THESIS Pictures that are impactful, timely and contribute significant news value cannot be discounted due to their violent nature. Shocking and violent photographs have the power to garner public interest and provoke social change. Patt Blue from the International Center of Photography writes, “reality is not a framed and frozen image - it is chaos, loud, dirty, and grossly disorganized” and so we should expect our news photography to properly showcase that. While many aspiring journalists drift over to soft content like music, entertainment and celebrities, there are journalists risking their lives every day reporting from areas plagued by famine and disease, trapped by civil war and inhumane conditions on nation's’ borders in order to show
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Susan Sontag also argues that the presence of a photographer changes the course of events drastically, citing the 1969 photograph “Saigon Execution”, in which a South Vietnamese General shooting a Viet Cong official in the head is captured. Sontag believes that events would have been different had there not been journalists hanging around. Sean O’Hagan from The Guardian wrote “Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography” about a similar situation involving a photo series entitled “Stoned to Death.” The name is fairly self-explanatory as the subject is shown in full blood and gore. The extreme intimacy of this shoot begged critics to ask if “there was collaboration between the photographer and those carrying out this gruesome death sentence” (O’Hagan, 2010). In the first photograph, no blood is visible and despite the intimate, violent and staged nature of the shot, “Saigon Execution” became known as one of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam War after being published in the New York Times in 1968. The important factor to consider is whether the presence of a photographer greatly influences the situation enough so that the inevitable violence is increased. Obviously, this is very situational which is precisely what makes this a delicate and ongoing …show more content…
If anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection posts questionable pictures on their homemade news site, the news media may be criticized for leaving out pertinent information regarding the story whether it is ethically appropriate or not. According to “Images in Ethics Codes in an Era of Violence and Tragedy” this also creates an ethical dilemma in which bystanders may be persuaded to try and capture the perfect image for that news market instead of responding like a regular victim of a disaster would, thus influencing the
Susan Sontag also argues that the presence of a photographer changes the course of events drastically, citing the 1969 photograph “Saigon Execution”, in which a South Vietnamese General shooting a Viet Cong official in the head is captured. Sontag believes that events would have been different had there not been journalists hanging around. Sean O’Hagan from The Guardian wrote “Viewer or voyeur? The morality of reportage photography” about a similar situation involving a photo series entitled “Stoned to Death.” The name is fairly self-explanatory as the subject is shown in full blood and gore. The extreme intimacy of this shoot begged critics to ask if “there was collaboration between the photographer and those carrying out this gruesome death sentence” (O’Hagan, 2010). In the first photograph, no blood is visible and despite the intimate, violent and staged nature of the shot, “Saigon Execution” became known as one of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam War after being published in the New York Times in 1968. The important factor to consider is whether the presence of a photographer greatly influences the situation enough so that the inevitable violence is increased. Obviously, this is very situational which is precisely what makes this a delicate and ongoing …show more content…
If anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection posts questionable pictures on their homemade news site, the news media may be criticized for leaving out pertinent information regarding the story whether it is ethically appropriate or not. According to “Images in Ethics Codes in an Era of Violence and Tragedy” this also creates an ethical dilemma in which bystanders may be persuaded to try and capture the perfect image for that news market instead of responding like a regular victim of a disaster would, thus influencing the