Photographing Conflict

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/21/conflict.journalists.bang.bang.club/index.html

RIP: Tim Hetherington & Chris Hondros

Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, photojournalists, were killed today while covering the conflict in Misrata, Libya.
Story HERE.
and HERE


Tim Hetherington



Chris Hondros

Hetherington's site HERE

Hondro's site HERE

HISTORY PRESENTATION

FORMAT:
1. Powerpoint
2. Slides: Seven minimum/Ten maximum
3. Pictures, pictures, pictures.
4. Timeline of life with major events/photographs noted

Robert Capa
Margaret Bourke-White
Gordon Parks
Alexander Gardner
Mathew Brady
Dorothea Lange
Henri Cartier-Bresson
W. Eugene Smith
Weegee
Alfred Eisenstaedt

Plus one person from this list HERE

Points to make:
1. Life
2. Focus of work
3. Noteworthy photographs
4. Major events in his/her life
5. Why is this person important?
6. Their legacy

SEVEN NEWS VALUES: Review

Coming through in flying colors, Hindu devotees celebrate Holi, the festival of color, dance, and crowds, at the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan, about 87 miles from New Delhi, on March 18. Vrindavan is a famous place for Holi celebrations. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) (courtesy The Big Picture (Boston.com))



On the most basic level, photojournalism is telling stories with photographs. But on top of that, the stories created must follow the rules of journalism. We will discuss stories throughout the semester; using examples of how to do a relevant, sound, creative, and interesting photo essay. Seven news values are used to determine the worthiness of a story: impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, bizarreness, conflict, and currency.

We often speak of seven news values held by news media gatekeepers – impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, bizarreness, conflict, and currency.

Impact: The number of people whose lives will be influenced in some way by the subject of the story. For instance, a bakery strike may have less impact than a postal strike.

Timeliness: Recent events have higher news value than earlier happenings. Of particular value are stories brought to the public ahead of the competition. These are known as scoops.

Prominence: For the same occurrence, people in the public eye have higher news value than obscure people. For example, we cared that basketball pro Magic Johnson and actor Rock Hudson had AIDS, while an ordinary citizen with AIDS would not have commanded the attention of the national news media.

Proximity: Stories about events and situations in one's home community are more newsworthy than events that take place far away. For example, journalists assess the value of a news item reporting tragic deaths by comparing the number of deaths with the distance from the home community. For instance:
if 1,000 persons drown in a flood in a faraway country, the story has about the same news value as a story describing how 100 persons drowned in a distant part of the United States.

In turn, that 100 person story has about the same news value as a story concerning 10 flood victims within our own state.

Finally, a story about those ten victims has about the same value as a story describing a flood which drowns one person in our local community.

Bizarreness: A classic example of this is dog-bites-man vs. man-bites-dog. Man-bites-dog is more bizarre. Dog-bites-man usually is not news.

Conflict: Strife is newsworthy. War. Public anger or bitter disagreement over fundamental issues.

Currency: More value is attributed to stories pertaining to issues or topics that are in the spotlight of public concern rather than to issues or topics about which people care less. Stories come and stories go. For example:

At the beginning of the 1990s, there were stories about the First Gulf War, the Savings and Loan Crisis, and Senate confirmation hearings on Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court.

As time passed, those stories became less interesting and were replaced by the Los Angeles Riots, the Miami hurricane, the new World Wide Web, a comet colliding with Jupiter, World Trade Center bombing, Unabomber life sentence, and the presidential elections.

In turn, those stories were replaced by Somalia, Bosnia, O.J. and Haiti.

In 1997, the death of Princess Diana, the Hong Kong handover, Pathfinder on Mars, cloning, the Oklahoma City bombing, and Big Tobacco money.

In 1998, start of the swine flu pandemic, California smoking ban

In 1999, JFK Jr. dies in a plane crash, the Clinton impeachment trial, Microsoft monopoly, war over Kosovo, Columbine school shooting, and the Y2k millennium worries.

In 2000, the arrival of the millennium, the dot-com bubble burst, the gun control debate, W elected president.

In 2001, George W. Bush inaugurated, the September 11 attacks, war in Afghanistan, Russian space station falls into the Pacific Ocean, Timothy McVeigh executed, stem cell research.

In 2002, SARS, U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Andrea Yates guilty of drowning her 5 children, the Queen Mother dies, Mars Odyssey finds water ice, American Taliban pleads guilty, Beltway snipers arrested, Department of Homeland Security formed.

In 2003, Iraq disarmament crisis, the war and occupation of Iraq, bird flu, sons of Saddam Hussein killed by U.S. military, The Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island, Human Genome Project completed, Bush "Mission Accomplished" speech, Eric Rudolph captured, Staten Island Ferry crash, last Concorde flight, Green River Killer confesses, mad cow disease in Washington state, Strom Thurmond and Johnny Cash die.

In 2004, the stream of earlier stories were replaced by the Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami, the President's vision of travel to Mars, same-sex marriage, the hanging of American contractors in Iraq, evidence of water on Mars, the Madrid train attack, the Iraq prison abuse scandal, the 9/11 Commission findings, hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, the Olympics in Greece, high gas prices, Fallujah, W re-elected president.

In 2005, George W. Bush inaugurated, Hurricane Katrina, Huygens lands on Titan, Kyoto Protocol, Abu Ghraib prison scandal, non-stop solo flight around the world, BP oil refinery explosion in Texas, Pope John Paul II and Rosa Parks die, Live 8 concerts, Kashmir earthquake, Saddam Hussein trial, first human face transplant.

In 2006, Saddam Hussein hanged, NASA returns dust from a comet, Indonesia earthquake kills 6,000, Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, Pluto downgraded from planet, North Korea's first nuclear test.

In 2007, the Virginia Tech massacre, Live Earth concerts, last harry Potter book, Writers Guild strike, Benazir Bhutto assassinated.

In 2008, $100-a-barrel oil, markets plunge, the Great Recession begins, Fidel Castro resigns, Dmitry Medvedev is president of Russia, Bill Gates retires, first bionic eyes implanted, Beijing Olympics, Barack Obama elected.

In 2009, Obama inaugurated, Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite die, the health care debate, H1N1 flu pandemic, Iranian student riots.

In 2010, Haiti earthquake, Chile earthquake, China earthquake, volcanic ash from Iceland disrupts Europe, Pakistan monsoon, tallest man-made structure opened in Dubai, Poland president killed in airplane crash, actor Tony Curtis dies, Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Wikileaks, North Korea sinks South Korean warship and later shells South Korea, school bullying.

And so on...

ETHICS #1

NPPA CODE OF ETHICS
The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Code of Ethics (HERE) offers nine ethical standards to member journalists. The basic premises of the NPPA's nine standards are:

1. Accurately represent subjects
2. Do not be manipulated by staged photos
3. Avoid bias and stereotyping in work; provide complete information and context
4. Show consideration for subjects
5. Avoid influencing the actions of the photographic subject
6. Editing should not give the wrong impression of the subjects in the photograph
7. Do not compensate persons involved in photographs or in getting a photograph
8. Do not accept gifts or other favors from those involved in a photo
9. Do not purposely interfere with the work of other journalists

These guidelines provide a framework for not only members of the NPPA, but for other photojournalists as well. In addition to the nine standards, a preamble and seven ideals are also outlined in the code, which further explain the NPPA's expectations regarding ethical photojournalistic reporting.

SITUATIONS IN PHOTOJOURNALISM ETHICS
Though the list of ethics from the NPPA listed above may seem clear-cut, it can become difficult to decide where to draw the line. Every situation is different, and the answer may not be as obvious as it may seem.

Each newspaper, news group or press association you may belong to as a photographer may have its own rules and regulations regarding ethics in photojournalism. If you want to become a photojournalist, it is important to understand how ethics play in your role in reporting the news.

PHOTO EDITING
The point at which editing becomes an ethics violation is a fine line. For instance, the NPPA took both an artistic edit and a montage edit to task in 2006 (Details HERE). In one instance, the photograph's colors were altered to create a more stunning visual. In the other, two photographs were fused together to create a photo that never really took place. Although the second incident is clearly an ethical violation, the first is not quite as clear, because it was color manipulation. Yet both are breaches of ethics, because they alter the way the events actually looked.

Similarly, the altered photograph of Iowan septuplet mom Bobbi McCaughey that appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1997 drew much criticism for appearing to have straightened her teeth. Photojournalists need to take care that when they edit photographs, they do it for technical issues and not for the purpose of altering the actual image.

PHOTO CONTEXT
Explaining the context of the photograph is just as important as taking an accurate photo and presenting it with as few edits as possible. Celebrity gossip magazines and paparazzi are frequently accused of manipulating context of photographs. Hypothetically, a photographer could capture two stars standing near each other, appearing to smile at one another. However, the context of the photo may be that each celebrity is smiling at someone who is off camera. Presentation of the photo as "Celebrity X and Celebrity Y greet each other" would be misrepresenting the context of the photograph, and therefore be considered an ethical violation.

PRIVACY AND VIOLENCE IN PHOTOGRAPHS
Figuring out where to draw the line when it comes to the privacy of the public, especially in violent or emotional situations, is often difficult for photojournalists. Camping outside a private citizen's home just to get a shot of a returning disabled veteran from war is often considered a privacy intrusion, whereas photographing the solider returning home at a public celebration is not. Similarly, shooting ambulances racing to the scene of an accident, or passenger-free wreckage is usually considered necessary for a story. However, images of injured victims should be carefully reviewed before publication.

AVOID ETHICS VIOLATIONS
Photographic tampering and ethical violations have been around almost as long as the camera itself. The history of photojournalism includes many examples of ethical breaches. Learn about famous digitally altered photos HERE. Photos discussed include the famous President Lincoln photo, a photograph of Adolf Hitler and that of a National Geographic cover featuring Egyptian pyramids, among others.

The best way to avoid an ethics violation is to uphold truth in photojournalism. If you want to manipulate image colors or a subject's look, make sure the caption indicates that the image is a "photo illustration" or "artistic interpretation." Similarly, label stock images as such and make sure you note whether a photo was staged.

Taking a photojournalism ethics class is another excellent way to avoid breaching ethics. If you ever have a question regarding a photo you want to use, bring it to the attention of your editor, supervisor or boss.

A good rule to follow when it comes to truth in photojournalism is one of several espoused in the Society for Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics: Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations. By following this rule and those of the NPPA, photojournalists should be able to avoid most ethics violations. The full Code of Ethics can be found (HERE). Photojournalism ethics is a topic that should stay in the forefront of every photographer's mind when he or she snaps a photo and presents it as the truth.