Friday, January 13, 2006
Seeing violence through the camera’s eye
Seeing violence through the camera’s eye
By Tshireletso Motlogelwa
MmegiPublished: 1/13/12006
Excerpt:
Al
Tompkins, a writer on the Poynter Online Website, a respected
professional resource center for media practitioners, explains that
editorial policies are the reason why two different papers could report
the same event differently:
During
the height of the second Gulf War the United States Department of
Defence released two portraits of Qusay and Uday Hussein, the sons of
deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
They were extremely graphic images showing the two men just after they were shot dead by American troops.
While
some papers had the mangled faces of the two men on their front page in
full colour, other newspapers were more discrete and either tweaked
them or moved them to the inside with a warning note on the front page.
“News
organizations were making tough calls…on how to treat them. The
decision about whether, how and where to air/publish the images should
be the result of thoughtful newsroom discussions, not quick
gut-reactions to disturbing photographs,” he advises.
Another
journalist, Bob Steele, advises, “A decision of this nature demands that
newsroom leaders pay attention to their guiding principles and apply a
sound, thoughtful process. Bring a number of voices into the
conversation including, contrarians.”
More of this article...
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