We may be in a death-struggle but the end is worth fighting for. Real photos can change the hearts and minds of the people. Real photographs can change how we view war and how we view or society. Vietnam is a prime example. Two photos sum up that war: the Nick Ut photo of the girl burned by napalm running naked down the street and the Eddie Adams photo of the man being executed on the streets of Saigon. These photos changed how we perceived that war. They are powerful and they get their power from the fact that they are real Moments captured for all time on film.
No one has the right to change these photos or the content of any documentary photo. It is our obligation to history to make sure this does not happen.
John Long
NPPA Ethics Co-Chair and Past President
September 1999
Selected Booklist to accompany "Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography."
National Press Photographers Association publications:
All can be purchased online or obtained from the National Press Photographers Association, 3200 Croasdaile Dr., suite 306, Durham, N. C. 27705 (phone 919-383-7246)
