I took Photojournalism last semester, and the ideology in that class was to shoot first, decide later. So, although the fact that these photos were taken sort of disgusts me, the shot was there, and they are, some of them, amazing (although gruesome) photos.
Personally, I wouldn't run any of these photos. If I absolutely had to pick some to run, I suppose the first one, with the little boy with his poor dog, would have been my pick because although that's one of the most terrible things ever, unfortunately almost everyone goes through that at some point in time in their life. My parents' dog, Griffin, who I adored, was killed by a car this summer. He didn't look quite so peaceful, however. It was very traumatic and therefore I wouldn't have run this photo, for the family, but at least it isn't someone killing themself or something.
I wouldn't run any of the other photos, under any circumstances. I suppose the one with the 15-year-old boy with the fence post through his lip maybe, only because he survived. But this photo is the one that affected me the most. It made my stomach flip when I saw it. Even though there are other photos that the people actually died in, at least it doesn't look so unnatural.
If the events were local, I most definitely wouldn't run any of the stories. I work for my local paper, and I cannot imagine EVER running anything like these in that paper.
In addition to the fence-post picture, I struggled with the last picture of the woman in the crowd probably the most. Almost all of these pictures make me realize just how sick some people are. It's just sad. And yes, it's news, but do we really need to focus on how sick people are more than we already do?
Obviously these photos were printed in some fashion, because we've seen them, so someone made the decision to use them somehow. I think these kind of photos are best left to the "Most Amazing, Death-Defying Moments" kind of shows on Spike TV. Except all of these people didn't live. So sad.
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I completely agree with you. I do not think any of the photographs should be used. When dealing with photos 2, 3, and 4, I think death is something that should never be photographed and especially, never published in a newspaper. It would be an intrusion of privacy if these photographs were published. The SPJ Code of Ethics says that "Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy." I don't think there was an overriding pubic need to see any of these events.
I am glad that I wasn't the only one that thought all the pictures should not be used. I was surprised that the majority of the class actually agreed with me. I'm glad we all take ethics very seriously. I also struggled a lot with the last picture. To see how people act in a crowd setting is disgusting, and for the sake of the poor woman's dignity, I would never run it. She's already been through enough.
I'm actually doing my final project on photo ethics. I think it's interesting to note that death was practically the original topic of photojournalism (Civil war/Crimea).
Correlation?
I'm actually doing my final project on photo ethics. I think it's interesting to note that death was practically the original topic of photojournalism (Civil war/Crimea).
Correlation?
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