Throughout the photojournalism society there is a code of ethics that is typically followed with acquiring images in order to keep the emotions and story's they are sharing with the world as true, unbiased, as possible in order for people to create there own opinions and create knowledge of the events happening around the world. This code of ethics can be found on The National Press Photographers Associations page which goes into detail about the general and more specific rules that should be followed when taken photo-journalistic photographs. Although many of these rules seem straightforward they often more complicated than they seem when you are put in certain circumstances as a photojournalist as seen in many instances throughout time.
One in particular that stands out to me since the beginning of this course and in my lifetime is the photos that are taken and depicted of starving children across the globe. For many of us who have a TV in your house you have probably seen at some point the commercials of the skin and bone children flashed across your screen with a number to donate money to help feed them for a few cents of days. These images were captured by photojournalist, now if they aren't allowed by the Code of Ethics standards to give money to people they photograph to keep the integrity and rawness of the images unaltered by monetary earning how does that make you feel? For me it makes it seem almost wrong, that we have these photojournalist going into these areas capturing these poor children, so famished you can see every bone, and we aren't immediately helping them with a few dollars that would likely feed them for a few days. Instead they must take these images, develop them, sell them to publishers in order for organizations to use them to get the story out about these situations in order to receive money to help them. In reality they are still helping but it seems like such a long time especially maybe in times when images weren't taken and uploaded, transferred, or developed in lightning speeds they are in today.
By Kevin Carter
Above is just one of the many photos that depicts the severity and sadness that comes with poverty stricken third world countries. Keven Carter a late photojournalist took this picture in Sudan as he wanted to show the world the harsh reality of the famine that was going on. This image brought a lot of controversy to the table as it was questioned how ethically is it to take a photo of a child in such deplorable conditions, being eye by a vulture as its prey. In the article The Ethics of Photojournalism by Sebastian they cover the many ethical issues within photojournalism especially this piece of Kevin Carter. Within the article Sebastian gives us a take on how he views the ethics around images such as this one as well as others that create similar uproars within the community. He expands on the dilemma in these images on one hand we cannot expect one photojournalist to bring aid and help all the suffering children in Sudan in this instance but on the other hand we should be reminded that these images serve as the proof and push for political change so that this doesn't continue to happen. Sebastian brings up a valid point is also saying if we censored images like these, didn't take them, or acted like they didn't exist then there would never be change, "censoring every image of human suffering wouldn't suddenly mean the world is a better place", and this is the truth. There are many terrible and great things happening around the world all the time, we may not always be in that area to hear about it in real time, or converse with people who experienced a certain situation but we rely on photojournalist to be our eyes and sometimes ears in these situations. They must capturing the heartbreaking, heartwarming, and emotionally aspects of events in order for the world to understanding what's going on.
We may not always see and hear the results of the images that are taken and shared by photojournalist but within Sebastian article he also identifies a photojournalist Steve Curry who has taken some of the best photojournalist images as well as been criticized for his unethical use of Photoshop to some of his images. The image below was taken and used to start an organization for Afghan Children and has raised more than 1 Million dollars in order to help aid this population. The image can be justified in that it not only brought the story of these children to the world it also sparked change, that has no benefited these children to this day. This at the end of the day is what it is all about, reaching out to the world, inspiring, teaching, and helping one another make the world a better place.
By Steve Curry
I have created a simple graphic of what ethics means to me. I used the word ethics as my base and began to use it to think of what ethics I follow on a daily basis. As a profession who works in the medical field ethics is huge, every specimen I receive, every result I report out or doctor I talked to must be with the the values I have listed below. Aside from my profession use of my code of ethics I truly live these within my personal and daily life. They may seem typically values a person would claim to follow but they are the very basis of what I believe it is to be compassionate, understanding, and productive member in society. Although many of our values are easily said they are not easily done, we are not perfect but we must strive to be better each day, for us, for our family, friends, and for the future of our society.
Photo by Shannon Hastings
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