Prompt:
What is the obligation of the content curator to the public in terms of ethical behavior, credibility, and responsibility? After reading through this module’s resources on best practices in ethical communications, try to find at least one example online of plagiarism, journalistic missteps, and reporter embellishments in the media. What was the content creator’s responsibility to the public in terms of ethical behavior and credibility? How could the content creator featured in your example have better adhered to the ethical codes discussed in this module’s resources?
Response:
I’d lack to tackle a slightly different version of responsible journalism: unethical or inappropriate photograph manipulation.
I’m old enough to remember when digital manipulation and “touch ups” of photographs first became mainstream; the archives at my alma mater actually won a grant to teach its interns to use Adobe Photoshop. I was alternately amazed and horrified by what Photoshop could do. Fast forward to today, and not only have we a rampant tradition of very zealous retouching of magazine photographs, but we also have overzealous “modesty” uses of the same techniques.
Case in point: News coverage of the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University included, by necessity, photographs of the tragedies and the injuries. A number of media organizations, among them The New York Post and People magazine (Tatum), took it upon themselves to edit photographs that seemed to show a wounded student’s genitalia (Clark-Flory, 2007). In doing so, they actually edited out a tourniquet that I imagine likely saved that student’s life. The ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists says very clearly, “Never distort the content of news photos or video.” (Society of Professional Journalists, 2014) It does go on to clarify, however, that “Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible.”
It is clear to me that the content creator’s responsibility, in this case, was to represent the facts as they happened. They chose to use this particular student’s photograph, rather than photographs of other injuries that they could conceivably have used, and to edit out a piece of it that denoted quick, life-saving actions and the subsequent preservation of a victim’s life seems to completely negate the whole point of using photography to tell a story. I do not agree that a news media organizer need nursemaid the sensibilities of the public that it serves; its responsibility to fact, truth and accuracy take far greater precedent, and should not be sanitized for the public’s benefit—or lack thereof.
Manipulation of photos of models and celebrities in magazines has also recently come under a great deal of fire. Any amateur Photoshop user—like me—knows how easy it is to fade or stamp out unsightly blemishes and make a normal-sized waist appear anorexic. I’m not going to point to a specific example, as there are myriad examples, but I will quote various experts as to content creator’s responsibility to the public in terms of ethical behavior: Isabelle Whiteley (Cosslett, 2016), a photographer and researcher, told The Guardian that prevalent practice of photo editing and doctoring among teenage girls has resulted in huge damage to the confidence of young women. “Because now, not only are they comparing themselves with the models and actresses in magazines and on their screens, but with their peers— and, perhaps most distressingly, with themselves.”
This is a clear call to protect the health of the most vulnerable members of our society—our children. The content creators would be far better served to publish untouched (except to correct for, perhaps, lighting situations or to provide better sharpness and clarity) photographs for the consumption of its audience, to help said audience understand healthy body image and lifestyle.
References:
Clark-Flory, T. (2007, April 27). Storm over “penis” in Va. Tech shooting photo. Retrieved from Salon: http://www.salon.com/2007/04/27/photograph/
Cosslett, R. L. (2016, September 8). Thinner, smoother, better: in the era of retouching, that’s what girls have to be. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/08/thinner-retouching-girls-image-manipulation-women
Society of Professional Journalists. (2014, September 6). SPJ Code of Ethics. Retrieved from Society of Professional Journalists: http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Tatum, C. (n.d.). The bad and the ugly: An examination of ethical lapses of the past year . Retrieved from Society of Professional Journalists: http://www.spj.org/rrr.asp?ref=77&t=ethics