Images from the Boston Marathon fueled an ongoing debate among professionals about the publication of graphic images and whether or not it is acceptable to alter spot news images digitally. While photojournalists have been having similar discussions since the dawn of the profession and the publication of graphic images from the Civil War and World War II, professionals and non-photojournalists responding to a 36-question survey after the Boston Marathon agreed that publication of graphic, spot-news images was acceptable as a reflection of what happened at a major news event. Photojournalists and non-photojournalists also agreed that manipulation was generally acceptable in photo illustrations but not at all acceptable in hard news images establishing some boundary on when digital manipulation can be used in a photojournalistic setting. Nearly 100 percent agreed that “The highest and strictest standards should be applied to hard-news photographs.” In regard to the manipulation of specific spot news images, however, professionals and non-photographers disagreed with non-photographers, with non-photographers accepting the blurring of the face of a victim of the bombing and the digital removal of broken bones in a New York Daily News image. To provide guidance in such circumstances, only 40 percent of professionals had any written policy regarding digital ethical conduct. While establishing a written code of ethics may prove helpful, in this age of instantaneous publication online and in social media, photojournalists and editors need to discuss expectations before spot news happens since publication may occur straight from the camera with no chance for intervention.

1. Warning:
This presentation contains graphic content.
!
Photographs remain copyrighted by the original photographers and are used for illustrative purposes only.

2. All I Needed to Know About
Photojournalism Ethics,
I Learned in Kindergarten
!
Presented by Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.
Midwestern State University

3. Ethics: An Age-Old Discussion
Ethical issues may pit the photographer’s
professional duties against his or her own
conscience. Ken Kobré

4. Discussion on ethics
“Every day, every edition, we face challenging decisions.
We know that many of the calls we make in a few minutes
on deadline can have a lifelong effect for someone,
particularly a subject of a story. We consider it an
awesome responsibility.”
David Boardman
Seattle Times

5. Discussion on ethics
“Although many editors found the images [of 9/11]
disturbing, the overwhelming reason for publishing
them was that they added to the visual storytelling
about what happened during and after the terrorists
attacks. Many editors believed that readers needed
to be exposed to the disturbing images in order to
fully understand the story of the day.”
Renee Martin Kratzer and Brian Kratzer
“How Newspapers Decided to Run Disturbing 9/11 Photos”
Newspaper Research Journal, Winter 2003

6. Digital Ethics: Evolving Standards
One of the major problems we face as
photojournalists is the fact that the public is
losing faith in us. Our readers and viewers no
longer believe everything they see. John Long

7. Sports Illustrated, December, 2012

8. Never
Hard news
Feature
Illustration
Always
0 10 20 30 40 50
19.17
25.83
11.67
2.5
40.83
22.64
29.25
11.32
1.89
34.91
27.76
30.6
8.54
2.49
30.6
Professionals (n=285)
College students/advisers (n=108)
High school students/advisers (n=120)
Sports Illustrated, on Nov. 26, 2012, altered the
color of the jerseys in the football players at
Baylor University. In which of the following
photograph types would you accept this
computer editing change?
Percent

9. Boston: Another Study in Tragedy
I always wondered what it would be like when I
see photographers covering this stuff all over the
world. It’s haunting to be a journalist and have to
cover it. I don’t ever want to have to do that
again. John Tlumacki
!
Photo by John Tlumacki

10. Boston: Another Study in Tragedy
Research questions:
What are the ethical standards both in terms of
what can and should be documented and
published and how?
How far is too far when it comes to the digital
manipulation of spot news images?

13. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
12.3
87.7
12.94
87.06
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
Online, huffingtonpost.com ran the image
with no alteration. Was this acceptable?
Percent
t = 0.24
p > 0.05
no difference between
professionals and non-
photographers

15. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
11.48
88.52
14.04
85.96
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
The Philadelphia Inquirer was one of the many
news publications that chose to crop the image
as it was used on page 1 of the April 16 print
edition. Was this acceptable?
Percent
t = 0.88
p > 0.05
no difference between
professionals and non-
photographers

17. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
41.32
58.68
57.25
42.75
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
Online, the atlantic.com ran the image with Jeff
Bauman’s face blurred. Was this acceptable?
Percent
t = 4.41
p < 0.001*
significant difference
between professionals
and non-photographers

19. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
23.48
76.52
31.1
68.9
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
In addition, theatlantic.com later added a
disclaimer. Should the website have added this
disclaimer?
Percent
t = 1.07
p > 0.05
no difference between
professionals and non-
photographers

21. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
11.57
88.43
8.07
91.92
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
Online, huffingtonpost.com ran this image with
no alteration. Was this acceptable?
Percent
t = 1.14
p > 0.05
no difference between
professionals and non-
photographers

25. Yes
No
0 25 50 75 100
66.09
33.91
81.79
18.21
Professionals (n=285)
Non-photographers (n=122)
In print, the New York Daily News ran an altered
version of the image with the leg injury on the
left removed. Was this acceptable?
Percent
t = 3.33
p > 0.001
significant difference
between professionals
and non-photographers

26. 0
1
2
3
4
5
Cropping Color correction Removing distracting elements Removing larger objects Adding/Removing people Moving objects
All
High School
College
Professional
Q20
How appropriate is it to do the following
types of computer adjustment to news
photographs that appear on the front
page or in the news section of your local
daily newspaper?
0 = never
3 = sometimes
5 = always

27. 0
20
40
60
80
100
92.44
95.45
Professional Non-photographers
Q21
“Accurate representation is the
benchmark of our profession. We believe
photojournalistic guidelines for fair and
accurate reporting should be the criteria
for judging what may be done
electronically to a photograph.”
t = 2.06
p < 0.05*
significant difference
between professionals and
college; small effect size

28. 0
20
40
60
80
100
85.95
95.04
Professionals Non-photographers
Q23
“Adhere to the principle of reproducing
photos that represent reality.
Documentary news and feature photos
should not be manipulated.”
t = 3.84
p < 0.001*
significant difference
between professionals
and college

29. 0
20
40
60
80
100
66.1
83.51
Professionals Non-photographers
Q24
“Altered images should be obviously
false to the reader.”
t = 3.96
p < 0.001*
significant difference
between professionals
and college

30. 0
20
40
60
80
100
91.74
95.77
Professionals Non-photographers
Q25
“Any manipulations should simply
include routine cropping, color correction
to restore the color balance to what
appeared in the actual scene, or
dodging/burning to improve
reproduction quality.”

31. 0
20
40
60
80
100
85.71
90.32
Professionals Non-professionals
Q26
“Readers should know that an image
was altered.”

32. 0
20
40
60
80
100
95.04
99.29
Professionals Non-photographers
Q27
“The highest and strictest standards
should be applied to hard-news
photographs.”

33. 0
20
40
60
80
100
40.84
17.65
35.14
31.95
All High School College Professional
Q29
“Do you have any company policies that
would limit the amount of alteration in an
image?”

34. • Non-photographers are more tolerant of digital
manipulation than professional photographers.
• Manipulation should be obviously false.
• Manipulation of spot news images should be
minimized and generally kept to what it takes to
improve reproduction quality.
• Editors are gatekeepers but in light of evolving
technology, street photojournalists need to be
trained as editors.
Conclusions

35. Conclusions
• Companies, colleges and universities and schools
need to discuss and to adopt policies regarding
photojournalistic ethics — in advance of incidents.
• Discussing all the facets of ethical decision making
is still a worthy endeavor.

36. Conclusions
While specific ethics changes from profession to
profession, their foundation does not. The foundation
is basic, simple honesty, the kind you learn in
kindergarten: Don’t tell us stories about things that
didn’t happen. Don’t show us things that don’t exist.
Ben Brink |“Question of Ethics: Where Does Honesty inPhotojournalism Begin?”
News Photographer | July 1988

37. By Bradley Wilson, PhD
Midwestern State University
bradley.wilson@mwsu.edu
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
Twitter: @bradleywilson09
©2014