News can be defined as the report and information that was published by the publishers to make the public aware of the current and real issues happening around the world without doing any untruthful report. According to The National Press Photographers Association Code of Ethics, a set of rules have been implemented by the government to govern the ethical codes of publication. In particular, the primary goal for photojournalist is to publish faithful and reliable news (cited in Bersak 2006). It is incredibly unethical for the news agency to conceal the truth from the public by manipulating sham news and photos that were posted in any media. However, in today's world, doctoring images like photoshop is very easy which can be carried out by anyone. This has clearly contributed to the rise of violation in the publication ethical codes day by day. According to Steward (2011), image can be used to interpret the message to be delivered by the advertisers. Therefore, publishers should not alter or modify the real feature of the image as this could be regarded as an act of manipulating that breaches the principle of ethics.
(Source From: Bracht, F. 2011, http://www.gizmodo.com.br/aprenda-o-basico-de-photoshop-em-menos-de-25-minutos/)
For example, the pictures of Kim Jong-II's funeral that were reported by the North Korea's states news agency have been verified by the New York Times that those funeral pictures were photoshop by the publisher so as to make their military line to look more defined. Such action has clearly violated the ethics of publishing and the ethic codes of media. Furthermore, this media ethic issue has been widely criticized by the world-wide news agency and the European Pressphoto Agency as it has ruined the code of ethics of EPA. According to Ward (2011, p.194), manipulating images can cause the issue that violate the ethics code, as it would convey fictitious story to the readers/viewers by misleading them.
(Source: Fenton, R.2012, http://news92fm.com/80102/north-korea-restored-order-to-kim-funeral-with-photoshop/)
Conclusion, it is crucial for media to publish true news and images to the viewers. Ethic is highly regarded by the press and media agency. Hence, doctoring photo is considered as unethical by hiding the truth from the public and misleading the viewers.
(350 words)
Reference:
Cited in- Bersak, D.R. 2006, 'Ethics in Photojournalism: Past, Present, Future', S.B. Comparative Media Studies & Electrical Engineering/Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Viewed 5th June 2012,
Steward, C.N. 2011, 'Research Ethics for Scientists: A Comparison for Students', John Wiley & Sons, UK. Viewed 4th June 2012,
Ward, S.J.A. 2011, 'Ethics and the Media: An Introduction', Cambridge University Press, UK. Viewed 5th June 2012,
No comments:
Post a Comment