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Summary Of Taste In Photojournalism

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In the case “Taste in Photojournalism”, the ethical question is whether the Bakersfield Californian should have published the photo or not. The editor of the paper, Robert Bentley, felt the need to run the emotional picture to remind parents to watch their children at the lake and that tragic drowning accidents still happen. This case addresses the ethical issue of right to privacy of the grieving family versus the paper's right to publish such a shocking photo. Kant’s formula of humanity should be applied as we should treat people always as an end in oneself and never merely as a means. Publishing the picture was ethically wrong, therefore; Harte and Bentley should have thought about the consequences from taking a photo and publishing such …show more content…

Harte should have thought about how intimate and personal the photo was and what the outcomes could have been if he did published the photo. For example, he should have went through Bryant’s checklist which askes, “Should this moment be made public, will being photographed send the subjects into further trauma, am I at the least obtrusive distance possible, and am I acting with compassion and sensitivity(Patterson, Wilkins 190)?”. The video journalist made the decision not to shoot because they knew it was not right. It was a private moment for the family. He should have known that nothing good could come from publishing the photo. Instead he regretting publishing the photo after it was published. Another problem in this case is that the family is now always reminded that they were at fault for the boy’s death because they were not keeping a close on eye on him. The community knows the family from the paper and they will never forget what happen, which was the goal for the editor, but Bentley did not think about what the impact of the picture would do to the family. In the book, it states, “The …show more content…

The editor and the photographer should have put themselves in the family's position. Another ethical issue was running the picture because of the fact that that was Bentley’s idea of getting of a message out to the public about the danger of the lake and make a point that drownings happen too often in that area was necessary and newsworthy. Did the picture have to be in the story to get the point and could they have used another picture? It was out in the public, so they were allowed to take pictures and record what was happening, but the photojournalists and video journalists should ask the family if they could use the picture because they have right to know regarding how the picture is used. Journalist and the paper are at risk because running a photo that people disagree with could put the photojournalist’s job at risk and make people not read their paper anymore and in this case they lost about 40

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