"Professionals, academics and students owe it to their readers to be sensitive to unethical practices that demean the profession and reduce the credibility of journalism." Lester, Paul. Photojournalism Ethics timeless Issue. 1995. Web. <http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/photoethics.html>.
The movie, Roman Holiday depicts a news reporter who befriends a Princess who is out and about in public as a normal person. Princess Anne, played by Audrey Hepburn decides to escape her royal duties and wants to live life like any normal citizen. She wants to experience life like never before and in her adventure she meets a reporter that decides to make it into an exclusive story without her knowing. He brings a photographer friend to snap photos of her without her knowledge and hopefully benefit from the exclusivity of it. The comment made was, "she's fair game" and that is where the argument lies. Is it because she is in public that she's fair game? Is it because she's a public figure that entitles us to know more than we should? Do individuals who carry a higher social status have a greater right to privacy than the "common" person? This argument goes back to what Ron Galella and Jackie Kennedy went to the Supreme Court for. Is someone who is oblivious to the fact that their personal behavior in public is being photographed a victim of society's need for pointless information? Society is so impatient, so intrusive that it has been groomed to expect more and more from our "news" sources. Web forums are full of arguments the defend both sides of the argument and no one can really decide which side is right or wrong, "celebrities privacy ." . N.p., 07/2. Web. 29 Feb 2012. <http://debates.juggle.com/should-celebrities-be-more-protected-from-the-media>. The end result of all this is that we as photographers have to draw our own moral compass and decide if we want to profit from intruding on someones personal life. I choose to make my money a different way.
No comments:
Post a Comment