Thursday, September 22, 2011


PHOTOJOURNALISM ETHICS

Photo: Richard Drew, AP

This photo was used in an article by USA Today in response to 9/11. Rather than reporting along the narrative of nationalism and heroism, this article focused on the people who jumped--how these people's last autonomous moment was killing themselves. This photo, as tragic as it is, is... honest. Is it ethical to publish these type of photos? Does the shape of a story allow for a certain type of ethically questionable photography? How would you feel publishing this photo? What about this man's family? The link to the full article is here.

1 comment:

Catherine Chen said...

I'm not so sure how ethical this photo is. I agree with you that it is certainly honest, but to know that this is an act of death, makes it unethical to me. The man is literally, plunging to his death. Although we don't see the mangled body, to assume his death from this photo makes it unethical. This is tricky though...I'm curious to see what other people think! Thanks, Stellar.