A discussion of ethics in photojournalism, both the ethics of taking photos and publishing them and digital manipulation of images. All images remain copyrighted by the original photographer and are included here for discussion purposes only. Presentation ©2020 by Bradley Wilson

1. The Law in
Photojournalism
By Bradley Wilson
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
@bradleywilson09
©2020
All photographs copyright the original photographers.

2. First Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.

3. • Privacy
• Open Meetings/Open Records
• Copyright

4. By Bradley Wilson
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
@bradleywilson09
©2020
All photographs copyright the original photographers.
The Ethics of
Photojournalism

10. Mevlut Mert Altintas shouts after
shooting Andrei Karlov, right,
the Russian ambassador to
Turkey, at an art gallery in
Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Dec. 19,
2016. Image © AP Photo/
Burhan Ozbilici. World Press
Photo of the Year, from a series
which won first place in the Spot
News - Stories category

14. The Stealth
Approach

19. Friday, Jan. 23, 1987
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bud Dwyer
Case Study

27. The Philadelphia Inquirer

28. Harrisburg Patriot

29. Press-Telegram

30. Corpus Christi Caller

31. Miami Herald (early edition)

32. The Miami Herald (later edition)

33. Hartford Courant

34. New York Post

35. New York Daily News

36. Toronto Sun

37. http://jea.org/wp/home/for-educators/cjet/onlinesupp/

38. https://issuu.com/wilsonbrad/docs/33_2_w99_cjet

39. Digital Ethics in
Photojournalism
By Bradley Wilson
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
@bradleywilson09
©2020
All photographs copyright the original photographers.

40. 40

41. 41
The content of the image must not be altered. Only retouching which conforms to
the currently accepted standards in the industry is allowed.
Véronique de Viguerie, a Getty photojournalist and member of the World Press
2013 jury says :
“For me, when the improvement misrepresents reality, when it conceals part of
the context of the image, then a line has been crossed. There’s no question that a
raw image file has to be altered in order to produce a publishable image,” de
Viguerie said. “The question is, to what extent. We decided to be strict. Otherwise
it opens the door to all kinds of manipulation.”
Finally, after much discussion, Paul Hansen had worked in the acceptable limits.

42. 42
Don’t think that digital
manipulation started
when Photoshop came
out in the mid-1980s.
Here’s an early example
of digital Scitex
manipulation from 1982.
Was it OK to move the
pyramids closer
together to fit the
cover?

43. 43

44. 44
Would all reasonable
people know that this is
manipulated? Is that the
test, whether people
can tell for certain that
it’s manipulated?

45. 45
A famous cover, totally
unmanipulated.

46. 46
Satire. If it’s satire, is it
OK to be manipulated?
Again, would a
reasonable person
know this isn’t real?

47. 47
What’s been
manipulated on this
cover of the University
of Wisconsin (Madison)
Undergraduate
Application?

48. 48
Original photo is on left. To more
accurately represent the diversity
on campus, they added the other
student below. Was it obvious the
photo was manipulated? Does
this increase accuracy or lead to
mistrust?

49. 49
Ann Richards, then
governor of Texas, was
being mentioned as a
candidate for vice
president or president.
But she didn’t have time
to pose for the photo.
Was it OK to put her
head on a model’s
body? Does it matter
that 16 pages into the
magazine, there was a 6
pt. explanation of the
model and who
donated the bike and
clothes? Does it matter
whether or not Ann
Richards knew they
were going to do this?

50. 50
Is the cover of the
magazine more
advertising than
editorial message? Was
this clearly
manipulated? (Look at
the hands and the ties.)
Does this lead to
mistrust?

51. 51
The caption says the
skaters “appear to skate
together in this New
York Newsday
composite illustration.”
Do people know read
the captions? Do they
know what an
“illustration” is anyway.
Would a reasonable
person know this was
manipulated?

52. 52

53. 53
Here’s a photo from the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
What’s been
manipulated about it?

54. 54
The Coke can was
removed. Would it
matter if Pepsi were the
paper’s top advertiser?
Would it matter if the
lead on the story
mentioned how the
recovering alcoholic
only drank soft drinks
and when he won the
Pulitzer, they celebrated
by drinking Coke, not
champagne?

55. 55
Newsweek on the left. Time on the right. Why did Time manipulate the photo so
drastically? Does it matter that it’s the cover of the magazine? Was he guilty? Aren’t
journalists supposed to be objective?

56. 56
Just so you know Time did consciously think about the manipulation they did. Would
you have been more likely to purchase the magazine on the left or the right?

57. 57
Few people would have known that Sports
Illustrated doctored the photo for the
cover to allow the placement of type if SI
hadn’t run the photo again a few weeks
later.

58. 58
Sports Illustrated, December, 2012

59. Dallas Morning News photographer Louis DeLuca knew that Baylor
players wore black jerseys for this game — he watched part of it on TV —
so he was surprised to see them green in Sports Illustrated.
“This may not seem like a big deal to some,” DeLuca said, “but in an age
where digital manipulation can, and is, eroding the public’s confidence in
what they see produced by professional photojournalists as visual truth,
do we really want to do this?”
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’S RESPONSE: “We’ve looked into this and due to a
production error the uniform colors are misleading,” writes Scott Novak,
Time Inc. Sports Group senior vice president/communications and
development. “We should have caught it and will run a correction next
week.”

60. 60
Teeth or no teeth? Should the Detroit News have fixed the player’s teeth
to make the cover shot more attractive? Do you really think fans won’t notice the digital dental
work?

61. 61
Original below and cover shot of the book on
the right. Notice how the cowboy was moved
closer to the tree. Can you trust any of the
photos inside the book?

62. 62
The battlefield composite photo above
was made by combining the two photos
at the left. The photographer who
combined the photos for the Los Angeles
Times without telling anyone was fired
the next day and the paper issued an
apology.

63. 63
June 2010

64. 64

65. 65

66. 66

67. 67
Bridge collapse breaking news • NBC News • May 2013

68. 68

69. •
69

70. New York Times correction
“An earlier version of the main photograph with this article, of a
filing cabinet and computer at the Democratic National Committee
headquarters, should not have been published.”
In the original photo, the “photographer had removed a framed
image from the wall over the filing cabinet — showing a
Washington Post Watergate front page — because it was causing
glare with the lighting,”

71. Photo Illustrations
71
How to
When to
Why to

72. Photo Illustrations
72
BRAINSTORM FOR IDEAS
Rarely are photo illustrations quick, cheap or easy.
“Allow time — lots of time — to conceptualize, prop
and photograph an editorial photo illustration. Photo
illustrations can take hours that stretch into days.”

73. Photo Illustrations
73
DO NOT MISLEAD THE READER
They are clearly staged. They never force the reader to
wonder whether the photo was real. “The
photographer needs to take the reader somewhere
outside the bounds of reality and the printed page. …
[M]ake people think.”

74. Photo Illustrations
GUIDELINES
• Never set up a photograph to mimic reality
• Create only abstractions with photo illustrations
• Clearly label photo illustrations
• Never play photo illustrations on news pages
• If you don’t have time to do a photo illustration right, don’t do it.

75. 75

76. 76

77. Photo Illustrations
77

78. Photo Illustrations
78

79. Photo Illustrations
79

80. Photo Illustrations
80

81. Photo Illustrations
81

82. Photo Illustrations
82

83. Photo Illustrations
83

84. Photo Illustrations
84

85. Photo Illustrations
85

86. Photo Illustrations
86

87. Policy
Guidelines for Publishing Visuals
http://bradleywilsononline.net/from-bradley/guidelines-for-publishing-visuals
Journalism Education Association
www.jea.org
National Press Photographers Association
www.nppa.org

88. Position Statement
on Photo Manipulation
Given the rapid growth brought about by photo-manipulation software and the
reliance scholastic journalism programs are placing on them, the Journalism
Education Association urges students and advisers to follow these principles:
Advisers of student media should not make decisions about the suitability or
legality of images in question. Instead, advisers should empower students to
make such decisions and to counsel students to avoid deceptive practices in all
aspects of publication work.
Advisers should also counsel students to seek professional legal advice in all
legal and ethical questions.
JEA Board of Directors
Adopted 4/97

89. Students working on publications should consider the following
tests devised by University of Oregon professors Tom Wheeler
and Tim Gleason about "whether and how to manipulate, alter or
enhance" images:
THE VIEWFINDER TEST Does the photograph show more than
what the photographer saw through the viewfinder?
THE PHOTO-PROCESSING TEST A range of technical
enhancements and corrections on an image after the photo is
shot could change the image. Do things go beyond what is
routinely done in the darkroom to improve image quality-
cropping, color corrections, lightening or darkening?
THE TECHNICAL CREDIBILITY TEST Is the proposed alteration not
technically obvious to the readers?
THE CLEAR-IMPLAUSIBILITY TEST Is the altered image not
obviously false to readers?

90. If any of the above tests can be answered "yes," JEA urges
student journalists:
• not to manipulate news photos
• not to publish the image(s) in question, or
• clearly label images as photo-illustrations when student
editors decide they are the best way to support story
content.

91. National Press Photographers Association
Digital Code of Ethics
As journalists we believe the guiding principle of our profession is accuracy;
therefore, we believe it is wrong to alter the content of a photograph in any way
that deceives the public.
As photojournalists, we have the responsibility to document society and to preserve
its images as a matter of historical record. It is clear that the emerging electronic
technologies provide new challenges to the integrity of photographic images ... in
light of this, we the National Press Photographers Association, reaffirm the basis of
our ethics: 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. Altering the editorial
content ... is a breach of the ethical standards recognized by the NPPA.
SOURCE: National Press Photographers Association
http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/digitalethics.html

92. By Bradley Wilson
bradleywilson08@gmail.com
bradleywilsononline.net • @bradleywilson09
©2020
All photographs copyright the original photographers.