Thursday, April 21, 2011

Discussion Post 9 - Photojournalism

Photojournalism has the same role as journalism itself does - it should be telling a factual news story to the person that is reading the story or viewing the photograph. I agree with the original blog post that it should be used to tell a story, but a factual one, one that is representative of true events.

The original group's blog post was very true in saying that photos used for journalism purposes should not be altered or changed. They are not there to convey a message other than what has actually happened at that moment. It is not an artistic message or feeling - it is the message or feeling that the factual story should evoke. The rules that should govern photojournalism should be the same as those that govern journalism - unaltered, true facts and images should be given to the viewer. The ethics of writing a news story and of taking a news-related photo are the same - they should remain unaltered. In this sense I disagree with the original blog post.

The only altering that should be done is possibly lighting or to fix any sort of blurry subject matter. Purely editorial changes should be made, nothing that will alter what the actual subject or message of the photo is.

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