1. Photo Ethics
It’s a matter of doing what’s right, what should be done, or what accepted professional standards ask us to do.

2. Is the public losing faith in journalism’s reporting and photography?
Why?
Do photographs lie?
How?
What kind of ethical situations do news photographers face?

3. The computer makes all images
malleable
changeable
fluid
All images are called into question
Photos are no longer “fixed” images

4. Journalists have only one thing to offer: CREDIBILITY
Credibility in photojournalism has been eroded
Credibility is damaged each time a news organization “lies” by doctoring a photograph

5. As early as 1982, the industry has manipulated photographs
February 1982

6. Other famous cases:
June 1994

7. December 1997

8. The Valley Daily News, May 1970
Life magazine 1995

9. Texas Monthly cover July 1992

10. University of Wisconsin 2001-2002 Admissions Application

11. Brian Walski
March 2003 Los Angeles Times

12. Degrees of electronic changes to photographs
Technical
Content

13. Technical changes
Deal only with aspects of the photo that make it more readable
a little dodging, burning
global color correction
contrast control for over-exposure/underexposure

14. Technical changes are like a grammar of photography - allow us to read them
Are neither ethical or unethical, just technical

15. Content changes are:
Essential
Accidental

16. Essential changes are:
Change the meaning of the photo
Accidental changes:
Change useless details, but don’t change the meaning of the photo

17. Accidental change - the meaning remains the same
John Filo
Kent State May 4, 1970
Accidental change - the meaning remains the same
Is this acceptable?

18. “I don’t think the public cares if it is a little lie or a big lie
“I don’t think the public cares if it is a little lie or a big lie. As far as they are concerned, once the shutter has been tripped and the MOMENT has been captured on film, in the context of news, we no longer have the right to change the content of the photo in any way. Any change to the news photo - any violation of that MOMENT - is a lie. Big or small, any lie damages your credibility.”
John Long Past President of the National Press Photographer’s Assoc.

19. If our readers can't count on honesty from us, I don't know what we have left.
Colin Crawford LA Times Director of Photography
There is not ever a good time for such manipulation, but this is the worst time. What really differentiates us from other photographers and media is our credibility. We have a history of getting it right, accurately… Our credibility is all that we have.
Vincent LaForet NYT photographer

20. Changes to content can be either accidental or essential-but both ARE changes.

21. Other ethical considerations:
When is the photo too painful to run?
When does the photographer put down the camera?
Does it shock or inform?
When do you run the photo or refrain?

22. First published in the Boston Herald, readers reacted with horror to the image. The media was charged with invading the privacy of the woman and child as well as pandering to sensationalism. The photo also prompted officials in Boston to rewrite laws regarding fire escape safety. It won the Pulizer Prize for spot news photography in 1976.
Fire escape collapses, 1975, Boston
Stanley Forman

23. In 1987 Pennsylvania State Treasurer R
In 1987 Pennsylvania State Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer shot himself during a televised news conference.

24. Five-year-old boy drowns in lake, Bakersfield, California
John Harte

26. May 1980

27. Kenneth Lyons July 29, 1993

28. October 4, 1993 Toronto Star
Paul Watson

30. Buddhist monks protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government
Malcolm Browne NYT, 1963

31. Tami Chappell, Reuters
2003

32. Mike Terry Deseret Morning News 2007
Salt Lake City Mall shooting
Salt Lake City, UT mall shooting Feb. 12, 2007
Mike Terry
Deseret Morning News

33. Real photos can change the hearts and minds of people.

34. Eddie Adams