Independent and ethical publishing

Orthodox Jewish paper apologises for Hillary Clinton deletion, this article had attracted public attentions as this photo involved the president of United States, Barack Obama, and his staff though The White house had no comment on the removal of the women from the photo. The article illustrates that the photo published by an Orthodox Jewish newspaper had deleted the images of two women from the original photo. They explained that women’s images should not be published as women should be appreciated and this action is a kind of respect for women. Anyway, The White House which issued the photo had no any reply to this altered picture.

Photojournalism is a type of journalism that using picture to tell a story, so the pictures have to be independent and true (Smith, 2011). Schriver (1997) indicated that pictures are very important in publishing as they can improve the understanding of the readers. In addition, Schriver (1997) highlighted that all the verbal and visual examples have to be selected carefully because the examples will help to increase the trustworthy.

I believe that every country or organization has different ethics and principles in publishing news or photos but I think that removing or editing the photo without the owner’s authority is unfair and it is plagiarized. There is a news article from The Editors Weblog stating that it is fair use of work even though reposting the article in its entirely and without the owner’s authority, but I think that respect and act independently are important to journalists.

According to Society of Professional Journalists (USA), journalists should act independently for example free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s rights to know. Additionally, ethical journalists should treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect.

Hence, publishing some altered picture which containing wrong information is an unrespected action in journalism. It not only involves copyrighted and authority problems, but also against the principles of ethical publishing.

References:

Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design, Wiley Computer Pub, New York.

Smith, S.E n.d, What is Photojournalism?, wisegeek, viewed 13rd November 2011, <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-photojournalism.htm >

SPJ Code of Ethics 1996, Society of Professional Journalists, viewed 13rd November 2011, <http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp >