Assignment #1 - Ethical Photojournalism Article

From:
Focal Encyclopedia of Photography
Fourth Edition
Michael R. Peres, editor
Focal Press, London, 2007


Article:
Ethical Photojournalism: Its Authenticity and Impact
John Kaplan


The main issue raised in the text is the authenticity of photojournalism. John Kaplan explains that in order for a photograph to be truthful, there are different measures which must be considered in order to give an accurate depiction of events. He explains that authenticity is very important in photojournalism, and that it should be believable. In order to do this, all photojournalists have to be very careful not to lose their credibility as this can damage how everyone perceives photojournalism. John Kaplan explains that it is a photojournalists responsibility to accurately display the events that occurred.
 Manipulating photos is the worst offender in damaging the credibility of photojournalism. However even not including photos, bias towards a topic and even lifting a camera can all contribute to the inaccuracy of events.

This photo is of some Palestinian boys who were shot after throwing large concrete bricks in protest around the West Bank city of Nablus. This photo, however, was not included in the article. Which stated:

"Israeli soldiers have shot dead three Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, who were throwing stones in protests around the West Bank city of Nablus early on Saturday local time, Palestinian medics and witnesses said."

By just reading the article, it seems as if some poor kids were needlessly shot for throwing a couple of rocks, however in reality they were doing something much more dangerous, and would have likely killed people if they were not stopped.
Not including this photo in the article means that readers do not get an accurate insight to what really happened, and completely changes the side of the story.


Photographer: Unknown
Photo taken from: http://www.honestreporting.com/a/photoBias.asp - This is a compelling article which gives some brief insight to bias and photojournalism. It is a good summary and makes a few interesting  points. If you are interested I highly suggest reading it, as it gives some good examples of authenticity (or the lack of) in photojournalism.