Embedded Journalists

Paper Summary:

This paper examines some of the issues concerning the ethics of photography and photojournalism. It uses as an example a front-page photograph from the "Los Angeles Times" showing a British soldier directing Iraqi civilians to take cover from Iraqi fire, which turned out to be a fake, a digital composite created by photographer, Brian Walski ,using photo-altering software. It looks at how, although the Walski photograph may have been altered with good intentions to better convey the "essence" of the war in Iraq, Walski acted unethically and violated several tenets of photojournalism. It argues how readers need to be able to trust that their photographs show what actually happened to form their own ideas and how breaching that trust only serves to make the public suspicious of all war reports, to the detriment of the entire news profession.

From the Paper:

"Walski's alterations differ from the Time Magazine and the Newsday photographs in another important respect. A look at past photographs from war coverage reveals how news photographs have tremendous power to influence public perceptions regarding the war. The image of the Vietnamese girl running naked after her village was bombed with napalm and the picture of the South Vietnamese police commander shooting a VietCong prisoner in the head have contributed to protests against the Vietnam War. In a more recent example, for many people, the photograph of young Elian Gonzalez cringing from an armed immigration agent gave the situation an air of menace (Frank 2003)."

More papers on Embedded Journalists:

• Argumentative Essay # 54415 : "Wartime Embedded Journalists"
• Analytical Essay # 67206 : "The Mass Media and the Iraq War"
• Comparison Essay # 111811 : "Iraqi War and Terrorism"

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