Photojournalism In Modern Media

Morality and Quality There is certain controversy between quality and morality. At least, it seems to be the case in photojournalism in the modern media. With advanced technology, photographers have the ability to produce better pictures which fulfill the professional standards perfectly. However, these pictures are not necessarily humane or ethical, especially when these photos touch death. Stanley Forman captured a breathtaking picture of a woman who was falling to her death in the Boston fire with his motor-driven camera. Despite the accuracy of the record, Forman’s photograph excelled in no other aspects; thus, the motivation to publish the photograph was a violation of morality. The use of cheap sensationalism hyped the woman’s death …show more content…
Fire could take place anywhere- in any community all over the world. It was not unusual. The accident that the woman got killed in the Boston fire was not at a global scale, and therefore not “national news” (Ephron). However, from Washington to Chicago, “more than four hundred newspapers in the United States alone” carried the photograph, and put the report in either an eye-catching position or significant amount of columns (Ephron). Though the incident did not affect other lives or shake the foundation of the society, the presses chose to print the sensational “death in action” picture to attract readers’ attention (Ephron). In this way, the sensationalism of the presses also disrespected the privacy of the woman. The agonal moment of the woman should belong to herself or her family. The publication would result in another traumatic wound in the hearts of her family and friends when they were forced to see the death action again, knowing that the private agony was publicly shared. It was analogous to the event happened last year: a girl was thrown off on the ground in San Francisco while the plane crashed. An article was written about that the girl died when an ambulance rushed over her. Later, a video was uploaded online and circled the girl at the moment she was killed under the wheels of the ambulance. It was utterly cruel to post the video, and …show more content…
If there is no moral purpose or action existing behind the pictures, printing them wil rise “all sorts of problems about taste and titilllation and sensationalsim” (Ephron). Kevin Carter took the most famous photo of a child and a vulture: the child fainted on the ground because of hunger and the vulture was waiting to eat him. The photo was disturbing and shocking, and like Forman, Carter won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo. Similarly, Carter did nothing for the child because he was the observer after all. He was attacked in all the criticism for his lack of action and inhumanity. However, it does not mean that death pictures should be censored. If the photographs become revelation of the darkness of the society, they should be published. People tend to turn their back on certain immoral aspects especially when they conciously or unconciously participate in those. Because of the direct impression photojournalism makes on the readers, it is much “more powerful than written journalism” to cause a major reflection (Ephron). For instance, when the whole Europe was celebrating the inhumane wealth they robbed from Congo, Africa, Alice Harris’ photos of the “harvest of hands” shocked the Europeans and led to the free of colonies, and the freedom of mankind. War pictures have similar effects and are important to be published. These photographs, though brutal, are justified because