Ethical Judgements in Photojournalism

Hi,

I'm a Birmingham University student currently writing my dissertation on the ethics of photojournalism and I'm interested in finding out how you make ethical decisions in the field - whether this is based on guidelines you may have been given (during training or by an employer, etc) or whether your decisions are based on personal judgement.

I'd be extremely grateful for any opinions or examples of occasions when you have had to make ethical judgements that you can offer to contribute to my study.

Many Thanks, Hannah.

Hi Hannah,

First of all, welcome to opf.

I can't help much wrt your specific question, at least not in any professional way wrt still images, but in return, your 'abandoned wheel', did you leave it there, or dispose of it properly, did you even think much about it, or were you more concerned with your wet feet?

Best wishes,

Ray

Hi Hannah,

Where else to give you a great welcome but here overlapping your important question. I visited your website and totally enjoyed so many of your images especially the bridge wqith the bicyclist and the abandoned wheel and oh, yes, the columns of the bridge with the serendipitous ladybug. But there are so many more. I sent you a list!

To your request for how photojournalist are trained and act in the field when faced with moral/ethical choices/paths/reactions is so important. I'm do hope you'll get at least a few worthwhile answers.

Good luck,

Asher

Hello to you both and thanks for the warm welcome to OPF.

With reference to my 'Abandoned Wheel' photograph, I must say I was more concerned with my increasingly chilly toes rather than extracting the wheel from the river! However the wheel did not belong to me, and ethically I thought it best to leave the environment as I had found it.

Thanks to Asher for the positive feedback on my photographs, I'm glad you like them.

I hope this thread encourages some interesting responses too as I really feel this is an important area to consider.

Kind Regards,
Hannah.

Hannah Welbourn said:

Hi,

I'm a Birmingham University student currently writing my dissertation on the ethics of photojournalism and I'm interested in finding out how you make ethical decisions in the field - whether this is based on guidelines you may have been given (during training or by an employer, etc) or whether your decisions are based on personal judgement.

I'd be extremely grateful for any opinions or examples of occasions when you have had to make ethical judgements that you can offer to contribute to my study.

Many Thanks, Hannah.

Click to expand...

Hannah: I believe ethics are a matter of intention. Of course it is not possible for your subject to know your intention, therefore they may be suspicious for any number of reasons. There is a great deal of fear and loathing around regarding the uses of an image, some of it with good cause. Unfortunately this has created its own legal bureaucracy -- having to ask someone to sign a model release form after having already surreptitiously photographed them is more difficult than it would be had you asked them in advance. The problem with this is that if you ask permission to take a photo your subject will begin posing. Much better to catch the self revelation of a relaxed moment before self-consciousness stiffens it.

Then there is the problem of the contexting of an image to throw the subject into an unfavorable light. The most recent example was Chinese soldiers dressing up as Tibetan monks in order to provide government photographers the opportunity to photograph and disseminate the monks doing violent things. This was done in Tibet. Unfortunately for them, someone photographed the soldiers in the process of dressing up as monks.

Hope this little bit helps.

Hi Hannah

Welcome to the forum.

I also liked your flickr pages. Unfortunately I cannot answer your questions from a professional viewpoint, but you might find some things of interest on 'The Digital Journalist'. If you haven't already found it google will.

On my way home from work tonight I was thining about the idea of truth in photojournalism and may write a bit more later if I get chance.

Mike

Hannah,

Do you know of a classification scheme for pictures in news stories that would reflect ethics?