning to navigate. With that comes a new wave of pictures and videos that can be uploaded to many social media platforms without the subject's permission (s).

Protests aim to create personal connections with the issue at hand, but that connection would not work if protesters' faces were blurred out. According to Claire Coburn and Scott R. Stroud, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, to put a face to a cause, supporters' faces must be seen. As Brent Lewis, a Business Photo Editor for the New York Times, puts it, "...without the faces of the protesters, it becomes a gathering of the faceless. A gather of the nameless. And for a lot of readers and viewers especially in parts of the country and world might not deal with the issue of race and policing, might find it difficult to connect otherwise,".

Anyone who goes out to protest should be aware of the consequences and should educate themselves before they go out. It is essential to understand that any person who protests may be attested, photographed, recorded, fired from their job, and more. The risks can be as significant as the rewards, but only people relinquish their right to privacy.

Yes, it is important to get consent before photographing an individual, but trying to get consent from a group of protesters, especially when the number of people in that group is hundreds or thousands, can be extremely difficult. So, in the end, it is ultimately up to the photographers and editors of media outlets to decide if faces should be blurred and which pictures should be published. The decision is not an easy one, but one that must be made, nonetheless. 

As for the decision to protest, one should also not be made lightly. People should not go to protests just because they are "trendy" or because they want to get free media coverage. Both sides of a protest (the media and the participants) have choices to make and risks to weigh.

Photojournalism and Protest Ethics

Image Credit

          

Tre Spencer 

ts582119@ohio.edu 

In modern history, protests have paved the way for modern journalism and photojournalism to capture the emotion of public opinion. Likewise, recent protests such as the Black Lives Matter movement have opened the door to conversations on the ethics of covering and photographing ethics. 

According to the National Press Photographers Associations' code of ethics, press photographers must resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities, refuse to alter events and maintain the original quality of work or sound during the editing process. Press photographers and photojournalists need to follow this set of ethical codes, especially when covering protests and mass events. The risk of harm is more remarkable when photojournalists break those ethical codes in their coverage and reporting. 

When reporting protests and mass gathering events, how visual journalists approach such events is also essential. The gathering of prior knowledge before events ensures that journalists keep those different perspectives in mind when grabbing photos and videos of protesters, police, and counter-protesters. 

According to an article from Poynter, the way we photograph protesters is much more complicated than protecting the identities of individuals seen in the images. Instead, it's a matter of "how to document the suffering of others, including the pain, fear and anger invoked or provoked in the context of demonstrations," and having visual representations for words on a page are great ways to grab a reader or audiences attention. 

Having a visual aid in a story is an essential element, whether video, photo, or graphic, alongside quality writing is an excellent way of garnering attention from audiences. The University of Oregon interviewed several photojournalists about their photos and the impact of visuals. The study reported, "The journalists thought that such images can evoke great change, but may also cause great harm. However, the results suggested that as the impact of graphic images grows, their ability to cause harm decreases, according to the participants".

As a journalist in news and information, I must work with photojournalists and press photographers to portray stories with visual aids and ensure that the public listens and hears the truth. But, again, truth is the best tool that journalists have in their arsenal of language, skill, and wit.  

Reporting on Marginalized Communities

 Sydney Walters 

sw844317@ohio.edu 

Especially in recent times, articles and reporting on events surrounding marginalized communities have dominated social media and every single news site. Most of the time, this reporting occurs on events and movements that harm these marginalized communities and calls for reporting that doesn't perpetuate the harm but doesn't over sensationalize these events. Considering the events and movements that dominate this reporting aspect are susceptible, there needs to be a healthy balance on how these things are reported. 

Protests and BLM 

More recently, in the memory of journalists and the public is the reporting on the protests surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer of 2020, following right on the heels of early reporting on Covid, another sensitive topic in American journalism. The Council on Foreign Relations summarized the thoughts of Dr. Danielle Kilgo, professor of journalism, diversity, and inclusion at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, on the reporting of these racially surrounded events. Journalism tends to follow the status quo. Since this society is built on white supremacy, and these protests challenged the status quo, she saw a significant bias in the reporting, especially on moderate news sites. The reporting she spoke of focuses more on the obscure things protestors were doing and wearing and the damage they caused but doesn't outwardly express the grievances and issues the protestors had. In an era where non-diverse individuals dominate the newsroom, this implicit bias will always remain, and reporting will always follow the status quo of this society. That further emphasizes the need for a diverse newsroom. 

#MeToo Movement

The second marginalized community that has been in the news as of late is sexual assault survivors. In 2018, Truthdig explored how news organizations, specifically themselves, reported on sexual assaults as these were relatively new stories, especially in the magnitude they were occurring. Like the BLM movement, journalists were accused of using these movements as political tools to promote, if not a plan that went against the status quo. Still, hatred for political figures, especially considering the initial reports in the #MeToo movement were against politicians. Again, this calls for finding a balance in reporting and biases, especially in a field that is primarily dominated by left-winged beliefs. 

There must be action to report the truth, not skewed by politics, but also not sensationalized for clicks and views. Both groups discussed are fragile and need not be the center of a political movement or politicized newsroom, but need to see the facts and their stories reported for good.  

Publish hungry or quality happy?

 By Jamie Miller 

jm83419@ohio.edu

Social media news coverage has increased the news cycle to a 24-hour, non-stop revolution. As a result, print media is declining, while radio podcasts like The Daily are rising. 

But how many revolutions can the wheels turn before the viewer becomes exhausted? 

In 2020, the world faced so many unprecedented circumstances. The live-recorded death of George Floyd was broadcasted worldwide. Daily presidential speeches captivated those looking for COVID-19 updates. An armed insurrectionist group infiltrated the U.S. capitol building. Many sat glued to their screens while waiting for the latest update in a rapidly changing world. 

From a personal standpoint, there is only so much a person can take. With the world rapidly changing, I want to soak in it. The population relies so heavily on journalism, especially when social distancing is a matter of life and death. 

But information takes time to validate. And with the competition over audiences, there is pressure on behalf of media companies to be the first to publish new stories and updates to old stories. Journalists need time, pay, editors, a facility to conduct work, equipment, etc. And with the priority placed on getting the newest and latest updates, alongside the most exciting updates, is there time to prioritize to stories that most affect the world? Or is it more cost-effective to prioritize entertainment? 

Illustration by iStock

As published by an undergraduate honors thesis at William & Mary ScholarWorks, quantity over quality creates stories mainly driven by sensationalism and entertainment. While coverage of the war in Ukraine is objectively essential to viewers worldwide, audiences may feel fatigued over constant and tragic updates from on-the-ground reporters. Meanwhile, news of Kanye West's most recent ban from Instagram and Facebook may be a dramatic and entertaining change of pace. West's actions and words certainly affect his wife, children, fans, and affiliates. 

But there is no world where Kanye West's drama should be prioritized above Russia's vicious, brutal, and unjustified attacks on the civilians of Ukraine.  

NPR noted the difficulty of news stations to balance the line between entertainment and retention of one's audience, reconciling larger world-impacting events such as climate change in their article "The Power of the 24-Hour News Cycle." As the news became more and more accessible through television, in-car radio, cell phone connections, and through the internet, competition between news cites increased exponentially. 

While one might question the ethics behind promoting sensational stories, it is essential to bear in mind the ability of news stations to remain in business. Print news media appears to be on the decline. Is it possible for a news station to remain devoted to more extensive, difficult-to-cover stories while remaining afloat?