The ethical debate within codes of ethics that journalists refer to when acknowledging the potential consequence of publishing disturbing or graphic images within the public is a controversial subject.
A set of guidelines compliments whether an image is ethical. As the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) offer these guidelines and codes. However, they do not explicitly deal with disturbing or graphic images. Standard nine in MEAA’s code of ethics is the closest code that deals with images, as journalists must ‘present pictures and sound which are true and accurate.’ The guideline is open to interpretation implying that journalists can push the limits of what is acceptable as seen in the example from Panos Pictures, for Unicef in 2017. As an Australian photographer, Patrick Brown had taken the photograph of “Rohingya Crisis”, where the dead bodies of Rohingya refugees were laid out after the boat in which they were trying to escape Myanmar capsized approximately eight kilometres off Inani Beach, close to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. 17 out of the 100 individuals survived from the boat capsizing. Brown expressed that ‘I didn’t want to shock people – I wanted to grab them by the heart and make them think.’ The image is quite graphic, but it makes it controversial, as it not only challenges the notion of presenting ‘true and accurate’ images, but it also pushes the respect of ethical considerations for audiences. It is for this very reason that codes only serve as an arbitrary guideline. However, Brown’s statement holds true as the image of death makes the public consider the informational meaning of the photograph and why it was published. Brown also expressed that ‘this photo is really important to me because people need to know that this is happening on the other side of the world.’ This example of graphic imagery complements MEAA’s clause that ‘basic values often need interpretation and sometimes come into conflict. Ethical journalism requires conscientious decision-making in context’. This clause presents Brown as the ‘decision-maker’ as he decided if his image was worth publishing to the public, making Brown responsible for the interpretation of his graphic image.
(World Press Photo of the Year Nominee and General News, first prize singles winner 2018, ‘Rohingya Crisis’ by Patrick Brown).
If the MEAA’s codes of ethics do not suffice, then the philosophical theories of ‘social responsibility’, with relation to the liberal social contract formed by Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm in their book ‘Four theories of the press’ further the ethical debate. As the liberal social contract suggests two principles of professional codes of ethics, which are ‘’proactive’’ and ‘’restraining’’ which were formed for more specificities within ethical considerations for journalists. In the handbook of journalism studies, Karin W Jorgensen and Thomas Hanitzsch refer to the theory and define the proactive principle as ‘seeking the truth and report on it independently’, and for the ‘restraining principle’, it is to ‘minimise harm to vulnerable subjects of stories’. However, the professional theory leaves some grey areas as to what the public norms are within journalism. So, the social responsibility theory clears that issue by ‘encouraging total freedom to press and no censorship’. Which John Taylor referenced and expressed in his book Body Horror: Photojournalism, Catastrophe and War, that if an image provides more positive effects than adverse within a story, it is ethically sound to publish. The argument was furthered within the book the new ethics of journalism, were Kelly McBride expressed that journalist should not discard a graphic image or story, but instead display the content in a way that “minimizes harm” without withholding information that the public needs to know. However, these theories do not focus on the principle of “objectivity” valued among journalism profession. However, taking a photo as seen in the World Press Photo of year winner Ronaldo Schmidt’s image of the ‘Venezuela Crisis’ in 2017. Where Schmidt captured the image of José Balza aged 28 catch fire among the brutal protest with riot law enforcement concurrent a revolt towards President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Ethically it is worrying that the subject suffered third-degree burns and that Schmidt won the photo of the year, but in this case, this is ethically sound as Schmidt subject was unaware of his subject matter. Therefore, Schmidt was unable to help his subject instead of taking the image. However, despite criticisms by readers Schmidt stated that “I started taking pictures without knowing what I was photographing. It was only after a few seconds that I realized that someone was burning”. These theories compliment the MEAA’s codes of ethics, but the examples used present the stance that journalists decide which principles have priority within publishing to the public.
(World Press Photo of the Year 2018, ‘Venezuela Crisis’ by Ronaldo Schemidt).