Ethical Considerations for Visual Media Makers

1. Ethical
Considerations for
Visual Media
Makers

2. Invasion of Privacy
Consider:
● feelings of subject
● purpose
● get consent from your subject
● private life should stay private
● consider the effect on the subject
● don’t photograph minor w/o parent consent

3. Invasion of Privacy
Realize that private people have a greater right to
control information about themselves than public
figures and others who seek power, influence or
attention. Weigh the consequences of publishing or
broadcasting personal information. - SPJ Code of
Ethics

4. Photographer Paul Hansen was awarded the best International News Image at the Swedish
Picture of the Year Awards for the above photo of 15-year-old Haitian Fabienne Cherisma,
who was shot and killed by police after looting two plastic chairs and three framed pictures.

5. Photographer Nathan Weber captured this image of Hansen and other photojournalists
who crowded around Cherisma, even after her family had gathered and begun grieving
their loss.

6. Responsibility to Subject
You must take care not to exploit the person/people
being photographed/filmed. They are owed same
dignity as any human being. You should accurately
portray the subject(s), and help if subject is in trouble.
Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation
of subjects. - NPAA Code of Ethics

7. Journalists, social media experts and media
watchers debated the ethics of using this photo.
For Poynter's McBride, there was no clear
"journalistic purpose" to running such as image. It's
"not bearing witness to something people need to
know about," she says."This isn't children fleeing a
napalm bomb," referring to a Pulitzer Prize-winning
photo from the Vietnam War, she said.
"There has to be a journalism purpose behind a
decision to run a horrific photo." She said that even
taking into consideration "the best possible version
of this story -- that the photographer was trying to
help and the pictures were a byproduct" -- still,
"running the photos is horrible."
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/04/nyc-subway-death-push/1744875/

8. Context
Avoid Misrepresentation and portray events as they happen. Refrain
from adding fictitious elements or manipulating the
subject(s)/event(s). Do not pair photograph with an unrelated story,
especially when trying to portray a group of people in a negative light.
Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording
subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and
work to avoid presenting one's own biases in the work. - NPAA Code of
Ethics

9. Newsweek's cover was met with scorn. The Daily
Telegraph called it "a sickening piece of shock
journalism that cheapens a once great news
magazine" and "just plain wrong."
Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the Jerusalem
Fund, a Washington-based non-profit for the
Palestinian cause, called the cover's imagery
"extremely unhelpful to say the least."
"It is an extremely small fraction of the Muslim world
that is acting out," Munayyer told Politico. "For a
legitimate, mainstream publication to portray the
situation as 'Muslim Rage' -- as if this is a vast and
widespread response among the all adherents of this
religion -- is only feeding this 'clash of civilizations'
mentality that is extremely unhelpful."
- https://www.syracuse.com/news/2012/09/newsweeks_muslim_rage_cover_dr.html

10. Graphic Photos/Videos
Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity, even if others do. - SPJ Code
of Ethics
Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special
consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims
of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only
when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see. -
NPAA Code of Ethics

11. In 2012, the NYTimes online published a graphic photo of a victim of a mass shooting outside
the Empire State Building. The victim was not named. However, what are the implications of
publishing such a photograph for the viewer? What about the victim's family and friends?
“It is an extremely
graphic image and we
understand why many
people found it jarring,”
Times spokesperson
Eileen Murphy told me in
an email. “Our editorial
judgment is that it is a
newsworthy photograph
that shows the result and
impact of a public act of
violence.”

12. Click the image to play the video

13. Staged Photos/Videos
Not true journalism. Deceptive.
Resist being manipulated by staged photo
opportunities. - NPAA Code of Ethics

14. The London Milkman (1940) Fred Morely
This famous image of a milkman
deliberately picking his way over the
rubble of war-torn London during
WWII is, in a way, a fake.The man
pictured wasn't a milkman, he was
the assistant to Fred Morley, a
photographer for Fox Photos. He
borrowed the coat and milk carrier
from a milkman. The firemen
damping down the ruins are real
enough, as are the ruins themselves.
- https://www.oddee.com/item_99568.aspx

15. Manipulation
Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and
context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can
mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects. - NPAA Code of Ethics
AP pictures must always tell the truth. We do not alter or digitally manipulate
the content of a photograph in any way. Minor adjustments in Photoshop are
acceptable. Changes in density, contrast, color and saturation levels that
substantially alter the original scene are not acceptable. Backgrounds should
not be digitally blurred or eliminated by burning down or by aggressive toning.
The removal of “red eye” from photographs is not permissible. - Associated
Press Code of Ethics

16. On June of 1994, in the midst of
OJ Simpson’s murder trial, both
TIME magazine and Newsweek
featured Simpson’s mugshot on
their covers. The two magazines
were placed side by side on
newsstands and the public
immediately saw that TIME’s
cover had considerably darkened
Simpson’s skin.
The photo, representing a case
already laced with racial tension,
caused a massive public outcry.

17. The editor of the magazine provided a
public statement on America Online,
claiming that “no racial implication was
intended, by Time or by the artist.” On
newsstands, the edition was quietly
substituted with the unaltered image.
Photoillustrator Mat Mahurin, who was
given the image to “interpret,” claimed
his edits had no racial agenda. “Much
like a stage director would lower the
lights on a somber scene,” he recalled
in a book later published on the history
of TIME magazine, “I used my long-
established style to give the image a
dramatic tone.”
- http://www.alteredimagesbdc.org/oj-simpson