This week we explored the concept of photojournalistic integrity and how easily and effectively pictures can be altered. Journalists, as well as photographers, are bound to another code of ethics that is only slightly different. The two groups of reporters are made to follow basically the same set of "rules" that are put in place with the hope that the public won't be mislead.
When photographers and reporters violate certain ethics they are often harshly criticized by their peers and coworkers. Are these criticisms fair or not? Should photojournalists be held to a certain set of standards and ethics, and if so should these standards be held to everyone who publishes photographs? For example, should commercial photographs have its own set of ethics? What about the pictures you see in fashion magazines?
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I think that there should be a limit on how they can edit and distort pictures for the world to see. You can easily make someone doing what they are not doing and ruin there whole reputation. This should be put to anyone that is going to publish a picture in a magazine or newspaper. There are different circumstances though. Like if the person that is in the picture agrees with it then they can change the picture anyway they want but they need to get there written permission to do these things. I think they have a right to know what is going to be published about them.
ReplyDeleteI think it is extremely scary that it is so easy to manipulate pictures however you want. In this day and age certain standards have to be in place for the good of the public. I want to say that it is the people's responsibility to check to make sure their facts are correct, but I know that most of the time people absorb information without critically analyzing it. Anyone can post anything and take a picture of whatever and not be held accountable to it, but it is the public's responsibility to check to make sure what they are processing is accurate. In a way I am split about whether they should have standards, but I think for the most part it has to be required in order to report successfully.
ReplyDeleteAs for commercials and fashion magazines, I definitely think that people need to have certain "ethical" standards in place. As a teenage girl I get sick and tired of being bombarded with messages of what I should look like. We live in a commercial society and the industries that publish these things realize that. They have to be held accountable for their actions and messages that they are sending out to the public. I think that they need to cut back on the photoshopping because who really wants to look like a stick with a long neck? Not me.
I think photoshop can be very usual especially if you want to mislead others to think something has happened or is happening but I don't really think it is the right thing to do in all cases. If I was a celebrity and found out my picture was altered in any way I would be really angry (even though sometimes they use photoshop in a good way haha). They take celebrities photos and make them look fatter, (so they can accuse them of being pregnant) or in the Rihanna case take a pictures of her and make look beat up. It is weird how easy it is to deceive someone in that way but I think if they take the picture and make a living off of it o well. This is exactly why you shouldn't believe everything you see.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of scary to see how easily a picture can be drastically altered to something that is not the truth. But my feeling is that photojournalists should be held to some standard but only to a certain extent. My feeling is that if you are giving permission for a photojournalist to take your picture then you are taking the risks that they have the technology and software to do what they want to do with that picture. But paparazzi for an example should definitely be held to these code of ethics and higher standards because when they are taking pictures that celebrities are completely unaware of what they may look like all the time, then a picture like that should be allowed to altered. If a picture like that we altered and put out on the web for attention and just for the hype then it is pretty inane. And technically if a picture were altered without a person being unaware of the photo and changes were made to it that weren't true then technically wouldn't that be breaking the law because it would be considered libel. I wouldn't want someone taking a random picture of me and doing stuff to it that may look like it is real and it isn't even the truth.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.photosport.com/usage.htm
ReplyDeleteThis is a link to the website I found stating that using pictures that stretches the truth is considered a classic case of libel.
I believe the criticisms are fair because the public needs to see truthful photographs not ones that are altered. Which is why photojournalist should be held to a set of rules to follow. Commercial photographers should be held to rules also. People see photographs in fashion magazines and they see perfect bodies. Sometimes the photographers make the models skinner or change them completely. I the model is "perfect" already why do they have to modify them after the picture was taken.
ReplyDeleteI think that photo journalists should also be bound to the same code of ethics. They should not be allowed to alter photos because the public has the right to see photos that are not altered, and know the truth. If you put out photos that are altered, the public may get the wrong impression about the subject of the photo. You can tell because most picture of celebrities are altered, and the alteration makes it seem as if they are more beautiful or in better shape then they actually are. Most of the time when you see celebrities in public, they look like normal people like you and I, and that may make people disappointed when they spent their whole life thinking that the person was some kind of amazing , beautiful person. I think that the media should just stick to the true photos and not change them in any way to avoid any confrontations.
ReplyDeleteI agree with kyle because the public does have the right to know what's going on in this world and not fake libel that trashes someones credit. I think that it is 100% necessary to make a code of rules to limit photographers from what they can take pictures of and need permission from the person to publish the pictures. We see everybody mostly at there worst in magazines and news papers and only in fasion magazines do we see beauty. The models are already very good looking and they don't need to be altered, as kyle said.
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