Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography
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."
- Paul Lester, Photojournalism, An Ethical Approach, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, publishers; Hillsdale, N. J. (published 1991)
- Fred Ritchin, In Our Own Image, Aperture Press, 20 East 23 rd St., New York, N.Y. 10010 (published 1990)
- Dave LaBelle, Lessons in Life and Death, Dave LaBelle, P.O. Box 906, Blackshear, GA 31516 (published privately 1993)
- William J. Mitchell, The Reconfigured Eye, Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (published 1992)
- Jay Black, Bob Steele, Ralph Barney, Doing Ethics in Journalism, Society of Professional Journalists, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, second edition (published 1995)
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)
- Protocol, an NPPA paper, (published 1991)
- The Ethics of Photojournalism, an NPPA paper, (published 1990)
- Police / Media Relations and Victims' Rights, an NPPA paper
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