Photojournalism Ethics (Revisited)

Some examples in photojournalism ethics are a little clearer than others. Here's one currently in the news.

A recent photograph (taken by Larry Downing of Reuters) was used on the cover of the Economist (link).

The cover is a picture of Obama by himself, looking distraught, with an oil rig as a background. However, the original picture has Obama alongside two others (Charlotte Randolph and Thad Allen), where the three look to be engaged in a conversation.

Here are comments Emma Duncan, editor of the magazine, made to the NY Times.

"We removed her not to make a political point, but because the presence of an unknown woman would have been puzzling to readers." She also added, "I asked for Ms. Randolph to be removed because I wanted readers to focus on Mr. Obama, not because I wanted to make him look isolated."


Intentional or not, the meaning of the photo was changed as a result of their edit. It's a false representation of scene as the photographer saw it.


Here's another example of a doctored magazine cover.

-Daniel