Ethics of Spot News Photography

Paper Summary:

This paper examines an ethical decision behind news judgment and news photography. It explains the ethical decision using the concepts of duty, moral and non-moral values, and bases the argument on egoism.

From the Paper:

"In July of 2001, Scott McDonald, photographer for the Times Recorder in Zanesville, Ohio happened upon a photograph that presented he and his editor-in-chief, Marisa Porto, with an ethical dilemma. In the rural outskirts of the city, a fire was reported at a home. Although the paper rarely prints such spot news, McDonald came upon a gut-wrenching scene that made this incident stand out. The owner of the home was safe on the lawn but his daughter, Jennifer, 4, was still trapped inside. McDonald captured a photo of two volunteer firefighters struggling to hold the screaming father back from running into the burning home. Because of a police line, the other photos at the scene were taken from too far away from the fire to be usable for print."

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