Chapter 8: Picture This: The Ethics of Photo and Video Journalism

One of the earliest notion's of privacy was having one's image "stolen." This led to the law on the unwarranted use of one's image. Images have faces and intimacy that words can't quite offer.

In class we discussed how images can affect the reader politically and in forming views. In one of the first class periods we looked at a picture of two girls falling to ultimately their deaths (or a coma) and it was miraculously caught on film. There is an ethical issue surrounding if that image is fit for print. We also talked about the photographs of mothers picking up their children from Sandy Hook elementary school after the shooting and whether or not their grief should be displayed in that manner for public shock.

In today's age, everyone is a photographer and instagram is their paintbrush. I can relate this back to the privacy chapter in which we delved into Facebook and it's ability to recognize our face and match with social security numbers in some instances. In most circumstances we are just trying to protect our image from google and future employers, and doing all that we can to untag pictures of ourselves from the weekend.

One of my friends once asked me something I will never forget...."I wonder how many strangers photographs I am in?" When she asked this I laughed and immediately thought of trips I made with my family to the Grand Canyon or photos outside church on Easter and the people that are in the background. These were all photos that had been printed out and in our scrapbooks, now they are digital and uploaded online and become less intimate in some ways.

In our book, Goffman claims that people have territories that they have a right to control. This includes the right to personal space free from intrusion and the right to preserve one's information such as their emotions from the public. We see celebrities always having their images manipulated and skewed to fit an angle of a story. Justin Bieber has recently been portrayed as a "thug" or bad kid and the media is zooming in on that aspect. Photojournalism also is intrusive to the general public and violates Goffman's sense of self.

The line that we draw for what is an artistic photograph and what is an invasion of privacy blurs because every photo is so different and we can't make rules for photographs that haven't been taken yet.
Our book says that the line should be drawn in the newsroom and not at the scene. In class we watched a brief clip of a boy who had been hit by a car crossing the street and it showed a body (although covered) and his aunt/relative crying at the scene. News is updated so quickly now and through multimedia outlets that are giving less control of the quality of the news that is being published. I feel that I see much more apologies from stations and editors in print now then I ever have.

This subject applies to everyone, because we are all vulnerable to being photographed and having our image manipulated. Just as we are mindful in how we speak, we should be more aware of how we are behaving in public as well. It's not ideal to be under surveillance and always at risk of being used for photojournalism material but it's better to know your rights and your environment for the best outcome.

"A film is never good until the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." -Orson Wells

Chapter 7: Media Economics: The Deadline Meets the Bottom Line

The social responsibility calls for five functions for the media to have in society.

Power is now found throughout media and its organizations with the gatekeepers that hold information. The social responsibility theory does not deal with the realities of economic power, which is a huge problem since the media is mainly corporate owned and publicly traded with profitable corporations. Mass media is so powerful that we naturally should question it's intentions when providing us with information. Our book mentions "can the watchdog be trusted when it is inexorably entwined with the institutions it is watching?" which really helps frame the dilemma that our media and its consumers are faced with.

I don't think it's wrong for the media to be prioritizing in hopes of gaining profits, I think that is a natural instinct of anyone with a job. We now have an overwhelming amount of data to sift through and finding credible sources isn't as easy as it should be. The internet has created more competition and more voices that are loaded with information.

As profit in fragmented media market declines, profit declines as well.

I am a fashion blogger so this is a topic that hits close to home for me. I treat my blog like a business and interact with my audience. I want my blog to be focused on quality of content, which our book discusses as something that is rare to come across now. Journalists want to get the newest information out first and skip over details that we once had more time and control over.

T.V is coming to the point where we may only be hearing and seeing one huge conglomerate view. We are losing our ability to view other opinions and types of programming because the same conglomerations are making the decisions. However I do think that there is now the advent of blogging and hearing everyone's opinion, which can be hard to ignore. I prefer blogs because of their honesty (or so I'd like to hope) but I can use my own knowledge and get an understanding of the blogger's intentions and credibility. I think blogging will be much more mainstream and used for advertising.

Chapter 6

I have trouble reading anything about politics. The language and material both bore me which isn't something I'm proud of. I have watched The Colbert Report and sort of laughed at what he talks about, but a lot of late night comedians talk about the news, which I don't keep up on.
Bruce Williams came up with a 4 part test to see if information has political relevance:
1. Is the info useful
2. Is the info sufficient
3. Is the info trustworthy
4. Who is the audience.

These are all great things to consider when creating and reading any type of news story or even blog post.

Our book discusses the process of getting elected and that advertisement plays a huge role in how we determine our candidate. The commercials in their campaigns give us a brief bit of exposure on the candidates political views but the ads are not always distributed equally. Much of the stories on ads will come from a news outlet. Candidates can now have websites and advertise online which will let their views be heard by all of the states, not just the battleground ones.

I don't watch a lot of television, so if I was voting I would get most of my information online or from word of mouth. I have seen advertisements on T.V where one candidate is attacking another. I think that does not look respectful and there are other ways to call attention to your candidacy.Political advertising should be factual and rational based on the candidate who is advertising- I think they should leave their competition out of their advertisements.

It is hard to create a relationship with a presidential leader and put trust in him/her if we don't get a grasp on their whole story. Candidates moves and words are scripted while they are running their campaign  and they become a spectacle themselves.