DB 9: Photojournalism

Photojournalism

Here is the link for my research on Photo Journalism Shooting the truth at Magnum Photo Timelines.

The Cuban Revolution

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/revolution

Cuban Revolution

Questions

- What's the role of photo journalism?

- Are there rules that photojournalists should follow? Why? Why not?

- Is the ethics of taking journalistic photos different than the ethics of writing a news story?

- What's the impact of altering press photographs? Should they be edited (at all) in postproduction?

Answers 

Cases of Photography and journalism going hand in hand is like any other form of journalism; where the truth about the situation or story of subject is being explored. By the use of photography in journalism gives the viewer or reader a visual idea of what the subject actually depicts. A photographic version of a written documentation is a valuable asset for journalism and this is were its role comes in: To convey the message or story that a journaled written or audio format is trying to convey by capturing the truth of moment visually.

Trust is the major rule which is very important and ethical. Persons in the photographs or the people who are involved in documented scenes should be able to trust that the photographer is going to use the photographs to represent factual information or the actual event.

The ethics of taking journalistic photos are very slightly different than ethics of writing a news story. Slightly because they are highly similar but are different in the sense of trust like I said above. The photographer would need the permission of the persons involved in the scene or composition in order to portray the documentation to the public. However in cases where the public is involve for example the Cuban revolution, there is no need to get permission.

In this current day it is vital to edit photographs regardless of the situation, this is for enhancing the quality or making certain important aspects of the photograph stand out from others. How ever altering the photographs can be negative if they are exaggerated too much or completely changed to alter the story itself and bring about a false image.