Visual Ethics: A Guide for Photographers, Journalists, and Media Makers [2 ed.] 1032151900, 9781032151908

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VISUAL ETHICS

An indispensable guide to visual ethics, this book addresses the need for critical thinking and ethical behavior among students and professionals responsible for a variety of mass media visual messages. Written for an ever-growing discipline, authors Paul Martin Lester, Stephanie A. Martin, and Martin Smith-Rodden give serious ethical consideration to the complex feld of visual communication. The book covers the defnitions and uses of six philosophies, analytical methods, cultural awareness, visual reporting, documentary, citizen journalists, advertising, public relations, typography, graphic design, data visualizations, cartoons, motion pictures, television, computers, the web, augmented and virtual reality, social media, the editing process, and the need for empathy. At the end of each chapter are case studies for further analysis and interviews with thoughtful practitioners in each feld of study, including Steven Heller and Nigel Holmes. This second edition has also been fully revised and updated throughout to refect on the impact of new and emerging technologies. This book is an important resource for students of photojournalism, photography, flmmaking, media and communication, and visual communication, as well as professionals working in these felds. Paul Martin Lester is Professor of Instruction in the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. More information can be found at: http://paulmartinlester.info. Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin is Associate Professor of Political Communication at Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. She has written or edited three books, most prominently Decoding the Digital Church: Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump (2021). Her research has been published in top journals including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric and Public Afairs, and Visual Communication Quarterly. Martin Smith-Rodden  is Assistant Professor in the  School  of  Journalism  and Strategic Communication at Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana). He was a professional visual journalist for 35 years including at The Virginian-Pilot. Much of his research focuses on twenty-frst-century skills for visual storytelling, including media efects and development of evidence-based practices, topics in visual ethics, diversity, and inclusion in the feld, as well as solutions-based and advocacy photojournalism.

VISUAL ETHICS A Guide for Photographers, Journalists, and Media Makers Second Edition

Paul Martin Lester, Stephanie A. Martin, and Martin Smith-Rodden

Cover image: © Paul Martin Lester Second edition published 2022 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Paul Martin Lester, Stephanie A. Martin, and Martin Smith-Rodden The right of Paul Martin Lester, Stephanie A. Martin, and Martin SmithRodden to be identifed as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2018 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-032-15212-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-15190-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-24304-5 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045 Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface: Welcome to Your Personal Visual Ethics Journey Biographies and Acknowledgments

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1 Philosophical Underpinnings for Visual Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 10 Interview with Dr. Matthew J. Brown, Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas at Dallas 11

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2 Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 20 Interview with Dr. Tom Brislin, Retired Associate Dean, University of Hawai’i Mañoa 22

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3 Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 31 Interview with Greg Constantine, Documentary Photographer

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4 Visual Reporting Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 42 Interview with Denis Paquin, the Associated Press’ Deputy Director of Photography for Global and Sports Operations 43

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5 Documentary Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 53 Interviews with Nick Oza, the Arizona Republic and Stephen Katz, the Virginia-Pilot 54

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6 The Ethics of Citizen Journalists Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 68 Interviews with Journalists Jim Collins and Emmanuelle Saliba

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7 Advertising Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 80 Interview with Dr. Johnny Sparks, Advertising Researcher, Media Psychologist, and Educator, Ball State University 81

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8 Public Relations Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 90 Interview with Lisa Lange, Senior Vice President of Communications, PETA 92

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9 Typography Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 101 Interview with Steven Heller, Author, Designer, and Educator

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10 Graphic Design Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 111 Interview With Sandra Eisert, Graphic Designer 113

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11 Data Visualization Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 122 Interview with Nigel Holmes, Former Graphic Director for Time magazine, Freelance Designer, Lecturer, and Writer 124

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12 Cartoon Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 136 Interview with Jenny E. Robb, Curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University 138

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13 Screened Media Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 149 Interview with Ross Taylor, Photojournalist, Filmmaker, Author, and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado 151

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14 Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 160 Interview with Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller, Healium

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15 Social Media Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 177 Interview with Beth Nakamura, Emmy Award-Winning Visual Reporter 178

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16 Editing Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 187 Interview with Judy Walgren, Photojournalist, Editor, Producer, Editorial Director, and Professor of Practice at Michigan State University 189 Conclusion Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills 199 Interview with the Reverend Kenny Irby, an Afliate of the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg Florida and a media consultant 201 References Index

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FOREWORD Paul Martin Lester

Visual ethics is, of course, the reason why this book was written, but its hidden agenda is more complex. Oh sure, since the frst edition there have been several major news events that require an update—COVID-19 with its variants and vaccine deniers, global climate change environmental disasters, the rise of the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements, Donald Trump defeated by Joe Biden, the January 6 terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol, political splits in electorates throughout the world, and the dominance of social media—all provide plenty of positive and negative examples for a book about visual ethics. However, the ethical issues related to collecting, processing, and presenting visual messages in all manner of media for a seemingly unlimited number of purposes are important and, quite frankly, overdue, the actual purpose of this work, as before, is to teach critical thinking. Through practice using a ten-step Systematic Ethical Analysis (SEA) for how to best analyze ethical slights of the past and the present, you should learn how to respond in positive ways to dilemmas presented to you in the future—both professional and personal. Your goal with the SEA is to move from a gut-feeling, highly individualized, short-term, and subjective reaction to a rational, collective, long-term, and less subjective outcome. That way, you should conclude that any dilemma does not have one correct and one wrong solution. The SEA is designed to get you neck-deep in the murky waters of a tricky situation and realize that there are several types of boats—from a homemade raft to a Bahama-bound cruise ship—that will get you safely to shore. (How’s that for a salient metaphor?) In other words, there are many viable and positive alternatives to a dilemma that can be imagined after some careful consideration and a little creativity. The chapters include discussions on important media issues from advertising to virtual reality. The main topics addressed in this book include credibility, objectivity, role-related responsibilities, values, loyalties, etiquette, empathy, praiseworthy and blameworthy behavior, and yes, a little bit about visual communication and, okay, ethics. More specifcally, the seventeen chapters address the following subjects.

Chapter 1: Philosophical Underpinnings for Visual Ethics This chapter explains the six ethical philosophies most used—whether consciously or through innocence—by mass communicators to justify or criticize an action. In chronological order they are golden rule, hedonism, golden mean, categorial imperative, utilitarianism, and the veil of

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ignorance. Each one has a history, authors, advocates, and examples that will guide you when analyzing case studies. The late great Italian philosopher, artist, and scientist, Leonardo DaVinci once wrote, as I  recall, “Whomever loves practice without a philosophy is like a sailor who boards a ship without a rudder and compass.” I suppose kayakers are exempt. An interview with a live philosophy professor, Dr. Matt Brown, will help steer us away from the jagged rocks and turbulent waters whenever the word “philosophy” is mentioned and toward the soothing, warm pool of intellectual satisfaction (Don’t like strained metaphors? Breathe. Relax. Get over it).

Chapter 2: Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures Whether an evaluation system has two, three, four, six, eight, or ten items, the result should be the same—behavior that is considered ethical should satisfy an actor’s role-related responsibilities and not cause unjustifed harm. In addition, a primary purpose of an analytical procedure is to develop acceptable alternatives to an action described within a case study. A brief chat with the responsible Dr. Tom Brislin will aid our ethical growth.

Chapter 3: Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics Any visual media producer who works with individuals from another culture should be aware of and sensitive to the unique history and experiences of those who are a part of a story. Before starting a project, it is vital to conduct research, get consent, and decide on the emphasis for the story. During image production, be humble, but not aloof. Finally, when editing the visual messages, be authentic to the various individuals and situations, do not stereotype, and carefully choose the words that help explain the story. Greg Constantine, a documentary photographer, has traveled the world working with NGOs. His thoughtful insights and advice should be appreciated and heeded.

Chapter 4: Visual Reporter Ethics For more than 100 years, still camera photographers for print and those with moving flm and video cameras for movie theater newsreels and later, television, were separated by their diferent techniques, experiences, procedures, and presentation media. With the advent of digital materials, the line in the sand between photojournalists and videographers has been smoothed. Equipment makes it possible for both traditional professionals to record still and moving images. Hence the combined term, “visual reporter.” This chapter explores the long history of visual reporting as well as current examples that conclude with an interview with the Associated Press’ Deputy Director of Photography for Global and Sports Operations, Denis Paquin.

Chapter 5: Documentary Ethics As living, thinking humans, we all have opinions. A common myth probably propagated by the ways documentary photography and flmmaking was taught by old-school educators is that a person with a camera can set aside preconceived notions and personal attitudes when focusing a camera. But objectivity is a myth. It is not vital when telling a story. By your selection of the topic, the research rabbit holes you explore, the persons involved, the equipment, the camera settings, perspectives, and lighting, the editing choices, and the medium of presentation, you have jumped the shark from objectivity to subjectivity. You must care about those you photograph. However, you must also be factual and fair (and not just one week out of a television

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network’s year. Sorry. That’s a Shark Week reference from Discovery TV). Again, you should have empathy for those in front of a camera and in front of a page, screen, or website. This chapter is enhanced by interviews with Nick Oza, who sadly died too early, once with the Arizona Republic and Stephen Katz with the Virginia-Pilot.

Chapter 6: The Ethics of Citizen Journalists Consider an alternative technological history in which a simple-to-use moving image camera, either as a separate device or as a feature of a smartphone, had never been invented. Few would have heard of Rodney King’s beating or George Floyd’s murder if not for the eforts of amateur eyewitnesses George Holliday and Darnella Frazier with cameras. Although a controversial topic for traditional journalists with journalism degrees at top universities and/or years of experience, citizen journalists help correct social injustice when no one else is present. Interviews with journalists Jim Collins and Emmanuelle Saliba help us to remember to turn our smartphones sideways when flming.

Chapter 7: Advertising Ethics Paying for print space or screen time is a unique property of the advertising profession. One hundred and ffty years ago, the technical innovations of the Industrial Revolution created good-paying jobs (if you weren’t enslaved) along with the concept of the weekend in which hard-working employees could take some time of and relax listening to The Weeknd, or not. Aesthetically challenged layouts and the hawking of dangerous products were the norm. Move your time machine’s lever to the current era, and unfortunately, not much has changed. The use of shocking images, misdirection techniques, and advertisements for dangerous, untested COVID-19 so-called cures, the industry is ripe for serious ethical discussions. This chapter is improved with an interview of Dr. Johnny Sparks, advertising researcher, media psychologist, and educator.

Chapter 8: Public Relations Ethics Either advertising or public relations is considered the world’s second oldest profession—you can guess which is the frst. My vote is for public relations. Throughout history, one fact about the human psyche is true—we all like to get something for nothing. Receiving publicity, whether it is positive or negative, without having to pay a media entity is manna from Heaven. Propaganda and persuasion from corporations and politicians are explored. Also, this chapter contains a fascinating interview with Lisa Lange, the Senior Vice President of Communications at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Chapter 9: Typography Ethics From the unethical and illegal practices of the revered Johannes Gutenberg to the theft of modern typefaces, the inappropriate use of comic-style typefaces for serious subject matter and an emphasis on creativity over legibility, the artistry and craft of designing, creating, and using typefaces are an ever-evolving ethical stew that many fnd too spicy to enjoy. And interview with Steven Heller, author or editor of more than 100 books on design, adds soothing bread to the olla comleja.

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Chapter 10: Graphic Design Ethics From Egyptian Books of the Dead that were some of the earliest publications in the form of scrolls that told bogus narrative stories to please the Pharoah and later rich patrons to the brilliant work of stencil artist Shepard Fairy, who uses appropriated images from various sources to make entertaining and political wall and poster presentations, the feld of graphic design is a complex aesthetic and erstwhile ethical amalgamation of numerous art movements from art nouveau to hip-hop. An interview with Sandra Eisert will compel you to keep your eyes on the page of this book.

Chapter 11: Data Visualization Ethics Variously named infographics, informational graphics, and news graphics, no matter what you call it, the combination of powerful computers with interactive, data-scraping, and artifcial intelligent (AI) techniques makes the feld of data visualizations one of the fastest-growing and interesting mass communication devices for enhancing stories where words and photographs alone cannot explain in detail. A tribute to Edward Tufte and his use of ethical, fact-flled, and complex productions makes the importance and impact of this feld clear. An interview with designer Nigel Holmes will add a fourth element to Tufte’s list—a sense of humor.

Chapter 12: Cartoon Ethics Arguably one of the most complex art forms described in this book is cartoons. Comprising single-frame—caricatures, political, and humorous—and multi-frame—comic strips and books, graphic novels, animated motion pictures, and games—each variant has its own history, aesthetics, techniques, and ethical considerations. An interview with Jenny E. Robb, Curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at The Ohio State University should provide the inking needed for the chapter.

Chapter 13: Screened Media Ethics Beginning with a discussion on screen size and the acceptance of violent imagery, this chapter considers such additional ethical issues as freedom of speech and expression, censorship, rights to privacy, manipulations, persuasion, stereotypes, and technical challenges brought about by innovative procedures as seen on various screened media—motion pictures, television, and the web. Included is an interview with the always empathetic Ross Taylor, photographer, flmmaker, writer, and educator.

Chapter 14: Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality Ethics From augmented or mixed reality to virtual reality, the steady progression of smartphone, eyeware, and headset technologies enhance a person’s actual reality (reality reality?). With additional apps such as a phone, camera, music, GPS mapping, weather and news reports, games, and in-store coupon announcements or features that immerse a user into a totally unique digital environment ofer storytelling opportunities never realized. The innovations also introduce new categories of ethical concerns involved with user distractions and anxieties along with visual creators’ flm techniques. Nevertheless, if used thoughtfully and mindfully, MR and VR programs

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can help explain everything from a user’s immediate surroundings to complicated and dire news stories from distant lands. This chapter features an interview with Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Healium.

Chapter 15: Social Media Ethics Following a concise history of public notices dating from Martin Luther, this chapter details how the internet and its BFF, the web, have overtaken the public media world by allowing personal stories, opinions, and, alarmingly, facts easily and quickly disseminated through web-based platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, QQ, Tumblr, TikTok, WhatsApp, WeChat, and others. A look at past fake news examples illustrates how the mass media have been used to advocate political and personal agenda. Ethical issues such as deepfakes, privacy, free speech, censorship, and the use of artifcial intelligence for marketing purposes are explored. An interview with Beth Nakamura, a photojournalist and winner of an Emmy Award, takes a deep dive into the topic.

Chapter 16: Editor Ethics The importance of having a clear editorial plan when presenting a complicated story with two compelling storylines is illustrated by the Elián González child custody battle. Editors must decide upon a myriad of factors to bring complex narratives to the public’s attention. An editor must select the story to cover, the best personnel for the job, make sure the visual reporters are adequately prepared and equipped, select and process images that are produced, decide how the story will be presented, and justify all the previous decisions if there is criticism from consumers and corporate executives. An interview with Judy Walgren, photojournalist, visual artist, editor, producer, editorial director, and educator will add to your understanding of the skills needed for this position.

Conclusion: Let Empathy Be Your Guide Except for hedonism (although it is a philosophy that emphasizes empathy for oneself), all the rest—golden rule, golden mean, categorical imperative, utilitarianism, and the veil of ignorance—stress the concept of empathy. Although this chapter includes examples of visual media productions created by individuals with empathy on their minds, it should be noted that there are some who feel that too much empathy leads to patronizing, unequal relationships. The delicate balance between too much and not enough empathy is a classic golden mean dilemma. The Reverend Kenny Irby, an afliate of the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida, speaks eloquently (as always) on what it takes to lift the visual profession to higher levels of ethical awareness. Ethics is a subject that relies more on words than images. However, the study of visual ethics requires examples of still and moving images. Unlike the frst edition, this version contains at least one illustration for every chapter with web links for other images. Also, this book includes two case studies per chapter written by Dr. Stephanie A. Martin where you can practice analytical procedures and interviews of knowledgeable and thoughtful academics and professionals conducted and edited by Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden. It is the authors’ role-related responsibility to illustrate and discuss pictures that may be diffcult to view whether published in this book or through links on the internet. Visual ethics, a study of images produced by visual communicators, sometimes requires you to see the worst

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actions that humans infict on others. We regret if you are disturbed, but our motivation is based on utilitarianism and not hedonism. Finally, it should be clear that the study of ethics is a highly personal exercise. Considering the behavior of others helps determine alternatives that should lead you to question your own past actions both positive and negative. To that end, you will no doubt notice that the style of writing is perhaps a bit more informal than in other textbooks. There are personal pronouns, contractions, cuss words, and parenthetical phrases—all elements that I caution my students to avoid in their term papers. Simply put, if you fnd yourself in one of my classes, you will know that this book’s tone matches my conversational style. Reading this book, then, should feel like an exchange of ideas. I hope someday we get a chance to make that happen. Online only, please.

PREFACE: WELCOME TO YOUR PERSONAL VISUAL ETHICS JOURNEY Paul Martin Lester

Ethics is personal. As such, here is a personal story. “Frankie and Johnny” is a classic American song with a simple, toe-tapping tune and lyrics so descriptive it is almost efortless to imagine the actions of the protagonist, Frankie and the antagonist, Johnny. Supposedly based on a murder in 1899 in St. Louis (the house where the deed was done is now part of the location where the Blues hockey team plays), over the years singers as diverse as Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Lena Horne, Lindsay Lohan (Huh? Yep. She sang it in the 2006 motion picture, Prairie Home Companion directed by Robert Altman), Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, and more than 200 other artists have recorded various versions (Brown, 2011). In 1961, for his album “Jimmie the Kid,” the “Father of Country Music,” Jimmie Rodgers played a simple acoustic guitar arrangement and sang the defnitive version (Sandburg, 1927). Here is Jimmie’s abridged lyrics Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts oh Lordy how they did love Swore to be true to each other true as the stars above He was her man he was doing her wrong. Frankie drew back her kimono, she took out a little 44 Rutty too three times she shot right through that hardwood door She shot her man he was doing her wrong. (Rogers, 1961) And now, the segue. With one class left to graduate from college, I was hired as a summer intern by the managing editor of the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans. After a staf photographer retired and another died (I was never implicated), I was 23 years old and hired full-time. I worked the 3–11 pm shift. My assignments ranged from the banal (a young girl lost her pony) to the breath-taking (Mardi Gras parades). One night I was hanging out in the photography department. It was a slow, quiet night. Suddenly an editor told me to go an address— someone had been murdered. I drove there with a reporter. A woman had stabbed her partner

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in the back with a butcher knife and killed him. Detectives would soon bring her out to a squad car for booking. I was the only photographer on the scene. Sure enough, two large men held a slight woman between them as they walked toward me. She was screaming, crying, and pleading to let her go. Her desperate wails pierced the black night. I took a picture with an electronic fash, black and white flm, and a 35mm lens. The light illuminated the scene with a harsh, terrifying reality (Figure 0.1). On the drive back to the paper, the reporter and I hardly said a word—he was also a young intern. I quickly processed the flm in the darkroom, selected a frame, slid the negative into an enlarger, and made a print. I imagined her screams flling the darkroom with the torments of Hell. I looked down at the print and thought to myself, “Why am I working in a job in which I am forced to experience such pain?” I seriously considered quitting that night. Finally, the payof. To distract my mind, I turned on a radio that sat on a shelf above me. I always had it tuned to Tulane University’s student station because the DJs played non-pop, alternative, and often surprising songs. When I heard what was playing, I smiled, shook my head, and laughed out loud. I knew I would be okay. Coming through the speakers of the radio was Jimmie Rodgers’ version of “Frankie and Johnny.”

FIGURE 0.1

A murder suspect is led away by New Orleans’ detectives. As in the cover version, imagine you are the concerned onlooker in the background making sure the photographer is ethical in the coverage of the young woman’s worst day.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

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Applying Ethical Philosophies This book details historic and current ethical dilemmas in various media and for numerous purposes. It includes as its base a ten-step SEA that helps guide whether actions should be considered ethical. The analytical procedure is largely a product of what has been called the “ethics mantra” which states following:

Do Your Job and Don’t Cause Unjustifed Harm When applying this mantra for the murder, a conclusion should be that my behavior was ethical. Some may be harmed, but that harm was justifed. By the way, although the night editor appreciated my efort, the picture was never published. The editor thought the story was not newsworthy.

Five Areas of Visual Ethics Concern There are fve major concerns for visual communicators—victims of violence, rights to privacy, subject and image manipulations, persuasion, and stereotypes.

Victims of Violence After a gruesome image of dead or grieving victims of a tragic event is presented to the public in either the print or screen media, many viewers are often repulsed and ofended by the picture. Nevertheless, violence and tragedy are staples of American journalism. “If it bleeds, it leads” is a popular, unspoken sentiment in many newsrooms. The reason for this obvious incongruity is that most viewers are attracted and intrigued by such stories. Photojournalists who win Pulitzer Prizes and other international competitions are almost always witnessing excruciatingly painful human tragedies that nevertheless get published or broadcast. Not surprisingly, most letters to editors, news directors, and website managers from concerned members of the public have to do with violent images than any other visual communication concern.

Rights to Privacy Ordinary citizens or celebrities who are suddenly thrust in front of the unblinking lens of a camera because of a connection to some sensational news story almost always voice privacy concerns. Private citizens have much more strictly enforced rights to their own privacy than celebrities who often ask for media attention. Not surprisingly, celebrities bitterly complain when they are the subject of relentless media attention because of some controversial allegation. Besides ethical considerations related to privacy, legal issues or torts should be a part of the calculus of whether an image should be taken, obtained, or made public (“The Privacy Torts,” 2002). The legal scholar William Prosser wrote in 1960 of four torts that defne the legal concept of privacy: Intrusion upon seclusion or solitude, public disclosure of embarrassing private facts, publicity which places a person in a false light in the public eye, and appropriation of a name or likeness. As a rule to guide you, ethics should always beat legal considerations.

Subject and Image Manipulations Deception has been a part of photography since it was frst invented. Stage-managing, the arrangement of objects and persons within a frame as if they were props for a theatrical presentation, is ethically acceptable with photographic portraits, advertising set-ups, photo op

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events, and fctionalized motion picture and television productions. However, when stagemanaging is used in news photography or documentary flms, the practice is often criticized. Image manipulations through digital technology are relatively easy to accomplish, hard to detect, and perhaps more alarming, often alter the original image so that checking the authenticity of the picture is impossible. Cameras and the images they produce are naively thought by many to never lie. But because humans operate the machine, technical, composition, and content manipulations are unavoidable. Computer technology did not start the decline in the credibility of pictures, but it has hastened it.

Persuasion We all use persuasion in our daily lives. Media personnel use facts, seemingly credible sources, and emotional appeals to educate a reader or viewer about a particular situation, to change a person’s mind on a topic of concern, and to promote a desired behavior or action. As we become dependent on visual messages to communicate complex ideas, information relies on the emotional appeal inherent in visual presentations. And because the felds of advertising, public relations, and journalism can often be used by savvy practitioners, the blurring between corporate, governmental, and editorial interests for persuasive purposes is one of the most pressing concerns of media critics today.

Stereotyping It is easier and quicker for a visual communicator to take a picture of an angry African American during a riot than to take the time to explore in words and pictures the underlying social problems that are responsible for the civil disturbance. Stereotypical portrayals of ethnic, gender, physical characteristics, sexual orientation, and job-related cultural groups are a result of communications professionals being lazy, ignorant, or racist. As with the printing term from which the word comes, to stereotype is a shorthand way to describe a person with collective, rather than unique characteristics. Visual stereotypes are easily found in all manner of media but not easily defended. Regardless of the technology employed and the purpose of the media message, the fve concerns of violence, privacy, manipulations, persuasion, and stereotypes should be considered as you read through the subsequent chapters and carefully study the examples and case studies provided. Ethics has personal and professional components. Visual communicators must juggle positive personal values with unique role-related responsibilities. As a producer, you are a surrogate for the public. You are often the only witness to an event, the only recorder of history, the calm and cool explainer to others. As a designer, flmmaker, advertising or public relations professional, or editor, you are also a persuader, a propagandist, and an entertainer. How can you possibly be expected to be objective and subjective, impassive and emotional, uninvolved and engaged given the physical constraints, technological changes, and sociological pressures the mass communications profession ofers? Ethics. That’s how. The key to produce work that aids the common good and satisfes your need for storytelling is a continual, inquisitive, and consistent path toward ethical behavior. Consequently, an exploration of ethical behavior is a personal, emotional, and intellectual journey. It is the outcome of an open, questioning mind that desires progressive development. The quest toward ethical behavior also requires an understanding of your own values and loyalties that can cause

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conficts between how you actually behave and how you should behave. And when you make an error in judgment, it takes a humble heart to learn from the experience and do better. This book is dedicated to the notion that being an ethical visual communicator not only makes you a better person but also creates opportunities and storylines that you might have overlooked. Visual Ethics acknowledges a need for critical thinking and ethical behavior among those responsible for visual messages in all areas of mass communications while acknowledging the personal decisions and experiences that make us empathetic personas and dedicated professionals. It should be obvious that in today’s complex media environment propelled by technological advances made possible by the web and the development of apps, visual communication is a feld that requires serious contemplation with a guide that showcases the best practices possible. Your personal growth, your career, and your profession can be enhanced only by focusing inward and outward. Consequently, the journey you have started in becoming an ethical media producer may be a difcult, tough slog. It is never easy to look deeply into yourself and bring to light the motivations for your actions. In addition to that daunting task there is another idea you must accept—your ethical exploration should never end. Being ethical in your personal and professional lives means constantly evaluating yourself for as long as you live. Luckily, it’s not as difcult as you might think. That’s because the most important trait that you should already possess is having a concept of empathy. As you continue with your life and career and all the decisions and actions yet to come, if you simply and honestly consider what someone else thinks and feels because of your actions, in other words, if you are an empathetic person, you will more likely be an ethical visual communicator.

BIOGRAPHIES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr.  Paul Martin Lester is Professor of Instruction in the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. More information can be found at: http://paulmartinlester.info. This second edition, as the frst, would not be possible without the love from xtine, Allison, Parker, Martin, and Neechee. Any ethical growth I have made in my life is because of them. Any transgressions along my journey are my own damned fault. I also owe a great debt to my co-authors Martin and Sam—we are “Los Tres Martins.” Professionals contributed their expertise and time for insightful interviews are Tom “Mutt” Brislin, Matt Brown, Jim Collins, Greg Constantine, Steven Heller, Sarah Hill, Nigel Holmes, Kenny Irby, Sandra Eisert, Stephen Katz, Lisa Lange, Nick Oza RIP, Denis Paquin, Jenny E. Robb, Emmanuelle Saliba, and Judith Walgren. The anonymous reviewers were thorough, honest, and helpful. Finally, the ever patient, yet persistent, professionals of Routledge and APEX, especially Sheni Kruger, Emma Sherrif, and Ganesh Pawan Kumar Agoor are the best. Dr.  Stephanie A. Martin is Associate Professor of Political Communication at Southern Methodist University. Her particular interest is in the public discourses of conservative social movements, especially evangelical voters. She has written or edited three books, most prominently Decoding the Digital Church: Evangelical Storytelling and the Election of Donald J. Trump (University of Alabama Press, 2021). Her research has been published in top journals including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Rhetoric and Public Afairs, and Visual Communication Quarterly. Martin frequently appears as an expert commentator and consultant for news stories and has appeared in USA Today, NPR, NBC, the Boston Globe, the Texas Tribune, and the Dallas Morning News, among others. Stephanie thanks frst Paul Martin Lester for conceiving this project and leading it through to completion. We are three Martin writers, but he is the lead and his ethics are beyond question. Thanks, too, to his wonderful family—xtine, Allison, Parker, and Martin—for sharing Paul with us. I’m grateful as well to my wonderful division at SMU who never fail to extend me the time and space I need to write and think and who insist that our work be both ethical and good. On a personal note, special thanks to Ivan Butterfeld (and Marge!), who taught me everything I know about photography, to my parents, who taught me to ask hard questions and look for good in the world, to Stefanie Barraco Zmich, who is never far from my mind when I’m

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thinking about ethics and the First Amendment (she knows why), to Allison Prasch, and to my family, who make all of the good stuf in life happen for me. Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden is Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication at Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana). He was a professional visual journalist for 35  years including at  the Virginian-Pilot. Much of his research focuses on twenty-frstcentury skills for visual storytelling, including media efects and development of evidence-based practices, topics in visual ethics, diversity, and inclusion in the feld, as well as solutions-based and advocacy photojournalism. Martin thanks Pam Smith-Rodden for assistance with copy editing and Taylor Sheridan for assistance with editing and reconciling interview transcripts.

1 PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS FOR VISUAL ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Philosophical Underpinnings

Chapter Topics • • • • • • • •

Recent Ethical Dilemmas The Defnition of Descriptive and Normative Ethics Role-related Responsibilities and Justifed Harm Religions and Values Six Ethical Philosophies Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Dr. Matthew J. Brown, Professor of Philosophy and History of Ideas and Director of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas

Whenever I’m asked what I teach, I mention mass media ethics. The reaction from someone I don’t know well is almost always a cynical smirk with a comment such as, “Well, that must keep you busy.” The implication being, of course, that the media are so unethical that I can’t possibly discuss all the publicized and controversial dilemmas that professionals are accused of in 16 weeks. The public’s general characterization is unfair and rises to the level of a stereotype when critics, mostly political candidates and their supporters, label journalists as, at best the “lamestream media” and at worse, “enemies of the people.” Nevertheless, it is sometimes difcult to defend some questionable and cringe-worthy actions and images seen in the mass media and yet, the overwhelmingly majority of images we see from the media are ethically produced and presented (Figure 1.1). Nevertheless, as with most dilemmas, a few bad apples spoil the milk (that’s how the saying goes, right?).

Recent Ethical Dilemmas Positive, but mostly negative ethical actions can easily be found that represent most of the chapters in Visual Ethics. For example •

Cultural awareness: Local photojournalists are often ignored by editors when reporting about African “slavery, exploitation, colonization, or oil and mineral extraction” (Jayawardane, 2017) (See https://bit.ly/3mWExtV), DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-1

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FIGURE 1.1

A warehouse fre on a hot, humid day in New Orleans caused the frefghters on the ground to develop heat exhaustion. Initially prevented by a police ofcer to take pictures, the photographer jumped over backyard chain-link fences to get to the location. All the men were sent to a hospital where they were treated and released. The picture won the top prize from the New Orleans Press Club for news. Was it unethical to trespass through private yards given the situation?

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

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Visual reporting: A photograph of the body of a drowned boy causes a reader frestorm (Harte, 2014) (See https://bit.ly/3AvZcsO), Documentary flms: Minor factual errors ditch (because the flm is about a car company, GM) Michael Moore’s Roger & Me (Ebert, 1990), Citizen journalism: Darnella Frazier, a high school student, records the murder of George Floyd on her smartphone and helps change the world (Yancey-Bragg, 2020), Advertising: The British grocery store chain, Tesco introduced adhesive bandages in three skin shades: Light, medium, and dark (Leow, 2020), Public relations: “Batchelor” host Chris Harrison is forced to resign after defending a plantation-themed party (Wong & Dasrath, 2021) (See https://bit.ly/3kLUgt4), Typography: Comic Sans, a typeface more appropriate for children’s books, was used for a Dutch World War II memorial on reconciliation (Coles, 2012), Graphic design: Shepard Fairey uses a photograph without permission for his Barack Obama “Hope” poster (Elliott, 2009), Data visualization: Georgia ofcials created a misleading column chart to hide inefective COVID-19 response (McFall-Johnsen, 2020),

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Cartoons: Street artist Banksy creates an emotional animation sweatshop opening for “The Simpsons” (Halliday, 2010), Motion pictures: A Steven Soderbergh 2011 flm, Contagion, foretells the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak (Rogers, 2020) (See https://bit.ly/3mQTs8S), Television: Racial and ethnic stereotypes persist on screen media (Nittle, 2020) (See https:// bit.ly/2WMrQr1), The web: Uncensored, gruesome video of news footage not shown on television (Roth, 2021) (See https://bit.ly/3gS27Es), Games: The call for an end to violent and misogynistic video games, a movement known as Gamergate, led to online harassment and became a recruitment tool for the alt-right (Romano, 2021) (See https://bit.ly/3mWBwd5), Mixed reality: A Pokémon Go PokéStop is discovered in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC (Peterson, 2016) (See https://wapo.st/3t6Qn5L), Virtual reality: A grieving South Korean mother is connected to her dead daughter through headset technology (Kim, 2020), Social media: Twitter permanently bans former President Trump’s account (Fung, 2021) (See https://cnn.it/3zNBqYI), Editor concerns: A  breastfeeding mom on the cover of Time magazine inspires insights, condemnations, and record sales (Braiker, 2012) (See https://bit.ly/3mRvfPT), and Empathy: The designers of the National September 11 Memorial Museum were charged to create a “meaningful tribute that will resonate with every visitor: the schoolchildren who know almost nothing of what happened, survivors who ran from the buildings covered in ash, and all those—more than a billion worldwide—who experienced the attack live on TV” (Kuang, 2014).

Not all questionable actions rise to the level of unethical behavior. How do you know what is and is not ethical? Some problematic actions are etiquette errors. The behavior merely violates some social norm as in not wearing a mask when asked to do so or not keeping a door open for a person behind you. Whatever the slight, your evaluation should not be an initial gut reaction. Understanding the defnition of ethics and the philosophies that are designed to help you are the frst steps in a long-term, defendable analysis.

The Defnition of Descriptive and Normative Ethics Ethics is the study of how people behave and how they should behave toward other persons, sentient beings (animals that can feel pain or discomfort), and systems (academic, business, economic, environmental, governmental, and so on). Simply noting questionable behavior is not a particularly illuminating form of ethics. That type of ethics is aptly named descriptive. It is all well and good to call out behaviors that you suspect to be ethical or unethical, but such labeling doesn’t advance the feld and doesn’t lead to better behavior. Another form of ethics—normative—helps us all progress. After a deliberate process, normative ethics concludes how individuals should perform. With normative ethics, credible alternatives are ofered to guide others in what should have been done so they might do the right thing. Many confuse the concept of morals and ethics. Although interconnected, their diferences are important and should be understood. Knowing what is right, good, and acceptable and what is wrong, bad, and unacceptable is moral. Morality, then, is concerned with judgment while ethics is concerned with behavior. The concepts are interconnected because the actions

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we take should be based on what we think is correct. We are taught the diference between right and wrong and how we should act given a unique set of circumstances throughout our lives by friends, caregivers, role models, educational opportunities, as well as the millions of tiny and signifcant everyday and life-changing and afrming experiences that fll our minds with memories, questions, and solutions. Another crucial educational input in our quest toward moral development and ethical behavior is the media, which is why the study and practice of mass communications is so vital.

Role-Related Responsibilities and Justifed Harm Recall the ethics mantra to determine if a behavior is ethical—do your job and try not to cause harm. It is composed of two parts. If the role-related responsibilities for a particular person or entity are met and any harms that ensue can be justifed, chances are the result is ethical. We all demonstrate diverse and often complex jobs or roles throughout our personal and professional lives. We may be children, friends, students, caregivers, parents, consumers, teachers, ofce workers, creators, managers, and so on. Each role signifes a complex interrelated structure composed of responsibilities that defne that position. A friend, for example, initiates contact, cares for another, ofers advice, and is reliable and consistent. An instructor writes a syllabus, meets with students, gives lectures, and assesses assignments. Roles, therefore, are often multifaceted and complex. However, a friend might also give critical advice or reveal a secret that may be tough to hear while an instructor might give tough exams, assign 20-page term papers, write critical remarks about a student’s work, and give a less than favorable grade. Friends and instructors sometimes cause harm. However, there is no ethical slight if that harm can be justifed. A friend cares and speaks the truth. A teacher is concerned that you understand the material conveyed during lectures. Any harm, hurt feelings, or a “C” in the class, is therefore justifed.

Religions and Values Throughout the long history of social development, humans have devised ways of thinking to help explain the thoughts from developing, questioning minds, the signs and omens exhibited by environmental observations, and the meaning of their place in a complex world. Imagine woke individuals all starting to question themselves, authority fgures, and their gods. Where did I come from? How do I know something is true? How should I act toward myself and others? What is the diference between good and bad? After death will I go to Heaven, Hell, or somewhere in-between like Paris, Texas? What is the meaning of life? Religion is a refuge for many to help understand these and other fundamental questions. According to Adherents, a non-denominational organization, there are more than 4,000 “churches, denominations, congregations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, and movements” (Juan, 2006). The ten most widespread religions in chronological order since conception are •

•

Hinduism (circa 7,000 bce, Pakistan). Without a founder, Hinduism is detailed in the scriptures of the Rig Veda. It advocates four goals: Live a virtuous life, take pleasure from the senses, achieve wealth legally, and continue after death through reincarnation. Judaism (circa 2,000 bce, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan). Founded by Moses and Abraham, sacred texts, namely the Torah, reveal the belief in one god who wants followers to be just and compassionate.

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•

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Zoroastrianism (circa 1,500 bce, Iran). Founded by Zoroaster, followers believe there is one god named Ahura Mazda and that the world is composed of good and evil, Heaven and Hell. Shinto (circa 700 bce, Japan). All things—animal, mineral, and vegetable possess a spiritual energy in which the aesthetics of nature rule supreme. Buddhism (circa 600 bce, Nepal). It was founded by Prince Siddhartha Gautama who was ashamed of his wealthy lifestyle after seeing human sufering. Adherents try to understand four truths: Sufering is a part of life, attachments promote sufering, through the practice of nirvana, a state of quiet happiness, as in listening to a Kurt Cobain song, one can conquer sufering, and once achieved, there is release from birth and death cycles. Confucianism (circa 600 bce, China). Founded by K’ung-fu-tzu or Confucius as known in the West, it stresses the values of the Zhou dynasty that included loyalty to a ruler conferred by the “sky god” to promote harmony and honor among the people. Jainism (circa 500 bce, India). Like Hinduism and Buddhism, followers learn from prophets who have reached the highest spiritual goals possible. Taoism (circa 500 bce, China). From the teachings of Lao Tzu in his book, Tao Te Ching, a person should achieve a middle way between Yin and Yang, action and nonaction, hot and cold, and so on. Christianity (circa 30 ce, Judea). Based on the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and others as written in the New Testament of the Bible, followers believe in the holy trinity, the resurrection of Jesus, the holiness of the Church, and an ultimate judgment of the faithful. Christian teachings stress the values of courage, generosity, love, hope, peace, and respect. Islam (610 CE, Mecca). Inspired by the stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, the prophet Muhammad through divine revelations taught that there is one god. A follower should care for those who are in need and everyone is judged as detailed in a collection of scriptures within the Quran (Bhattacharyya, 2020).

Seventy-fve percent of those who practice a religion belong to one of fve: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. All the religions listed previously are based on teachings that convey a philosophy of normative ethical values. None of the main religions, in their original teachings, advocate violent acts, ostracism of nonbelievers, suppression of others based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, or beliefs, or distrust of information. Those ways of pitting one side against another came later. Understanding the divisions between people—the roots and possible outcomes—is a role of philosophy (Juan, 2006).

Six Ethical Philosophies • • • • • • • •

Although any two philosophers would probably disagree, most acknowledge that there are seven main branches of philosophy, Aesthetics (An emphasis on beauty and a good life), Axiology (The nature of values and their importance), Epistemology (The study of what is known and unknown), Ethics (Duh. The subject of this book), Logic (The study of sense-making), Metaphysics (Concerned with why life exists and the fate of the universe), and Political (The rules and structures humans make to keep people safe and orderly) (Team Leverage Edu, 2021).

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We learn our moral and ethical place in the world through a variety of means. And yes, even academic philosophers occasionally admit that religious teachings can shape one’s philosophical thought. You should notice that the six ethical philosophies described below take inspiration from the religions described previously. That observation is no coincidence. The six ethical philosophies most useful when discussing mass communication issues are golden rule, hedonism, golden mean, categorical imperative, utilitarianism, and the veil of ignorance.

Golden Rule The golden rule, or the ethic of reciprocity, teaches persons to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Almost every religion ever conceived has some form of this philosophy as its core tenant. This theory has been attributed to ancient Greek philosophers such as Pittacus of Mytilene (died 568 bce), considered one of the “Seven Sages of Greece.” He wrote, “Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him.” Thales of Miletus (died 546 bce), another sage of Greece said, “Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.” Epictetus (died 135 ce), a Stoic philosopher wrote, “What thou avoidest sufering thyself seek not to impose on others.” When ancient Christians learned of this philosophy from the Jewish Torah, it was made the cornerstone of the religion. The golden rule holds that an individual should be as humane as possible and try not to harm others by insensitive actions (Puka, n.d.). A recent application of concern for others as the golden rule and four other philosophies stress in varying degrees (except hedonism) comes from the feminist author Carol Gilligan, once a professor at Harvard and later at New York University. Her ethics of care detailed in her book, In a Diferent Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development (2016), challenged “justicebased” (rule utilitarianism) approaches. She noted that [M]en tend to embrace a person’s rights using quasi-legal terminology and impartial principles while women tend to afrm an ethic of concern that centers on responsiveness in an interconnected network of needs, care, and prevention of harm. Taking care of others is the core notion and the guiding principle of empathy (“Ethics of Care,” 2002). A television producer who decides not to air close-up footage of family members mourning the loss of a loved one at a funeral decides not to run the video because it might compound their grief and make viewers feel bad. She invokes the golden rule.

Hedonism From the Greek word for pleasure, hedonism is closely related to the philosophies of nihilism (without morals because life is meaningless) and narcissism (excessive intertest in yourself). A student of Socrates, Aristippus (who died in Athens in 356 bce) founded this ethical philosophy based on pleasure. Aristippus believed that people should “act to maximize pleasure now and not worry about the future.” However, Aristippus referred to pleasures of the mind— intellectual pleasures—not physical sensations. He believed that people should fll their time with intellectual pursuits and use restraint and good judgment in their personal relationships. His phrase sums up the hedonistic philosophy: “I possess; I am not possessed.” Unfortunately, modern usage of the philosophy ignores his original intent. The Renaissance playwright and poet Ben Jonson, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, once wrote one of the best summaries of the hedonistic philosophy, “Drink today, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow; Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death.” Phrases

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such as “live for today” and “don’t worry, be happy” currently express the hedonistic philosophy. If an opinion or action is based purely on a personal motivation—money, fame, relationships, and the like—the modern interpretation of hedonistic philosophy is at work (Weijers, n.d.). Paparazzi, the term for a pack of professional photographers on the hunt for celebrities comes from Paparazzo, a character in the 1960 Italian flm directed by Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita (The Good Life). With his camera ready, he stands in wait for a famous person to exit a concert, restaurant, or home so that a picture can be made solely for the purpose of making money—a purely hedonism philosophy. Not surprisingly, most unethical decisions are based on hedonistic inclinations while most actors who use the philosophy are loath to admit it.

Golden Mean Aristotle was born near the city Thessaloniki in 384 bce. As his parents were wealthy, he studied at the Athens-based Academy led by the renowned Greek philosopher Plato, a student of Socrates. Remember the SPA succession of Greek philosophical educators—Socrates to Plato to Aristotle. After learning and teaching at the Academy for 20 years, Aristotle traveled throughout the region studying the biology and botany of his country. He was eventually hired as a tutor for Alexander the Great and two other kings of Greece, Ptolemy and Cassander. When he was about 50 years old, he returned to Athens and began his own educational institution, the Lyceum, where he wrote an astounding number of books on diverse subjects that made breakthroughs in science, communications, politics, rhetoric, and ethics. He was the earliest known writer to describe the phenomenon of light noticed by a camera obscura that eventually led to a further understanding of how the eyes and the photographic medium work. Although the golden mean was originally a neo-Confucian concept frst espoused by Zisi, the only grandson of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, Aristotle elaborated on it for Western readers in his book Nicomachean Ethics, named after his father. The golden mean philosophy refers to fnding a middle ground or a compromise between two extreme points of view or actions. The middle way doesn’t involve a precisely mathematical average but is an action that approximately fts that situation at that time. Virtue ethics is often associated with the golden mean because of its emphasis on a good life without extremes in actions and consequences. Virtual ethics relies on a person’s learned lessons to infuse moral character and not hard-wired rules that are meant to be obeyed (Golden Mean, 2007). When using the golden mean philosophy, you must frst think of the two most extreme examples. For a particularly violent or controversial news photograph or video, there are two extreme choices. The frst is to take and then use the picture large and in color on a front page of a newspaper, the cover of a magazine, the lead for a news broadcast, or the top of a web page. The other extreme choice is not to use the image at all. A compromise or middle way might be to use the image in black and white, small, on an inside page, as a short, edited video, or on a website where users are warned before clicking a link to it. Most ethical dilemmas are solved with the golden mean approach.

Categorical Imperative Immanuel Kant was born in Königsberg, the capital of Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1724. The fourth of 11 children, at an early age he showed intellectual promise and escaped his crowded household to attend a special school. At the age of 16 he graduated from the University of Königsberg, where he stayed and taught until his death. Kant never married and never

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traveled farther than 100 miles from his home during his lifetime. Thirteen years before his death in 1804, he published Critique of Pure Reason. It is considered one of the most important works in philosophical history. In it, Kant established the concept of the categorical imperative. Categorical means unconditional, and imperative means that the concept is a requirement without any question, extenuating circumstances, or exceptions. Right is right and must be done even under the most extreme conditions. Consistency is the key to the categorical imperative philosophy. Once a rule is established for a proposed action or idea, behavior and opinions must be consistently and always applied in accordance with the rule but for an overall positive outcome. The deontology theory is often linked with Kant because of its “follow the rules” and “do your duty” ethic. An actor avoids subjectivity because all that’s important is the rules—not the consequences. Moral rules such as do not kill or cheat—as expressed by Bernard Gert in the next chapter—are all one needs to know. If a visual reporter’s rule is to document any situation and take images regardless of whether she thinks her newspaper, television station, or website will print them because she considers that action to be part of her role-related responsibilities and performed without objections, then this decision becomes a categorical imperative. Photographs are taken because it is a duty to do so, and it leads to a positive conclusion. If for no other reason, the pictures document an activity for historical purposes. For Kant, the right action must have a positive efect and not promote unjustifed harm or evil. Consequently, it is useful in understanding why a visual reporter might record images—the rule of performing role-related responsibilities—but otherwise, it is difcult to apply (McCormick, n.d.).

Utilitarianism This philosophy, probably the most complex and arguably the most controversial of the six, comes in two favors: Actions that are judged by their immediate results—act utilitarianism—sometimes referred to as consequentialism and actions that have a long-term efect in aiding the public good—rule utilitarianism—also known as deontological ethics (or the science of duty). An act utilitarian stops at a red light because if not, an accident or a trafc fne might occur. A rule utilitarian stops because it is good for society to have an ordered and nonconfrontational trafc system. The British legal scholar and philosopher Jeremy Bentham developed his theory of utility, or the greatest happiness principle. Bentham “held that all actions, including those which appear antithetical to self-interest, are motivated by the anticipation of an advantage—usually pleasure” (O’Gieblyn, 2021). For Bentham, pleasure meant academic and artistic pursuits. His thinking was honed by the work of Joseph Priestley, who is considered one of the most important philosophers and scientists of the eighteenth century. Bentham acknowledged Priestley as the architect of the idea that “the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.” This idea is the basis for rule utilitarianism. John Mill was the son of the Scottish philosopher James Mill and was tutored for a time by Bentham. When he was three years old, he was taught to read Greek. By the time he was 10 he read Plato’s works. Later, with the aid of his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, he developed the philosophy of utilitarianism expressed in his books On Liberty (1860) and Utilitarianism (1863). Mill and Taylor expanded on Priestley and Bentham’s idea of utilitarianism by defning diferent kinds of happiness. For them, intellectual happiness is more important than the physical kind. They also thought that there is a diference between happiness and contentment, which is culminated in Mill’s phrase, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfed than a pig satisfed; better to be Socrates dissatisfed than a fool satisfed.” In utilitarianism, various consequences of an act are imagined, and the outcome that helps the most people is usually the best choice under the circumstances. However, Mill and Taylor

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specifed that everyone’s moral and legal rights must be met before applying the utilitarian calculus. Accordingly, it is not acceptable to cause great harm to a few persons to bring about a little beneft to many. Mill gave credit to his wife for her infuence but, as was the custom of the time, did not give co-authorship. After her death he wrote Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater beneft to it, than is ever likely to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom (Nathanson, n.d.). Editors and news directors frequently use and misuse utilitarianism to justify the publication or airing of disturbing accident scenes in their newspapers, magazines, on television, and on websites. Although the image may upset a few because of its gruesome content, it may persuade many others to drive more carefully. That action is acceptable under the utilitarianism philosophy because people do not have a moral right to be sheltered from sad news. For many, the educational function of the news media—from the typographical and graphic design displays that can be easily read to data visualizations that explain a complex concept—is most often expressed in the utilitarian philosophy.

Veil of Ignorance Articulated by the American philosopher John Rawls in his book A Theory of Justice in 1971, the veil of ignorance philosophy considers all people equal as if each member were wearing a cover so that such attributes as age, gender, and ethnicity could not be determined. Under such a rhetorical exercise, no one class of people would be entitled to advantages over any other. Imagining oneself without knowing the positions that one brings to a situation results in an attitude of respect for all involved. The phrase “walk a mile in someone’s shoes” is a popular adaptation of the veil of ignorance philosophy. It is considered one answer to prejudice and discrimination. Rawls taught at Harvard University for almost 40 years. In 1999, he received the National Humanities Medal from President Bill Clinton, who said that he “helped a whole generation of learned Americans revive their faith in democracy itself.” It is this philosophy that advocates the value of empathy that should be a prime motivating infuence for mass communicators. A professional who exhibits empathy, as explained by John Rawls, is one who cares as much about others as she cares about herself (“Veil of Ignorance,” 2017). A viewer of a print or screen display might invoke this philosophy in an email of thanks to a visual communicator if the viewer were made to think of her own loved ones. As part of the ten-step Systematic Ethical Analysis, a thorough understanding of philosophical approaches will certainly aid a critical understanding of any case study. The next chapter is a short step into the spa of agitated, tepid water that should reveal how the six philosophies can be applied to the actions of a visual communicator.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One The Benetton clothing company’s sales were in a slump until switching to shock advertising campaigns. Created by Oliviero Toscani, images of a priest and nun kissing, a Black woman nursing a White baby, a terrorist attack, children involved in heavy labor, an HIV/AIDS patient, and portraits of prisoners on Death Row caught the attention of consumers and the media. Business boomed. • • •

Socially conscious advertisements that illustrate concern for racial and other issues invoke which philosophy? Do you think Benetton switched to shock ads for categorical imperative or hedonistic reasons? If you were a new employee of Benetton’s marketing team, would you voice your concern about using shocking images?

Case Study Two In the nineteenth century, it was accepted practice by publishers to discount the work from women writers. Consequently, several authors used pseudonyms. For example, Amantine Lucile Aurore Dudevant Nee Dupin became George Sand and Mary Ann Evans was known as George Eliot (Who was this George and why was he so popular?). Harriet Taylor, the wife of John Stuart Mill, and who worked as an equal partner in the development of the utilitarian philosophy and the books written by both, nevertheless, decided not to fght with publishers and agreed to not have her name included. • • •

Do you think such a discriminatory practice occurs today? What would you do if a publisher said you would have to change your name so your book would be proftable? Why is J.K. Rowling known by her initials? Does John Mill bare any responsibility for the slight? What was his philosophical reason for supporting the publisher’s wishes?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Dr. Matthew J. Brown, Professor of Philosophy and History of Ideas and the Director of the Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas Dr. Matthew J. Brown (2020) is concerned about the intersection of science and ethics. He sees trouble ahead when it comes to how we know what we know. “There’s an epistemological crisis that is already here.” Brown’s areas of interest are the philosophy of science and technology exemplifed in media distrust with the arrival of deepfakes. Anyone who’s sophisticated about how photography or video works will tell you that there’s a diference between reality and what you see through a camera’s viewfnder. The epistemological crisis is getting worse. You can’t trust the basic evidence of your eyes and ears. When you’re looking at what appears to be a video of someone making a statement, it could be totally fabricated as a deepfake. While Brown points to a hard road ahead, he is encouraging when discussing how to weather an epistemological crisis. “I think there’s hope.” Brown points to parallels in what has happened between science and society over the years and how remediation is possible through trust. There are ways in which aspects of the scientifc, medical, and technological worlds have violated trust over the years requiring individuals within those felds to try to re-establish trust. Trust is a value that must be continuously maintained. We depend on journalists, scientists, and the medical community. We need to be sure that they’re taking care of our health and well-being. And they’re not doing things that are self-serving or ignoring our well-being for humanitarian reasons. To Brown, the paths forward include responsiveness, empathy, and moral imagination. He warns that our best intentions and stewardship “can take a paternalistic turn if it doesn’t go hand in hand with actually being responsive to people, and what they need, and where they’re at.” Regarding empathy, Brown is careful to diferentiate between afective empathy, which is sort of like feeling what the other person feels, and cognitive empathy, which is the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes. The latter is always a signifcant part of ethical decision-making. You want to know how others feel about your work and how it afects their values. I think another thing that’s essential to ethics that is broader than afective empathy is imagination. A practice that I call moral imagination that is part of cognitive empathy. Projecting yourself into the perspective of another person is an imaginative act. Therefore, ethical decision-making is always a form of creative problem-solving. If you have an ethical problem, it’s because there’s a tension between competing values. To integrate those considerations, you need to think creatively. You should exercise your imagination and conceive of alternatives courses of action. If you don’t feel you have an ethical problem, it may be because you’re doing fne but it might indicate that you haven’t used your imagination to consider other choices. Failures of imagination are common. One of the reasons we have so many people acting in ways that harm others is

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a failure of imagination. Whether it’s a refusal to wear a mask or decreasing your carbon footprint, you’re failing to think about your action in relation to the interconnectedness of all our well-being. I think it’s a serious problem. So, the practice of moral imagination is essential and should be a part of ethics education. We should imaginatively project our actions and the reactions of other people to fnd the best way to go about our way in the world.

2 VISUAL ETHICS ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES Paul Martin Lester Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures

Chapter Topics • •

• •

Bernard Gert and his Common Morality Systematic Ethical Analyses (SEA) • A Two-Step Model: Conceptualization and Justifcation • A Three-Step Model: Consult Conscience, Experts, and the Public • A Four-Step Model: Facts, Values, Loyalties, and Principles • A Six-Step Model: Personal, Historical, Technical, Ethical, Cultural, and Critical • An Eight-Step Model: Production, Content, Function, Emotions, Figurative, Moral, Societal, and Comparative • A Ten-Step Model: Facts Known, Facts Uncovered, Dilemma Identifcation, RoleRelated Responsibilities of Moral Agents, Role-Related Responsibilities of Stakeholders, Values of Moral Agents and Stakeholders, Loyalties of Moral Agents and Stakeholders, Philosophical Critique, Alternative Behaviors, and Personal Response Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Dr. Tom Brislin, retired Associate Dean of College of Arts & Humanities at the University of Hawai’i at Mañoa

Bernard Gert and His Common Morality I was fortunate to know Bernard Gert (Figure 2.1). During an ethics conference in Salt Lake City a few years ago, I walked with him downtown with others to fnd a restaurant for dinner. When we arrived, I sat next to him. Although Cornell University educated, a professor of philosophy at Dartmouth College, and a fellow of the Hastings Institute, he was one of the most down-to-earth and friendly persons I have known. He was also a careful listener—an art too often neglected. He would patiently listen to what you had to say and interject only occasionally with a question or comment that immediately illuminated a point you overlooked but without condescension or judgment. During our dinner he became engaged in a lively discussion with our waiter, a young man self-identifying as a follower of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, informally

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-2

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FIGURE 2.1

With a copy of his Common Morality on his notebook, Dr. Bernard Gert emphatically gestures to a group of students and educators at the Utah Valley University in 2011. He would die seven months later, on Christmas eve.

Source: Courtesy of the Center for the Study of Ethics, Utah Valley University, CC BY-SA 2.0.

known as the Mormons (What do you expect in SLC?). Gert wanted to know everything about the waiter’s beliefs and about his faith. Each time he would say some detail about the Church, Gert would exclaim, “Really. That’s fascinating.” No judgment. No attempt to persuade. Just honest curiosity about what this fellow human believed and why. Another observation I noted about Gert belongs in the category of a quirk. At the end of the dinner when we had our separate checks, he added enough of a tip, so the overall total came to a whole number. As it relates to his philosophy of not adding harm to others, he thought it would be easier to deal with the receipts by the manager if his bill were simple to calculate. Bernard Gert was the author of a pocket-sized book concerned with ten moral rules. Don’t let the small size fool you. It was packed with huge concepts. In Common Morality: Deciding What to Do (2007), Gert describes ten moral rules that concentrate on actions that, when followed, minimize harm to yourself and others. Of the list of ten moral rules, the frst fve, if performed, would cause harm to an individual

Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Do not kill, Do not cause pain, Do not disable, Do not deprive someone of freedom, Do not deprive someone of pleasure,

The second set of rules, if allowed (6 & 7) or violated (8–10), would do harm to many others within a society 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Do not deceive, and Do not cheat. Keep your promises, Obey the law, and Do your duty.

In the end, only a clear justifcation would accept the morality of an allowed or violated item. If the number of moral rules reminds you of another ten-item list, it should. However, the commandments from Moses in the form of tablets atop Mount Sinai recognized by Judaism and Christianity as principles to live by and Gert’s list only have two moral laws in common: Not to kill and obey the law (simplifed by Moses with the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not steal”).

Systematic Ethical Analyses (SEA) The study of ethics has been improved and made easier to understand by orderly systems of analysis of particularly challenging case studies. Such procedures elevate the feld of ethics past the banal descriptive level and toward a more illuminating and thoughtful normative goal. Remember, the result of any SEA is to arrive at credible alternatives (the use of the plural is intentional—there is often more than one acceptable solution) given a set of facts that describe a particular ethical dilemma. You should consider several reasonable solutions to a perplexing challenge.

A Two-Step Model The Ethics Unwrapped website sponsored by the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin presents a two-step analysis model that has a goal to fnd alternatives that don’t cause harm to other people (Elliott, 2017). Inspired by Bernard Gert’s work on justifed harm, the two steps are • •

Conceptualization: Who might be harmed and how is that harm administered by an action? Justifcation: Does breaking a moral rule prevent a greater harm from occurring or does the harm you cause legitimately address a more signifcant harm that was already caused?

These concepts are designed to help you understand who might be harmed and how that harm can be minimalized. If an action causes the least harm to others, can withstand public scrutiny, and would be ethically permissible for anyone in a similar situation, it can be considered ethical.

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A Three-Step Model The Swedish-born American philosopher Sissela Bok, the only person whose parents are both Nobel Prize recipients, formulated a three-step SEA. Bok wrote several books concerned with ethical behavior including Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment (1998) and Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (1999). Her deceptively simple solution to solving ethical dilemmas are • • •

Ask yourself how the facts of a case study make you feel, Obtain assistance from experts in the feld, and Make your alternatives known to the public to refne your solution (Cohen, n.d.).

In other words, consult your own conscience to determine how you feel about the situation, talk with experts in the relevant felds to gain their advice, organize a discussion in an open forum for members of the public. If necessary, repeat this process to gain consensus about the stakeholders. Her SEA is an interesting combination of the personal and the community as she advocates an inner, self-awareness approach combined with an outward, public sharing of information.

A Four-Step Model Harvard professor of social ethics and theologian, Ralph B. Potter, Jr. developed a little more complex SEA that involved four steps popularly known as the “Potter’s Box” (Christians et al., 2001). His procedure asks you to • • • •

Know all the facts involved with a case study without any judgments or conclusions, Identify the possible values of those involved based on an actor’s personal and professional role-related responsibilities, Consider the philosophies that can be employed to justify or criticize decisions made, and Name the loyalties or allegiances that the actors of the dilemma may consider to be important.

Unlike Bok’s SEA, Potter’s steps can be made in any order and repeated as the analysis becomes more thoughtful and sophisticated. In that way his “Box” becomes a “Potter’s Circle” (Who wants a piece of pie about now?). Potter’s work is an important addition to the canon of ethical analysis with its emphasis on facts, values, philosophies, and loyalties, but the result, although perhaps a satisfying intellectual experience, seldom leads to a defnitive solution. If you want to evaluate the behavior of visual communicators and their products, you need to have a clear procedure for analyzing visual messages. One uses such methodological approaches to fnd signifcance in the tiniest details so that a narrative for those elements can be constructed while considering the larger implications for those within the image and those viewing the pictures. The goal of any type of visual analysis should be to assign meaning—whether personal, professional, or cultural. Visual analysis requires that the researcher be immersed in the history of an artist’s culture and life that led to the creation of a work. You need a detailed and careful grid-like viewing of the work itself. The analysis should study the impact of the work on the artist, other artists, the subjects, the viewers, the genre, the culture, and society. As such, visual analysis is a time-consuming yet rewarding efort to perform. The next two models were specifcally designed to help extract all the meaning possible from visual messages.

Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures

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A Six-Step Model In Visual Communication: Images with Messages (Lester, 2021), I detail a six-perspectives model • • • • • •

Personal—a gut reaction to the work based on subjective opinions, Historical—a determination of the importance of the work based on its past signifcance, Technical—the relationship between the artist and the means of production, Ethical—the responsibilities of the producer, those pictured, and the viewers of the work, Cultural—an analysis of the signs or symbols used in the work, and Critical—transcending issues that shape a reasoned opinion.

An Eight-Step Model David Perlmutter, Dean of the School of Communication at Texas Tech University argues that a visual historian’s goal is to fnd meaning that “stems from the perception that [an image] tells a story.” Toward that end he identifes “ways of thinking about the parts or elements of a visual [message] and the meanings they denote or connote” through eight coexisting ways to help illuminate all the possible stories an image possesses • • • • • • • •

Production (technical and organizational considerations), Content identifcation (when and where picture elements were made and how they are ordered), Functional (how the image was used), Expressional (feelings and moods from the image), Figurative (symbolic meanings), Rhetorical-moral (ethical considerations), Societal or period (the image’s place in history), and Comparative (other relevant evaluations).

Perlmutter admits that such an analysis “involves a great deal of efort beyond that of text-based research” (Lester, 2012). Many view the two-step SEA as described in the Ethics Unwrapped website, Bok’s threestep approach, and Potter’s Box/Circle, as insufcient for a thorough ethical analysis for use by professionals. Consequently, the ten-step SEA was developed to address the shortfalls in other analytical schemes. It provides a clearer understanding of how to formulate credible alternatives to the actions presented by the facts of a case study.

A Ten-Step Model: 1. Three Important Facts. What are the three most signifcant facts of the case? After a careful evaluation of all the known facts presented within a particular scenario, single out the top three facts that are the most important. Clearly state why each fact is important. 2. Three Questions to be Answered. What are three facts you would like to know about the case? You should have questions about the case study that are not answered by the facts presented. You may need to interview individuals, consult written records, explore the web, and so on to obtain a clearer idea of the facts and motivations of the actors involved with the case. Use sources to answer your questions.

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3. The Ethical Dilemma. What is the ethical dilemma related to the case? Most dilemmas come down to conficts of interests between the various parties involved, but there may also be economic, privacy, and personal issues that motivate the dilemma. Defne the dilemma. 4. Moral Agents (MAs) and their Role-Related Responsibilities (RRRs) Who are the moral agents? Name 4–5 RRRs for each person or entity. A moral agent is any person or entity that can be held responsible for an action. Although it is rare to name a company as a moral agent, it does happen. In 2021, Donald Trump’s chief fnancial ofcer, Allen Weisselberg and his company were both indicted by New York investigators for tax violations (Sisak, 2021). Children and anyone mentally incapacitated are often not considered moral agents because they are not held responsible for their actions. Defense lawyers often use a moral agent argument for clients involved in drinking-anddriving accidents. Their client was not at fault because he was too drunk to know what he was doing. That argument is rarely successful. Role-related responsibilities refer to a person’s job description or duties related to personal or professional capacities. A parent cares for a child, a nurse attends to the needs of a patient, an educator sees to the intellectual growth of students. Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Jersey, Morton Winston (2008) wrote Role-related responsibilities cut across the distinction between private and public roles; we can have responsibilities associated with our private roles as friend, spouse, or parent, and we can also have responsibilities associated with our public roles as citizens and as members of society, in our professions, jobs or associated with the voluntary ofces or roles we perform. A clue in identifying RRRs is to note that they are always verbs. 5. Stakeholders (SHs) and Their Role-Related Responsibilities (RRRs) Who are the stakeholders? Name 4–5 RRRs for each person or entity. A stakeholder is anyone afected by a decision by a moral agent. It is important to note that a moral agent and a stakeholder cannot be the same person or entity. 6. Moral Agent and Stakeholder Values What are the possible positive and negative values of all the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite values from all the lists? State four to fve values for each MA and SH. Values are ideal attributes that indicate what is treasured or appreciated by an organization, professional, or ordinary citizen. They are usually found in a corporation’s mission statement or code of ethics. They almost always indicate a vague call to do as best as you can, given your unique role-related responsibilities. As noted by Plaisance and Skewes (2003), values can be as signifcant as being honest, fair, responsible, and capable and as banal as clean, loving, obedient, and cheerful. 7. Moral Agent and Stakeholder Loyalties What are the loyalties of the moral agents and stakeholders named in Steps 4 and 5 and the two most opposite loyalties from all the lists? State 4–5 possible loyalties for each MA and SH. Loyalties can be formal or informal alliances with yourself, BFFs, family, co-workers, fellow citizens, your profession, and so on. 8. The Six Philosophies For each of the six moral philosophies used in this book, describe either a justifcation or a criticism that can be applied to a moral agent or a stakeholder named in Steps 4 and 5 in the case study. The six philosophies are golden rule, hedonism, golden mean, categorical imperative, utilitarianism, and the veil of ignorance. Defne each philosophy.

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9. Creative and Credible Alternatives What creative and/or credible alternatives could resolve the issue? You need to name two creative and two credible alternatives. 10. What would you do? As advocated by Sissela Bok in her three-step SEA, this fnal step asks you to make known your personal reaction to the case study being analyzed. Pretend you are a specifc media professional involved with the case. What action would you take and why? The Ten-Step SEA. Nothing to it, right? How do you get comfortable using the SEA to solve your ethical dilemmas whether you are home alone with plenty of time to think about each step, on location at an assignment when you need an immediate answer, or with a group of your co-workers waiting for your solution because they know you read this book? Okay, you’ve got it. The Canadian author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point, Blink, What the Dog Saw, and David and Goliath) famously introduced in his book Outliers: The Story of Success the concept of the 10,000-hour rule (2017). He asserts that if you practice anything—from playing the guitar to learning a philosophical approach—for 10,000  hours you will become a world-class practitioner or expert. To put it in perspective, if you worked on an activity for eight hours a day, six days a week (I assume you take Saturdays of), for 50 weeks a year (again, I’m assuming you take a week of in August and in March), in a little more than four years you would be the master of your domain (a blatant “Seinfeld” reference). But let’s get real. Eight hours a day? More realistically, if you practiced one hour a day three days a week for 30 weeks a year, you would achieve the goal of mastery in a mere 111 years. With this book and great genes you can become a visual ethics expert. I’ll look forward to you teaching me in the year 2133.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One John Long, a past president of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) wrote this real-life case study Tony Overman was faced with making an ethical choice at the spur of the moment (as is almost always the case) and is now facing the consequences. Overman was covering a street event that turned violent and was asked by police to help with identifying those involved by showing the police the images from the event on his camera’s display screen. He supplied police with unpublished images and then lied about it to his editors. (Long, 2011) •

• •

Ethicists have noted that the Potter’s Box analytical technique helps you to identify and resolve conficts in loyalties. However, dilemmas also occur out of conficts of interests and values. What was Overman’s major confict? Which is worse: Aiding the police or lying to an editor? Visual reporters often must make quick decisions without the time to call a friend or review all the steps of an SEA. Is there a golden mean or compromise that Overman could have employed?

Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures

Case Study Two There are many methods to analyze an ethical dilemma beyond the ones described in this chapter. For example, here is a brief scenario experienced by a photojournalist [There was] a neck injury at a high school soccer game. I rushed out and the ambulance was already on the feld. I ran up and stopped to shoot a girl being placed on a stretcher. I  saw my friend John, who was refereeing the game. I said a quick hello and he said, “I don’t want any pictures. That’s my cousin. Please. No pictures.” I was astonished that he would expect me to stop because we were friends. The situation raises the question encountered by photojournalists and videographers everywhere: When should you not take a picture? A News Photographer column published by the NPPA, (Elliott & Lester, 2000) details why a picture might not be taken. The justifcations are divided into fve categories Professional: The situation is not news, or an editor will not publish it, Aesthetic: You can’t fnd a good quality perspective or composition, Etiquette: The person being photographed objects, or the situation might be embarrassing, Ethical: The situation might show the person unfairly, be a violation of privacy, or support a negative stereotype, or Personal: The setting may be unsafe, or a friend asks you not to take pictures. The photographer calmly explained that “John, I know we’re friends, but man, you can’t expect me to not shoot this because she is your cousin. I hope she’s okay too. It’s no disrespect, but I have to do my job.” I tried to comfort my friend because “it dawned on me that he had no other family there and he might have a seriously injured relative.” • • •

Should the fve-step process mentioned in this case study be considered as equal to the other analytical techniques mentioned at the start of this chapter? The fve categories do not mention roles, values, loyalties, and philosophies. How vital are those concepts to decision-making? Do you think a process to resolve a dilemma should help you come to a defnitive conclusion?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Tom Brislin, retired Associate Dean of College of Arts  & Humanities at the University of Hawai’i at Mañoa As an educator with an occasional concurrent career in newspaper journalism, Tom Brislin is a scholar/practitioner with an “obsessive interest” in journalism ethics. “I began in journalism and in Guam both newspaper and radio, TV, while I was working toward a bachelor’s degree.” Brislin’s evolution through graduate school and into his life as an educator was intertwined with his frequent work in journalism and media— at places like The Honolulu Advertiser where he was a city and state editor. He has written about journalism and flm ethics, used flm to teach ethics, and has also taught ethics to flmmakers. Having spent time working within and studying legacy mediums, he’s more than eager to continue studying a shifting media ecosystem with an eye on change. “I’m intrigued that as we move forward and in diferent platforms of information, diferent technologies of information that there’s a need to re-examine the foundation of ethics.” Not only does Breslin address how ethics might shift—he inquires how should it shift. Brislin is especially concerned with ethics in a visual context. A lot of our journalism now, I think much more than ever before, is visual. Either you know we’re getting it from either the TV or the web. And we’re getting it in those small chunks that I think are very analogous to journalistic photography where one image has to say many things. In 2004, Brislin wrote an academic paper that caught some international attention, as well as “blowback,” titled, “Empowerment as a universal ethic in global journalism” (Brislin, 2004). For Brislin, who spent many of his formative and adult years living in collectivistic Pacifc Island cultures, the Westernized and highly individualistic perspectives driving ethical standards in journalism are undeniable. “Most of our foundations, philosophic foundations, were based in Western philosophy, which is essentially a ‘man alone’ philosophy. It’s the individual—and mostly male— and rational male, that is setting standards.” As an ethicist, Brislin asked [R]ather than importing this “man alone” Western foundation of ethics—and there was a lot of blowback on that actually—can we look at it more (as) collectivist? . . . What is it that would beneft the whole? As if the journalists were acting as a representative of the whole— not as hitching up his First Amendment pants and saying “since I have the right to do it, it must be the right thing to do,” which is a very “man alone” kind of approach . . . What can we learn in Western culture from Eastern? What can we learn? And what would be the beneft? And I thought well if we truly want to raise the human condition the best we could do would be to empower the polity  .  .  .  The job of the journalist is to take information from those who would keep it to themselves for their own power and redistribute it to the beneft of the masses . . . So, the idea of empowerment struck me. Brislin suggests that empowerment in journalism might inspire audiences to “be more participatory in their own destinies.”

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While many journalists struggle with notions of advocacy— or even activism— in their craft, Breslin struggles less with those professional taboos. He suggests that journalists have already embraced the role. We’re certainly First Amendment activists. We jump on any threat to the First Amendment. And we’ll pin anybody’s ass to the wall, who suggests, otherwise. I don’t think you can be more activist than that . . . Are there pretty pictures of pollution? That . . . every time you run a picture of pollution, isn’t that kind of being activists for climate change, or for some action to be taken to alleviate this condition? . . . and the same for poverty . . . we tend to portray those things, because we think something ought to be done about it. I mean I you know the old shining light into dark places approach to journalism is, in fact an activist approach . . . I could still say that empowerment underlies it. Brislin envisions an ethos of empowerment as a path forward, and perhaps a way to disrupt the Westernized male norms prevailing in journalism. I think, as more groups get empowered, it’s going to become less and less as a dominant view. And we are going to have to look at life through a much diferent kind of lens. Maybe a prism is a better analogy than a lens.

3 CULTURAL AWARENESS AND VISUAL ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • •

A Lesson from Belfast A Visual Reporting Bill of Rights Blameworthy Examples Praiseworthy Practices Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Greg Constantine, Documentary Photographer

A Lesson from Belfast It was the summer of 1981. I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland to photograph the “Troubles” as part of my master’s degree from the University of Minnesota (Lester, 1983). Bobby Sands and nine other IRA soldiers starved themselves to death one at a time to gain political status—to be considered prisoners of war and not common criminals. Looking back on that time in my life, I realized that although I arranged for a place to live, money to get me through the summer, cameras, flm, and a storyline that pitted Catholics against Protestants, I  knew nothing of the people. My training and experience taught me how to capture “decisive moments,” but in truth, I simply focused on buildings and people the same—they were both objects on my camera’s viewfnder and nothing more (Figure 3.1). Big mistake. I was lucky. After I showed up at the Victorian house of the Peace People, an organization begun by Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan after they won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976, they ofered me a fat, a bicycle, a guitar, a darkroom, and advice and encouragement when I came to them bewildered and frustrated by the scenes I’d photographed. I had been in the city for about a month and covered two public funerals of hunger strikers. In each one, hundreds of mourners lined the streets as a hearse slowly drove to the cemetery. For Joe McDonnell, the ffth to die, his cofn was set on a stand in the street, and three masked IRA soldiers fred their rifes. He was buried next to Bobby Sands. After one funeral and while walking along with the crowd during another protest, I locked eyes with a young IRA wanna-be (Figure  3.2). We stared at each other without a word for

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-3

Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics

FIGURE 3.1

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In 1981 Northern Ireland lads throw stones and bricks at passing British soldiers riding in an armored Land Rover. Boys as young as three would collect rocks for the older boys to throw. The H Block wording painted on the side of the building refers to a section of the Long Kesh prison, also known as the Maze, where Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldiers, some on hunger strikes, were kept. It was closed in 2001.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

about a minute. From that moment on, I couldn’t remain neutral. I put the cameras in my bag and walked along with the protesters. I was one with them. I too wanted the British out of Northern Ireland. The next day I decided on a storyline that was not based on feeting, unconnected events but one that gave a larger context that viewers back in America would understand. I came to know some brick boys. We’d meet in a park and just talked. They asked me what the army was like in America. I told them that they are almost never seen. I concentrated my photography on the kids. I named this story, “Children at War” and had a piece printed in the newspaper, a picture published in the Best of Photojournalism, and gave several talks to various groups. I came to Belfast with preconceived notions of what I  would cover—riots and fre. But the people I met steered me in a more humane direction. I could have saved a lot of time if I had talked to residents from the start. Unaware of my cultural bias—thinking that Belfast was someplace I  already knew by reading its history—kept me distant from those I  should have learned lessons. Whether in Belfast, Afghanistan, or Sunray, Texas, bias is a story killer. Bias makes you think you know the meaning of what you witness. Bias leads to stereotypical coverage. Bias ignores those who have been left out of media occupations. Bias can make you angry, defensive, and frustrated. However, with a veil of ignorance, empathetic sensitivity, you might be able to

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FIGURE 3.2

A  boy with a homemade mask erects a barricade and stares into the heart of the photographer.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

overcome your unknowing cultural privilege and produce stories that treat others as equals and not as objects.

A Visual Reporting Bill of Rights Whether because of Me Too, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA+ individuals becoming more political, the rise of conservativism, repressive voting laws, economic pressures brought on by COVID-19, the stresses from inevitable diminished media entities, and other ingrained and unknown biases being called out by the oppressed, the appeal of the “Photo Bill of Rights” is a combination of the categorical imperative, the golden rule, utilitarianism, and most importantly, the veil of ignorance’s call for empathy for others. On a National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) website, the justifcation for the “Bill” seems clear The Photo Bill of Rights is an extensive document created by a coalition of photography organizations, including the National Press Photographers Association, with the intent of improving the economic conditions for lens-based workers while taking concrete steps to eradicate the infuences of racism, sexism, and homophobia in our industry and to be more conscientious of the impact our work has on the people and communities we document across several unique disciplines of photography. (NPPA Board of Directors, 2020) I doubt if those who worked on the “Bill” thought it would create controversy. And yet one of the main themes is to correct

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[T]he white, Western, cisgender male gaze [that] has been used to colonize, disenfranchise, and dehumanize. The burden of recognizing, accounting for, and living with these inequities has been placed on those with the least access to power, resources, and recourse within the industry. As of this writing, more than 60 companies and organizations and about 2,500 individuals had added their support. The document which is legally nonbinding is admittedly more designed to help freelance image makers •

• •

To correct the inequities of Black, Indigenous, people of color, the working class, women, and nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people; people with disabilities; and LGBTQIA+ people, To dismantle the system of white supremacy, and To gain access for all to media organizations(“Photo Bill of Rights,” 2020)

A clear indication of a change in visual journalism practice and philosophy is the rift between mostly older, traditionalists and mostly younger, iconoclasts. Most who object to the document don’t like the accompanying Toolkits for “lens-based workers” with 15 items from health and safety to establishing community guidelines and visual editors and institutions with suggestions such as taking a close look at hiring practices and diversifying the workforce. Initially supportive, Mark Loundy, a long-time member of NPPA, photojournalist, and a columnist for News Photographer magazine and Mark Hertzberg, a respected photojournalist, objected to a section titled “Minimizing Harm” that includes a call for photographers to seek consent from people in “fast-paced situations like protests, in situations that are rapidly evolving, or situations unbalanced in power for the source like an immigration case or a criminal proceeding.” For Loundy, asking for permission from a news source was a telephoto lens too long and he withdrew his sponsorship. Another objection is a possible confusion with the public between traditional photojournalists with years of experience and the new breed of citizen journalists who record events with their smartphones (Hertzberg & Loundy, n.d.). The reason this discussion is included in a chapter about cultural awareness is that all visual communicators should be sensitive to the systemic reasons that provide advantages for some and roadblocks for others. Caring about others is a basic requirement for storytellers. The “Bill of Rights” should not be controversial. As is noted The industry is only as strong as the most under-resourced, under-represented, and undersupported. Re-orienting away from bias is hard, life-long work—while there is no fxed end goal, growth, understanding, and empathy are gained every step of the way. Don Heider is the Executive Director & John C. Murray Professor of Social Ethics at Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. In 2014 he wrote a book, White News: Why Local News Programs Don’t Cover People of Color. His thoughts on the coverage of other are signifcant I am a big advocate of not doing “diversity” work, but “anti-racist” work. That means you must look at the system and how it excludes or includes certain groups of people. That’s basically looking at white supremacy. If white people are in control, and have been, and continued to be, then that’s a brutal indictment. Anti-racist work also forces you to be introspective to look at your implicit biases. No one is non-racist. We grew up with our

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parents, our families, and our religious institutions. We were taught values that each one of us should refect upon. But we should also look at the system. We should look at the system in place and know who is in charge. Heider stresses the need for journalists—and especially newsroom managers—ask the question, “What does it mean to cover a community?” Caring about all who form your community is a key. Once again, let empathy be a top-shelf item in your personal toolkit.

Blameworthy Examples It’s often called one of the most infuential documentaries ever produced, flmmaker Robert J. Flaherty’s Nanook of the North (See https://bit.ly/3BtE46u). Flaherty became inspired to make the flm after working with the Inuit people in the Canadian Arctic surveying the country for a possible route to Hudson Bay. The flm follows Nanook and his family as they live, hunt, and relax in the cold extremes. But there are many factual errors and exaggerations • • • • • • •

Nanook’s actual name was Allakariallak, His wife in the picture wasn’t his spouse, His two wives were the common-law wives of Flaherty, He used a gun while hunting, but Flaherty convinced him to hunt with a harpoon, The igloo he built was constructed by Flaherty and his crew at twice the normal size with a side missing so the camera had enough light for interior scenes, He played for the camera during the gramophone scene pretending not to know what it was, but he knew beforehand, and To add interest to the flm, Flaherty told the media that two years after the movie was made, Nanook had died of starvation. He actually died at home because of tuberculosis.

Not surprisingly, the documentary was criticized for portraying the Inuit as “subhuman Arctic beings” that compared them to animals without technology (Rony, 1996). National Geographic magazine was criticized for its early twentieth-century stereotypical coverage of such “exotics” as Africa-based Sango tribespeople in which photographic spreads showed men in native dress and topless women performing rituals such as sacred and hunting dances for the camera. For example, in 1916 an entire issue was devoted to Aboriginal Australians that called them “savages” and who “rank lowest in intelligence of all human beings.” In the 1960s “uncivilized” native people were shown marveling over Western technology while “glamorous depictions of Pacifc” island women were the norm. In 2018 for “The Race Issue,” Geographic editor Susan Goldberg wrote a piece titled, “For Decades, Our Coverage was Racist. To Rise Above Our Past We Must Acknowledge It.” Writer Elizabeth Kolbert explained that race is not a biological but a social construct developed by the dominant culture (rich White men) to keep the powerless inferior. She wrote, “Racial distinctions continue to shape our politics, our neighborhoods, and our sense of self ” (Goldberg, 2018). I would add to that list, our media as well (See https://bit.ly/3jBygBO).

Praiseworthy Practices In 2012 freelance photojournalist Peter DiCampo and writer and editor Austin Merrill were on assignment in Africa documenting post-confict environments when they realized their cultural limitations in understanding the people of the vast and diverse continent. After they started to take pictures with their smartphones, their work became more honest. The two started an Instagram gallery, “Everyday Africa” with hundreds of unique moments contributed by photographers

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that help defne the lives of people who are not newsworthy, but vital for empathetic parity. DiCampo and Merrill inspired other “Everyday” galleries for cities, countries, areas, and groups that include Afghanistan, the Amazon, Disabled, Extinction, Impunity, Incarceration, Migration, and Zimbabwe (See https://bit.ly/3E99xfS). As reported by the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Story Telling website, when photographer Sara A. Fajardo frst started, she was so shy she made only images of the backs of people. Since then, she’s been all over the world making pictures (Randazzo, 2016). Her suggestions to aid you to produce culturally sensitive work should remind you of the REACTS test •

• • •

•

Imagine the person you are photographing is a part of your family (a veil of ignorance response). Treat those you photograph with respect. Give them time to look how they want. Do not impose your preconceived ideas about a story on them. Make them feel important. Give your complete time and attention. Get to know them frst before you bring out your camera. Turn of your smartphone. Be prepared for the story not to pan out. Work with a local organizer to fnd someone else. Get as close as you can. The revered photojournalist of the Spanish Civil War, the D-Day invasion, and the Vietnam War, who was killed by a land mine, Robert Capa said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” Access to another’s personal life— their family, their home, their secrets—is a high honor. But you still must penetrate the polite façade to come back with a signifcant story. Finally, use your technical knowledge to promote equality. Available light, the careful use of angles, a camera set on single-frames, and so on are tools that cause few distractions. Eyelevel portraits—not low or high angles—promote equality and trust (Figure 3.3).

FIGURE 3.3

‫ریشجپن تیوال رد یرازاب رد دوخ ٔهزاغم زا نوریب رد هتسشن شاهبرگ و ناغفا درمریپ‬.

Many Afghan commentators, journalists, and citizens link a lack of understanding of the history, culture, and language of the country to America’s longest war in its history. Source: Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.

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Sara Fajardo explains her philosophy on her website (Fajardo, n.d.) I believe that nothing is more powerful than a well-crafted story and use photography, video, multimedia, design, and the written word as tools to deliver the shared human experience. Shared human experiences are the only ones that matter because they’re the only ones that teach us cultures should be respected.

Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics

Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One Montinique Monroe, a 27-year-old freelance photojournalist based in Austin, Texas, started photographing protests that showed demonstrators’ faces. Because of her concern, she decided not to share them on social media (Miller & Asbury, 2020). “My issue is that we’re capturing people who may not know that we’re capturing these images,” Monroe said. “A lot of these people who are protesting don’t know where these images may end up.” When the FBI issued a request for photographs of potential looters, some visual journalists, including Tara Pixley, an assistant professor at Loyola Marymount University asked, “Why would we make it easier for police surveillance to identify people at protests?” • • •

Is it possible to be private in public? Should visual reporters be concerned by what might happen to protesters after the fres are exhausted? What is more important in this type of assignment—legal or ethical issues? Should visual reporters be expected to perform the job of law enforcement ofcials?

Case Study Two Islamic dress has for centuries been used to symbolize purity, mark status or formal roles, distinguish believer from nonbeliever, and identify gender (Jirousek, 2004). Traditionally, Muslims were admonished to dress modestly in garments that do not reveal the body silhouette and extremities. Head coverings were also expected. However, dress forms vary in diferent periods and regions, as does interpretation of and adherence to Muslim dress codes. Your editor asks you to produce a picture story that concentrates on Islamic fashion. • • •

Do you need to know the specifcs of Islamic culture to perform the assignment? Would you tell your editor to choose someone else or would you accept an assistant who comes from the Muslim community? Would you hire Islamic women as models, or would you not be concerned about their backgrounds?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Greg Constantine, Documentary Photographer While documentary photographer Greg Constantine may not be, in Kurt Vonnegut’s (2007) words, A Man Without a Country, he’s made it his life’s work to tell his viewers what it’s like to be denied a national identity. Constantine’s driving interest in human rights and social justice has been his consistent focus (2021). I earned my Ph.D. from Middlesex University in the UK which is grounded in the work that I had done on the issue of statelessness through a documentary approach. I knew there were ethnic groups around the world that were stateless. I started that project by investigating how the denial of nationality afected people in their day-to-day lives. Citizenship is an abstract concept. How do you photograph citizenship? That question seeped into all these diferent areas that are well-documented: landlessness, poverty, denial of health care, the lack of political voice, and being subjected to blatant human rights abuses. Constantine committed to become an authority on statelessness. That authority means that I’m well informed about the issue—not just from international journalism and academics, but through the eyes of the people who lives in these communities and hold the knowledge of what it’s like to be in this part of the human condition. What is it like to be denied these rights and live in this world that most cannot comprehend? It’s so important to be well educated by the people who I’m getting to know that they end up driving the project. That’s always a crucial part of the way that I work. “Listening to people is more important than the frst photograph. Listening informs what kind of photographs you make and how you share those images. A collaborative approach is critically important. We should take the time to learn another’s story” Constantine walks the path of what Cornell Capa (1968) called the concerned photographer. He coined this term to describe photographers whose dual focus is to illuminate what’s wrong in the world but also honor what’s right by emphasizing human virtues such as resilience and dignity. Constantine believes that adopting the perspective of a concerned photographer when telling those stories is an ethical mandate. I embedded myself into the statelessness project because it had received little attention. I think a concerned visual reporter starts with meeting people and listening to the stories they’re sharing. Then, be honest about telling them why I’m there, why I want to know their story, and what I want to do with that story. I am responsible for being honest about what I tell people why I’m with them. What I’ve learned through all these years is that it’s astonishing to recognize the resilience of the human spirit and the commitment that individuals have to themselves, to their families, to their communities, and to the place where they are from under the worst situations. It’s amazing to see how hope can remain with people after decades of oppression and persecution. It is incredible to be able to share that spirit with viewers (See https://bit.ly/3CwSOlQ).

4 VISUAL REPORTING ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Visual Reporting Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • •

Victims of Violence Rights to Privacy Pre- and Post-Production Manipulations Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Denis Paquin, the Associate Press’ Deputy Director of Photography for Global and Sports Operations

The night shift is a time when many of the most emotional and violent conficts between residents of a city are displayed before the calm, objective lens of a camera’s eye. I’ve seen the results from fatal accidents, devastating car crashes, and murders. I’ve witnessed and photographed the body of a man face down in the shallow water of a bayou next to his overturned sedan, a young woman screaming between two detectives as described in the Preface, and bodies on the ground waiting for the city coroner’s van (Figure 4.1). The stark, hyper-focused, and high-contrast image shrouded by the night’s unforgiveable darkness was never published. Because a photo editor declined to use them, the print (it was before digital pictures saved on hard drives) was eventually stored in a metal fle cabinet in the newspaper’s repository, nicknamed, perhaps ironically yet somehow appropriately, “the morgue.” It’s a collection where few persons bother to look. In fact, it may be surprising to learn that most images recorded by a visual reporter are never seen by the public. What’s more, I knew the instant I took the photograph that my editor would not want to include it within the next day’s events. So why did I go to the trouble to take, edit, process, and put it on his desk? Why should a photojournalist take pictures that she knows will not be published or seen because of its violent content? A partial answer comes from understanding a visual reporter’s chief role-related responsibility—to record images of newsworthy events. However, the result of that task is not for the public’s consumption but for an editor to see them to satisfy her main duties—to decide to use the pictures and, if so, to decide how they will be used. As such, a visual reporter’s primary client is not a news viewer or user but a news editor.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-4

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FIGURE 4.1

It’s a sad, too familiar story. A  young, African American man in desperate need of money attempts to rob a corner market. But the owner behind the counter has a shotgun and blasts him in the chest. He stumbles out a few yards and collapses on the hard concrete. He’s dead where you see him. I used to call this photograph that I took as a photojournalist for the newspaper, “Fourteen Against One.” Count all the men—and they are all mostly White men—who surround the body. Six police ofcers (one reveals his hand on the right side), four investigative detectives, two EMTs, and two staf photographers. Count only one? I include myself. I cannot and should not remove myself from the hovering, disinterested lot because as a privileged, White, college-graduated professional, I am partly responsible for his failure to get a proper education, a good paying job, and a respectable life.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

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For the photojournalist, Kant’s categorical imperative is clearly a prominent philosophy when it comes to violent images. If pictures are not taken, a professional image maker runs the risk of not completing a vital role-related responsibility. Deciding a camera’s perspective, the choice of lens, the proper shutter speed and exposure at a scene, selecting which images best describe an event, processing the pictures for color balance, composition, continuity, and storytelling, and presenting the selects to an editor are all a part of a visual journalist’s job and justifed as ethical by the categorical imperative philosophy. Another ethical motivation based on the categorical imperative is to document the event for historical purposes. The reasons publishers store images are that those pictured might be of interest to the publication and researchers at a future time and to graphic designers who might need the images for other publications. However, if a photojournalist’s motivation in taking a picture is not to document events but to make money selling pictures, winning contests, or becoming famous, the hedonism, not the categorical imperative philosophy is invoked. Praiseworthy visual reporters and editors communicate with each other to formulate reasons why the images should or should not be shown to the public. Again, the use of the categorical imperative philosophy by an editor invokes the rigid following of a journalistic rule—if a story is newsworthy, the visual news must be presented. There can be no exception. Fortunately, a more reasonable justifcation comes from the utilitarian philosophy. Viewers might be motivated to seek help if they are emotionally depressed or avoid actions that might cause harm after seeing those featured in the news. Although the publicizing of the images—whether still or moving—might not help the family and friends of the victims, a greater public is served by the possible lessons learned—a crucial test for the utilitarian philosophy. However, an editor might agree with a hedonistically motivated visual journalist and believe the pictures are Pulitzer Prize worthy and make them available for that reason. Such a decision is not necessarily unethical if paired with the categorical imperative and utilitarian philosophies. History is flled with images that appalled, enraged, educated, persuaded, entertained, or never seen by viewers because of their gruesome content. As stated in the Preface, there are fve main concerns of visual communicators. Three of the fve are featured in this chapter: Violence, privacy, and manipulations.

Victims of Violence It didn’t take long after the popular use of photography from 1836 before photojournalists, in still and moving media, turned their cameras toward the unblinking gaze of those killed. Visual reporters have always been attracted to wars and other military conficts because of their dramatic combination of peril and pathos. During the American Civil War, Mathew Brady hired some of the most famous names in photographic history—Alexander Gardner and Timothy H. Sullivan—to take pictures of military encampments and post-battle scenes. Actual, fast-moving confict was impossible to capture given the long shutter speed required of the wet-collodion process used during this time. Subsequent pictures of distorted and decaying corpses were too gruesome for the public grown weary of the long war. Consequently, Brady went bankrupt when he couldn’t sell them at his galleries (“Photography and the Civil War,” 2017). James “Jimmy” H. Hare, a British photographer, is considered one of the pioneers of photojournalism. He was hired by Collier’s The National Weekly magazine to cover the Spanish-American War fought in Cuba in 1898. Among other atrocities, the news magazine published his photographs of “swollen bodies with bones breaking through the skin” (Gould & Grefe, 1977). In 1936, the Hungarian war photographer Robert Capa captured an extraordinary “momentof-death” picture of a soldier during the Spanish Civil War killed by a bullet to the head (Rohter,

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2009) (See https://bit.ly/3ta7F27). The never-before-seen still moment was so unusual that many assumed it was a stage-managed set-up. Visual reporters covering World War II produced an almost unlimited supply of violent images. During World War II, photographer George Strock took a picture of the bodies of U.S. servicemen face down on a beach that was initially censored by the government, but when released and published in Life magazine, it was praised by viewers because, as one soldier wrote, it gave “real meaning to our struggle” (Dunlap, 2013). After images were released of Holocaust victims with their bodies stacked in gruesome piles, the world was educated to the banality of evil (Rosenberg, 2017). During the Vietnam war, there were many iconic photographs that captured the worse from humans and helped focus the debate about America’s involvement. Malcolm Browne’s picture of a Buddhist monk, Thích Quảng Đức protesting persecution by the South Vietnamese government riveted attention of newspaper readers unaccustomed to such stark reality. Brown heard of the planned dissent (note the solemn calmness of the protester, the monk with a camera, the fact that no one attempts to stop the proceeding, and other monks who stand nearby in a coordinated arrangement). Brown won a Pulitzer Prize for capturing a powerful and emotional set-up media event (Witty, 2012) (See https://bit.ly/3kJYOAo). Eddie Adams’ moment-of-death street execution of a Viet Cong prisoner (“Saigon Execution,” 2014) (See https://bbc.in/38x28sK) and Nick Ut’s image of nine-year-old Kim Phuc and other children running and screaming in agony after an accidental napalm bombing (“Nick Ut,” n.d.) (See https://bit.ly/2YkienQ) won Pulitzer Prizes. During the Gulf War in 1991, Kenneth Jarecke photographed the remains of an Iraqi man burned alive while attempting to escape the cab of his truck (DeGhett, 2014). The gruesome nature of the obviously horrifc death meant that the image was rarely shown to the public. For Jarecke, the understanding of his role-related responsibility combined with the categorical imperative philosophy to take pictures, led him to the conclusion that “if I don’t take pictures like these, people like my mom will think war is what they see in movies (See https://bit.ly/3jA4b5R). It’s what I came here to do. It’s what I have to do” (a classic categorical imperative justifcation). James Gaines, the managing editor of Life magazine at the time declined to publish the image based on a golden rule justifcation of not adding grief when he explained, “We have a fairly substantial number of children who read Life magazine.” However, Stella Kramer, a freelance photo editor for Life invoked the hedonism philosophy as the personal reason for Gaines’ decision with Americans only tolerating a “good, clean war. So, that’s why these issues are all basically just propaganda.” She then added, “As far as Americans were concerned nobody ever died.” Author Torie Rose DeGhett (2014) voiced a utilitarian, educational justifcation for printing the picture, “Photos like Jarecke’s not only show that bombs drop on real people; they also make the public feel accountable.” The 9/11 attacks were the source for all manner of violent images—Twin Tower ofce workers jumping from buildings, the sight of bodies of those killed by the crashing planes, victims on the ground running and then covered by the caustic dust clouds, recovery eforts by ofcials, distraught family members shown at funerals, and then later, reports of those police and fre personnel with health challenges, not getting adequate help or compensation. Violence of the body and the spirit are all covered by visual reporter. In a photograph taken by Stan Honda, Marcy Borders worked in one of the towers on September 11, 2001, and managed to escape. Nicknamed the “Dust Lady,” she survived but died of stomach cancer at the age of 42. She blamed the tower debris for accelerating the progress of the disease (Walters et al., 2015) (See https://bit.ly/3jB9C4l). Victims who are children should be ofered protection from media scrutiny. Unfortunately, when the news story is important, that maxim gets tossed. Three disturbing photographs illustrate the dilemmas of what to photograph and publish. Massoud Hossaini’s haunting color image of Tarana Akbari crying amid the bloody bodies killed from a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2011 is an ethics lesson for the ages (“The Pulitzer Prizes,” 2012). Hossaini, an Afghan photojournalist for the French picture agency AFP, told a reporter that he hoped those who see

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the picture “don’t forget the pain Afghanistan’s people have in their life.” Sadly, we learn of such bombings almost daily from news reports from the Middle East, but it takes a still image to rivet our attention and think of the human cost of war. For Hossaini, his hope is a utilitarian approach. In 2015, the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi face down on a Greek beach was taken by Nilüfer Demir. Poynter Institute’s Kelly McBride wrote that Demir’s picture should be shown because of its political signifcance (Hare, 2015). She adds, “Sometimes it’s gratuitous for the media to show images of death (a hedonistic critique). But sometimes it’s absolutely the most responsible thing journalists could do” (utilitarianism). Humans fnd countless ways to die, and photographers must be present to make records for history to promote the need for commerce but more importantly to satisfy their professional duty. The portrait of despair was captured by Julia Le Duc after Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died with his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria. They tried to cross from Mexico to the United States. “The image represents a poignant distillation of the perilous journey migrants face on their passage north to the United States, and the tragic consequences that often go unseen in the loud and caustic debate over border policy,” wrote Azam Ahmed and Kirk Semple (2019). Tarana Akbari screaming amid the bodies of family members killed after a suicide bombing, the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi face down on a Greek beach, and the bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria found in the Rio Grande River should haunt you and invoke the veil of ignorance philosophy. Remember: You don’t have to view any of these troubling images, but you should (See https://bit.ly/2WI7EWI, https://abcn.ws/3zwLVQd, and https://nyti.ms/3DGDDb8). For myself, Rawls’ veil of ignorance and his call for empathy guides my reaction—I never want to see a loved one of mine with so many tears and so much blood. And yet, and this may be something you disagree with, even if Tarana, Aylan, and Valeria were my family members and I were an editor responsible for running the picture, I would have made the images public. I would have relied on my role-related responsibility and either the categorical imperative or utilitarianism philosophy to educate viewers in words and images the mission of journalism and the painful decisions that must be made by visual reporters and editors. But here’s a response you should consider: Tarana, Aylan, and Valeria are my children. They are all our children.

Rights to Privacy After photography became a simple, hand-held operation due to the invention of roll flm by George Eastman, the medium was expanded beyond the scope of chemists to include the public. Eastman’s camera cost about $25 in the 1880s. Adjusted for infation it would cost more than $500 today—a hobby only the upper middle class at the time could aford. Nevertheless, the amateur boom included persons taking pictures of themselves, their friends and family, and signifcantly for this discussion, strangers. The New York Times “likened the snapshot craze with an outbreak of cholera that had become a national scourge.” Vigilante associations were formed to protect the honor of unsuspecting women from photographers. After a man destroyed the camera of someone taking a picture of a woman, the jury would not convict him. In Victorian London, a photographer had to obtain an ofcial permit to take pictures in a park while the German government passed a statute prohibiting photography without permission from a person. The writer Bill Jay noted during this earlier time period, “As any impartial observer will admit, no aspect of a life was too private, no tragedy too harrowing, no sorrow too personal, no event too intimate to be witnessed and recorded by the ubiquitous photographer” (Featherstone, 1991). Those words easily apply to today’s use of smartphones and our celebrity-centric world. Unfortunately, hedonism is a strong motivation on both sides of a lens.

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In the United States with its First Amendment protections, no legislation ever required photographers to ask permission to take pictures of persons in public. When Farm Security Administration photographer Dorothea Lange in 1936 took pictures of Florence Thompson and three of her children in Nipomo, California with an image from the series considered to be one of the fnest in the history of the medium, the so-called “Migrant Mother” portrait, Thompson bitterly complained for years that her privacy had been violated and that she deserved compensation (Figure 4.2). The photograph is also an example of stage managing as Lange, a former studio portrait photographer, arranged Thompson and her children in ways that made them look more dramatic (“Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother,’” 2013). Likewise, Mary Ann Vecchio voiced the opinion that John Filo’s photograph of her during the Kent State University tragedy ruined her life when it violated her privacy and was displayed throughout the world (Perlof, 2020). In both cases, Thompson and Vecchio would have little standing in the courts, as the situations were newsworthy and taken in public locations. An important area of privacy law that is applicable to still and moving images has to do with the concept of unreasonable intrusion. Generally, anything that can be seen in plain, public view

FIGURE 4.2

The portrait of Florence Thompson with three of her children taken in 1936 by Dorothea Lange is a moving icon that symbolizes the uncertainty of many during America’s Great Depression, but it is also a lesson in privacy. Thompson was embarrassed by her economic situation and wished the photographer would leave.

Source: Dorothea Lange, Farm Securities Administration.

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can be photographed. However, a visual reporter is not permitted to use technology that violates that mandate—cameras that are hidden, with long lenses, attached to drones or helicopters, and so on. Pictures in private places require permission. Well-known street photographer PhilipLorca diCorcia, in 2005, took a picture of Erno Nussenzweig as he walked through Times Square in New York City (Gefter, 2006). The image was later exhibited in an art gallery and published in a book of photographs. Nussenzweig sued because he claimed his privacy was violated. He lost the case. If he had won, street photography as commonly practiced by amateurs, artists, and photojournalists would have been severely limited. For paparazzi the verdict was good news as well because taking pictures of celebrities remains permissible. Nevertheless, what is legal is not always ethical and sometimes a photographer acting unethically can also be legally liable. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Perry family and their friends experienced a shock to their systems when their smiling faces from a family reunion inundated news and social media sites (Firozi, 2016). To gain credibility with African Americans, a supporter of former President Donald Trump used the pleasant snapshot next to a headline that proclaimed, “American Families for Trump” in a retweet that included the picture (See https://bit. ly/3zDjPCP). The Perry family thought, rightly so, that their privacy had been violated. Eddie Perry noted, “When I  saw it, I  immediately knew it was political propaganda. Why use it without asking for someone’s permission?” he asked. Why? Because of the adage, “It is far easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.” Obviously, the Trump troopers didn’t think they would be caught, so no prior approval was contemplated. Still, within 30 minutes after its release, the source of the image was found. Try it yourself. Pretend you work for Trump and were asked to fnd a photograph of a smiling African American family. In Google type, “black family” and press the Images tab. You’ll fnd it. Needless to add, no one from the Trump campaign apologized to the Perry family. Nowhere is the word “privacy” mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. However, the concept has long been established through numerous court proceedings and opinions. A photojournalist should be aware of the privacy laws that apply to her jurisdiction but also realize that credibility, a highly prized value, might be lost if ordinary persons or famous persons going about everyday activities are unduly harassed with poor social etiquette, intrusive behavior, and telephoto lenses. There may come a time when permission to take pictures of strangers might become a legal requirement as it once was in Germany.

Pre- and Post-Production Manipulations The birth year of photography is 1839 because that’s when a practical and high-quality process was introduced. The technical achievement was accomplished by three French citizens, LouisJacques-Mandé Daguerre, Isidore Niépce, and with the inspired earlier work of his late father, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (“Isidore Niépce and Daguerre,” n.d.). One year later, another French person, Hippolyte Bayard was shown in a picture of what was considered (at the time) to be the frst photograph of a body. The accompanying caption explained that after inventing his own photographic process that did not achieve the accolades or the lifetime pension ofered by the French government to Daguerre and Niépce, Bayard committed suicide. The image reveals his corpse after it was retrieved from the Seine in Paris (Willette, 2015). Although Bayard’s shirtless body lies in peaceful repose with calm facial features and his hands lying casually and discretely on a blanket, you could imagine the shock it invoked if viewers thought it were true. It wasn’t. The frst picture of a cadaver was the frst semi-nude, self-portrait, manipulated photograph.

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Deception has too often been a factor in the production and evaluation of news photographs. Pre-production manipulation largely involves treating those photographed as actors on a theatre or movie set. Stage-managing is a term used to describe a situation in which a subject and/or a photographer controls the actions and/or arranges objects and people within the frame. Postproduction manipulation almost always uses a software product such as Photoshop to subtract or add elements to a picture’s original frame. With technology advancements, digital manipulations can be accomplished with still and moving images, commonly called “Deep Fakes.” The Amsterdam-based organization, the World Press Photo Contest, one of the most prestigious in the world, was embroiled in a controversy in 2015, when it awarded and then rescinded its frst-place award to Italian photographer, Giovanni Troilo. As reported by the New York Times The controversy erupted [because of] a photo in which Mr.  Troilo had photographed his cousin having sex with a woman in the back of a car, using a remote-control fash to illuminate the steamy back seat. Mr. Troilo efectively staged the photo, violating the rules of the contest. Michele McNally, a member of the contest’s jury and the director of photography for the New York Times wrote an explanation that addressed the diference between stage-managed and news pictures, “a staged photograph is not acceptable in news pictures that are used to depict real situations and events.” For the World Press Association, the defnition is simple, “World Press Photo rules state, ‘staging is defned as something that would not have happened without the photographer’s involvement’” (Donadio, 2015). It is unethical for photojournalists to stagemanage a scene as if the persons pictured were models in a studio. After all, the contest is called World Press Photo, not World Art Photo (See https://nyti.ms/3DANrDp). The most common way images are manipulated is through digital technology. The web is full of examples of a person adding funny features to a friend’s face as a joke to those with a hidden political agenda to alter the content and meaning of an image. When the media are involved in a visual manipulation of the facts, the issue becomes disturbing and highly unethical. In 2020, Fox News was criticized after publishing an altered image as part of its reporting on Seattle’s Black Lives Matter protests (See https://bit.ly/3GksYmU). The original picture of a rife-toting man was taken in front of a car several days before by David Ryder of Getty Images. “It is defnitely Photoshopped,” Ryder told the Seattle Times. “To use a photo out of context in a journalistic setting like that seems unethical.” You think? After the manipulation became public, the picture was removed from the Fox News website (Associated Press, 2020). Seeing is believing? With manipulations of all sorts, just because you see something doesn’t mean you should believe it happened without some help. In fact, as consumers of images, we should all be educated on the ways of manipulation and a bit cynical whenever we see, hear, or read any form of communication. However, as a communications practitioner, you should also be keenly aware that your viewers and users are not as sophisticated as you in the ways visual messages can be manipulated. As such, your ethics should be beyond reproach. Many think that the media endorses questionable and unethical behavior when it comes to victims of violence, those who feel their privacy has been violated, and manipulations of subjects, images, and viewers to win contests and thus, prestige for the individual and the media entity. It is probably no coincidence that most of the Pulitzer Prize winners for news photography show violence of some kind. However, only a hedonistic visual reporter would cover a story for purely personal gain. Most rely on the categorical imperative, the utilitarian, and/or the golden mean philosophies to guide their role-related actions. Their images may be

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tough to see and even tougher to explain, but in most cases, they should be made public and considered. Don Heider of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics articulates the core principle for visual communicators To me, the best journalists never lose their empathy. The most amazing journalism I’ve seen and experienced in my life is done by people who retain their humanity and their empathy. I  think photojournalists are anthropologists to an extent. They must have empathy to understand others and be able to return with poignantly important images. Communicating empathy is the future for journalism moving forward.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One A famous photograph of joyful strangers kissing was published in the New York Times and taken by Lt. Victor Jorgensen on August  14, 1945. The image endures to this day (Photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt also took a picture of the couple for Life magazine). The photograph captured a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square, New York, soon after news of Japan’s surrender in World War II was announced. Most persons have historically viewed the photograph within a frame of celebratory fun. However, others contend that the picture is better viewed as having captured a kind of assault, as the nurse may have been grabbed and kissed against her will (Callahan, 2012). • • • •

Does it matter which interpretation is correct? What if the nurse was simply caught of guard, but didn’t really feel ofended? What if she didn’t mind, but her identity was lost to history, or by the time her identity was rediscovered her memory of the day’s events had changed? Whose ethics matter most—the photographer’s, the viewer’s, or the publisher’s?

Case Study Two On a bench in front of an art museum on a sunny day in Madrid, Spain, a mother simultaneously protects her daughter and conveys with an emphatic gesture that a picture should not be taken. Obviously, the photographer violated her demand (See https://bit.ly/39siYtl). • • •

Did the photographer violate their privacy? Is the dilemma one of ethics or etiquette? Would you take this picture if you had the chance?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Denis Paquin, the Associated Press’ Deputy Director of Photography for Global and Sports Operations The choice of if, when, and how to publish violent news images have long been a foundational area of moral and ethical debate among professionals and gatekeepers in visual communication. Occasionally, the arguments of how to handle such highly charged imagery are fueled by the appearance of a powerful news image, which energizes the discussion like a lightning rod. An indisputable example of such a photo is Turkey-based Associated Press (AP) staf photographer Burhan Ozbilici’s (2017) tragic series of photos from 2016, which depict the assassination of Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov (see https://bit.ly/2WM7k9Y). Özbilici captured the images near the end of his shift, when he stopped by an opening of a Russian photo exhibition in Ankara. Ambassador Karlov was making an appearance at the event and so Özbilici thought that Karlov’s availability there would be a good opportunity to get some “flers,” or archival headshots of notables and ofcials for use as fle photos. When Özbilici arrived, the Ambassador began a low-key speech about his homeland. Suddenly, a Turkish police ofcer who was quietly standing behind him leaped forward screaming and repeatedly shot Karlov in the back, shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo! Don’t forget Syria!” as the diplomat fell to the foor mortally wounded. While the rest of the shocked attendees took cover, and recoiled from the shocking spectacle and gunfre, Özbilici remained and continued to photograph the assassin as he waved his gun and shouted slogans at the onlookers, continuing to fre bullets into Karlov’s motionless body on the foor. The gunman ordered everyone out of the room and was killed soon after, during the police response. The riveting series of images of the grim and historic event captured the attention of the world and engrossed the photojournalism profession in discussions. Over time, the image of the shouting rogue policeman standing over the body in the gallery with his arm and gun pointed into the air was identifed as a historic and iconic image. Also, it became symbolic of the risks and courageous duties incumbent for those in the profession (Ozbilici, 2016). “Photojournalism is a weird profession,” said photojournalist Robert Scheer (2016). “Some days it’s all ice cream socials and food shoots,” continued Scheer. “But those of us who do this for any length of time eventually fnd ourselves running toward explosions or tear gas to get close to the scenes that most people run from.” AP’s Acting Director of Photography Denis Paquin gives a utilitarian evaluation of Özbilici’s powerful images, “If you look at the entire sequence of the work, he basically was in the line of fre. It’s the presence of mind . . . of doing his job.” In a discussion of the image’s unique value and power, Paquin stressed other utilitarian perspectives, including the image’s value as a historical artifact. “It’s not just about today and tomorrow—it’s about the historical value of why we do what we do.” In addition to the historical value, another important consideration for Paquin is “the impact that a photo has on the viewer.” The key to a powerful image is that it shows the necessary drama, and emotional content, but doesn’t go as far to move the viewer toward total aversion, revulsion, or sheer disgust. Paquin explains If you shock people to the point where they don’t want to see an image, then you’re not doing your job. Because you want people to spend time studying that photo . . . looking at it . . . learning from it.

5 DOCUMENTARY ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Documentary Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • • •

A Buddhist Parable on Objectivity Values: How You Operationalize Ethical Behavior The Myth of Objectivity Photographic and Film Examples Toward a Fact-Based Subjectivity Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interviews with Nick Oza RIP, Arizona Republic and Stephen Katz, The Virginia-Pilot

A Buddhist Parable on Objectivity Followers of some of the oldest religions on this planet have told variations of this parable. It goes something like this Six blind men are asked to examine one part of a large object. None of them know it’s an elephant. After some time, they make their guesses based on their limited perspectives. After touching the elephant’s trunk someone else is sure that it is the limb of a tree. The person who grabs a tusk is positive the object is a pipe. A third feels its ear and is positive the thing in question is a large fan. Hands on the beast’s belly feel like a ceiling to another. One put his hands around a leg and proclaimed that it is a support column for a balcony. And fnally, another felt the tail and is sure the object is a rope. Each of the six thought the conclusion was correct based on a limited examination (Figure 5.1). The parable is typically used to criticize subjectivity and defend objectivity because it illustrates how a limited perspective is distorted when wholly based on a personal experience. False conclusions are often reached when there are few data points examined, there is little communication between participants, and there is no one with a macro, overall point of view. Or as a common adage explains, “Never make a conclusion based on a single anecdote.” Magician and storyteller Derek DelGaudio has a diferent take on the allegory. From his oneperson show in which he gave more than 500 performances, “In & Of Itself,” the flm of his

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-5

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FIGURE 5.1

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In the woodblock style of the Japanese art movement known as Ukiyo-e, popular during the seventeenth–nineteenth centuries, “Blind monks examining an elephant” by the painter, calligrapher, and haiku poet, Hanabusa Itchõ illustrated the Buddhist parable in 1888. Unlike other versions, this piece shows seven curious monks with one on the ground who has gone quite mad.

Source: Hanabusa Itchõ.

performance is a mesmerizing show in words and pictures (Shteir, 2021). Don’t miss it, if you can (See https://bit.ly/3jxicRI). One of many scenes in the piece describes the elephant parable with a colorful animation. But DelGaudio gives the story a diferent spin as perhaps only he could. After he depicts what the group wrongly found from their individual and personal inspections, he makes this point: What if the animal is not an elephant, but a magical creature composed of a tree, pipe, fan, ceiling, column, and a rope? But because of our preconceived biases, we don’t experience the joy of discovering a new species. After all the objective facts are collected, knowledge and understanding require a subjective evaluation so that the parable becomes a lesson in diversity, perspective, and empathy for the other. As taught for generations to visual reporting students, to be successful you need to turn of any preconceived notions of how you think people, places, and things around you are supposed to act and view others within your visual array with the cold metal hardness of a camera. Then, record those actions with the aloof, unblinking eye of a lens and interpret those stories with the detached calmness of a memory card. An appropriate metaphor might be as a “fy on the wall.” That procedure is fne for a security camera fastened to a corner of a store’s ceiling or a GoPro attached to yet another annoying buzzing drone, but the obvious truth is that as

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people, we flter everything we experience through our previous interactions whether they are successes, failures, or somewhere in-between. As a result, our predetermined mindset, which we might not be fully aware of, often leads us to make conclusions, which are often wrong, and engage in stereotyping that is often harmful. And given this woke time from the Me Too, Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Theory (watch out for those worms that just slithered out a can), and Stop the Steal political debates, for some social critics, objectivity equals systemic racism. A  controversial statement, no doubt, but one that acknowledges an inherent (mostly racial) bias throughout history that starts to address questions that come from an acknowledgment that White, privileged journalists don’t understand the experiences and actions of people of color. Bias is manifested in storytelling when these questions come from a dominant culture’s perspective • • • • •

Where do stories come from? Who is telling the stories? How are the stories presented? What are the preconceived conclusions? What should be expected when a story becomes public?

An acknowledgment of bias from visual communicators (and anyone else) is probably all that can be hoped. We should celebrate that we are not machines. But where does that leave the concept of objectivity? Hopefully, it goes in the trash bin where it always belonged. We have never been objective, it is impossible to be objective, and no matter how hard we try and are aware of our shortfalls in this area, we will never be totally objective. No wonder that in 1996 the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) acknowledged this dilemma and dropped “objectivity” from its ethics code (“SPJ Code of Ethics,” 2014). Perhaps that’s because for all the talk about the need for reporters with words and pictures to be impartial, detached, unbiased, unprejudiced, and dispassionate (can you tell I  love using my Thesaurus?), the concept is simply not possible.

Values: How You Operationalize Ethical Behavior Way back when I  was a student photojournalist working for my university’s newspaper, my assignment was to take pictures of a protest rally in front of the governor’s mansion. Forgive me, but over the years I’ve forgotten the reason for the demonstration. When I arrived at the fancy house surrounded by an elaborate and imposing metal fence at the appointed time, I was disappointed to see few at the scene who were enthused, energetic, and therefore, visually interesting about this important issue. My problem was that I had pre-visualized the situation and thought there would be hundreds of livid, screaming demonstrators on both sides of the issue with many carrying signs and police and state ofcials busy keeping the two groups separated. Imagine any area near where Donald Trump speaks. However, my frustration at not getting a good picture for my portfolio did not prevent me from continuing with my role-related responsibility of bringing back to my picture editor something useful for the next day’s paper. The organizers decided that those in attendance would be the total number of participants for that day and the protest began. It consisted of about ten students, three with signs, walking up and then back in front of the main gate. I do remember that I had no doubt at the time that this group wasn’t going to change the world as we know it. And so, I had two choices. I could use a wide-angle lens and from a high perspective several feet away from the small group and take a picture that featured the sad, inefective turnout

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or I could use a telephoto lens, again from several feet away, and take a close-up frame of a particularly emotional and vocal protester carrying a sign along with other compatriots flling out the tight composition. In one, the viewer would know how few showed up. In the other, the viewer would have no visual idea (the low number might still be reported in the story or caption) how many attended the rally. Which perspective do you think I  chose (descriptive ethics)? What do you think I should have done (normative ethics)? In 2002, Patrick Lee Plaisance and Elizabeth A. Skewes (2003) asked 600 newspaper reporters and editors to rank 24 values (they couldn’t fnd one more?) collected from previous studies. The researchers analyzed 352 returned surveys and determined that the value “Honest (sincere, truthful)” was Number One. Second place was “fair (treating others as you want to be treated)” (Notice that the golden rule is in play) while the bronze medal went to “responsible (dependable, reliable).” In case you’re interested, “Clean (neat, tidy)” was the catfsh of the list (you know, because catfsh are bottom feeders). Interestingly, “accuracy” was not included as a choice. Perhaps, the authors thought that the concept was professionally problematic. You might use accurate quotes from a newsmaker, moral agent, or stakeholder but fnd out later that the source was misleading you or even lying. Similarly, a visual reporter might accurately record a scene, but the truth might be something completely diferent. Back to the topic. The list of 24 values provided by Plaisance and Skewes in their research article should be cherished and fostered as character traits regardless of someone’s profession or situation (in alphabetical order) Above-board, Ambitious, Broadminded, Capable, Cheerful, Civic-minded, Clean, Courageous, Empathetic, Fair, Forgiving, Helpful, Honest, Imaginative, Independent, Intellectual, Just, Logical, Loving, Minimizing Harm, Obedient, Polite, Responsible, and Self-controlled. It’s a good list to keep in mind, even though I have always had trouble with being obedient. Regardless, I’m pleased that empathetic made the list because of the obvious connection with Rawls. But where is objectivity and subjectivity? Four of the values included with the survey have similar traits that can be related to being neutral in the treatment and coverage of stories and their sources. These are fair, independent, just, and logical. The original slogan for Fox News created by the deceased and discredited co-founder Roger Ailes was simply “Fair & Balanced.” The organization took an ethics hit after Ailes and popular “Factor” host Bill O’Reilly were forced to resign after several women employees complained that the two were the least fair of them all. Fox paid more than $30 million to settle the various cases between the unbalanced two (Steel  & Schmidt, 2017). Owned by Rupert Murdock, a multibillionaire Australian with deeply held conservative views (and married to Jerry Hall who attended my high school when I was a senior), the Fox News slogan was conceived from the perception by some that other print and broadcast media outlets, particularly the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, and on occasion, CNN, emphasize a liberal agenda. Fox News favors the conservative right in its coverage and commentaries to even the political playing feld. Understand the Fox News’ position: Those responsible for the news justify their biased and unbalanced story selections and presentations to correct their perception of biased and unbalanced reporting by other media outlets. This hedonism-inspired argument shows the thinness of the ethical tightrope (Shefeld, 2017).

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In 2017, Fox News changed the motto to “Most Watched. Most Trusted.” Three years later the current slogan was introduced, “Standing Up for What’s Right” (pun probably intended) (Lifreing, 2020). Stay tuned. Or not.

The Myth of Objectivity The ten-step SEA should teach that there are often many sides to a story and after careful consideration, any one of them can be an acceptable alternative to an actor’s questionable behavior. It should also be a given that many topics have only one appropriate side and do not deserve to be accompanied by an opposing viewpoint that is given equal weight. One of the most dangerous myths that comes from this illusion of balance is that opposing sides of an argument should always be represented when reporting a story. Think of these hot button opinions held by many: The 2020 presidential election was rigged, those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 were mostly loving tourists, global climate change is caused by a naturally global climate cycle, vaccines are untested and include microchips that can track your movements, the teaching of Critical Race Theory is a Marxist/Communist/ Socialist plot, and Democrats eat babies. Anti-historical and anti-fact viewpoints are made more newsworthy by giving equal time for interviews to those from both sides. An oldschool, journalism-objective reporting procedure would be to interview and photograph two persons with opposing opinions. Pat yourself on your pre-1990s back as your role-related responsibility is satisfed with this outdated method. However, would the harm caused by delivering misleading information to the public be justifed by an insistence on such fair and balanced objectivity? Julianne Newton (2000) wrote in her classic work The Burden of Visual Truth: The Role of Photojournalism in Mediating Reality that subconscious and willful aesthetic, technical, and contentdriven decisions made by an image-maker dictate the result. Every choice one can imagine made by a visual communicator is based on subjectivity. Visual reporters often fool themselves, their editors, their subjects, and their viewers into thinking that they are objective and careful recorders of reality. The truth is, as always, difcult to determine because an image in a frame is a fabrication created from multivariate decisions based on previous experiences, current mood, political attitude, cultural background, expectations, technical knowledge, and ethical sensitivity. The deuce you say. When you take pictures, you make truthful, accurate, complete, and timely recordings of what occurred in front of your camera without embellishment, enhancement, and manipulation of any kind. Good for you. However, my argument is that such documents are not only philosophically impossible but also psychologically unfeasible. If you don’t believe my take on the subjectivity of objectivity (and why should you, really?), then take the words of British theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and American physicist Leonard Mlodinow (2010) who wrote The Grand Design. According to the two scientists and philosophers, classical science gave us the notion that there is an actual world outside of our own perceptions. That’s an easy concept to accept, right? As I sit in a café writing these words I see the capital letters on my computer’s keyboard, feel the soft cushion on the couch I’m sitting on, hear two women discussing the benefts and costs of Buda Juice, and I smell chicken tortilla soup simmering on a burner in the kitchen. All this sensual information is happening outside of me, right? Wrong. As the Scottish philosopher David Hume noted, “Although we have no rational grounds for believing in an objective reality, we also have no choice but to act as if it is true” (Morris, 2013). Of course, we think what we sense is real, but Hawking and Mlodinow (2010) put the concept into sharper focus when they wrote

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There is no way to remove the observer—us—from our perception of the world, which is created through our sensory processing and through the way we think and reason. Our perception is not direct, but rather is shaped by a kind of lens, the interpretive structure of our human brains. In other words, we are the observer and the observed. This relationship between the reality perceived in the outside world and the reality generated within our minds is the same—the literal defnition of subjectivity. A better argument against objectivity could not be made. However, a speech to the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) conference in 1995 by the learned educator and author Philip Meyer (1995) comes close. He stated Objectivity, as defned by the knee-jerk, absolutist school of media ethics, means standing so far from the community that you see all events and all viewpoints as equally distant and important—or unimportant. It is implemented by giving equal weight to all viewpoints and assertions—or, if not, all an interesting variety within a socially acceptable spectrum. The result is a laying out of facts in a sterile, noncommittal manner, and then standing back to “let the reader decide” which view is true. Nevertheless, Meyer cautions When you start caring about how public debate goes, even if you don’t prefer a particular outcome, you start making subjective decisions about what to focus on and when. Journalistic passivity is abandoned. One solution is to draw a line somewhere on the slippery slope, be subjective up to that point, and then stop. For Meyer, data-driven, scientifc, journalism methods combined with the passion to tell stories as exhibited by citizen journalists is the future for the profession and a hedge against overwrought subjectivity that degrades into outright manipulation. And here is where Meyer’s argument becomes an anachronistic artifact of a bygone era. There is no violation of a role-related responsibility to act subjectively if facts are accurate. Subjectivity is fueled by passion for a story, an acknowledgment of institutional racism, and a philosophy that celebrates empathy for others. Subjectivity is the reason Nike supported football player Colin Kaepernick’s kneeled protest in support of Black Lives Matter, Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault weapons in their stores, and why there was a change of mascots by the Washington D.C. football and Cleveland baseball teams. During a session at a conference of mass communication educators and professionals on the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, Mark Schleifstein then of the Times-Picayune showed a picture of his house that fooded two feet above the foor of his second story. Retired journalist for WVUE-TV in New Orleans, Norman Robinson told a story of becoming emotional on the air when he couldn’t fnd his family, and Travers Mackel of WDSU-TV admitted that “my objectivity went out the window” when reporting on his own city’s disaster (Schleifstein et al., 2021). Objectivity is tossed but not the journalism values of credible, honest reporting. Here is a role-related responsibility test for you. Admire, emulate, and tell others about documentary failures and successes you have seen. You can learn as much from examples of those who have slid down the metaphorical slippery slope as you can from notable successes. Too much of a good thing, for example, extremes in objectivity—boring, factflled accounts and subjectivity—prejudiced and unfair portrayals both produce fawed presentations.

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Known for documentary flms such as Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11 and many others, Michael Moore injects himself and his opinions into the narratives. Although praised by many, for his clear, storytelling abilities when the antagonist is a rich automobile executive or a pampered celebrity without a clue, his latest flm, Planet of the Humans, takes aim at the Green Movement and criticized by climate scientists. Michael Mann, a climate scientist and signatory to Fox’s letter, said the flm includes “various distortions, half-truths and lies” and that the flmmakers “have done a grave disservice to us and the planet by promoting climate change inactivist tropes and talking points” (Milman, 2020). Moore contends that instead of technical solutions to climate change, world leaders should concentrate on reducing urban sprawl (See https://bit.ly/3zDlOqX). Another extreme example of subjectivity run wild is The Deep Rig, “a flm fnanced by the multimillionaire founder of Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, who is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump” (Mayer, 2021). The flm makes several assertions without evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen (See https://imdb.to/3tjbjXz). Many argue that photojournalism and documentary photography should be separated by one of those massive ten-lane freeways that cut through mostly poor neighborhoods. For some, documentary is art while photojournalism is simply useful. However, the diference is more evident when documentarians work for themselves without too many fnancial pressures or controls and newspaper visual reporters are urged toward stories that are entertaining and can be easily marketed to improve a publisher’s bottom line (Price, 2004). For news events, photojournalists should not manipulate. No stage managing or the use of digital tools to remove or add an element is permitted without clear justifcations. However, documentary photographers and flmmakers can create scenarios, use actors, make sets, stagemanage scenes, include voice-overs and music, combine characters, and so on all for the sake of telling a story. Although some photojournalists are given the green light to work on a complicated story, documentary photographers and flmmakers work exclusively on long-form, multi-image, and/or multi-scene presentations for art galleries, books, and motion picture, television, or web screens. They have few ties to news organizations or journalism schools and usually work on self- or grant-fnanced projects. And yet, photojournalists and documentary image-makers select the same types of stories, they use the same procedures to cover their subjects through in-depth ways, they use similar equipment to produce still and moving images with audio, and they both devote a great deal of time to produce quality work. Where the issue of objectivity is most interesting is in a discussion of the concept of time related to photojournalism and documentary photographers and flmmakers. Photojournalists for paper and online news entities almost always make visual messages intended to be singlepicture records of that day’s news, sports, features, and so on. With daily assignments, there is not much time to fnd, take, and deliver images to an editor. But some documentarians can work weeks and years on a story. If a project takes a long time to produce, an emotional bond forms with the individuals that are part of the story that often invites subjectivity. The less time you spend on a story, objectivity is easier to master.

Photographic and Film Examples History is flled with still photographers documenting the worst and best of people. John Greene photographed the ruins of ancient Egypt in the 1850s. John Thomson visually told the stories of London’s poor in the 1870s. Edward S. Curtis photographed ruins of the western United States and made portraits of native Americans in the 1890s while Edward Stieglitz, married to the

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painter Georgia O’Keefe, produced powerful city views during the same time and important writings that elevated photography to a fne art. Jacob Riis’ photographers documented America’s poor while Lewis Hine took pictures of children working dangerous jobs, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand elevated street photography to an art form. Mary Ellen Mark photographed those on the margins of society while Lauren Greenfeld took pictures of those in control of those margins (See https:// bit.ly/3By54BT). There were picture stories of much too-happy natives and locals within the pages of early National Geographic, Picture Post, and Life magazines. Margaret Bourke-White photographed the cover story for the frst Life magazine—of a dam and the people who built it. The work of the Farm Security Administration photographers (Farm Security Administration, n.d.), Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, and others produced propagandistic images that were often manipulated for a more dramatic efect during the U.S. Great Depression in the hope of swaying public opinion that help was needed. And don’t forget wars and conficts—there were plenty to fll rolls of flms and digital memory cards. Roger Fenton photographed the Crimean War in the 1850s. Alexander Gardner made pictures during the American Civil War. James Hare worked during the Spanish-American War. Helen Kirtland and Toni Frissell made images during World War I (Bell, 2018). Robert Capa and W. Eugene Smith photographed World War II—Smith was severely injured while Capa was killed in Vietnam. Eddie Adams, David Burnett, Don McCullin, and Nick Ut worked during the Vietnam War. More recently, Javier Manzano, James Nachtwey, Moises Saman, and João Silva make extraordinary documents of war-torn cities and people. From the website of Magnum Photos, the premiere picture agency in the world, “Moises Saman” blends traditional confict photography with a deeply personal point of view. For more than ten years, he has been concerned with the humanitarian impact of war in the Middle East, documenting both the front line of daily sufering and the “feeting moments on the periphery of the more dramatic events.” He doesn’t sound like an objective photographer to me. Good. He was a student of mine in California (See https://bit.ly/3BABpI6). A website to see the work of current documentarians is an annual contest, “Best of Photojournalism” sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). It showcases visual journalists who publish in print and screen media. Most of the best examples demonstrate a fact-based subjectivity. The website produced by NPPA for its annual contest, “Best of Photojournalism” features work from large cities and small towns in print and on television. The site is inspiring, humbling, and frustrating when you consider all the good work visual journalists produce that is seldom seen (See https://bit.ly/38M21tH). Nevertheless, take the time to view the frst stage-managed, naïve, and exceedingly dull, objective documentaries before scenes were edited from the French brother team of Auguste and Louis Lumière, the frst to think of showing movies within a theatre, in such literal titles as Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory and Fishing for Goldfsh (Pruitt, 2018). Extreme objectivity can become boring which is why audiences stopped seeing the Lumière brothers’ flms and the two quit the motion picture business to concentrate on making color still camera flm (See https:// bit.ly/3zBSmld). Who wouldn’t pay a franc to see that riveting documentary? The imperfect frst try at documenting Native Americans in Alaska by the American flmmaker Robert Flaherty in Nanook of the North in which many scenes were set up, brilliantly parodied by writers Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and director Rhys Thomas in Kunuk Uncovered for the “Documentary Now!” television series (See https://bit.ly/2YhH73w). For critically acclaimed documentaries produced by award-winning visual journalists, watch anything produced by Les Blank, Barbara Kopple, Albert and David Maysles, Errol Morris, and

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Frederick Wiseman who took the concept of cinema verité, or truthful camera to a new level, a technique invented by the French philosopher Edgar Morin and flmmaker Jean Rouch. Study the way complex stories are told in the work of director Gabriela Cowperthwaite of Blackfsh, in Davis Guggenheim’s An Inconvenient Truth and its follow-up, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, in Lauren Greenfeld’s The Queen of Versailles, in Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and in Louie Psihoyos’ The Cove (See https://bit.ly/2V713op). You should also watch, listen, and recommend to your friends, documentary flms and miniseries as presented on Amazon, Netfix, HBO, and other sources. Appreciate the humane telling of a sympathetic yet troubled celebrity chef in Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain directed by Morgan Neville, Val directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott, an intimate portrait of the actor Val Kilmer, and the Academy Award winning My Octopus Teacher directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, which is as subjective a telling as can be found. Even the trailer for My Octopus Teacher is an aesthetically satisfying work of art (See https://imdb.to/3n0Mtu2).

Toward a Fact-Based Subjectivity Suggestions for further viewing come from sensitive and thoughtful photojournalists and flmmakers who acknowledge their biases—their inherent subjectivity with their subjects—but manage, despite the faws in capturing reality, to produce works that make a diference. So where does that leave you? What should you do to control your own biases when on an assignment? How do you remain fair and balanced? What can you do to combat your subconscious and conscious over-the-top subjectivity? Use your moral sense to know the diference between right and wrong and act to produce work that punishes the wrong and elevates the right (but perhaps not necessarily in the political meaning of the word). Be subjective. Yes. Do your research and learn everything you can about a story before you take pictures. Have passion and concern but not too much or your eforts won’t be believed. But don’t be so objective you become a robotic camera stuck up a selfe stick. Do your best. That’s all you can do. As stated previously and more succinctly: Do your job and don’t cause unjustifed harm. And if sometimes you err because you’re human, learn from your subjective indulgences and do better. By the way, for the governor’s mansion assignment, I turned in both versions to my editor—a wide-angle shot that showed how few protesters were at the scene and a telephoto frame that zeroed-in on one person holding a sign. After a brief discussion, it was decided that both pictures would be used—a golden mean solution to a subjective dilemma.

Documentary Ethics

Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One Public relations professionals are allowed to “fx” quotes for the people they work for, to make them sound smarter, pithier, or more articulate than they might really be. Imagine now that you’re working as a public relations person for a company, and your CEO goes on a safari, and his jeep accidentally runs over a girafe. He has video of his voyage, and he’s very excited to post some of the footage, but he asks you to leave out any mention of his mishap, and to edit out the part where the jeep hits the animal (he was driving). But you know this is the part people will be most interested in—after all, he wasn’t supposed to be behind the wheel. He wasn’t licensed to drive in that country. • • •

What would you do if you were asked not to mention the death of an animal? Should the owners of a safari let guests drive their own vehicles? What would you say to the girafe’s mother to ease her pain for her loss?

Case Study Two In the middle of the 1990s, some producers at ABC News got a tip about possible unsanitary food handling practices at Food Lion, a national grocery store chain. Thinking that they probably wouldn’t be allowed to bring their cameras inside the store to investigate, the producers decided to go undercover as employees. They made up fake resumes and got themselves hired in the meat department of a local Food Lion store. Using hidden cameras, these producers captured evidence of bad behavior on the part of the supermarket, including repackaging and reselling meat past its “sell-by” date. This footage was subsequently aired on the ABC newsmagazine program “PrimeTime Live.” Soon thereafter, Food Lion sued ABC for both fraud and trespass, eventually winning jury verdicts on both counts (“ABC News,” 2016). • • •

Is it worth a hit to your credibility if you hide the fact that you’re a journalist? If the report was true, is it fair for a court to rule against ABC? Are there other ways to report on the story than misrepresentation?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Nick Oza, Arizona Republic and Stephen Katz, The Virginia-Pilot The choice of whether to explicitly pursue advocacy through photojournalism continues to be a robust point of discussion and debate among professionals. Some photojournalists strive to avoid perceptions of advocacy in favor of the classic journalistic core values of objectivity and impartiality. Others choose to embrace advocacy boldly. And many professionals fall somewhere in the middle. Nick Oza (sadly, he died in 2021) was a staf photojournalist at the Arizona Republic since 2006, where he had been drawn to stories about social topics such as refugees, immigration, child welfare, women’s issues, mental health, and gang-related violence (“Nick Oza Website,” n.d.). Nick was a nationally and internationally recognized photojournalist, a four-time Arizona Photographer of the Year, and he was part of Knight-Ridder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning team in 2006 for work documenting the efects of Hurricane Katrina. Oza saw a fne line between activism and journalism but maintained that those in journalism must be careful not to cross that line, “but still be the voice of a community.” While Oza covered social issues with a sense of mission, he was careful to stay true to his espoused core values of journalistic objectivity. One way to stay on the right side of that boundary is to be careful not to stray into any kind of participatory role with a subject. For instance, while doing a story on “Dreamers”— undocumented immigrants who came to the United States when they were minors—Oza was photographing a young woman who was stumped by the Byzantine task of flling out immigration paperwork. When she asked Oza for assistance with completing the forms, he needed to restrain himself from his inclination toward helping her. “She had no clues how to even fll out the paperwork, and she was asking me ‘Do you think I’ll be able to get the help?’” He replied “I’m not a lawyer . . . And there are many of you like this, and that’s the story I want to tell. But you need an expert or a lawyer.” Oza said because he was careful with his boundaries, and honest about his process, people tended to trust him. When covering stories in Mexico and working with locals who were involved in drug or human trafcking, Oza had to warn subjects of his photos about giving him their names. “People are trusting me and giving me their frst name and last name.” Oza recollected, “I told them ‘There is a possibility your story can come out and your names in the story can jeopardize you. Are you going to be okay?’” Stephen Katz is more explicit and unfinching about his role as an advocate. “It’s hard to avoid the word advocacy,” he says. Katz has been a photojournalist at The Virginian-Pilot since 2004, where he came from working at the Daily News in Bangor, Maine, and The Freelance Star in Fredericksburg, VA (“Stephen M. Katz Website,” 2021). His grounding in a strong prosocial perspective makes Katz a vigorous and unapologetic advocate about, well, being an advocate. “I think there is an element of advocacy from the getgo in what we do, and I don’t think that’s anything to be ashamed of.” “Honestly, I think we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t think there is an element of advocacy in what we do as newspaper journalists,” Katz said. “You know, we pursue stories that in and of themselves or are advocating for certain communities or neighborhoods.” I think being an advocate doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be objective. I don’t think advocacy is a synonym for being subjective. I think they are two diferent things. I think it’s a rich history of newspapers to be an advocate, frankly, for their community. The

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fourth estate is there to keep politicians, corporate executives, to keep the fat and powerful in check for the ordinary man on the street. Not unlike Oza, Katz is unequivocal about the importance of establishing trust with those whose stories he tells. Subjects are true and honest and open when you’re true and honest and open with them. That’s when you know you’re going to be telling the best stories or making the best images and you can’t do that if you come into their home and you’re completely mechanical. “And I’m not sorry for the way I worked that project,” Katz reasoned. I think a lot of good came out of it. Nothing harmful came out of it. And you know, those people need a voice. That’s what we ofer. We often ofer the common person—the man on the street—a voice. A mayor, or a senator, or politician, or a celebrity, or a wealthy businessman can have a press conference, and can say things that’ll be picked up by media outlets. But there’s really nobody but the journalists that are there to tell the stories of the people who don’t have that privilege. A place where Oza and Katz did fnd strong alignment was the importance they placed on empathy. Says Katz, “If you don’t have empathy and compassion. I  just I  don’t think you’re going to make the same connection with readers as you could if you were a human frst and a photographer second.” Oza admitted that the immersion into the social problems he documented took a toll on him. With this type of subject matter, you really have to care about what you’re doing— otherwise you cannot really cover it. I think you know, ethics-wise, in terms of manipulating photographs . . . changing or moving your subjects around . . . or being libelous . . . or changing reality . . . or editing pixels or content or erasing things—all that kind of stuf is ethically wrong. But showing compassion and showing empathy to your subject—I don’t think that is a violation of any ethics policy.

6 THE ETHICS OF CITIZEN JOURNALISTS Paul Martin Lester The Ethics of Citizen Journalists

Chapter Topics • • • • • • • •

A Tale of Two Photographers Credibility is the Key to Acceptability Awards Signify Credibility Amateur Recordings That Made a Diference Professionalism Establishes Credibility Darnella Frazier and the Meaning of Courage Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interviews with Journalists Jim Collins and Emmanuelle Saliba

A Tale of Two Photographers Two citizen journalists, in an earlier time they were called amateurs, stringers, or freelancers, stood a few feet apart and took essentially the same picture. One was disgraced. The other won a Pulitzer Prize. Such starts a cautionary tale on citizen journalism and credibility. The powerful display of Bob LaRue’s photograph on the cover of Newsweek is contrasted with the small size of Charles Porter’s version of the same sad scene on Time magazine. If the judging were solely based on graphic design, LaRue would have won a Pulitzer Prize. However, the award went to Porter. On April  19, 1995, at 9:02 on a bright, blue, cloudless Wednesday morning, a truck bomb loaded with about two tons of explosives detonated next to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. This surprise attack remains the worst case of homegrown domestic terrorism in American history. The blast destroyed or damaged more than 300 buildings, crushed 80 automobiles, caused damage of more than $650 million (more than $1 billion today), injured more than 680 persons, and resulted in 168 deaths including 19 children. One of the most memorable killed that day was one-year-old Baylee Almon, seen gently cradled by the bare hands of frefghter Chris Fields in photographs taken by Lester “Bob” LaRue and Charles H. Porter IV (Figure 6.1). The bloodstained child held calmly and caringly elicits sorrow, solemnity, and a visual comparison to the Pietà, the work by the ffteenth-century Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti. Wednesday’s child is full of woe (Eversley, 2015). DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-6

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FIGURE 6.1

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In this Pulitzer Prize photograph, Firefghter Chris Fields gently cradles the body of Baylee Almon, killed by the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. For years Fields sought counseling for PTSD symptoms, a condition many journalists on the front lines of tragedy experience. Now retired, he acknowledges his friendship with Baylee’s mother and the love from his wife and two sons to overcome his grief (Pawlowski, 2017).

Source: Courtesy of © Charles H. Porter IV and ZUMA Press.

Lester E. “Bob” LaRue, 57, was a safety coordinator for the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company when he heard the explosion. He assumed the blast was from a gas leak. He retrieved a camera and made several frames of the scene. After his flm was developed, he got a call from a photo clerk that an editor for Newsweek magazine wanted to see his negatives. He earned about $38,000 (about $60,000 today) from Newsweek and other media entities. He also signed a deal with a T-shirt company and another for commemorative statuettes (Hedonistic much?). After he saw Aren Almon, Baylee’s mother, holding one of his shirts on television upset that LaRue was making money of the image of her dead child, the shirts were removed from stores (“Oklahoma City Bombing,” 2013). There was more trouble for LaRue. The camera and flm he used were not his personal property—they were owned by the gas company. When a golden mean alternative was ofered in which LaRue would give his earnings to a charity, he refused and was fred. The dispute ended up in court and LaRue lost—he was told to pay his former employer about $34,000 for copyright infringement (Queary, 1997).

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Charles “Chuck” Porter was a 26-year-old loan ofcer for Liberty Bancorp in a building near the Murrah building with dreams of being more than a credit analyzer. With a keen interest in photography, he earned a little extra money taking pictures at weddings, the Bullnanza Rodeo, and for the University of Oklahoma’s athletic department. While working at his desk he heard what he later called a sonic boom and immediately ran to his car to retrieve his camera. He took a few pictures of damaged buildings, debris, and rescue workers while not thinking too much about what he had recorded. As he usually did, he later took his flm to be developed at his local Walmart. As reported by Ben Crandell (2016), Porter described the reaction of the women in the photo department to his prints. “They were looking over my shoulder, and they started crying. [One] said, ‘Oh, honey, what have you got? What did you take a picture of?’ And that’s when I kind of went, ‘Wait a minute. Hold on. I might have something here.’” What Porter had was a photograph he sold to the Associated Press that ran in newspapers across the globe and was used on the cover of Time magazine. The next year he won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography, a rare feat for anyone but especially rare for an amateur photographer. LaRue’s photograph taken on that fateful day is seldom seen, won no prizes, and remained a source of frustration for him because he approved the use of the image on T-shirts, posters, and other memorabilia. He gave some of the money to charities, but most of the earnings paid his legal fees. The controversy and questions about his credibility propelled Bob LaRue into the back pages of history and nullifed a fne photographic efort. Although Charles Porter also allowed his photograph to be used for memorabilia companies, particularly Precious Moments, known as a manufacturer of overly sentimental dolls, jewelry, and fgurines, perhaps because of his more modest personality, his reputation remained intact. More importantly, the diference with LaRue is that Porter received permission from Baylee’s mother, and they shared the profts. Writer Anthony Feinstein (2016) reports that Porter’s Pulitzer trophy rests in a glass cabinet next to his family’s fne china. In an interview he admitted, “Don’t mistake for one second that I  think that I  am any kind of professional photographer. I  was in the right place at the right time, and I was prepared and equipped to take advantage of that opportunity” (Crandell, 2016). A clearer defnition of a bystander photographer could not be better stated. Place. Time. Opportunity. That’s why citizen journalists are sometimes called accidental visual reporters.

Credibility is the Key to Acceptability According to Jay Rosen, media critic, author, and educator, citizen journalists are “the people formerly known as the audience.” With hundreds of millions of easily pocketed and retrievable smartphones bought every year by consumers throughout the world that provide internet access to social media for quick and convenient uploads that bypass traditional print and broadcast outlets, creators and the audience are one. We are the media. Nevertheless, because an event is recorded does not necessarily make it journalism. The citizen visual reporter and the scene documented must have credibility. A disciple of the Chinese philosopher Confucius asked the master, “I’ve heard that credibility is the cardinal principle of conducting oneself in society. Is that true?” Confucius answered, “How can one be acceptable without being trustworthy? It is like a carriage without a yoke. How can one move forward? Without credibility, one has no restraint” (Zhou, 2005). Not surprisingly, Confucius was an early advocate of the golden rule philosophy. He was also apparently opposed to hitching a ride on a passing ox cart. Howard Chapnick (1994), author of Truth Needs No Ally: Inside Photojournalism and longtime head of the prestigious Black Star picture agency cautioned, “Credibility gives [visual

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reporters] the right to call photography a profession rather than a business. Not maintaining that credibility diminishes journalistic impact and self-respect, and the importance of photography as communication.” A lack of credibility is often associated with the hedonism philosophy. Hedonism is an oftenderided philosophy for a person to possess, almost always deserving of consternation. Who wants to defend another whose behavior is based solely on an individual’s sense of entitlement? Any visual reporter who performs an action to increase personal wealth, status, or opinions rather than to advance professional standards and the public’s knowledge sufers from a reduction of credibility and is considered a hedonist—a label that is difcult to scrub clean.

Awards Signify Credibility A man who hoped his philanthropy would counteract criticisms of his hedonistically inspired publishing decisions established the Pulitzer Prize, one of the most prestigious awards given each year since 1917 for literary and journalism excellence. In his will, the Hungarian-born Joseph Pulitzer provided $250,000 (almost $5 million today) to Columbia University to inaugurate a journalism school and to fund the Prize (Topping, 2017). Pulitzer had many professional sins he wanted to atone. One of the most egregious was his circulation war with another hedonistic newspaper publisher of his day, William Randolph Hearst (Wierichs, n.d.). To sell more papers, attract advertisers, and promote their political agendas, the two sensationalized stories with frighteningly large headlines, gaudy illustrations, stereotypical cartoons, faked interviews, and fake news. Their exaggeration of a minor confict in Cuba between Spain and the United States so infamed the will of the American public the newspapers were blamed for the Spanish-American War in 1898. In addition, their outrageous, ego-driven, back-and-forth bidding war for the cartoonist Richard Outcault’s “The Yellow Kid,” the most popular cartoon of the day, led to the derogatory term for reporter behavior, yellow journalism, a term used to describe the unethical practice of paying for an interview or photographic access (“The Yellow Kid,” n.d.). At least for Pulitzer, his legacy is repaired through his eponymous Prize. For Hearst, his is forever tarnished by his unrepentant actions and opinions that Orson Welles skewered in the motion picture, Citizen Kane. It was a harsh view of the life of Hearst and considered one of the best flms ever produced (Dirks, 2017). The stories of Pulitzer and Hearst prove that bad business decisions can be ruinous to one’s reputation. The frst amateur photographer to win a Pulitzer Prize was Arnold Hardy, a 24-year-old graduate student at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Getting home after a late-night date on December 7, 1946, Hardy heard a fre engine’s siren. He called the station and learned the location of the fre—the Winecof Hotel with 240 registered guests. When he arrived, the hotel was engulfed in fames. His son, Glen, later told a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “He stood on the sidewalk and watched people plummet to their deaths.” In the darkness and confusion of the situation he took four pictures using the fashbulb technology of the day. His fnal image forever froze Daisy McCumber, a 41-year-old Atlanta secretary. Miraculously, she survived the 11-story fall (Figure 6.2). As many as 119 people died in the catastrophe, at that time the deadliest hotel fre in U.S. history. Hardy sold his photograph to the Associated Press for $300 (about $3,700 today). It was published in newspapers throughout the nation. The next year, he won the Pulitzer Prize. As a utilitarian plus, his photograph led to changes in building fre codes across the country. In true amateur photography tradition, Hardy turned down a job with the AP and started a company that produced X-ray equipment. “The only pictures I’ve taken since then,” he admitted, “have been of family and on vacations” (“Amateur Who Took Pulitzer,” 2007). In 1954, another amateur won the coveted prize. Virginia Schau was a housewife from North Sacramento on a holiday with her husband near Redding, California. She happened

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FIGURE 6.2

Daisy McCumber, a 41-year-old ofce assistant leaps from an upper story to escape the burning Winecof Hotel in Atlanta. She survived after breaking both legs, back, and pelvis. She died in 1992 never revealing to her family that she was the subject of the famous picture. The tragedy led President Truman to call for new fre safety codes nationwide—a utilitarian response.

Source: Courtesy of the Associated Press by Arnold Hardy.

upon the rescue of two men stuck in the cab of a semitrailer that teetered over the edge of a bridge that spanned the Pit River, a tributary of the Sacramento River (Dhaliwal, 2013). Schau’s husband and a passerby lowered a rope to the men who screamed for help. During the successful rescue attempt, Schau’s father reminded her of the Sacramento Bee’s photography contest. She ran to her car and retrieved her simple Kodak Brownie camera to take a picture. She won the $10 frst place award (about $100 today) from the Bee and the next year the Pulitzer (Figure 6.3). Another amateur to win a Pulitzer sold furniture in St. Louis. In 1989, Ron Olshwanger enjoyed taking pictures of fres so much he installed a police scanner in his car to arrive at burning infernos (Holland, 2008). Moments after he arrived at a house fre, he photographed frefghter Adam Long giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to two-year-old Patricia Pettus. Unfortunately, the child died from her injuries. Editors at the St.  Louis Post-Dispatch paid Olshwanger $200 (about $400 today) and ran the picture on the front page. After he won the Pulitzer, he gave his cash award to the Pettus family. As another utilitarian philosophy bonus, the

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FIGURE 6.3

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Paul Overby, one of the two drivers trapped in the cab of a tractor trailer, is pulled to safety by a rope on the Pit River Bridge across Shasta Lake near Redding, California on May 3, 1953. Virginia Schau, an amateur photographer using a Kodak Brownie camera, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954 for the photograph.

Source: Courtesy of the Associated Press by Virginia Schau.

tragedy publicized the need for smoke detectors in homes. Universal City, Missouri’s Fire Chief Adam Long is interviewed by a KTVI-TV reporter about his eforts to save the girl that Ron Olshwanger photographed to win a Pulitzer Prize (See https://bit.ly/2WKFnPQ). Hardy, Schau, and Olshwanger all had one trait in common with professional photojournalists. Except for the sale of the image to a news organization, none of them actively attempted to cash in on their Pulitzer Prizes by endorsing cheesy product tie-ins. Still photographers and those who use moving images as their medium of choice, sometimes known collectively as lens-based workers, are honored by the Best of Photography, the Heywood Broun Award, the Emmy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), the Peabody Awards, PEN America, Pictures of the Year International, the George Polk Award, the World Press Photo, in addition to Press Clubs and countless city, county, and state fair competitions. Do contests inspire unethical behavior? Might a visual reporter hungry for recognition concentrate on violent acts rather than the reason for them? Or commit

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the sins of stage managing and digital manipulations? It’s possible. But those motivated solely for acknowledgment are almost always discovered and discredited. Contests should highlight imagemakers who provide the best images of the most important social challenges. Fortunately, most do. However, even though citizens with smartphones have provided valuable moving image accounts during such news events as Iran’s Green Movement, the Arab Spring, the Occupy movement, highly controversial police shootings, and ironically, the January 6th Capitol building uprising, award competitions, for the most part, do not recognize their achievements (Well, law enforcement ofcials recognize videos taken by insurrectionists for use in prosecutions). And yet, over the years there have been extraordinary moving image recordings made by average citizens that have changed the course of history.

Amateur Recordings That Made a Diference For motion pictures, one of the most famous citizen journalists is Abraham Zapruder, a dress manufacturer with an interest in flmmaking. He used a Bell  & Howell flm camera loaded with 8mm Kodachrome II color flm to record in silence the assassination of President John Kennedy in Dallas. The footage has been called the most important 26 seconds in flm history (Rosenbaum, 2013). The morning following the tragedy, Zapruder agreed to let Life magazine publish frames from his flm for a fee of $150,000 (the equivalent of more than $1 million today). Although Zapruder died in 1970, his family retained the copyright of the flm until 1999 when it was donated to the Sixth Floor Museum housed within the Texas School Book Depository from where Lee Oswald shot President Kennedy. The silent flm by Abraham Zapruder begins with a woman who pretends to try on clothes and talk on the phone in a playful, firty way. The mood, though, quickly changes when the next scene is of Kennedy’s motorcade and a rife shot to the head of the President—one of the pieces of evidence used by nonmedical experts of an additional assassin at ground level (See https://bit.ly/3jxqpFw). In 1991, George Holliday, a 31-year-old plumber, stepped out onto the second-foor balcony of his apartment and used a newly purchased camcorder to videotape the beating of motorist Rodney King, 25, by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The tape has been called one of the most signifcant pieces of video ever recorded after it was shown throughout the world (Troy, 2016). When four police ofcers were acquitted in a criminal case against them the next year, the flm was cited as one of the factors that caused the worst rioting in US history with 55 persons killed, more than 2,000 injured, and more than $1 billion ($1.7 billion today) in property damage. Nevertheless, the prestigious Peabody Award was given to KTLA-TV that frst aired the footage and not to Holliday. Years later as reported by Erik Ortiz, Holliday urged citizen journalists “to stand up and record when they see something wrong—as long as they know that what they’re putting out there refects the truth.” An NBC News report led by anchor Lester Holt identifes several amateur videos that show police criminal behavior and includes a thoughtful interview with George Holliday who recorded the beating of Rodney King (See https://nbcnews.to/3tjjuDf). In 2012, King was found drowned at the bottom of his swimming pool while Holliday died in 2021 from COVID-19 complications. The two only met once—a random encounter at a gas station soon after the frst not guilty court decision. King told Holliday that he had saved his life (Risen, 2021). Still images and video from bystanders were used by news agencies to help tell the complicated story of the destruction caused during 9/11 and the airplane attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001. Most of the amateur visual reporters were unrecognized and unknown to the public. However, with the internet, and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along with websites such as CopBlock, Photography Is Not a Crime, and the Police Activity channel on YouTube, amateur videos are easily uploaded and viewed by millions. CopBlock, Photography is Not a Crime (PINAC), and the Police Activity channel on YouTube are websites

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in which citizen journalists can publish their video about police activity—both positive and mostly negative (See https://bit.ly/3ByZ100, https://pinacnews.com, and https://bit.ly/3jBFSnX). Although the Washington Post reported that police are responsible for 940 shooting deaths of suspects in 2020, few are recorded on camera (“Fatal Force,” 2021). The exceptions stand out. Ramsey Orta, 24, flmed police give an illegal chokehold to Eric Garner that caused his death in 2014. However, despite the visual evidence, prosecutors declined to charge the police ofcer. The next year Feidin Santana, 23, a barber from the Dominican Republic flmed the fatal shooting in the back of Walter Scott by Ofcer Michael Slager in North Charleston, South Carolina. After Santana visited the home of Scott’s family members, he gave a copy of the video to the family. Concerning the decision to hand over the video, an action that a professional journalist would almost never do, Santana noted that the family was highly emotional. He thought about his position and their situation. “If I had a family member that it happened to, I would want to know the truth.” His action was based on the veil of ignorance philosophy of feeling empathy for another. Slager was later indicted by state and federal authorities. The jury in the state trial was unable to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared, but Slager pleaded guilty to a civil rights case and was given a 20-year sentence. The tell-tale signs of an amateur video are camera movement, vertical framing, poor audio, and unprofessional voice-overs (cussing). Nevertheless, the content, the most important element, is communicated and is emotionally triggering for many (See https://bit.ly/3t7B9gR and https://bit.ly/3hcnWij). In 2016, in a suburb outside St. Paul, Minnesota, Lavish “Diamond” Reynolds sat in the driver’s side of a car next to her fancé, Philando Castile who was shot four times by a police ofcer. He later died from his wounds. Reynolds’ four-year old daughter sat in the back seat. Reynolds used Facebook Live, a video-streaming service for smartphones, to broadcast the ordeal. Her voice-over narration as she talked with the ofcer was extraordinary, as most bystander clips do not include detailed commentary. In 2017, a jury found police ofcer Jeronimo Yanez, who killed Castile, not guilty on all counts. The length of the emotional conversation of the calm Lavish Diamond Reynolds with the distraught police ofcer Jeronimo Yanez allows White viewers to imagine what it’s like to be Black in America. Despite how carefully worded and respectful you are, tragedy often happens (https://bit.ly/3jyQdRp). The rash of publicized police shootings allegedly inspired a mentally ill Afghanistan War veteran in 2016 to ambush police ofcers after a peaceful protest march had ended in downtown Dallas. Five ofcers were killed, and seven others wounded. News coverage of the story combined footage taken by journalists with professional television equipment and citizens with smartphones. Video from Sidney Johnson, an intern with Central Track, a Dallas-based web publication showed police cars, downed ofcers, frightened passersby, the sound of gunshots, and someone yelling from inside a parking garage, “There are four cops down. There’s a sniper from up here somewhere.” And then, “Holy shit.” The video is a compelling visual document, but the uncut, raw, and emotional voice-over are typically not part of an edited, packaged newscast. Video from citizen journalist Sidney Johnson of the Dallas police shootings in 2016 is a clear example of the raw nature of live television coverage. Running without a stabilizer such as made by Steadicam, results in extremely shaky images that are difcult to interpret. What’s not hard to understand is the pure horror experienced when confronted by such a unique, war-zone experience (See https://bit.ly/3gSOBAo). In a traditional, pre-social media era, photographs and videos were not considered journalism until they were processed. A single photograph taken by an amateur must have basic caption information—the who, what, when, where, and how questions answered. A  video is more complicated. It must be edited and set within a package—it cannot simply be raw footage. It must have a story arc that moves from a beginning to an end with compelling images, insightful interviews, wild sound, informative voice-overs, and so on. Although a dramatic storyline is

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always a vital component to both still and moving pictures, context and thoughtful explanations make the work journalism. Long-time late reporter for the television news magazine show, “60 Minutes,” Morley Safer once remarked in 2009, “Good journalism is structured, and structure means responsibility.” Yes. Journalism is packaged—structured. But then Safer goes on to say famously, “I would trust citizen journalism as much as I would trust citizen surgery” (Krinsky, 2009). Ouch. What if Safer were seriously injured from a car accident and needed an emergency tracheotomy so he could breathe. At that moment I doubt he would care about the credentials of a stranger who knew how to perform the procedure. Nevertheless, the defnition of journalism and who can be called a journalist is changing. Perhaps the term should be retired. Its role-related responsibilities and reliance on the categorical imperative is waning. Unedited video taken by individuals with no journalism training, degree, or experience make important contributions to the public’s need to know and is now recognized. In 2010, the George Polk Award was given to an anonymous camera phone operator who showed the death of Neda Agha-Soltan (Daragahi, 2009), a young music student during an Iranian election protest. You are free to scan the LA Observed website, scroll down to the YouTube link, and watch Neda Agha-Soltan die before your eyes, but I don’t recommend it. Nevertheless, the death, taken by an anonymous bystander won a George Polk journalism award and was called, “an iconic image of the Iranian resistance” (See https://bit.ly/38zzpn3). The curator of the Polk awards, John Darnton explained the organization’s controversial decision with, “This award celebrates the fact that, in today’s world, a brave bystander with a smartphone can use video sharing and social networking sites to deliver the news.” Benny Evangelista (2010) reported that a Polk Award given to an anonymous bystander with a smartphone bothered Bill Kovach, a long-time journalist and chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, an organization dedicated to the future of the profession based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Kovach thought that viewers might too easily accept such reports by amateurs “at face value” when they should be skeptical if a report does not come from a traditional news agency. “Professional journalists are trained to adhere to values that give their reports credibility,” Kovach said. “But citizen journalists, especially if they are unnamed, may not have the same drive to try to help you decide whether or not it’s worthy of belief and that’s what journalism is designed to do.” However, he did admit that The new technology has created the opportunity for us to have a direct relationship with people in the community and begin to draw them into [the journalism] process, make them smarter consumers of it, and make them potential producers of it whenever they are where the action is.

Professionalism Establishes Credibility Whether a seasoned professional visual reporter who works for a well-known media entity or a teenager with a smartphone who happens to be at the scene of a dramatic news event, the line between the two citizen journalists becomes fuzzier as pocket technology, the use of social media, and the public’s acceptance of unverifed visual reports are more commonplace. Journalism calls itself a profession because most of its members graduated from academic institutions, belong to organizations that promote the latest practices along with ethical behavior, keep up with trade journals and other publications specifc to the feld, attend conferences that provide inspirational stories, images, and workshops, and engage in active self-criticism when controversial actions are analyzed. But not all who work as journalists engage in such high-minded activity.

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Telling a story in one picture or through thousands in a video takes a professional attitude that comes from intuition, keen observation of previous examples, and practice with a variety of stories and experiences. Graduating from an accredited journalism school that teaches the fundamental skills, critiques the work you produce, and challenges your personal ethics is a plus. In other words, you should not be called a citizen journalist simply because you captured moving images—you should be called, however, a citizen—a thoughtful, caring, and committed citizen who should be commended for risking your career, reputation, freedom, and even your life to record the actions of others you think are improper or illegal. As instances of questionable, violent, and illegal behavior are reported, citizens should record and make public their smartphone video so that the civic spotlight illuminates the darkest corners of maliciousness. Without citizen recordings, it is unlikely we would have heard of Philando Castile, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Rodney King, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Daunte Wright, and many others. Nevertheless, an inference should not necessarily be made simply from a compelling and emotional video. Conclusions should be drawn after a gathering of all facts, explanations, the motives of those involved, and after a period of introspection. Journalism provides a procedure for that process and credibility is earned by thoughtful, thorough, and timely reporting.

Darnella Frazier and the Meaning of Courage But there is one murder of a citizen by a police ofcer that shocked the world, revitalized the Black Lives Matter movement, was a spark for peaceful and violent protests, and inspired others to be on the lookout for malefcence by those who are sworn to protect us. On May  25, 2020, George Perry Floyd, Jr., an African American, was questioned by a Minneapolis police ofcer about using a counterfeit 20-dollar bill at Cup Foods, a nearby market. In most cases the accused for this minor infraction is given a summons and made to appear in court to pay a fne. But for reasons unknown, he was handcufed. Ofcers tried to put him in the back of a squad car, but he resisted nonviolently saying he was claustrophobic. Three ofcers then held him on the ground while a fourth stood by as a guard to, I suppose, prevent a small crowd on the sidewalk from interfering. Derek Chauvin, a Caucasian, and the most senior ofcer at the scene, placed the weight of his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck. Despite pleas that he couldn’t breathe, after nine minutes and 29 seconds of this treatment, Floyd died. Chauvin was later found guilty and sentenced to 22.5 years in prison (McGreal et al., 2021). As of this writing, the three other ofcers await trial. In a press release from the Minneapolis Police, the incident was described as, “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction” (Levenson, 2021). Without a citizen journalist’s video, that description might have stuck, and we would never know of George Floyd. Darnella Frazier, a 17-year-old high school student, took her nine-year-old cousin to Cup Foods. When she saw the trouble, she took out her smartphone and calmly and steadily recorded Floyd’s murder. “He’s not responsive right now, bro,” pleads Donald Williams at 4:59 into Darnella Frazier’s recording. Think of the courage it takes to record a murder and how much more it would take to rush Chauvin and the other ofcers to possibly save the life of George Floyd. Although not considered often when there is a discussion of visual reporter ethics, the golden mean philosophy deserves more attention (See https://bit.ly/3yHD7pC). She posted her video on Facebook and wrote, “I just cried so hard.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said, “Taking that video, I think many folks know, is maybe the only reason Derek Chauvin will go to prison” (Yan, 2021). Frazier gained comfort while citizen journalism gained credibility from awards bestowed on her. She was given PEN America’s 2020 PEN/Benenson Courage Award presented by

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director Spike Lee and a special citation from the Pulitzer Prizes “For courageously recording the murder of George Floyd, a video that spurred protests against police brutality around the world, highlighting the crucial role of citizens in journalists’ quest for truth and justice” (Frazier, 2021a, 2021b). An editor, news director, or web manager has a difcult choice. Just because a bystander video on frst viewing is presumably signifcant or contains uncommon subject matter doesn’t mean that it should immediately be available for downloads from a website or aired on television. However, the pressure to do so is compounded after the clip has been shown on several social media sites. If already widely distributed, the argument goes, why not show it? A traditional media entity demands an editing process in which professional discretion evaluates the credibility of the source, determines the news value and facts of the content, and assesses the potential for causing additional harm to participants and viewers. If carefully vetted and if warnings about gruesome content are given as part of a journalism package, chances are the ethics mantra has been satisfed: Do your job and don’t cause unjustifed harm. Your actions can be considered ethical if your role-related responsibilities are met and any harm the presentation may cause can be clearly and understandably defended. In that way, professionalism, and more importantly credibility, is maintained. However, the question remains: Can citizen journalists be considered the same as traditional, working stafers? Most court decisions indicate, no. With cases brought to courts such as Portland, Oregon smartphone users who were harassed by the police, January 6 terrorists using the defense that they were making images for their websites, and a YouTuber who wanted public records denied to him but provided to the news media, courts are not sympathetic. In denying the YouTuber’s request, a justice for the Supreme Court of Washington state wrote that the “news media” designation applies to only an “entity that is in the regular business of news gathering and disseminating news or information to the public” (Dudley, 2021). A one-of eyewitness account is not enough. Two recent case studies exemplify the dark side of citizens using smartphone cameras inappropriately. After the 2020 crash of a helicopter that killed basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and fve others, smartphone images of close-up photos of the gruesome remains were widely shared among law enforcement, deputies’ friends and family members, and strangers.” Reportedly, one deputy described the victims’ remains as “hamburger” and “piles of meat.” Bryant’s widow, Vanessa fled a lawsuit against Los Angeles Country for invasion of privacy (Kobe’s widow “tormented,” 2021). In 2020 William “Roddie” Bryan might have thought he was performing a good, journalistic deed by using his smartphone to record the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia by fellow neighbor Travis McMichael aided by his father, Greg. But after the video was distributed through social media, all three were charged with felony murder and found guilty (See https:// bit.ly/3106AjC). Citizen journalists, without ethical training, should heed this warning: If you commit a heinous or crime act, the best intentions and video equipment won’t save you from the justice you deserve. A chief diference between working, card-carrying journalists and eyewitnesses with a smartphone is that traditional visual reporters could get therapy paid by their media institutions if they experienced PTSD from a particularly dreadful assignment. Citizen journalists, those who through luck or gumption record a news event, often sufer “the trauma it inficts upon them, the sleepless nights, the panic attacks, [and] the overwhelming feeling of being in danger.” In 2021, Jordan White was driving with her twin eight-year-old daughters early in the morning when she passed a car stopped by police vehicles. Impulsively, she made a U-turn and

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recorded the scene. When the car driven by An‘Twan Gilmore sped of, ofcers shot 10 rounds at his direction killing him. As a result, White is racked by feelings of helplessness, attends Black Lives Matter marches, and wants to register to buy a gun. A friend is afraid for her and doesn’t want to leave her alone (Silverman, 2021). Journalism and the world’s citizens need your homemade, eyewitness, and bystander videos. Keep making recordings and keep making them available to journalism organizations and on social media. But understand. Often, there is a mental price to pay seeing the worst the world ofers.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One One of the most war-torn regions in the world is Syria. The confict, which began in 2010, forced tens of millions of people from their homes, creating a humanitarian and refugee crisis. Many of those afected were children. Much of the reporting of the story focused on the refugee crisis—the difcult journey displaced Syrian citizens faced; and the sometimes less than welcoming greeting these individuals received upon arrival in Europe or the United States. And, no doubt, these are important stories. However, also important are the stories of the people who have not left Syria but, instead, have stayed. However, few who live there have the training to do this. To try to fll this void, Syrian native Zaina Erhaim returned home in 2013 to train fellow citizens in the craft. She was sponsored by the Institute of War and Peace reporting. Erhaim trained more than 100 citizen journalists, one-third of whom were women who had never done anything like reporting before. Not only does this bring a unique perspective but also gives these women a chance to use their voice in a way that had never been possible before (Ciobanu, 2015). • • •

As an editor, do you emphasize the refugees or the Syrian residents who stayed home? Do you concentrate Syrian coverage on Zaina Erhaim, a trained journalist, or an afected resident? Do you conduct an investigative project to make sure that the Institute of War and Peace is a bonifed organization without biases or economic anomalies?

Case Study Two Cell phone cameras have become one of the most important tools for raising awareness of police tactics, aggression, and police abuse against African American citizens. Recordings of police encounters with Black citizens become proof when wrongdoing occurs, and they also act as catalysts for spurring protests and demanding that action be taken against ofending ofcers, or to ensure better treatment against citizens of color in the future. In a way, the recordings show that anyone with a camera can be a journalist (Gillmor, 2014). However, even as more activists and minority citizens take on this role, some in the police feel threatened by the ubiquitous presence of cameras. Recordings create more tension between these citizens and law enforcement and deepens the sense of distrust. Some police ofcers even suggest such photography and recordings should be illegal. But this violates the First Amendment. • • •

Do you think flming an arrest violates your First Amendment rights? If you recorded a violent act on the street, would you show it to the police or upload to Twitter or Facebook frst? At what point would you put down your camera and join in a protest march?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Journalists Jim Collins and Emmanuelle Saliba As a traditional visual journalist and editor, Jim Collins says the notion of being a citizen journalist gave him pause There were those of us who came up through traditional photojournalism and professional journalism, who were cautious about the idea that basically anybody could be a photojournalist. However, in breaking news situations securing images from witnesses on the scene in various places around the world is a valuable contribution to our reporting. It’s hard to imagine doing without it nowadays. Emmanuelle Saliba (2017) went on to underscore the value of citizen journalists especially in the opportunities they ofer to record events before media personnel arrive. She explains, “I think we’re visual information more quickly because of citizen journalists on the scene.” Saliba and Collins went on to underscore an interesting nuance. In the end, it’s not about the person; it’s about the content. “The term ‘Citizen journalist’ describes a person. We are not concerned, as a news organization, who made the images. Our concern is verifcation. The content is what’s important.” Saliba explained We use Google reverse image search of the news We talk to the person who shot the content. If someone won’t get on the phone with you, that’s probably a pretty good indication that it’s probably not real. We go through a series of diferent questions that we ask ourselves to verify. We don’t approve anything that hasn’t gone through a verifcation process. Saliba’s team gathers material, contacts the user for permissions, verifes it, and passes it on. The sense of urgency and immediacy that is facilitated through citizen journalists are often seen as valuable impressions to give an audience. An oft-expressed anxiety among visual communicators is that the prevalence of smartphone cameras and citizen journalists have somehow devalued the work of professional and trained photojournalists. Saliba doesn’t share in the concern that images from citizen journalists will devalue photojournalism when she says I think eyewitnesses with cameras complement the journalism product. When Jim and I work together, we’ve seen the frst wave of information that comes through social media and user-generated content. The second wave is going to be the professional photographers getting to the scene. Often those photos are of higher quality than the frst wave. Ethical and legal considerations govern the communications between news content managers like Collins and Saliba and the citizen journalists who share their work. Saliba explained, We’re mindful on how we reach out to people especially during big breaking news and tragic stories. We always make sure that they are in a safe place We never ask them to head to the scene of an explosion or fre.

7 ADVERTISING ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Advertising Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • •

A Personal Advertising Connection The REACTS Test Advertising Stereotypes Advertising for the Social Good Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Dr. Johnny Sparks, Advertising Researcher, Media Psychologist, and Educator, Ball State University

A Personal Advertising Connection My grandfather and father both worked for newspapers in Texas. My dad once told me he’d cut his throat if I ever became a journalist. And after I told him I planned to do just that, he sliced his neck, but he was shaving at the time (ba-da-da, cshh). Turns out, neither of them was what I would consider a journalist. My grandfather worked in public relations and my father in advertising (Figure 7.1). My “Grandpop” started as a legitimate journalist. He was on the scene in 1947, reporting on a story that at the time was considered the deadliest industrial accident in history (the worst accident remains the Union Carbide catastrophe when in 1984, its pesticide plant in Bhopal, India discharged about 40 tons of deadly gas into the air and killed 4,000). Nicknamed the “Texas City disaster,” almost 600 persons were killed and 1,000 buildings destroyed after the SS Grandcamp, docked at Galveston Bay, caught fre and created a chain-reaction of devastating blasts. The ship carried more than 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. As a comparison, the Oklahoma City blast in 1995 was a result of about two tons of the volatile material while the 2020 Beirut, Lebanon shipyard explosion contained more—2,750 tons (“1947 Texas City Disaster,” 2017). A few years later Grandpop was named Oil Editor of the Houston Chronicle newspaper, a prestigious position, especially for a Texas publication at that time. When I was 15 years old, we had a serious talk in his home ofce. He told me that part of his job for the newspaper was to review new gasoline blends from oil companies. After he received notice of a new formula, he would drive to a refnery and get his car flled up and then write about the fuel as if it were a new entree introduced at a fancy restaurant. Framed on a wall of his ofce was a column he DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-7

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Tom Martin Lester and Tom Martin Lester, Jr, circa 1957. Two more Martins for our author tribe. I dig those beltless dockers.

Source: Lester Family.

wrote that concentrated on a new gas from ExxonMobil, known at the time as Enco, Esso, or Humble depending on where you lived. The company already had a tiger as its mascot, but my grandfather wrote that its gasoline was like “putting a tiger in your tank.” Company executives obviously liked the line and used it as their slogan. Grandpop pointed to the column and said with a tinge of frustration, “And would you believe it, they never gave me a dime.” To be fair, the slogan is ofcially attributed to a Chicago advertising executive, Frederick D. “Sandy” Sulcar, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good Grandpop story (Kaplan, 2004). Still, getting your tank flled up with gasoline and joy riding through town so you can give a favorable review of a company’s product is a nice perk, although a gallon of gas in 1959 only cost 18 cents (about $1.50 today). What my Grandpop wrote was not journalism. There are similar reporting techniques and styles that come to play, but for the most part his columns were simply examples of positive publicity for the oil companies. My father, with the small scar on his throat, was more frmly anchored in the feld of strategic communication. He worked as a copywriter in the advertising department of a now-defunct afternoon newspaper, the Dallas Times-Herald. As with most publications, it produced special sections on any number of subjects that looked like journalism but were cleverly disguised

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promotional pieces. My dad wrote glowing tributes of products, services, and locations to accompany photographs in 4-to-8-page inserts about motorcycles, restaurants, and cabins on the lake. He once proudly exclaimed to me what he thought was his fnest tag line for a product, “What’s brand new and millions of years old?” When I went blank, he laughed loudly, slapped me on the back and shouted, “Peat moss.” He taught me that with enough passion just about anything could get you excited. Still, I don’t think of peat moss much today. Even though I  didn’t consider Grandpop and dad to be journalists, they taught me the importance to defne a task, complete it by a deadline, and what to look for when evaluating commercials. Early on I remember my father pointing to the television screen and announcing, “That’s a good commercial” and he would tell me why. He knew from experience. After his newspaper job, he worked for a large advertising agency and then formed his own company that produced both public relations and advertising campaigns. My ancestors never learned ethical behavior in a college class—in fact, they never went to college. What they learned about their professional role-related responsibilities came from on-the-job experiences, from their workmates, through judgment that comes from common sense, and, perhaps most importantly, from making mistakes. You, on the other hand, have a distinct advantage as you pursue your career. Whether as a separate college class concentrated on mass media ethics, discussions within a general communications course, or through your own interests, readings, and testimonials provided by an organization, you can learn from the errors of others and the praises heaped upon those who do the right thing. A key in knowing the diference when confronted with an ethical dilemma is being clear about the values you should be emulating to behave in a praiseworthy way.

The REACTS Test Academics Sherry Baker and David L. Martinson (2001) wrote an important article that outlined a clear diference between professional persuasion, in which almost any action is justifed that adds to a company’s bottom line and ethical persuasion that relies on acceptable behavior. A hedonistic reliance on professional persuasion results in a visual message that is designed to simply grab your attention, promote the sale of a product, and exploits cultural values. Hedonistic persuasion does not elevate viewers to be better citizens and discriminate consumers. On the other hand, ethical persuasion may also use the methodologies and technologies common with all modern media practices, but its result is to create empathy, understanding, and commonness among diverse cultural groups—veil of ignorance, golden rule, and utilitarian perspectives. To diferentiate between professional and ethical persuasion, Baker and Martinson (2001) devised a fve-part test with the acronym, TARES. I added an additional element—C for Creative and rearranged the letters to make REACTS. The test should not be thought of as only appropriate for advertising professionals but can be employed to evaluate any visual message described in this book. When evaluating a persuasive presentation, you should ask yourself • • • • •

R: Is the viewer Respected? The work should maximize the worth and dignity of individuals. E: Is there Equity between the creator and consumer? The message should be fair and employed without unjustifed manipulations. A: Does the claim seem Authentic? The work should have integrity, sincerity, genuineness, and independence. C: Is the presentation Creative and does it hold your interest? The work should be clever, fun, and memorable. T: Is the piece Truthful? The work should be open, factual, and easily defended with clearly stated references.

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S: Is the work Socially Responsible? The work should support the common good and lead to a person’s concept of a good life.

One aspect of commercials you might not have thought of is the lack of mask-wearing actors when outside enjoying a product. Advertisers should be modelling good behavior with the medical pandemic known as COVID-19. While news shows report the casualties, advertisers should refect the advice from medical experts. Unfortunately, having actors wear masks might detract potential consumers from a product. A  REACTS test of commercials on television, the web, before a motion picture, and on YouTube is a helpful starting point. Is a commercial without masked actors • • • • • •

Respectful. Is the audience regarded? No. Equitable. Is a consumer seeing an unmanipulated message? No. Authentic. Is the presentation sincere? No. Creative. It can be. A Geico gecko doesn’t require a mask. Yes. Truthful. Can the commercial be defended? No. Socially responsible. Does the work help society? No.

Five out of six “Nos” indicate the commercial may do harm—it could strengthen the opinions of anti-maskers and make it less likely the practice becomes commonplace when masks are not shown being worn. Respectful, equitable, authentic, creative, truthful, and socially responsible are important principles in a professional and a personal life. Imagine being dishonest, false, irreverent, unfair, and indiferent to consequences to a workmate, family member, or friend? You probably wouldn’t work or have a friendship for long if that truth came out. The six REACTS principles, or values, are signifcant, but they are by no means the only ones you should consider. For many, the values for visual communicators include truth telling, justice, freedom, humaneness, and stewardship. The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists (“SPJ,” 2014) “discusses the principles of truth, minimizing harm, independence, and accountability.” The Credo for Ethical Communication put forth by the National Communication Association (“NCA Credo for Ethical Communication,” 1999) “lists the principles of human worth and dignity, truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and others.” The International Association of Business Communicators (“IABC,” n.d.) “articulates the principles of human rights, rule of law, sensitivity to cultural norms, truthfulness, accuracy, fairness, respect, and mutual understanding.” The NPPA lists accuracy, comprehensiveness, respect, and dignity (“Code of Ethics,” 2019). In the end, these values, as well as the difcult-to-admit negative or opposite values, are internalized in whole or cherry picked individually to help us navigate this so-called life. Each of the six REACTS principles deserves further explanation. Respect: This value, according to the authors requires that [visual communicators] regard other human beings as “worthy of dignity, that they not violate their rights, interests, and well-being for raw self-interest or purely client-serving purposes. It assumes that no professional persuasion efort is justifed if it demonstrates disrespect for those to whom it is directed. This principle requires further that people should be treated in such a way that they are able to make autonomous and rational choices about how to conduct and arrange their lives according to their own priorities, and that this autonomy should be respected” Baker and Martinson (2001).

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If you have trouble feeling respect for yourself, your peers, your colleagues, your job, your present situation, and so on, you will have a difcult time creating work that is meaningful. Equity: Creators of visual messages should, according to the academics, “consider if both the content and the execution of the persuasive appeal are fair” and if the persuasive message has been employed without unjust manipulation Baker and Martinson (2001). Appeals that are deceptive in any way clearly fall outside of the fairness requirement. Vulnerable audiences must not be unfairly targeted. Persuasive claims should not be made beyond an audience member’s ability to understand both the context and underlying motivations and claims of the persuader. Being fair and impartial is a direct link to John Rawls’ veil of ignorance philosophy, as the authors rightly note. They explain, “The veil of ignorance requires professional communicators to step conceptually out of their roles as powerful disseminators of persuasive promotional messages and to evaluate the equity of the appeal from the perspective of the weaker parties.” With the use of smartphones and fact-checking websites, it is easier for a media consumer to determine if a message’s content is fair and impartial. The trouble is, most of us either have our minds made up and ignore the appeal (I will never be persuaded to use Crest toothpaste—I am a Colgate man) or don’t have the time or the will to discover if a presentation is equitable. However, there is another motivation that undermines this principle (and the others for that matter). This condition is summed in three letters, Meh. Most of us simply don’t care. Authenticity: The authors ofer several values associated with this principle including integrity, personal virtue, sincerity, genuineness, loyalty, and independence. Once again, a personal and a professional sense of credibility is a major part of authenticity. Ideally, the two personas—your private and public lives—should have consistent values. Creativity: With so much riding on a viewer’s attention, techniques such as subliminal imagery, product endorsements and placements, click-bait links, YouTube intro ads, green screen digital efects, among others, advertising agencies must be more creativity than a rival. Think of all the amusing ways insurance companies vie for our attention with talking geckos, wet teddy bears, an emu agent, and Flo and her gang. However, one of the main challenges of using humor, celebrities in unusual situations, or eye-catching visual elements, is that a potential consumer or curious onlooker remembers the clever advertisement, but not the product. Truthfulness: As stated in the academic article, “People rely on information from others to make their choices in life, large or small. Lies distort this information” Baker and Martinson (2001). Falsehoods manipulate the choices of the deceived and lead a viewer to false conclusions. To persuade others through deceptive messages is harmful and undermines trust. Truthfulness in the REACTS test is a broader standard than literal truth. It is possible to deceive without literally lying. The Principle of Truthfulness requires the persuader’s intention not to deceive. It is an intention to provide others with the truthful information they legitimately need to make good decisions about their lives. Communication without truthfulness is not persuasion. It is propaganda. If someone is swayed through false claims and deception, the victory over that individual is pyrrhic, short term, and ultimately, unsatisfying. Why? It’s because truth always fnds a way to be revealed. Social Responsibility: Professional communicators should, according to the authors, be “sensitive to and concerned about the wider public interest or common good” Baker and Martinson (2001). Media operatives who act in

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harmony with this principle would not promote products, causes, or ideas that they know to be harmful to individuals or to society and will consider contributing their time and talents to promoting products, causes, and ideas that clearly will result in a positive contribution to the common good and to the community. However, those who promote hedonistic values more than the welfare of vulnerable individuals should be made known to the public. In 2021 it was reported that Facebook advertisements targeted “teens interested in ‘extreme weight loss,’ gambling, alcohol and vaping” (Gillespie, 2021), and its infuencer-heavy Instagram platform contributed to the mental instability of teenage girls (Wells, Horwitz, and Seetharaman, 2021). In its defense, Facebook, now Meta, denied the connection (Raychoudhury, 2021). When confronted by your decision to just say no, always try to employ at least one philosophy that clearly articulates the justifcation behind your negative reaction and the reason for your decision not to participate. If you do, chances are your workmates will admire your position and your boss will give you three weeks’ severance pay instead of only two.

Advertising Stereotypes In the stylish yet critically panned 2016 flm, The Neon Demon directed by Denmark-born Nicolas Winding Refn, Elle Fanning plays Jesse who is caught within the dystopian world of modelling (The Neon Demon, 2016). She’s 16 years old, moves from Georgia to Los Angeles to become famous and admits, “I can’t sing. I can’t dance, I can’t write.” Luckily, she considers herself pretty and says, “I can make money of pretty.” She soon learns that pretty isn’t enough to be successful in a world populated by jealous models, exploitive managers, and, naturally, a scary photographer. However, in the world of commercial advertising and fashion photography as portrayed in the motion picture, being pretty always bests intelligence, integrity, and sincerity. The ofcial U.S. trailer of The Neon Demon from Amazon Studios explores the cutthroat world of professional modeling. Although the plot is thin, the visual choices make the flm thick in meaning (See https://bit.ly/3t4NiDp). Stereotypes are often generated despite a company’s good intentions. Trying to answer criticisms of its stereotypical Barbie doll, frst produced in 1959, Mattel, Inc. introduced “Computer Engineer Barbie” that was criticized for its storyline in which the doll introduced a virus that only the boys can fx. In response to negative publicity, “Engineer Barbie” with its “STEM Kit” was created. Only problem, Barbie wears a super short skirt and lab coat with high heels—not exactly lab-approved wear (NPR Staf, 2014). In 2019, the British chocolate company Cadbury was mocked for its “Unity Bar” in India to celebrate the country’s independence and diversity. The candy, composed of two rows each of dark, blended, milk, and while chocolate segments, was an inefectual and perhaps naïve attempt to end racism. A major problem with the bar is that the four colors, as shown in adverts, were segregated with the white chocolate pieces on top and the dark chocolate portions on the bottom (See https://bit.ly/3pfaoHB). Unfortunately, given the corporate pressures to always increase the bottom line, owners and executives have for decades practiced the same hedonistic philosophy. The list of companies that have created campaigns, often called “shock advertising” that produce a frestorm of negative publicity is long, relentless, and a bit depressing (Figure 7.2). The “shock” experienced by viewers and explained by reporters in news articles and screen reports ofer free advertising. If not an ancient proverb, it is at least a commonly held view: It is much easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

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Shock is almost always not based on the copy of those ads, but by the art. Shocking images are necessary, it is argued, because of the ubiquitous prevalence of distracting text and images and TikTok and Instagram videos. We live in an attention culture where those wanting us to see their products must use the illusion of the new. Attention-inducing visual messages are designed to implant the company’s brand or logo into our long-term memory. However, in truth, using controversy as an attention tactic is old news. Clothing retailers engaged in highly competitive and cutthroat business practices often seek free publicity, even if it is negative, to sell their products. Calvin Klein, in the 1980s, used the young model Brooke Shields and later teenagers in sexual situations (“Brooke Shields,” 1981). Candie’s posed former Playboy model Jennifer McCarthy on a toilet (Mitchell, 2017). Christian Dior had multiple Addict cosmetic campaigns that posed women with desperate expressions and poses (“Dior Addict Fragrance,” 2003). Abercrombie & Fitch for its Christmas catalog showed teenagers enjoying orgies (Mikkelson, 2003). The California-based hamburger chain Carl’s Jr. is often criticized for its woman-as-object commercials (Davies, 2013). The list of women using their looks to promote burgers for Carl’s is long: Paris Hilton, Kate Upton, Nina Agdal,

FIGURE 7.2

Not as shocking as it used to be. The actress and model Charlize Theron poses seminude on a Hong Kong street for a Dior advertisement, a company known for its controversial campaigns. You are left to interpret the inclusion of a garbage truck in the composition by the photographer. It is doubtful that since the Chinese government has assumed control over the city such displays are acceptable. At any rate, do you have any pictures to deposit into the Bank of Communications?

Source: Courtesy of Heilongleimai, CC BY-SA 3.0.

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Katherine Webb, Emily Ratajkowski, and Charlotte McKinney (See https://bit.ly/3jAzeOR). Men don’t eat cheeseburgers? The prevalence of sexy, buxom women in print advertisements and on web and television commercials is a common cultural trope used by advertisers to gain attention, increase market share, and target a male demographic that doesn’t mind the overt sexism. Even executives for the conservative company JC Penney were caught red-faced after its ad agency produced a web-based commercial touting the speed in which two young lovers can take of and put on their Penney clothing. Despite winning a prestigious international advertising award from the Cannes flm festival, “Speed Dressing” directed by Mike Long for Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, was never shown on television. It ofended the conservative executives of JC Penney (“Speed Dressing,” 2008) (See https://bit.ly/3gV6YVr). Persuasion and its much-maligned cousin propaganda is either an overt or a covert technique in almost all areas of visual communication. When the persuasive message satisfes the REACTS test, advertising messages, public relations appeals, graphic designs, data visualizations, journalism, and documentary viewed in print, in movie theaters, on television, or through the web are considered ethical. However, when shocking visual messages and digital manipulation techniques are used to grab a viewer’s attention and portray a cultural group in a stereotypical way, the examples should be considered unexpectable. With names such as “advertorials” and “infomercials,” advertisers mimic the production cues of print and screen journalists to persuade an unsuspecting viewer to purchase a product. With full-page ads in newspapers and magazines that resemble news-editorial pages and 30-minute commercials that look like talk shows, corporate executives rely on the credibility of the media to fool its audience of trusting, naïve viewers. Most consumers of the media can easily tell the diference between an advertisement and a news story. But sometimes the distinction is so subtle, only highly observant viewers can tell the diference. The Italian clothing company Benetton has often smudged the line between journalism and advertising in numerous campaigns. Consequently, few companies have had to use the forgiveness defense as often as Benetton. Conceived and produced by art director Oliviero Toscani, early print advertisements showed models from diferent races all symbolically emphasizing racial harmony and equivalence. Images showed Black, White, and Asian children looking at the camera while their similarly colored tongues stick out and Black and White children sitting side by side on purple and red buckets. But the need for more publicity and sales induced more daring visual messages that replaced feel-good studio shots with a Black woman who breast-fed a White baby, a priest and nun kissing, and two children hugging—a White girl made to appear to be an angel and a Black girl with hair resembling devil horns, and the obligatory white and black horses fornicating. A Google search easily reveals socially conscious and questionable advertisements from the creative team of the Benetton clothing company (See https://bit.ly/2WP3Rr3). After much public condemnation, Toscani switched from studio set-ups to using actual news photographs he found printed in the media. Young children working in a brick factory, a car on fre, refugees escaping an overly crowded ship, and HIV/AIDS patient David Kirby and his family on his deathbed (Lester, 2021). Originally taken by a student photographer and published in Life magazine, the Kirby photograph unleashed a worldwide critical frestorm aimed at Benetton. Originally published in black and white, the photograph of HIV/AIDS activist David Kirby on his deathbed with family members taken by Theresa Frare won numerous awards. When it was colorized and used in an advertisement for Benetton to sell clothing, more than

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one billion persons worldwide saw the image because of the ensuing controversy and media attention. What’s more, the year of the controversy, clothing sales increased dramatically (See https://bit.ly/3kJXQE5). But it was a $20  million advertising campaign launched in an issue of Talk magazine in January 2000 that caused Benetton to rethink the philosophy behind shock advertising. Talk contained a 96-page booklet titled “We, on Death Row.” With the bright green Benetton logo interspersed on several pages, photographer Oliviero Toscani posed 26 death row inmates from a Missouri prison to look like fashion models. None wore Benetton clothing. Oliviero Toscani produced a flm to accompany the printed version of the death row prisoners. Benetton created the print and video advertisements because of the company’s stance against the death penalty (See https://bit.ly/3Bp5v1o). Nevertheless, the state of Missouri sued the clothing company for misrepresentation, Sears canceled a lucrative deal, and Toscani was forced to resign (lucky, he didn’t get the electric chair). Benetton ofcials apologized and vowed never to upset the public again. Riiiight (Lester, 2021). On August  22, 2021, Verizon and the New York Times devoted an entire page to an advertisement of the 5G cellular network and the products developed by the Times’ 5G Journalism Lab (“The Evolution of Speed,” 2021). Through a QR tag or a URL, readers could access how photojournalism would be aided by Beam, which utilizes the 5G Ultra Wideband and the Remote Streaming Photo Backpack, which contains tools for sending images from and to anywhere in the world. The purpose of these innovative tools and advertising campaign is the ability to bring the news to consumers faster than competitors. It is difcult to discern whom the website is aimed toward. Photojournalists, AT&T subscribers, or other media entities are my best guesses. Still, faster speeds mean that facts arrive quicker than fake news and opinions. It’s a noble quest, but those who believe in falsifed reports are not likely the New York Times readers. You might not realize that the display is simply an expensive advert. However, if you click on the question mark next to the “Paid Post” you get This content was paid for by Verizon 5G and created by T Brand Studio, the brand marketing arm of The New York Times. The news and editorial stafs of The New York Times had no role in this post’s creation. All well and good except that all the examples they show of photojournalists using the products come from visual reporters for the newspaper working on actual stories. Defnitively a confict of interest.

Advertising for the Social Good Although advertisers are under pressure to attract buyers for their clients’ products as part of their role-related responsibility, some shops have found ways to sell and tell in creative ways. The Danish toy construction company, Lego, stunned by results of a research study that showed its products demonstrated harmful stereotypes, stopped labeling its products for girls or boys and no longer allowed online searches based on gender (Treisman, 2021). Another example of positive pressure is Lego’s “Everyone is Awesome” campaign that featured rainbow-, black-, and brown-colored characters to support the LGBTQIA+ community (Fernando, 2021). In 2004, Unilever, a giant corporation that sells foods and personal care products, approved their advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mather to try something diferent with its Dove brand. The idea was to show ads with women who looked like ordinary consumers. The

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result was the Real Beauty campaign that helped girls and women overcome stereotypes, eating disorders, and negative self-impressions. Besides helping others, sales increased from $2  billion to $4  billion. To increase visibility, web-based commercials were created. “Daughters” showed interviews with mothers and their child (See https://bit.ly/2V54CeK), “Onslaught” presented in rapid succession media images that attempt to infuence a young girl (https://bit.ly/3jAKhYr), and “Evolution” revealed how an ordinary looking woman becomes a supermodel through hair, make-up, lighting, and Photoshop manipulations (https://bit.ly/2WNtb0L). The video received great praise, numerous awards, and more than $150  million in free advertising, but it was never shown on television. However, in 2017 original copies of “Evolution” were removed from online sources after Dove failed to renew or pay for the music created by Benn Jordan (See https://bit.ly/3ExmXCC). If you’re doing right, you must go all the way. In 1995, Nike introduced a commercial that advocated physical ftness for girls in “If you let me play sports.” In this era of successful women’s soccer teams, the ad seems out-of-date (See https://bit.ly/3t4udB2). Nevertheless, despite its criticism that young women should not speak adult topics, the commercial inspired many and sold a lot of Nike merch. Fast forward 23 years later and Nike celebrated Black Lives Matter with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the voice-over in the spirit of struggle against authority in its “Just Do It” campaign. The Nike sport shoe company created iconic commercials in 1995 and 2018 that celebrated the human spirit of competition and confrontation https://bit.ly/3Jww0qD. “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), a late-night television institution since 1975, is a showcase for top comedians and writers and a consistent place to enjoy commercial parodies that shine a light on social challenges and hypocritic responses. During the Black Lives Matters movement, Pepsi executives thought it was a good idea to create a commercial that featured Kendall Jenner giving a soda to a police ofcer during a protest march to, you know, chill everyone (See https:// bit.ly/3zDAExE). The critics weren’t chilled. In fact, many were enraged by the simplistic and naïve message. SNL parodied the ad in a devastatingly funny and thoughtful way. Pepsi sugar water is celebrated and then vilifed in a commercial and an SNL parody. The key to good parodies is to match as many elements of the original piece as possible. SNL nailed it (See https://bit.ly/2Yi3iqi). Another 1997 SNL ofering is a classic. “Because chess is traditionally a boring boys’ game, Mattel has femmed it up for the opposite sex with dolls, dresses, and bubbles.” Lucky for us and Netfix, “Chess for Girls” wasn’t part of the production notes of the 2020 hit, The Queen’s Gambit. Sometimes by showing an over-the-top stereotype (that only boys know how to play chess), a social challenge is exposed and espoused (See https://bit.ly/3yHSKxi).

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One In 2017, Pepsi created a nightmare for itself when it released a web-based video advertisement starring Kendall Jenner. In this “short flm,” Jenner bids her modeling job adieu as she joins a protest march and creates a bridge of understanding between dissidents and skeptical police by giving a cop a Pepsi. Hugs and cheering ensue all around. The ad was criticized for making light of real issues—as though social justice could be made easy if only those calling for it had remembered to bring along fzzy soft drinks. One of the fnal scenes in the commercial compared unfavorably with an actual news photograph taken by Jonathan Bachman of a Baton Rouge protester (Appelbaum, 2016) (See https://bit.ly/3zDObVZ). Within 48  hours of its posting to the web, the video had already gotten 1.6 million views on YouTube, as it was passed around via both Twitter and Facebook. On YouTube, it got fve times as many down votes as up votes. So, in a way, the ad did spur community and a sense of social engagement, but not in the way Pepsi intended (Watercutter, 2017). • • •

If you worked for Pepsi’s advertising agency, would you have agreed to work on the advertisement or not? Why or why not? Of the six philosophies, which is the most appropriate in criticizing or justifying the commercial? Do you see the resemblance of the ad’s main character and Ieshia Evans in Jonathan Bachman’s photograph?

Case Study Two Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign has both its champions (Bahadur, 2014) and its critics (Stampler, 2013). The campaign claims that its goal is to expand the conversation about what makes a woman beautiful or, more specifcally, to celebrate all women as beautiful: Whatever their age, shape, color, ability, hairstyle, or any other thing. Those who like the campaign say it celebrates “real” women and “diverse” women. Those who oppose it counter that the existence of women’s beauty products—which is what Dove sells—proves there is no way out of the beauty matrix. Moreover, they say, while the ad campaign portends to celebrate all women, there is still only a very small subset represented. • • •

Are you skeptical of companies when they use their products to promote a social good? Is it hedonism or utilitarianism that usually guides an advertising campaign? What other personal care products does Unilever sell that have less than altruistic messages?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Dr. Johnny Sparks, advertising researcher, media psychologist, and educator, Ball State University Johnny Sparks wants to get into the part of your head that handles emotions and cognition. He focuses his research on how the human brain engages with media communications. His particular interest is how visual messages infuence the processing of advertising. Sparks began his research on sexual imagery. “From a motivational-processing aspect, it makes sense that something that’s biologically imperative would stimulate a motivational approach. When sexual content is paired with advertising content, we may be more interested and engaged because the experience is remembered.” He has also researched individual diferences in how people may unconsciously respond to appealing or unpleasant imagery. His current project is timely and important. “We are looking at how visual messages pertaining to COVID-19 public service announcements (PSAs), infuence cognitive and emotional processing.” His fndings might facilitate the production of better messaging that promotes awareness of vaccinations and mask wearing. As far as his interest in ethical advertising, I don’t represent all advertising educators or professionals. Each one has their own set of explanations for the foundation of their ethical approach. I started in journalism because I believed in the power of stories and capitalism. My perspective is based on the American capitalist. As such, I believe that a strong economy is good for people and that the power of marketing and advertising helps make the world a better place not only by helping support clients who are serving the greater good (a utilitarian perspective) but through economic development. From an ethical standpoint, if a client’s aims are ethical, then we can serve them well. Strong ethics supports strong strategy. I want to graduate advertising, journalism, and public relations students who have a common ethical foundation—they are all truthtellers. They should be telling the truth to support economic, environmental, and human well-being.

8 PUBLIC RELATIONS ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Public Relations Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • • •

Persuasion vs. Propaganda Public Relations: A Brief History Journalism, Corporate, and Political Persuasion The Political Photo Op Photo Ops Gone Wrong Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Lisa Lange, Senior Vice President of Communications, PETA

Persuasion vs. Propaganda The dean of a school of communication once told me that “All communication is persuasion.” Whether that statement is literally true is up to you to decide, but in many situations—convincing a friend to see a certain movie, eat at a particular restaurant, attempt to convince your professor to give you a higher grade on your essay, or asking your boss for a raise—we all use persuasion in our daily lives. Media personnel use information, seemingly credible sources, and emotional appeals to educate a reader or viewer about a particular situation, to change a person’s mind on a topic of concern, and to promote a desired behavior or action. As we become dependent on visual messages to communicate complex ideas, information relies on the emotional appeal inherent in visual presentations. And because the felds of advertising, public relations, and journalism can often be used by savvy practitioners, the blurring of editorial, corporate, and governmental interests for persuasive purposes is one of the most pressing concerns of media critics today. Aristotle proposed circa 384 bce three factors that are needed to persuade another person to your point of view (“Ethos, Pathos & Logos,” n.d.). The three, updated for today’s professionals, are • • •

Ethos: The person making the argument or the context in which it is presented must have credibility, Logos: The argument must make logical sense to the recipient, and Pathos: The argument should be accompanied with emotional stories, testimonials, and images.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-8

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FIGURE 8.1

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“McChord Commissary Club Store Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.” Community news is an important genre for local newspapers and television stations as it causes goodwill among the participants and viewers. However, you will never see such a story provide criticisms.

Source: The United States Army.

According to the Greek teacher, philosopher, and Plato’s favorite student, if a message seems reasonable, comes from a trusted source, and includes emotional-laden words and pictures, you might be persuaded to agree with the topic. However, there are many other factors at work that include your experiences, educational level, peer opinions, and so on. For example, if you have been told by those you respect that the COVID-19 vaccines are harmful and restrict your concept of freedom, despite evidence to the contrary, you probably will not get vaccinated. On the other hand, if you trust the words from medical experts and government ofcials and think they want to help us all through the virus crisis, you probably will get vaccinated. Despite eforts to change your mind, it is difcult to alter someone’s point of view. The word propaganda started out as a neutral term without negative connotations. It simply meant a way to spread or propagate an idea to a large population. In the seventeenth century, the Roman Catholic Church set up the Congregation for Propagating the Faith as an efort to add more members to the church. But subsequently, its use by governments, political groups, and individuals intent on conveying their version of the truth to citizens and enemies alike has given the term a pejorative connotation that can’t be ignored. Persuasion is the art of convincing someone that your position is correct through information. Propaganda is the duping of an unsuspecting public through misleading or false information. The word has long been associated with the thought-control techniques used by totalitarian regimes, but critics have expanded the defnition to include many of the persuasion techniques utilized by all governments and large corporations to persuade an unsuspecting public.

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Sociologist Harold Lasswell said that “both advertising and publicity fall within the feld of propaganda.” Media critic John Merrill enlarged the defnition to include journalism, saying that “three-fourths of all media content . . . contains propaganda for some cause, idea, institution, party or person.” In the end, the best defnition of propaganda may be the use of spoken, written, pictorial, or musical representations to infuence thought and action through questionable techniques (Lester, 2021). Persuasion and its much-maligned cousin propaganda are an overt or covert technique in almost all areas of visual communication, but it is mainly associated with advertising and public relations, which includes publicity. When the persuasion is clear and explicit as with most advertising messages, public relations appeals, graphic design and informational graphics presentations, and documentary works viewed in movie theaters, on television, or through the web, the methods employed are usually considered acceptable. However, when shocking visual messages and digital manipulation techniques are used to grab a viewer’s attention and portray a cultural group in a stereotypical way, the examples can be considered unethical. Public relations is a profession that seeks to establish a positive image about a concept, company, or citizen by in-house stafs and publications and through favorable stories in print and screen media without paying, as in advertising, for the space or time. Its related term, “publicity,” happens when there is a mention of a client’s message within print and screened media.

Public Relations: A Brief History The public relations profession was given its most solid foundation by four individuals in the early twentieth century—Edward Bernays, Doris Fleischman, Ivy Lee, and Walter Lippmann. Sigmund Freud’s theories on the power of a person’s unconscious mind in infuencing behavior guided Edward Louis Bernays’ views about publicity. Freud was also Bernays’ uncle. His mother was Freud’s sister. After emigrating from Vienna to the United States in 1913, Bernays started as a press agent promoting theaters and their productions. Later, Bernays and George Creel helped create the Committee on Public Information (CPI), whose purpose was to help President Wilson convince the American public that the country should enter World War I. A  budget of $5  million ($97  million today) helped produce movies and posters and funded 75,000 “Four-Minute Men” hired to fan out around the country to give interviews and speeches that whipped up support for the war. The CPI’s eforts were successful as the American public, through the messages generated by the campaign, learned to hate Germans and to enlist in the military (Lester, 2009). In 1922, he married Doris Elsa Fleischman, a writer and editor for the New York Tribune. As equal partners, the two “defned and expanded the profession beyond publicity into an appreciation of public opinion and behavior.” Edward Bernays always described his wife as “his most valuable asset [and an] equal contributor to the policies and strategies the frm devised for its clients.” Appropriately, the “Doris Fleischman Award” is a prestigious honor given to public relations professionals who work “behind the scenes” as “unsung heroes.” Ivy Ledbetter Lee was the son of a Georgia Methodist minister. In 1906, Lee wrote the Declaration of Principles in which he articulated “the concept that public relations practitioners have a public responsibility that extends beyond obligations to the client.” Wealthy leaders hired Lee to help change the public’s perception about them. The oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who was accused of engaging in unfair business practices and said to be cruel to his employees, hired Lee to improve his image. Likewise, automobile maker Henry Ford, who early in his career wrote several anti-Semitic articles, was transformed by Lee’s eforts into a public fgure who was thought loving and generous. Consequently, Lee was nicknamed “Poison Ivy” by “labor sympathizers for his deceptive use of press releases” to enhance the reputations of industrialists (Lester, 2009).

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The fourth infuential fgure in the early history of public relations, and the one often credited for convincing publicity handlers of the need to add visual messages to any persuasive campaign, was Walter Lippmann. Born in New York City in 1889, Lippmann helped the political career of Theodore Roosevelt and his Progressive Party, co-established the magazine New Republic, was tapped by Woodrow Wilson to help write the covenant that founded the League of Nations, for which Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919, and was the author of ten books. Lippmann’s most infuential work is Public Opinion (1922) in which he analyzed the practices of the mass media and how they shaped democracy. He wrote Photographs have the kind of authority over imagination to-day, which the printed word had yesterday, and the spoken word before that. They seem utterly real. They come, we imagine, directly to us without human meddling, and they are the most efortless food for the mind conceivable.

Journalism Persuasion Persuasion is a common attribute of all manner of media, but most expressed through newspapers, television, and through the web. The most common form of persuasion is the attempt to argue that the media ofer consumers better coverage over competitors. The practice has a long history never as notorious as the execution of Ruth Snyder. The touched-up photograph almost flled the entire front page of the New York Daily News. It was made secretly by photographer Tom Howard with a miniature camera that he had strapped to his ankle. With the large display, the publisher attempted to persuade readers that the News showed the stories much more visually than the competition (See https://bit.ly/2V6dwJ0). Another tacit agreement between companies and the media is the mutual support ofered in the form of positive stories in exchange for advertising. Store openings are a prime example (Figure 8.1). One more example of the symbiotic relationship between the media and companies can be found by the blatant support given to Hollywood movies and celebrities.

Corporate Persuasion In a former life I worked one summer for the communications department of an IBM factory (they made printers) outside Charlotte, North Carolina. I was responsible for writing puf pieces for the plant’s in-house magazine (birthday notices and such) and arrange photographers to take interesting compositions that newspaper editors might publish. Emailed press releases to members of the media with images—still and moving—were the staple for the department.

Political Persuasion Governments on the right and wrong side of history have used persuasive techniques to attract attention and bolster patriotism during trying times. Finger pointing and eye-contact are powerful visual tropes that attract attention by making a personal connection with a viewer. In the U.S. government’s case during the World Wars, this poster technique was efectively used to recruit citizens to help with the war eforts (Figure 8.2).

The Political Photo Op Perhaps not surprisingly, politicians and their publicity handlers are the most common practitioners of unethical visual messaging (Ralph, 2013). Politicians have readily embraced what has been

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called a photographic opportunity, shortened to “photo op.” Also known as a media event, the photo op is a stage-managed, highly manipulated still or moving image. A successful photo op appears to look real but is actually a contrived fction in which the source, his or her handlers, and sometimes the photographers themselves orchestrate the timing, location, subject, props (telephone, pen and paper, podium, and so on), lighting, foreground and background elements (banners, signs, supporters, and so on), and sometimes even the selection and placement of the photographers covering the “event.” Although traditionally the photo op is thought of to get positive publicity for a politician, the photographic genre can include all types of so-called media or pseudo-events, from owners celebrating their store openings to portraits of corporate leaders in their ofces. As the author and political commentator George F. Will wrote A photo opportunity, properly understood, is someone doing something solely for the purpose of being seen to do it. The hope is that those who see the resulting pictures will not see the elements of calculation (not to say cunning) that are behind the artifce. (Lester, 2009)

FIGURE 8.2

J. Howard Miller, an artist employed by Westinghouse painted model Geraldine Doyle or Naomi Parker for the World War II recruitment poster.

Source: Library of Congress.

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President Biden, and to be fair, every politician, uses the media for self-promotion. With pictures supplied by White House photographers, his image was carefully controlled and stage managed by public relation professionals. Presidents take advantage of their perceived newsworthiness by participating in photo ops that put the best spin forward for feel-good pictures that are designed to advance their standing among the public. Whether guests to the White House (Figure 8.3), speeches, or signing ceremonies events are carefully choreographed for the cold stare of the media camera.

FIGURE 8.3

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pose for a photo with their baseball jerseys during a celebration for the 2020 Baseball World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, July 2, 2021, in the East Room of the White House.

Source: White House Photo by Adam Schultz.

Photo Ops Gone Wrong One of the most infamous photo ops from the George W. Bush administration probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but it backfred (Lester, 2009). Less than two months after the invasion of Iraq by American and coalition forces in March 2003, President Bush gave a rousing speech aboard an aircraft carrier and announced the end of all major combat operations under a large banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” But after the war dragged on for years with American soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed and wounded by the thousands, the visual stunt was criticized (Figure 8.4). Former President Trump was defned by many by his photo op gafes probably caused by bad advice by public relations novices who worked in his administration or more likely, illadvised ideas he conceived through emotional rather than refective considerations (Figure 8.5). Notoriously, he gave the instruction to force Black Lives Matter protesters away from the White

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FIGURE 8.4

Under a banner that read “Mission Accomplished” attached to an aircraft carrier’s control tower anchored in San Diego, President Bush participated in what came to be one of the most embarrassing photo ops of his presidency. Later, Bush admitted that the banner was a big mistake.

Source: Courtesy of AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.

FIGURE 8.5

On June 1, 2020, during protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police ofcer a week earlier, law enforcement personnel used riot tactics that included tear gas against those in a street leading to the White House so that former President Trump and members of his Administration could walk to St. John’s Church to take a photo op. According to news reports, “Former military leaders, current religious leaders, and elected ofcials from both parties condemned Trump for the event.” General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staf, apologized publicly for his participation in the photograph (Greve and Borger, 2020).

Source: Courtesy of the White House.

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House with tear gas so he could hold a Bible in front of a damaged church. The attempt to manipulate the media and the public was roundly criticized by both sides of the political divide. When the best minds from public relations professionals are charged with the task, they often produce powerful combinations of words and images that help us become aware and care about our health, our fellow citizens, and our planet. In that sense, they are illustrations of the best that John Rawls’ veil of ignorance philosophy has to ofer. When a piece, whether for commercial or persuasive motivations, makes us empathize with another, we are made more whole, more human.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One One of the worst environmental catastrophes ever was the 2010 oil spill that happened in the Gulf of Mexico when a British Petroleum oil rig exploded and then caught on fre. The rig had been drilling for oil about 41 miles of the Louisiana coastline when the accident happened, killing eleven people and injuring another 18. The ruptured pipe was 10,000 feet below the water’s surface and was not sealed for nearly three months. It devastated the sea life in the Gulf, wrecking the tourism coastline economies of Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas for several months, as “eyeless shrimp and infant dolphins washed ashore, and oil balls appeared along 650 miles” of beach (Warner, 2010). As bad as the spill was, most public relations professionals thought the BP response was equally abhorrent. In the spill’s early days, company executives issued evasive and inefective apologies. Later, the company tried to downplay the scale of the disaster and seemed to send a message that the problem was an American mistrust of business rather than a valid concern over environmental catastrophe. For some, this was made all the worse when BP ran an ad campaign a year later showcasing clean beaches and safe-to-eat seafood that made it seem like the efects of the spill were long gone. • • •

As an employee of BP, what would be one of your recommendations for the company’s external public? If BP ofcials decided to falsely blame the oil rig workers for the disaster, what would you do? Are you willing to resign rather than repeat BP’s misleading explanation?

Public Relations Ethics

Case Study Two From the Arthur W. Page Center In the ever-growing digital landscape, Facebook and Google have become well-known rivals of each other. In early 2011, Facebook opted to run a campaign designed to highlight negative components about Google. They recruited Burson-Marsteller to pitch the stories to journalists and high-profle technology companies, focusing on Google’s Social Circle, which tracks data activity through social media of Google users. Burson-Marsteller pitched the story without disclosing who their client was and “even ofered to help an infuential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Hufngton Post.”

(“Case Study,” n.d.) • • •

If you worked at Facebook and discovered this shady business practice, would your loyalty be to the company or your profession? As a journalist, how could you protect yourself and your readers from inaccurate information from sources? Who is the most culpable actor in this dilemma—Facebook, Burson-Marsteller, or journalists?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Lisa Lange, Senior Vice President of Communications, PETA As a strategic communications professional, Lisa Lange knows something about the challenges of ethical persuasion. She is the Senior Vice President of Communications at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Lange’s organization carries the word “ethical” in its name. PETA is also an organization that is synonymous with controversy and a counter-culture mission to persuade a society to drop its meat-consuming, fur-wearing, and circus-attending habits. It’s a messaging mission where images are key. Lange discussed PETA’s approaches within the framework of the six REACTS principles for ethical persuasion—that strategic messaging should be respectful, equitable, authentic, creative, truthful, and socially responsible.

Respectful Lange spoke of PETA’s blunt messaging and how the audience should be respected. People believe that some of our campaigns cross the line (“Controversial Ads,” 2017). Our goals are to show respect for the audience and to give people credit for being able to think beyond the norm and be challenged. The “Meat is Holocaust on Your Plate,” campaign was funded by a Jewish woman, who clearly saw the comparison (See https://bit.ly/3hYAfq). Nevertheless, it infamed many in the Jewish community. The comparison was appropriate. Were they ofensive? Not everybody thought so.

Equitable The equitable value refers to a sense of fairness and lack of deception in the presentation. In this context, Lange responded to critics who attacked PETA for use of manufactured replicas of victimized animals in their campaigns (Beers, 2015). “We will use models to show people what animals go through. We use real animals when the circumstances are absolutely 100  percent comfortable for that animal. And if it’s not comfortable for them then we won’t do it.”

Authenticity Lange spoke of the challenges relating to authenticity—especially about attacks on PETA’s character. “I think it’s important to understand that we are held to a diferent standard than a lot of advocacy or non-proft organizations. One of the things that we do is to challenge people to act compassionately.”

Creative In her approach to creativity and the use of images, Lange acknowledged that there is probably no image that would be too graphic for use especially given the tools available in social media. “We know that when we produce a 30-second spot on vegetarianism and it shows graphic footage, we know that it’s going to be rejected by most television stations. So, we may pull back.”

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Truthful Lange spoke of truthful communications. “It is crucial that in everything we do we’re truthful about it. I mean we are, and we’ve always been that we’ve always been very dedicated to that,” Lange said.

Socially Responsible Lange fnished the discussion of the REACTS framework on how images drive the organizations focus of social responsibility. “Images are everything for us,” Lange said. We want people to share, share, share. And it just doesn’t matter, you know, with whom they’re sharing. They share with friends on social media. They’re sharing on Facebook or Instagram and the message goes to all their followers. So, they conceivably know who’s following them.

9 TYPOGRAPHY ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Typography Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • •

Typography: A Lesson of Loyalties Inspiration vs. Appropriation Questionable Typeface Uses Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Steven Heller, Author, Designer, and Educator Archaeologists in the year 2522 uncover the buried ruins of a once major city in the world. They fnd text on billboards, storefronts, and trafc signs in the languages we know and use today. These words however will probably not be understood by 26th Century scientists because languages of today will eventually become obsolete and forgotten (Figure 9.1). Luckily, there will be an energetic and tenacious researcher with a well-used digging tool who will fnd, along the viaducts and abandoned highways in the old cities, evidence of writing that will be instantly recognized and easily read. For amid the buried rubble of civilizations long past will be brightly colored signs and symbols created by grafti artists that have lasted through the millennia. This often scofed and criminalized form of visual communication will in the future become the one, universally accepted language. Therefore, the future of mass communications will not rely on the preservation of pens, paper, computers, smartphones, or satellites. In the vast future, we will understand ancient civilizations because of compressed paint in spray cans. (Lester, 2017)

Imagine you invented a device that will likely make you wealthy beyond your imagination and most probably will change the world (no, it’s not a version of “Pokémon Go”). Unfortunately, for several years you had to borrow a tremendous sum of money from several individuals to pay for basic research, numerous and expensive experiments, costly materials, fabricated and untested equipment, a support staf, your workshop and living expenses, and even a herd of cattle. Understandably, you didn’t want word leaked of your creation, so you gave your moneylenders only just enough information to convince them to give you the funds you desperately needed. DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-9

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FIGURE 9.1

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Grafti at Menzel High School, Berlin, Germany, 2009. Often, the aesthetic quality of the typography is of equal importance to the meaning of the words.

Source: Courtesy of Rolf Nemitz, CC BY-SA 3.0.

However, obtaining feasible results took much longer than you anticipated. Consequently, your supporters became nervous that you wouldn’t pay back your loans. Without a viable timeline for the introduction of the invention you called a “secret art,” you were sued for failure to keep up with your interest payments. Ironically, just when you were about to make your creation known with plans for sales, a foreclosure hearing concluded that you must surrender your products and all the contents of your workshop to your chief investor. Devastated and defeated, you never recovered from your loss. The man who won the lawsuit didn’t prosper much better. After he took possession of your invention, he took credit for its creation and attempted to sell it throughout Europe. Fatefully, during his travels that took him to Paris, he caught the bubonic plague and died. Nevertheless, a once trusted assistant and his sons successfully made the invention known and contributed to the success of one of the most important technological advances that benefted and heralded the modern world. But alas, you died practically penniless and worse, your achievement was largely unrecognized outside the town where you lived. As another insult, no one thought to paint a portrait of you during your lifetime. After you died, your body was buried in a cemetery next to a church that was later destroyed. You became famous only for your infuence on history many years after your death. After his success with Hamilton and In the Heights, perhaps Lin-Manual Miranda’s next project should be a musical based on this convoluted tale.

Typography: A Lesson of Loyalties The story of typography includes Johannes Gutenberg’s unique personality, his invention of the mechanical moveable typeface press, and Johann Fust’s foreclosure proceedings that resulted in his award of the equipment and fnished copies (“Johannes Gutenberg,” 2016). This cautionary tale in the feld of visual ethics is associated with conficts of loyalties (Figure 9.2). Associations or relationships that are based on promises to yourself, other persons, organizations, companies, countries, and concepts are considered loyalties. As such, they are intricate and intimate components of what makes you unique. In many ways the role-related responsibilities, whether in personal or professional settings, that make your “job” requirements unique are closely associated with the loyalties you treasure. If your responsibilities are mainly to yourself, family members, and co-workers, you are likely more loyal to those individuals especially if part of your role demands that they rely on you for fnancial support. Consequently, you may hesitate to quit a job you don’t like or complain to a superior if you notice bad behavior. However, if your role requires you to act ethically in a work situation, your loyalty probably leans more toward your profession. You may then be compelled to become a whistleblower and

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FIGURE 9.2

For a photo op, Laura Bush, wife of President George W. Bush, left, and Mrs. Doris Schröder-Köpf, wife of the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, center, with a museum employee, view the Gutenberg Bible during a visit to the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, German, in 2005.

Source: White House photo by Susan Sterner.

notify the media of your company’s unethical behavior despite the harm it may cause to your income. Unfortunately, loyalty also has a dark side. You can be loyal to a cause that promotes awful behavior. Wars have been fought at the cost of millions of lives and trillions of dollars and democracies lost by those with unfinching loyalty to leaders with evil intent. The keys in understanding the diference between praiseworthy and blameworthy behavior is knowing fully your role-related responsibilities for a specifc situation and how those commitments form loyalties that contribute positively to your own and society’s development. Loyalty to oneself, a highly hedonistic approach, rules the actions of those described earlier. For Gutenberg, his loyalty to himself led him to work only toward his dream to retire in fnancial comfort. He was not interested in changing the world with his printing press innovation. If he had been in a more sharing and egalitarian mindset, he would have let others know from the beginning the details of his operation. He would have had to borrow less money, completed the task faster, and have had Fust, an able businessperson, help him sell his printed materials to pay for his condo more quickly on the south of France. Fust had an opportunity to do the right thing, but he decided to lend Gutenberg an impossible amount of money to repay, won a probably preplanned foreclosure case, and put his name on the books Gutenberg worked so hard to produce (“The Gutenberg Bible,” n.d.). Fust’s only saving grace is that he was also loyal to his family. Peter Schoefer was the able assistant who learned the printing process from Gutenberg and probably was the graphic designer responsible for the look of the pages that included the typeface, column confgurations, and

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ornate enlarged letters and border artwork. He married Fust’s only daughter Christina and was most loyal to his family. Their sons, John and Peter continued in the family’s printing business with Peter’s younger son, Ivo heading the third generation of printers. Calligraphy and typography are closely related—they both are letter-based artwork. For calligraphy, artists draw letters with styluses and brushes on clay tablets, papyrus scrolls, and paper books (“History of Printing Timeline,” 2017). At least 4,000 years ago, Sumerian scribes lived in the fertile crescent of the Middle East. Over many generations they developed the frst written language, cuneiform letters pushed into soft clay with a stylus. Ancient Egyptians confgured paper-like papyrus reeds to write their hand-printed letters. Millennia later, monastery scribes tediously copied manuscripts by hand while civilizations throughout the world produced aesthetically pleasing illustrated manuscripts that were one of the frst examples to combine words and images into a single presentation. As opposed to calligraphy, typography is the art of selecting and arranging letters that are produced mechanically or digitally for print or screened media. Attempts throughout history and by several cultures used such materials as clay, wood, and metal to aid printing on a variety of substrates. In China, the Song dynasty, around the year 1,000 ce, used clay while the choice for the Qing dynasty was wood for constructing letterforms for printing. About 200  years later bronze metal printing was introduced in Korea and adopted in China about 250 years later during Gutenberg’s lifetime. But the challenge with Asian typography is their alphabet contains thousands of letters. Until the written language was simplifed in modern times, a commercial printing press was not practical. Therefore, typography as a profession did not begin until the widespread use of Gutenberg’s invention reserved for languages with alphabets of less than 50 letters.

Inspiration vs. Appropriation Gaining inspiration from an artist’s creation should be encouraged. We should all, within the constraints or freedoms that come from our own brand of creativity called individual style, attempt as much as possible to get inspired by others. It is one of the chief reasons art is made available for public viewing. I am convinced that a 6×4-foot fnger painting on white butcher paper made by my then-three-year-old twin boys (they are nine now) hanging on a wall of their playroom was inspired after a visit to a Jackson Pollock exhibit at a museum. However, taking credit for another person’s work is wrong. Such a practice is not only unethical; it can also be deemed illegal. Fust had every right to sue Gutenberg for nonpayment and to accept as remuneration his books and printing materials, but Fust and Schoefer unethically took credit for the invention of the commercial printing press and the books that were produced. In doing so, they committed an egregious ofense—intellectual property theft. As it turns out, such thefts are all too common in the typography and graphic design professions. For more than 30 years, Steven Heller was the editor of U&lc (Upper and lowercase) magazine, dedicated to the typographical profession. He is also responsible for more than 100 books on typography and graphic design. When Heller (2005) admits to unethical behavior, all practitioners should take notice. In his article, “Typographica Mea Culpa, Unethical Downloading” for the Typotheque type foundry website, Heller confesses to a common practice by designers: Paying for the use of a typeface but then sharing it without permission to others. He writes Through ignorance or malice, or the malice that comes from voluntary ignorance, many designers that I know simply ignore type licenses and, therefore, cavalierly trade or transfer entire fonts to fellow designers, service bureaus, mechanical artists, printers, lovers, or

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in-laws. The digital age has made this easy, but as I realized it does not make it right. Illicit type sharing betrays an honor system that can only work if we are all honorable. He speculates that a justifcation for this activity might be because type is not viewed as equivalent to images. “As fundamental as it is to visual communication,” he admits[T] ype is not considered sacrosanct in the same way as, say, a photograph or illustration. The principle of “one-time usage” or “one-person licensee” seems foreign when it comes to type. Yet it should not take a lot of additional soul-searching to conclude that violating the “industry standard” licensing agreement is also unfair to the people who have worked hard to make the type that we all use. He concludes his article with For years I have allowed designers working for me to infringe the agreement that I have failed to read. Forget about legality, without adherence to the fundamental principal, we place our colleagues in fnancial jeopardy and we become much less ethical in the bargain. After careful consideration, Heller changed his loyalties from himself, his workmates, and his friends to those who created the original work and, perhaps more importantly, to his profession. Such is the power that comes from a personal, ethical analysis.

Questionable Typeface Uses Because letterforms are highly symbolic, high-contrast line drawings, they are illustrations that represent, for most languages, the sounds made during speech. As such, they convey emotive qualities based on the typeface selected for a particular purpose. If the choice does not match the content of a presentation—whether for paper or screen media—a viewer feels a disconnect that leads to disengagement. Of the thousands of typefaces available, they all fall within one of six categories or families: Blackletter (the choice of Gutenberg that connotes religion, Germany, and tradition), Roman (the most common with ease of legibility and readability elements), Script (for formal purposes such as graduations and weddings), Miscellaneous (specifcally created to match the content of a piece), Square Serif (a blocky slab of type appropriate for signs on Western movies or college initials on baseball caps), and Sans Serif (the most recent developed for no-nonsense messages and computer displays) (Figure 9.3).

FIGURE 9.3

The letter is the same, but the meaning changes with each typeface family.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

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If a designer selects a blackletter typeface, for example, for a story about innovations embedded within a new smartphone as a joke on the audience, the confusion may result in a charge of unethical behavior. A typeface’s family should match the content and tone of a piece. Perhaps, because of laziness, insensitivity, or disturbing reasons, some typefaces connote racist meanings. For example, a 1958 commercial for Jell-O gelatin expresses its racism through lettering and a storyline of a Chinese baby having trouble eating the dessert with wooden sticks (See https://bit.ly/3AwdLvr). The so-called chop suey lettering used in the advert is one of several typefaces created by designers with ofensive names such as “Wonton, Peking, Buddha, Ginko, Jing, Kanban, Shanghai, China Doll, Fantan, Martial Arts, Rice Bowl, Sunamy, Karate, Chow Fun, Chu Ching San JNL, Ching Chang and Chang Chang” (Quito, 2021). Unfortunately, Asian ethnicity is not the other culture stereotyped by typeface choices • • • • • • • • •

African: African, African Elephant Trunk, South African, and Tribal Funk. Caucasian: Blackletter family, typefaces used by Nazi Germany propagandists, and Helvetica. Feminine: Bon Vivant, Joules et Jacques, Kinfolk, and Margo. Jewish: Ben-Zion, FF Bagel, Hebrew Latino, Jerusalem, Kanisah, and Sholom. Latinx: El Rio Lobo, Pistol Grip Pump, La Tequila, Mexican Fiesta, and Taco Box. LGBTQIA+: Ciutadella, Geogrotesque Stencil, Motter Ombra, and Nikolai. Masculine: Fright Night, Heisman, Pulse, and Thunder. Middle Eastern: Káhlil, Delik, Papyrus, Ramadhanfest, and Zanzabar. Native American: Rainsong, Nagi Tonka, and Indian Joe.

The selection of a particular typeface does not necessarily make an intended design racist or stereotypical (See https://bit.ly/3uZYCBq). Context and content for a particular audience are key elements. But if a typeface choice is meant to demean, make fun of, or promote one group of people over another, it’s a good bet that hedonism guides an unethical decision. Another ethical issue that involves typography is just as sinister—psychological manipulation. In 1994, the Microsoft Corporation released one of the most ridiculed typefaces ever devised, Comic Sans (Johnston, 2013). With its breezy, fun, and informal style, designer Vincent Connare intended the typeface to be used to convey information to children. Controversy erupted when it was used by careless designers for serious subjects such as a Dutch war memorial, gravestones, a heart defbrillator (Figure 9.4), printed advice for rape victims, blog posts by a law frm, and for résumés. Using a light-hearted visual message for a dreadfully serious subject can be judged unethical, but also in poor taste, or an example of bad etiquette. But it gets worse. Several researchers have discovered that you can manipulate persons by typeface choices. Documentary flmmaker Errol Morris (2015) reported that the use of Comic Sans “makes readers slightly less likely to believe that a statement they are reading is true” than the same statements presented in more formal typefaces. Furthermore, an experiment conducted by university researchers asked respondents personal and embarrassing information. They found that honest answers were more forthcoming if the typeface was Comic Sans. John Timmer for the Ars Technica website writes, “In short, an unprofessional-looking interface seemed to loosen participants up in the same manner that approaching a question indirectly did” (Hill, 2010). The next time you are asked to complete an online survey, take note of the typeface used before you commit yourself. If the pollsters’ loyalties don’t match your own, you may be susceptible to manipulation. In 2021, Facebook researchers developed a merger of AI and typography in its TypeStyleBrush software. From a picture of a sign or a bit of writing, an entire typeface can be created that mimics the original. Although Facebook admits that its deepfake text tool “can pose ethical

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FIGURE 9.4

You’ve heard the expression, “Serious as a heart attack?” Well, with Comic Sans, on this defbrillator available for street emergencies in Monaco, the condition doesn’t seem so serious.

Source: Courtesy of Snowdog.

implications” by making it easier to forge signatures and steal typeface designers’ fonts, it is hoped that the innovation will spur positive change through dialogue (Leow, 16 June 2021). The plea for a utilitarian solution may be eclipsed by hedonistic motivations. The last word for this chapter comes from the good folks at “Saturday Night Live.” A short flm that stars Ryan Gosling shows him angry at the illustrator for James Cameron’s motion picture, Avatar, over the use of the typeface, Papyrus. As with Comic Sans, it’s a typeface better left in a hidden fle of your computer. However, David Kadavy (n.d.) writes that Papyrus, because it is so hated by designers, was chosen by Cameron to mark the downfall of human civilization. A clever utilitarian recovery. The SNL flm is concerned with the obsession of a man (Gosling) with the use of Papyrus as the logo for James Cameron’s Avatar. It is a hilarious commentary on a typeface, as with Comic Sans, that is hated by graphic designers. Staf writer Julio Torres came up with the concept and wrote the piece (See https://bit.ly/3Bxzp3r). Reportedly, however, Cameron will not use Papyrus as the Avatar logo in future sequels.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor and printer who sparked a communications revolution with his removable typeface printing press, nevertheless was, by all accounts, a loathsome individual (Lester, 2021). He • • • • • • •

Misappropriated funds, Was unnecessarily secretive to his own investors, Appropriated the inventions of others without credit, Broke the contract with his investors, Broke a vow of marriage to his betrothed, Stored an enormous quantity of wine at his house, and Exhibited a volatile temper (the last two may be connected).

Is it any wonder that the only reason history bestows his technical achievement is through an inventory of his house and work areas because of the court cases against him? • •

•

Which items on the list could be considered moral, ethical, legal, or etiquette dilemmas? What did you know about Gutenberg before reading this book and should the knowledge of his personal and professional dealings discount the good his invention produced? Have you or someone you know drank too much alcohol and regretted it? If you were able to advise against another sip, did you?

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Case Study Two The Fashion Law website reports that Walker Wear is taking on Of-White in a new lawsuit. In the recently fled trademark infringement and dilution complaint, Walker Wear asserts that OfWhite is making and selling a $2,234 jacket bearing “a design nearly identical to Walker Wear’s storied WW XXL Athletic mark design.” And despite alerting Of-White that the jacket is causing actual confusion among consumers, who have “mistaken Of-White’s jacket for [Walker Wear founder April Walker’s] work,” Walker Wear claims that Of-White continues to ofer up the allegedly infringing garment. The Of-White and Walker Wear logos are both typographically based with two uppercase Ws. Both use a square serif typeface family. Of White’s Ws are separated by the jacket’s buttons and have pronounced 3-D shading. Walker Wear’s Ws are connected at the top. Both are shaded a whiter shade of pale and might have been worn by the members of the band Procol Harum, if the clothing had been available (See https://bit.ly/3tc53k0). Sadly, in 2021 Virgil Abloh, the creative director for OfWhite died from cancer at age 41 (Friedman, 2021). • • •

A key in understanding if a redesign can be considered fair use is if the new layout is transformative. Do you think Of-White’s use is transformative? What forms of hedonism (personal, economic, political, and so on) do the participants demonstrate with this case? If you worked for Of-White, what would you say to your boss, the designer Virgil Abloh about customers being confused by the two similar styles?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Steven Heller, Author, Designer, and Educator When using or creating a typeface, Steven Heller would urge you to do no harm. Heller is an author, editor, and designer of more than 100 books and the Co-chair of the MFA Design Department, School of Visual Arts in New York (See https://bit.ly/3iOQgrA). He sees important ethical considerations when using or designing typography. For typeface designers, Heller suggests due consideration is owed to those who have come before. The frst ethic is: Most type is based on a previous creation. Typography is a growing process the same as with all art and probably with everything else. So, the ethical responsibility is to not to take too much from the original to avoid plagiarism. Heller also stresses the need to be purposeful in the work with an eye toward utility. The second ethical standard I use is that the typeface should be necessary. That means, it should be read. It doesn’t have to be legible, but a viewer should be able to fnd meaning in the work. And if it’s of in the hinterlands somewhere, there should be a way to decipher it not unlike the Rosetta Stone that provided a way to understand ancient Egyptian writing. I think with any design you need to know its purpose. Type designers don’t know where their types are going to be used. So, the bottom line should be to do no harm. Typographers should make something that can be used, not abused. And it’s not just for the money. It’s for the literacy of the people using it. Ultimately, a typeface serves as a vehicle for conveying inscribed messaging and ideas. Using a typeface is subjective. A typeface means nothing. It is a container for meaning. Aesthetically, it could be one thing and intellectually another. Typefaces should have gravity. If the type is used to sell a bad idea, it’s not the typeface’s fault, but it’s the fault of the designer who using that typeface. Fraktur or Spiky Gothic is associated with the Nazis, Germany regime, but it was a Nordic typeface that was popularized by Johannes Gutenberg. It was an ecclesiastic typeface. How it’s used today is contextual. But if you don’t want to upset people who are still surviving the Holocaust, don’t send them a birthday card with Fraktur (See https://bit.ly/3v2Fhj2). Heller noticed a couple of problem areas when working with students. The frst was plagiarism. The second is not getting the aesthetics right when creating an alphabet. Ethics is situational and contextual. There are certain universal ethical concerns we have. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Doing harm should not be one of those things. A designer who is knowingly doing harm—or unknowingly doing harm—has to face some reckoning.

10 GRAPHIC DESIGN ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Graphic Design Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • •

While on a Walking Tour of Montreal Graphic Design History Ethical Questionable Behavior Balancing Loyalties Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Sandra Eisert, Graphic Designer

While on a Walking Tour of Montreal A few summers ago, I  walked with my daughter through the streets of the beautiful city of Montreal. I was in town for a conference, and she met me there. We were on our way to one of my favorite diners for breakfast, Beautys. It’s up Mont-Royal Avenue near Parc du Mont-Royal. But on the way, we were stunned by a logo we saw on the back of the company’s truck. We nearly lost a reason to live (Figure 10.1). The logo for the Sherwin-Williams paint company was developed by George W. Ford and became the company’s logo in 1905. The catchphrase “Cover the Earth” came fve years later. There were no complaints from the public until 1974, when the “Earth Day” celebrations started. After an editorial in AdWeek magazine reported reader negative responses to the logo, the director of communications for the paint company, Mike Conway, defended the logo. He said it is well known around the world while the illustration is not meant to be taken literally (Repka-Franco, 2020). Critics almost always evoke the golden rule philosophy when criticizing the logo—the illustration is so ugly it makes my eyes hurt—while company spokespeople defend its use with a misunderstood categorical imperative approach—this is how we have always done it so we’re not changing now. Graphic design, a combination of images, words, and layouts, is a complex art form because designers should consider the impact of a piece.

Graphic Design History Combining pictures and words on substrates from stone to monitors defnes the feld of graphic design. Although typefaces are highly symbolic line drawings with emotional impact, typography DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-10

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The logo for the Sherwin-Williams paint company must be one of the most disturbing ever produced. In this era of concern about climate change, a giant can of paint spilling its content over the globe should not be acceptable.

Source: Courtesy of Mike Mozart, CC BY-SA 2.0.

describes their singular use in layouts. Graphic design uses typography and images both static and dynamic displays within layouts for maximum visual impact. When cave artists painted animal representations on walls and united them with enigmatic and mostly undefned symbols, graphic design was born. An interesting observation is that there wasn’t overlapping of the cave paintings—the artists respected the work of others who had come before them. Layout and design practices were thus established. Much later, the Egyptians produced illustrated manuscripts and wall decorations that combined their hieroglyphic writing system with illustrations. The Books of the Dead (2300 bce–1200 bce) contains excellent examples of illustrated scrolls (Mark, 2016). In ancient Greece, the founder of the Academy in Athens and one of the most important fgures in Western philosophical thought, Plato and the writer, architect, and engineer Marcus Vitruvius Pollio expressed a “dynamic symmetry” composed of natural shapes found in the world: the square, the triangle, and the circle that inspired design concepts in print, clothing, and architecture (Mark, 2009 and Cartwright, 2015). With technological advances in the nineteenth century such as lithography, faster printing presses, photography, and halftone printing, the time was right for graphic design to be considered a vital element in the communication of visual ideas.

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But in the rush to attract the attention of consumers and the dollars from advertisers, some marketeers used the new technologies in unethical ways. For example, Fred R. Barnard, the national advertising manager with the Street Railways Advertising Company, wanted to convince executives to use pictures with copy. In 1921, he invented a “Chinese Proverb” in an ad in Printer’s Ink, a trade magazine that read, “One picture is worth ten thousand words.” I guess over time a picture’s worth was devalued (Hepting, 2021). The use of a fake phrase violates the “T” of the REACTS test. The saying was attributed to the philosopher, Confucius. The actual expression was, “Hearing something a hundred times isn’t better than seeing it once.” Nevertheless, if you Google the common, acceptable expression you get about 222,000 hits. Sometimes an unethical practice becomes the norm (See https://bit.ly/3jAF1Uo). Designers infuenced by movements such as art nouveau, dada, art deco, de stijl, bauhaus, pop art, punk, new wave, hip-hop, and others elevated design into a respected art form through book and magazine covers, posters, cartoons, music, fashion, furniture, architecture, and flms. Graphic designers were not above being political. Think of the artwork, hair, clothing, and music styles of punk and hip-hop. The art movements were created to cause a stir among the sleeping populous just as dada and de stijl tried to do after World War I. Dada artists thought that if it were known how angry they were about the costs of war, the politicians and generals might realize their folly and never fght again. Likewise, de stijl artists believed that if they produced works with simple colors and shapes, they might make everyone chill out (Figures 10.2 and 10.3).

FIGURE 10.2

A poster for an art show, “Small Dada Evening” from 1922 and created by Theo van Doesburg breaks the rules for a traditional display. The practitioners of the art movement want you to be upset about how difcult the legibility and readability (even if you know German). Is it good ethical practice to produce art that aggravates viewers?

Source: Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

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FIGURE 10.3

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Piet Mondrian’s 1920 painting, “Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue, and Gray.” As with dada artists, Mondrian, as a de stijlist created anti-war work. Is that an example of hedonism or the golden rule?

Source: Courtesy of the Netherlands Institute of Art History.

Nevertheless, these art movements are not without their ethical dilemmas. Art nouveau designers were accused of copying the fowing style of ancient Asian pieces as seen on vases and wall hangings. Dada, de stijl, and punk artists dared to break the established rules of aesthetic values and angered the establishment. The art deco, bauhaus, and new wave movements were criticized for their tame, commercial-centric designs. Pop artists were viewed as aesthetically fippant and socially sarcastic. Finally, hip-hop artists endured disapproval by those who disliked the emphasis on grafti and charges of vandalism. Reviewers with loyalties to traditional art movements and their subjects prevented them from seeing the value in new works. Over time, of course, criticisms and the critics who make them are forgotten while the work endures.

Ethical Questionable Behavior Sometimes, ethical issues are common to both typography and graphic design. One point of intersection was discussed in the Gutenberg case study with intellectual property theft or its more socially acceptable cousin, the concept of representation. Either one involves not giving credit for a design when credit is due. South Carolinian graphic designer and so-called street artist Shepard Fairey borrows from popular cultural images and phrases for his reconstituted art (“Obey Giant,” 2017). His sticker artwork, “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” was taken from a newspaper picture of the wrestler whose given name was André René Roussimof (you might know the gentle giant as an actor

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in one of my favorite movies, The Princess Bride). After a sports branding company complained about the use of its trademark, Fairey simply used Andre’s face with the slogan “Obey” that came from slogans on billboards as seen in John Carpenter’s motion picture They Live. Consequently, Fairey’s lucrative clothing line was begun. Remixing and repackaging can be ethically defended when any harm to the original work is minimal. However, when the person who created the baseline work is signifcantly harmed fnancially, the use cannot be justifed. In 2008, Fairey made a poster that featured a head-and-shoulders portrait of Barack Obama over the word “HOPE.” Even though Fairey used a photograph without permission, payment, and destroyed evidence of his deception, the “HOPE” poster is a powerful visual message because of its transformative nature (See https://bit.ly/3zJ3Za2). The picture he used was taken by Associated Press (AP) photographer Manny Garcia in 2004. Garcia believed he should have been compensated for the work, but Fairey argued that the appropriation is a form of “fair use.” Although Fairey and the AP settled out of court, in 2012, the illustrator pleaded guilty in a New York court to one count of criminal contempt as he destroyed evidence in the case. He was sentenced to 300 hours of community service, fned $25,000, and placed on probation for two years (“Shepard Fairey,” 2012). Independent artists with unique ideas need to be vigilant and have good lawyers. The Spanish fashion chain Zara, the clothing companies Forever 21, Rue 21, and Gucci, and Snapchat were caught copying design ideas from other graphic designers. Zara plagiarized the work of Los Angeles-based artist Tuesday Bassen (Evans, 2016). Bewilderingly, Zara’s response to Bassen’s claim of infringement was to dismiss it because the number of emails she received about the intellectual property theft was miniscule compared with the millions of visitors who frequent the clothing company’s website. In two other cases, Izza Sofa (2017c) writing for DesignTAXI, a blog that specializes in graphic design issues and examples, reported that the two 21s stole a design by the Mexicanborn, Los Angeles-based independent artist, Ilse Valfre. “The alleged copies being sold by Forever 21 and Rue 21 appear much too alike to be coincidental. In 2017, the international clothing giant Gucci was accused of stealing artist Stuart Smythe’s serpent logo he created for his CLVL Apparel Co. label in 2014 (Sofa, 2017a). Smythe wrote on Instagram that Gucci “copied not only the combination of elements together that create this logo, but when I overlay my snake illustration on top of the copy, the scales even line up perfectly.” A California-based graphic designer, Sara M. Lyons discovered that Snapchat, in a Geoflter image, closely copied one of her illustrations because of alert fans that know her style (Sofa, 2017b). Lyons explained, “I might not have noticed it on my own because I don’t use Snapchat every day, but I’m fortunate to have lots of friends and followers who recognize my work.” To its credit, a spokesperson for Snapchat admitted that the designs were similar and “it was removed this morning.” It started as an April Fool’s joke by the creators of the website Stack Overfow to make a point on the prevalence to steal someone else’s work. In 2021, the company designed a small keyboard with only “C” and “V” for Copy and Paste. Overfow’s director of content Ben Popper announced sarcastically, “Good artists copy, great artists steal, but the greatest artists copy, then paste.” The device sold so well that proceeds from the $29 gadget were donated to the nonproft website, Digitalundivided that helps female designers of color succeed (Leow, 30 September 2021). Because of the ethical violation of ripping of independent artists, New York illustrator Adam J. Kurtz listed stolen designs from diferent artists and the opportunity to support each designer by buying the original art on the website Shop Art Theft. Loyalty to a company’s bottom line is often at odds with an artist’s need to be fairly compensated for original art. A graphic designer or a company that reproduces wholesale someone else’s work without credit or compensation is acting unethically and courting legal problems. Designers should be inspired by other work, but not steal it.

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Balancing Loyalties A typographer and a graphic designer must balance three conficting approaches—utilitarianism, hedonism, and the golden mean. The philosophy of utilitarianism stresses the educational benefts of a publication. A design should be legible, readable, and useful. Being too loyal to yourself and concentrating on the hedonism philosophy may lead to designs that attract attention only for the purpose of satisfying commercial interests, shocking viewers, or expressing a personal statement. Graphic artist Milton Glaser, responsible for the design of New York magazine and the “I [HEART] NY” logo, among others, warns, “There’s a tremendous amount of garbage being produced under the heading of new and innovative typographical forms” (Lester, 2021). Glaser could be referring to graphic designer, for many years the innovative art director for Beach Culture and Ray Gun magazines (See https://bit.ly/3rtCLCW). He has been called the founder of grunge typography because of his nontraditional displays of text on a page that includes lines of type that overlap, columns of varying lengths on the same page, and a “boring” interview set in Zapf Dingbats (See https://bit.ly/3gRg7y0). Carson received a fair amount of criticism and praise for his layout. As he put it, “The fact that you can create a lot of reaction just based on the way you arrange things shows that design is such a powerful language” (Miranda, 2020). The graphic designer Saul Bass created such designs as the AT&T logo to the opening title credits for Martin Scorsese’s movie Casino (Figure 10.4).

FIGURE 10.4

Saul Bass, the legendary designer and artist photographed in his ofce in 1985 with AT&T logos and other work displayed around his work area.

Source: Courtesy of Tony Barnard, Los Angeles Times via Getty Images.

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“Sometimes,” Bass said, “we design for our peers and not to solve communication problems.” Between the two extremes expressed by Glaser on the side of readability and Bass who stresses innovation is the golden mean approach, which advocates design decisions based on a “middle way” between the two styles. To achieve Aristotle’s golden mean philosophy, then, a designer must reach a difcult compromise by juggling the purpose of the piece, the need for it to be noticed, the intended audience, the idea that it should be pleasing to look at, and the desire to create a unique style. The world is certainly large enough to support both dynamic, cacophonous displays and quiet, traditional typographical presentations. However, innovation seldom comes from designers who follow this compromising approach. Sensitive to conficting ethical philosophies is one of the reasons that the feld of design is challenging and rewarding. Whichever path you decide, make sure your loyalties are solid and easily articulated when the inevitable critic questions your intentions. No other statement acknowledges the complexity of a profession than an established code of ethics. Author Paul Nini (n.d.) consolidated statements from the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design and the International Association of Business Communicators into fve responsibilities. According to the organizations the code includes items that sound like the REACTS test (with a lack of creativity). A designer should • • • • •

Know the needs and concerns of audience members and clients, Never confuse or mislead a viewer, Treat all, especially members of vulnerable communities with dignity and respect, Promote the well-being of the public, and Maintain credibility by open communication in times of misunderstandings.

As you should note, the values expressed by the trade groups are audience-centric—they recognize how trust links the designer, the design, and the consumers. Lamenting the fact that the connection between a design and the audience is seldom stressed in educational environments, Milton Glaser said Because design is linked to art, it is often taught as a means of expressing yourself. So you see with students, particularly young people, they come out with no idea that there is an audience. The frst thing I try to teach them in class is you start with the audience. If you don’t know who you’re talking to, you can’t talk to anybody. (Lester, 2021) Regardless of the feld of visual communication you eventually enter, loyalty to your audience should be of primary concern. If you always consider your audience, your choices, whether based on your personal vision or inspired from the work by someone you admire, will more likely be efective, admired, and ethical.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One Every spring young boys and girls take to their local baseball and softball diamonds to “play ball!” Many of them do so sporting jerseys with names like, “Yankees,” “Rangers,” “Padres,” and “Red Sox,” monikers of Major League Baseball Teams. They are allowed to do so because, as the ofcial website of Little League Baseball explains, “Major League Baseball has never restricted any Little League teams from calling themselves ‘Mets,’ ‘Yankees,’ ‘Cardinals,’ ‘Angels,’ or any of its other trademarked names.” This is by agreement with Little League. However, and this is the catch, teams who use major league names must also, note that unauthorized use of any trademark, including those belonging to Major League Baseball, may result in civil liability by the manufacturer of items bearing those trademarks. So, even though a local Little League that uses shirts with unauthorized Major League Baseball trademarks will not be held liable, it is likely that the business that provided the shirts would be

(“Use of Third-Party,” 2017). What does this mean? It means that if a team decided to call itself the Angels, for example, after the Anaheim Angels, it couldn’t just use any Angels logo but would have to exactly match the colors and writing of the team from California. If it didn’t do so, and Major League Baseball found out, they could sue—not necessarily the kids and their parents—but the printer who sold them the shirts. So, what seems on the surface like a nice deal for everyone might really be called a closed deal between Little League and the Major Leagues. • • •

Should economic concerns be a guiding principle of name and mascot use? If you own any major sports’ merch, how sure are you that permission has been obtained by the manufacturer? Should the issue be between the Major and Little League organizations and not printers, parents, and players?

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Case Study Two You have been assigned by a New York-based publisher to fnd images to illustrate a new edition of a popular textbook. Problem is, there is not money to pay permissions for the use of photographs. You have several options. Pay a picture agency such as AP Photos and Getty Images their high prices, take your own pictures, use your personal contacts and ask for a discount or a contribution, use photographs from any government agency—from the White House to an Army base photographer— which are free because they are considered public domain images, fnd older pictures that have exhausted their copyright and so are free, and you can follow the directions from Wikipedia’s Creative Commons collection which usually means you credit the photographer and you can use a picture without charge. By using these resources, the 50 illustrations you fnd in this textbook cost $170. • •

•

Is it fair to ask friends, who need money for themselves and their families to give you an image without payment? AP Photos, Getty Images, and other picture agencies have strict conditions that determine the price for a picture that include the type of publication, whether a cover or an inside space, its size, whether it will be available in print and online, how long is the desired contract, whether it is for publications in one country or worldwide, and so on. Would it be ethical to not be entirely truthful with how the image will be used to reduce its cost? Is it acceptable that instead of paying for a photograph a URL link to its online display is printed instead?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Sandra Eisert, Graphic Designer Eisert’s introduction sounds like a mission statement. “I’m a visual communicator more than anything else. That’s what you need to know about me. I don’t care what medium it is. I want to communicate. I want people talking to one another.” Her graphic design journey started at National Geographic magazine as a picture editing intern. Her frst full-time job was at the Louisville Courier-Journal, a newspaper known for its respect for images. She moved on to the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and the White House, where she worked under three administrations. Afterward, she was the Design Director and Senior Graphics Editor at the San Jose Mercury News and had a role in developing MSNBC’s internet news service as a Senior Editor and Director of Graphics. In her spare time, she runs an ongoing, client-based media consultant business. I want people to understand each other better. That is my life’s goal and doesn’t end after newspapers on paper are gone. Communication allows you to move into tech, government, magazines, video, and whatever else you need. My desire to help people understand one another is important. Eisert has always strived to be ethically grounded. I expect a lot of myself. I can’t move forward without ethics. I can’t respect myself without ethics. I think ethics is vital. It’s the cornerstone of everything. You frst start out with a story. You fgure out the message. You discover what people understand and don’t understand. From that knowledge, you fgure out what it is you need to say. Then, you select the necessary tools to tell the story. In some cases, the tools may be words, data visualizations, or simply a powerful portrait with a caption. You might produce a picture story or a video. There’s nothing sacred about the tool you use. The sacred thing is the communication. As Eisert talks about her process for picture editing and presentation, it’s easy to hear the presence of Kant’s categorical imperative philosophy in her role-related ethical choices. Fairness is a big deal. I want to be honest. I want to be true. I want to be correct. An editor should ask Am I publishing this to win a contest or because readers need to know? A primary and core ethical value for Eisert is to be clear minded about how the work serves the audience. I’ve tried to be an ethical person. From my frst job I considered the reader frst and that foundation has been, for me, the underpinning of everything. In a follow-up email, Eisert admitted that she is also concerned about the visual reporters she assigned to cover tough stories. I have sent photographers to plane crashes, epic foods, the Jonestown massacre, to revolutions, and to the dizzying moments after major tornadoes. Photographers all come back saying they are fne. They don’t need any help or any time. In fact, they often say they would rather not have any time to refect. They often don’t talk much about the experience itself.

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But as a responsible editor, you must handle and support each photographer separately and with true care because they have experienced trauma. Imagine being there, seeing impossible things, wondering which way to turn next, and concerned about your own survival. As an eyewitness to history, you must risk yourself to tell someone else’s story. Eisert is empathetic toward her viewers and stafers. That is a trait of an experienced and accomplished editor.

11 DATA VISUALIZATION ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Data Visualization Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • •

Tattoo Graphics Historical Beginnings Problematic and Exemplary Data Visualizations Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Nigel Holmes, Former Graphic Director for Time magazine, Freelance Designer, Lecturer, and Writer

Tattoo Graphics While a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland, graphic designer Paul Marcinkowski created a striking data visualization (See https://bit.ly/3jBY40Q). It explained several ideas about tattoos with the information seemingly inked on a young man’s neck, chest, and arms (“Tattoo infographic,” n.d.). Detailed on the upper chest and within an outline of a map of the United States is the fact that 45 million Americans have tattoos. Down the right arm are percentages that represent the number of tattoos a typical person displays. For example, 18  percent have three or more (I only have one). Near the stomach in a Gutenberg-style typeface within four strands of ribbons are three reasons why many regret getting a tattoo after the fact—a personal name, the way it looks, and thinking that the concept was juvenile. A fourth reason should have been added—misspellings. In at least two occasions, Marcinkowski left out the second “o” in tattooing for the realistic simulation. Oops.

Historical Beginnings Data visualization describes an ancient form of communication that some say goes all the way back to cave drawings from about 30,000 years ago. Some animal drawings were found to have gouges chipped near vital organs (Figure 11.1). Perhaps the images of bison, deer, and horses not only beautifed the walls or gave power to the hunters but also acted as diagrams used for target practice (Stromberg, 2012). Often called infographics, informational graphics, or news graphics, data visualizations either convert numbers into pictures, as with charts and maps, or use words to create readable alignments DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-11

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FIGURE 11.1

Possibly to relieve boredom during rainstorms or to teach children how to hunt, spears were thrown at animal cave paintings. This activity makes these images the frst data visualizations. These prehistoric cave paintings, estimated to be at least 20,000 years old, show various animals found in the Lascaux, France cave complex.

Source: Courtesy of Universal History Archive and Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

or fact-based utilitarian-based diagrams and illustrations. In combination with sophisticated data mining and interactive techniques, advanced drawing tools, and satellite downloads, data visualization is one of the most informative and ubiquitous forms for sharing statistical and nonstatistical information. Not surprisingly, we are all exposed to thousands of data visualizations a day that is shown through print and screen media for news, educational, and persuasive purposes. If you are not particularly interested in journalism as a career, you should be aware of ways to recruit and keep engaged users regardless of the medium, the type of message (hopefully ethical), and your professional feld. Data visualizations as described in this chapter are only one tool of the many described in this book.

Problematic and Exemplary Data Visualizations As with any form of visual communication, ethical behavior can sometimes be a challenge when hedonism is the lead philosophy. If an infographic designer intentionally produces a

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misleading example because of some personal, political, or economic motivation, that creator has committed the worse violation in mass communications—an ethically prohibited action that produces harm that cannot be justifed. For example, map-making or cartography, has been plagued by those intent on expressing political points of view. In 1569 Gerardus Mercator ingeniously developed a method for presenting the Earth’s landmasses onto a two-dimensional surface. His “Mercator Projection” distorted the sizes of the continents the farther they were from the equator. The result was that the countries of Europe appeared larger which stressed their importance over all others—a popular political opinion (Routley, 2021). A more insidious example of unethical behavior relates to maps that come from the present, highly politicized era. In 2021 President Biden’s Department of Justice sued the state of Texas “to block its new congressional map, accusing the state of gerrymandering to shut out nonwhite people in violation of federal voting rights laws.” According to Attorney General Merrick Garland, voting districts were redrawn by Republican state legislators to “deny or abridge the rights of Latino and Black voters to vote on account of their race, color, or membership in a language minority group” (Gillman, 2021). Because it is a rare employee who has taken a statistics or data mining class, few individuals are knowledgeable enough about all the components required of a complex data visualization to know when it is inaccurate or misleading. One of the reasons several team members—reporter, statistician, coder, illustrator, and editor—are involved to create a multifaceted graphic is to avoid errors and criticisms. But if working solo because of budget cutbacks, the support staf might be nonexistent. As such, these mistakes should not necessarily be considered unethical but can be classifed simply as errors in poor judgment. Many times, errors are introduced due to a lack of experience, ignorance, or of not receiving proper training. If such problems are quickly admitted and corrected, there is little harm. If the error is unnoticed or ignored, we’re back to thinking of the designer as unethical. Always admit mistakes and fx them as soon as possible— one of those kindergarten lessons we all have violated and should have learned (Figure 11.2). Edward Tufte (pronounced Tuf-Tea) advocates education and gives workshops around the world to help data visualization producers. He has been a consultant for the visual display of empirical data for such corporations as CBS, NBC, Newsweek, the New York Times, the Census Bureau, and IBM. His self-published books The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, and Beautiful Evidence were instant classics because of the combination of useful information and pleasing graphic design presentations. Tufte’s newest book, Seeing with Fresh Eyes, is another in his growing list of works with illustrations and examples set within exemplary graphic designs. For Tufte, a high-quality data visualization • • • •

Should have an important message to communicate, Convey information in a clear, precise, and efcient manner, Never insult the intelligence of readers or viewers, and Always tell the truth.

Tufte argues for a conservative approach in which the presentation is never more important than the story. “Ideally,” he admits, “the design should disappear in favor of the information.” The epitome of data visualizations for Tufte is a classic example by Charles Minard, who in one image explained why Napoleon Bonaparte’s French army defeated itself during the War of 1812. In 1869, the various data points in this map of Napoleon’s disastrous march to Moscow and retreat was created by Charles Minard, a French civil engineer. The wide line to the left is

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The chart below represents the most impacted counties over the past 15 days and the number of cases over time. The table below also represents the number of deaths and hospitalizations in each of those impacted counties. Cobb

Dekalb

County Fulton

Gwinnett

Hall

150

100

50

0

28Apr2020

FIGURE 11.2

27Apr2020

29Apr2020

01May2020

30Apr2020

04May2020

06May2020

05May2020

02May2020

07May2020

26Apr2020

03May2020

08May2020

09May2020

To show how the state of Georgia was successfully handling the COVID-19 crisis (before the Delta variant in 2021), this column chart was made public. Only problem was that it was purposely misleading—a serious breach of ethical behavior. Although it seems that the number of cases over time have reduced, the dates for the columns were rearranged to refect a downward trend.

Source: Courtesy of the Georgia Department of Health.

the number of troops and support personnel—about 400,000—that began the journey. They get to Moscow where there is no one to fght. Because of extremely cold temperatures (-30 Celsius or -22 Fahrenheit) on their return and a dangerous river crossing, they end up with about 10,000 (See https://bit.ly/2WHKkbK). Able was I ere I saw Elba. The famous palindrome is a reference to Napoleon’s place of exile after the French military disaster. He escaped. Charts should accurately refect the numbers they portray. For example, dollar amounts over many years should be adjusted for infation and monetary values of diferent currencies should be translated into one currency value. Because images generally have a greater emotional impact than words, the potential to mislead with visual messages is higher. Inappropriate symbols used to illustrate a piece can be confusing. A serious subject, for example, demands serious visual representation and not cartoon characters. Such graphic devices may attract attention, but the risk is that the audience will be ofended—an example of poor etiquette (Figure 11.3). Although computers have greatly aided the production, the technology also makes easy the inclusion of decorative devices that distract the reader from the chart’s message. Threedimensional drop shadows, colored backgrounds, icons, illustrations, gratuitous interactivity, and unnecessary audio cues may catch the reader’s eye and ear but not engage the brain. Tufte notes the trend in television and computer presentations in which the numbers get lost in animated, colorful efects. Weather maps for television and newspapers sometimes are so crowded with cute illustrations that their informational content is lost. Designers should avoid the temptation to base their work solely on aesthetic or entertainment criteria, a hedonistic approach. They miss  an opportunity to educate a viewer, a utilitarian philosophical approach, whenever they rely on decorative tricks. At best, such gimmicks distract from the message, and at worst they give misleading or wrong information. Tufte said it best

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FIGURE 11.3

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The use of cartoon images—even if designed for children—is ethically problematic. COVID-19 is much too serious a disease to try to make it appear fun.

Source: Courtesy of the World Health Organization, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Consumers of graphics are often more intelligent about the information at hand than those who fabricate the data decoration. And, no matter what, the operating moral premise of information design should be that our readers are alert and caring; they may be busy, eager to get on with it, but they are not stupid. Disrespect for the audience will leak through, damaging communication. Treat your audience with empathy and respect, as John Rawls advocates in his veil of ignorance philosophy, and your work will elevate others. As reported by Renee Shur (2011), graphic designers, Juan Antonio Giner of England and Alberto Cairo of Brazil were so upset about misleading data visualizations that they came up with a statement of principles. They concluded that images • • • •

Should be based on reliable information, Give credit to sources, Avoid gratuitous design bling, and Should be considered on the same level as any journalism piece.

Educator and designer Cairo on his blog, “The Functional Art” is in agreement with Edward Tufte when he elaborates that a designer of visualizations should “create graphics that are intended to bring attention to relevant matters [and] are built in ways that enable comprehension.” Creating utilitarian and thoughtful designs requires a seriousness of purpose that should match the import of the content (https://bit.ly/3lzkTTd). Data visualization animations demonstrate the power of moving images to explain complex stories much better than words alone. However, designers should be cautious when producing cartoons with techniques that result in work that is too realistic or the opposite, too childish. Some viewers, despite warnings, may be disturbed by either presentation. A case study in point are animated flms with varying degrees of realism.

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On the night of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were viciously murdered. After the arrest for the murders of the celebrity OJ Simpson, a former football player and actor, the “Trial of the Century” was seen by millions on television. CNET, a computer network company commissioned Failure Analysis Associates, now named, Exponent Inc. to produce an animation based on the evidence from forensic and trial evidence. Performance capture technology was used to make the animation as real as possible. For the frst episode of “CNET Central” aired during Simpson’s trial, the flm was shown on television. Although never a part of the trial, the realistic rendition of the murder combined with a matterof-fact narration was disturbing for many (See https://bit.ly/3oaL2tX). On the opposite end of the spectrum, an animation was created by Jonathan Dallavalle, a freelance storyboard artist and animator for a documentary directed by Brian Heiss, The Truth about the OJ Simpson Trial (See https://bit.ly/3ATOgFL). With its 2-D, simple style, the flm, nevertheless, is much more graphic as bloody wounds are shown. If the primary purposes are to gain viewers for a new television show and make visual the murders that had no witnesses for sensational intentions, the creators should be cited for their unethical motivations. On July 7, 2016, fve Dallas police ofcers were killed, and nine others wounded by a lone gunman—it is a far too familiar story. Along with its extensive coverage in print and online, the Dallas Morning News produced an animated visualization, “Here’s what happened.” The calm rendition of the facts by an unseen narrator gives the piece added credibility. The caption for the YouTube video read On July 7, 2016, Micah Johnson killed fve police ofcers and injured nine others. This 3-D animation shows what we know about the path of his deadly ambush through downtown Dallas at the end of a peaceful march to protest police shootings of black men around the country (See https://bit.ly/3gUzQx0). On the stand for the prosecution of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd in 2020, pulmonologist expert Dr. Martin Tobin narrated an animation that showed the murder scene from diferent angles. During the video, a police vehicle was digitally removed so the actions of the ofcers could be plainly seen. The matter-of-fact voice-over of Dr. Tobin combined with the clinical preciseness of the digital animation gives an eerie, yet unvarnished and ultimately truthful account of the actions that killed George Floyd. This display is the future for data visualizations (See https://bit.ly/3BpWqFA). Author and designer Drew Skau (2017) reminds us to be careful about design choices such as the use of colors that have close to the same degree of brightness and thus are difcult to decipher for those with color defciencies. Although considered more of a question of etiquette than ethics, “chartjunk,” a Tufte term for over-the-top design frills employed to catch a viewer’s attention without ofering substantial and sustaining data, has been called data porn by infographics innovator Jonathan Harris. Along with Sep Kamvar, Harris is the author of We Feel Fine: An Almanac of Human Emotion (2009). It is a fascinating collection “that contains photographs from more than 1,000 individual bloggers, thousands of statistical computations, hundreds of infographics, dozens of back stories and in-depth profles, and countless insights into the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.” Harris writes The problem with data porn and infographics is that if the underlying data is not beautiful and interesting, any kind of aesthetic fanciness you apply to that data will not help. It’s like taking a really, really boring person and having her wear designer clothing and lots of

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makeup. They’re still a really, really boring person. A similar thing is true with data and a huge percentage of the data art now in infographics is boring. His critique reminds me of a maxim I say to my beginning photojournalism students, “If a scene looks boring through your camera’s viewfnder, it will look boring on your monitor.” One of the most infuential infographics innovators Nigel Holmes would agree more with Harris than Tufte when he states I have tried to make reading and understanding graphics a pleasurable experience instead of homework. If I can raise a smile, I’ll be halfway to helping readers see what I’m trying to explain. Many academics and data visualizers hate this approach. They insist on just the facts. Any deviation from or addition to the facts is wrong, wrong, just plain wrong. (Grimwade, 2016) Holmes is known for creating aesthetically pleasing designs that attract the eye and the mind—a combination of the golden rule and utilitarian philosophies. The website of graphic designer and data visualization pioneer, Nigel Holmes is as interesting and whimsical as you might expect (See https://bit.ly/3gTckk6). Writing in the Journal of Business Communication, Donna Kienzler (1997) notes that perhaps a solution to inappropriate and sensational visual designs is to emphasize personal accountability. She asks designers • • •

What are possible consequences of their communication? How would they like to be the recipient of the communication? What would the world be like if everyone used the techniques in their communication?

Once again, Rawls’ veil of ignorance philosophy that stresses personal empathy is evoked. However, she also reminds us of Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative philosophy with its emphasis on universality and treating others with respect and not simply as a means toward a desired outcome. “When applied to visuals,” she writes, “this theory asks what [data visualizations] would be like if everyone constructed visuals in a particular way, and if a particular visual uses people as a means to someone else’s end.” With Rawls, Kant, Mill, and Taylor’s utilitarianism emphasis on the greater good, Kienzler asks • • • • • • •

Does the visual do what it seems to promise to do? Is it truthful, or better—does it avoid implying lies? Does it avoid exploiting or cheating its audience? Does it avoid causing pain or sufering to members of its audience? Is it helpful? Where appropriate, does it clarify text? Does it avoid depriving others of a full understanding?

The REACTS test is invoked. Apart from a graphic critique of a data visualization, or any form of visual communication, Kienzler emphasizes an analysis based on philosophical justifcations. Nice.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One When the engineers at Morton Thiokol recommended that NASA not launch Challenger because the temperatures were outside the range of their testing, there were questions raised if they should have done more and pushed harder or if they had, in fact, met their ethical duty to raise a red fag. The problem was that after an initial rejection of approval to launch the shuttle, Morton Thiokol changed their decision and instructed NASA to go ahead with the launch. The authors argue that because the engineers did not have all the data, they should not be held morally accountable (Robison et al., 2002). • • •

What data visualization would you show that would convince NASA not to launch? Would you rely on the ethics mantra and state that harm from a bad decision could be justifed only by the hedonism philosophy? If all your arguments failed, would you be prepared to be a whistle-blower and talk to a reporter?

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Case Study Two

FIGURE 11.4

A  graph that is not zero-based (53–63) will distort the data so that the visual columns appear extreme as shown on the left. However, if zero-based (0–60), the bars match the data. If produced for a political reason (to make Democrats look uncaring), the efort is unethical—the designer did not fulfll the role and harm was imposed.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

Inaccurate charts (Figure  11.4) can be produced inadvertently when the y-axis is not based on the number zero. If the numbers of a graph are not based on zero, lines in a chart will be a roller-coaster ride of dramatic up and down swings, making the presentation visually misleading or if the x-axis data points are manipulated. CNN was criticized after it presented the results from a telephone survey of adults concerning the Terri Schiavo case, a Florida woman who was in a severe degenerative state for about 15 years (See https://mayocl.in/3zKKT35). She ultimately died after her feeding tube was removed following a court’s order. A question asked of the survey participants was “Based on what you have heard or read about the case, do you agree with the court’s decision to have the feeding tube removed?” On the left are the results by the political party that was originally presented on the CNN website. On the right is the corrected version. • • •

If an unethical action is based on a lack of training, should it still be criticized given the ethics mantra? Which philosophies are invoked when an inaccurate chart is made on purpose? Another aspect of the charts—whether accurate or not—is the fact that more than 50 percent of those from any party thought it was acceptable to remove Schiavo’s feeding tube. Should that part of the story have been reported? Why do you think it was not?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Nigel Holmes, former graphic director for Time magazine, freelance designer, lecturer, and writer Nigel Holmes has a need to explain. In truth, he has been explaining things to audiences for more than 50  years through groundbreaking work in data visualizations and information design. Born in Yorkshire, England, he is a product of traditional boarding schools before he attended the Hull College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London. He freelanced in the city making diagrams and charts for a wide variety of clients, magazines, and newspapers between 1966 and 1977. The next year Holmes moved to New York to work for Time magazine. Promoted to Graphics Director, he stayed with the magazine for 16 years. “Most readers loved the stuf I did. Some academics hated it. I mean really hated it.” Holmes has authored three books about data visualization while working at Time, and another nine after that (See https://bit.ly/3gTckk6). About his books he says they “include many graphics but are not about making them.” Since leaving Time, Holmes continues to make a living in data illustration and graphics. Holmes has long endorsed using whimsy and a lighthearted spirit as ways to engage an audience. Currently, I’m writing a book for CRC Press about how to make information graphics friendly and understandable. It’s called Joyful Infographics and it’s for a more academic press than my other books. Given that title, it will still be a little irreverent and fun. Rendering and explaining information in a friendly way is an intimate act. As such, a certain familiarity with the audience is crucial to the success of the work. “Knowing who your audience is, is the most important part of this kind of work,” Holmes said. At Time, I spoke to a general audience, probably well-educated, but not specialists. And that’s where academic critics got it wrong about what I was doing. If you apply strict rules about how to present data—minimalism, no decoration, “Just the facts, Ma’am”—you rule out all the visual stuf in my charts that sat alongside the data and explained, to the layperson, what the chart was about. I tried to give readers some help understanding what might have been, for them, difcult scientifc concepts, or monetary policy, or why a plane crashed. Holmes continues to advocate for knowing your audience when he explains, But if I  am making charts for a scientifc paper, it’s a diferent audience. No need to engage the readers there—although I do believe that scientists sometimes deliberately use awful jargon just to demonstrate that they are part of an elite club that likes to exclude all but its members. If I’m working for a women’s magazine, or for children, or doing a diagram about a research project for an alumni magazine, all those are diferent audiences who know more—or less—about the subject at hand. A nimble understanding—and respect—of one’s audience remains key. Holmes suspects there may be times when audiences are not served by some work.

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I think it’s possible that data visualization excludes people who are not ready for such an onslaught of data. A certain kind of graphic has become the new trendy way to dump data on audiences, with this message: “Here is all you need to know, now you work out what to do with it.” Interactivity, on the web, is sold as an advantage. The reader becomes a user. But what if you do not know how to interpret that data? Holmes emphasizes the thoughtful gatekeeping role to those creating data visualizations. To me, editing is key. I think that most of us want to get an edited version of whatever data is available. However, editing is a dirty word in data visualization. Doesn’t editing mean that you are selecting just the bits that you want to be seen? No. It means that you are trimming of the parts that do not meaningfully contribute to a story. Besides, all infographics are selections of one sort or another: Where did the data come from? Do you trust that source? Did you check with two other sources to see any discrepancies? What bits can I leave out without distorting the story, or be seen as biased? He feels there are a few ethical problem areas, which may include the following • • •

Messing with scales: Ignoring the baseline. Having bad source material. Not showing uncertainty: Make sure you do show uncertainty, or ranges of numbers, rather than going with an average.

Holmes notes that using averages can be especially problematic. He says, The problem with averages is best told by that old joke about ten people in a bar discussing their incomes. Bill Gates walks in, and the average income of the eleven of them is now in the billions of dollars. Averages often do not mean what people think, and they should be avoided—or at least the highest and lowest numbers should also be shown . . . in other words: a range, or a label explaining the range. Finally, Holmes reminds the data visualization creator to . . . not overdo it. “The problem is that the graphic part of infographic is often overdone. If it gets in the way of the data it is trying to represent, then trust is eroded.” “It’s a fne balance between what some decry as chartjunk, and what I call charthelp, but that balance must be kept.”

12 CARTOON ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Cartoon Ethics

Chapter Topics • • •

• • •

Single-Frame Cartoons o Caricatures, Editorial, and Humorous Multi-Frame Cartoons o Comic Strips, Comic Books, Graphic Novels, and Animated Films Blameworthy Behavior o Marketing Techniques, Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes, Adult Themes, Political Topics, COVID-19 Omissions, and Misogynistic, Violent, Racist, and Homophobic Games Praiseworthy Behavior Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Jenny E. Robb, Curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University

It was my frst trip to Tokyo. Seriously jet-lagged, yet visually excited, I took a subway from Narita Airport to my downtown hotel. I  stared out the window of the fast-moving train admiring the wonder of the small farms, the alien architecture, and the people who worked or walked in deliberate, but unhurried paces. I turned my gaze inside and noticed that most of the riders were men in their 50s dressed in business attire—suits and ties. Then I  made an extraordinary observation. Almost everyone on the train were not scanning a newspaper, texting on a smartphone, or looking around the car. They were reading graphic novels. Later, I walked into a bookstore. Just as with any other, this one had books on shelves arranged by topics. But every book, again, was a graphic novel (called manga). The respect and popularity of the medium astounded me. Cartoons only for kids? I don’t think so. Unfortunately, cartoons are considered by many to be unworthy of serious attention. But with the rise in the use of visual messages in all media, the highly respected graphic novel genre, and the rebirth of animated programs sparked by the success of “The Simpsons,” this pictorial art form has gained new converts. Cartoons demonstrate two ways of thinking. There is the dada, cynical, rule-breaking branch demonstrated by “Krazy Kat,” “The Simpsons,” action-packed comic books (Figure 12.1), and

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-12

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FIGURE 12.1

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At the MEGACON convention in Orlando, Florida in 2021, attendees wear COVID-19 mandated face masks as they look through comic book collections. The four-day convention caters to the comic book, sci-f, anime, fantasy, and gaming communities.

Source: Photo by Paul Hennessy, SOPA Images, and LightRocket via Getty Images.

most video games and the revered, golden rule, family values branch as featured in the works from Walt Disney and other everyday life situational drawings as in “Family Circus” and “Dennis the Menace.” Which side you prefer says a lot about you. Cartoons come in two main favors—single- and multi-frame. Their historic reach spans from exaggerated caricatures of persons and animals on rocks to the latest computergenerated, performance-capture animated motion pictures. Cartoons also include such diverse forms as humorous and editorial eforts, comic strips, and sophisticated fction and nonfction books.

Single-Frame Cartoons Cartoons, as with typography, graphic design, and data visualizations, are a prehistoric presentation in which advocates track its roots to cave walls. The historical roots of cartoons can be found in simple, unsigned visual messages that poked fun at others. Scrawled on walls by untrained artists (today we call such examples grafti), these cartoons reveal an average person’s opinion about someone in power that is missing from many mainstream historical documents. There are three types of single-framed cartoons: caricatures, editorial, and humorous.

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Caricatures The frst cartoons were caricatures. Twenty thousand years after cave drawings in 1360 bce, some unknown cartoonist painted an unfattering portrait of Akhenaten, the father of the Egyptian boy King Tutankhamen. In India, cartoonists made fun of their Hindu god Krishna. Greek terra-cotta vases and wall paintings often were decorated with profane parodies of overweight Olympian gods. Dating from at least 2,500 years ago, ancient Latinx cultures used to keep the skulls of their vanquished as trophies. This ritual led to the Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which celebrates those who have passed and the promise of rebirth on All Soul’s Day on Halloween. With the popularity of caricatures, famous artists such as the Italian painters and architect Rafaello Sanzio da Urbino or Rafael in the ffteenth century, the Italian painter and tutor Annibale Carracci, his brother Agostino, and his cousin Ludovico who gave the world the word caricature in the sixteenth century, and the eighteenth-century Italian Rococo painter Pier Leone Ghezzi included exaggerated portraits within their frames. Even Leonardo da Vinci in the ffteenth century sat at a plaza and sketched caricatures of passersby in his notebooks (See https://bit.ly/3n5Zu5X).

Editorial The founder of the English editorial cartoon is William Hogarth. In 1731, he published his most famous collection of drawings for a book, A Harlot’s Progress. Because he was appalled by the living conditions of the poor of his day, he intended his drawings to be moralistic lessons rather than entertainment (See https://bit.ly/2WJWy4d). The most famous American political cartoonist during this period was Thomas Nast. He is responsible for the popular elephant symbol used by the Republican Party, the donkey by the Democratic Party, and for the popular image of Santa Claus. Nast is also known for his campaign to bring down the corrupt politician William “Boss” Tweed of Tammany Hall during the 1870s (Figure 12.2). Tweed and his Democratic cronies stole from the New York County treasury. Nast drew more than 50 political cartoons for Harper’s Weekly criticizing Tweed. After he was bankrupt from poor business decisions, Theodore Roosevelt named him Consul General to Ecuador. When yellow fever broke out, he caught the disease and died in 1902.

Humorous Harold Ross, a high school dropout who learned journalism while copyediting as an employee of the U.S. government’s Stars and Stripes magazine, started the New Yorker magazine in 1925. Some of the most famous New Yorker cartoonists include Charles Addams, Peter Arno, Roz Chast, Saul Steinberg, Gahan Wilson, and Edward Steed (My personal favorite. See https://bit.ly/2VbByCo). The magazine is credited with having almost single-handedly developed the art of the humorous cartoon to its highest intellectual potential.

Multi-Frame Cartoons The roots of multi-framed cartoons are usually dated by Egyptian scholars who found a burial chamber mural from about 1300 bce that showed two wrestlers fghting one another in several sequential frames. More than 1,700 years later in 1067, the Bayeux Tapestry is a huge, embroidered cloth wall decoration more than 200 feet long that depicts the Norman conquest

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FIGURE 12.2

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Published in Harper’s Weekly in 1871, the caption reads, “A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to ‘Blow Over’-‘Let Us Prey.’” Boss Tweed at a precipice of an abyss is a vulture with his criminal cronies and stands over the bodies of those he’s damaged in this editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast. As an illustration of the utilitarian philosophy, Tweed is harmed by its publication, but the public is helped.

of England with battle scenes within separate frames. Multi-framed cartoons include comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and animated flms.

Comic Strips Dada artist George Herriman frst ran his “Krazy Kat” cartoon in 1913. It described a surreal and often violent world of a mean-spirited mouse named Ignatz and an alley cat who loved him (See https://bit.ly/3miwIwK). Born in New Orleans in 1880, the light-skinned African American Herriman and his family moved to Los Angeles to escape racism caused by Jim Crow laws. By the 1920s, he was famous for his comic strip and a Broadway play based on his characters. When in public, he always wore a hat to hide his hair to avoid discrimination. In the last scene of Quentin Tarantino’s

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breakthrough motion picture Pulp Fiction, the philosophical hit man Jules, played by Samuel L. Jackson, wears a blue t-shirt with a graphic of Krazy Kat hitting Ignatz with a brick.

Comic Books In 1933, Eastern Color published Funnies on Parade, an eight-page tabloid-sized collection of cartoons. Max Gaines, a salesperson for Eastern, convinced his bosses to fold the tabloidsized publication to resemble a book. The result was Famous Funnies: A  Carnival of Comics. It’s considered the frst comic book. Gaines went on to establish Educational Comics (EC) specializing in crime and science fction stories. After he died in a boating accident in 1947, his son, William, took over EC and created, in 1952, the irreverent parody of popular culture, Mad magazine. In 2019, it was announced that Mad would cease publication. What, me worry? The frst major superhero character, Superman, was the brainchild of two Cleveland, Ohio high school students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. But the two sold all their rights to the character for $412 (about $7,500 today). In 2012, the check itself sold in auction for $160,000. Originally produced as a comic strip for newspapers, the original Superman was born in Action Comics #1 in 1938.

Graphic Novels If you’re not convinced that serious subjects can be conveyed through the cartoon medium, you should look at Eisner Award winners in the reality-based category. Will Eisner (2017) was a groundbreaking American cartoonist who contributed early to the comic book industry, advocated the term “graphic novel” to describe a medium for long-form stories, and provided educational impetus for the study of cartoons as a serious academic feld. Previous Eisner winners include the funny and poignant personal memoir Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Tolmie, 2009) that was adapted into a Broadway musical, Green River Killer: A True Detective Story, a gritty and often scary account of a serial murderer’s background and rampage by Jef Jensen and Jonathan Case (2011), and the 2016 winner March: Book 2, part of a trilogy written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin (2016) with drawings by Nate Powell hint at the variety of the medium. In the March books, the late U.S. Congressman Lewis details his journey from his humble upbringing to become a leader in the civil rights movement. The 2020 Eisner went to Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, a young adult, lesbian teen novel.

Animated Films The history of animated flm (also called anime) is naturally tied to the history of the motion picture. In 1876, Professor Charles-Émile Reynaud of France managed to combine several drawings and a projection system he called a praxinoscope. Reynaud showed thousands of cartoons, many drawn by his assistant Émile Cohl. But the master of animation was Walt Disney who grew up on a small farm in Missouri and went on to become the undisputed king of American animation. After graduation from high school and a brief stint as an ambulance driver in France for the Red Cross during World War I, he settled in Kansas City, Missouri, created advertisements for an art studio, and met fellow artist Ubbe Ert Iwwerks or Ub Iwerks, born in Kansas City to German immigrant parents. After the two were laid of, Iwerks, Walt, and his brother Roy teamed up to create short cartoons based on fairy tales called Newman Laugh-O-Grams in 1921, which were shown in local movie

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theaters. The three moved to Hollywood in 1923, and they made flms with the series name Alice in Cartoonland, which combined a live-action girl with drawn characters. In 1927, the team introduced its frst popular animal character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Universal Studios. However, when Disney learned that the contract he signed gave the copyright to the studio, he and Ub created a second animal character similar to the rabbit but with smaller ears—a mouse originally named Mortimer. After Disney’s wife, Lillian complained, the name was changed to Mickey Mouse, the most beloved cartoon character in the world.

Blameworthy Behavior Cartoons can bring hope, a bit of humor, and a way of looking at the world through the lens of a unique perspective. But too often, some cartoons are based on the hedonistic philosophy and are panned for their content. The primary criticisms of this medium involve • • • • • •

Marketing techniques, Ethnic and racial stereotypes, Adult themes, Political topics, COVID-19 omissions, and Misogynistic, violent, racist, and homophobic games.

Marketing Techniques Product tie-ins probably began with Richard Outcault’s popular newspaper cartoon character, “The Yellow Kid,” introduced in 1895 (Lester, 2021). The Kid showed up in advertisements and on promotional pieces such as buttons, metal cracker boxes, and hand fans. Walt Disney gave up illustrating his motion pictures himself to organize and manage the lucrative product lines inspired by his company’s characters. Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons” (2017) is one of the most successful modern-day examples of marketing with stufed dolls, DVDs, and a theme park ride. With a popular movie, every animation studio makes an enormous proft on international ticket sales, video rentals, soundtrack albums, and product licensing agreements. At the same time, Saturday morning television programs and motion picture characters frequently appear in advertisements promoting everything from dolls to bicycles. Animated cartoons are often the most colorful forms of entertainment, with their characters attracting the eyes of young and old. Bright characters sitting on toy store shelves that look exactly like their animated equivalents also elicit pleading requests to a parent or guardian. Children are particularly vulnerable to such persuasive commercial techniques, but adults are also easily manipulated.

Ethnic and Racial Stereotypes As with most other types of visual messages, too often cartoonists resort to stereotypes. For example, African Americans had to endure extremely ofensive racist stereotypes in Bugs Bunny cartoons in the 1940s from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, distributed by Warner Bros. After media mogul Ted Turner, the founder of CNN purchased the Warner Bros. collection, he vowed to never show the 11 most racist cartoons on television, although they can be found on YouTube. Typical was a lobby advertising card for the 1938 American animated short flm, Jungle Jitters, as a part of the Merrie Melodies series (See https://bit.ly/3n6dH0Y). Because of the racist stereotypes depicted in the flm, it, along with ten other cartoons became known as the “Censored Eleven.”

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From 1931 to 1944 they were withheld from public showings by United Artists because of ethnic and racial stereotypes “too ofensive for contemporary audiences” (Slotnik, 2008).

Adult Themes Some social critics think that cartoon content should be for only kids—a golden rule approach. But many respect that a viewer can decide what is appropriate. Perhaps, the leader in the most ofended category is South Park created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, now in its 24th season on Comedy Central (Maglio, 2015). Its homemade, paper cutout look perhaps bufers it against critics who nevertheless cringe when the actress Sarah Jessica Parker is called a “transvestite donkey witch” or when the word feces is used 162 times in a ffth-season episode.

Political Topics Cartoons flled with emotionally symbolic visual messages can spark great controversy in the name of freedom of the press but at the cost of communicating religious intolerance. In September  2005, after the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed 12 cartoons with most depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in satirical or silly ways, many in the Muslim world organized protests, with some that turned violent (McGraw & Warner, 2012). In 2011, the ofce of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo was bombed after it published a satirical issue with Muhammad as the guest editor (Taibi, 2015). Fortunately, no one was injured. Hebdo became well known for its cover cartoons depicting religious leaders in sexually compromising and controversial situations. After one too many Muhammad depictions, considered a blasphemy by many, in 2015, two armed men burst into the editorial ofce of the newspaper and opened fre killing 12 and wounding 11 others. Editorial cartoons are despised by politicians from Napoleon to Trump. James Gillray was known for his satirical portraits of Napoleon, whom he and other cartoonists called “Little Boney.” His strong graphic style combined with a powerful political message infuenced many subsequent cartoonists. With his sharp pen, sharper wit, and fearless opinions, James Gillray is England’s most infuential political cartoonist in history. Sadly, after his eyesight began to fail, he started drinking heavily and attempted to kill himself. He died insane in 1815, the year Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. The Canadian Barry Blitt works primarily on covers for The New Yorker magazine. Blitt made headlines in 2008, when he depicted Michelle dressed in camoufage with an assault rife over her shoulder and Barack Obama wearing traditional Muslim clothing standing in the Oval Ofce after their election. Comments ranged from condemnation to high praise. Later, Obama framed one of Blitt’s covers and hung it in the White House. In 2020, Blitt won the Pulitzer Prize for his collection of Trump cartoons. The ethics mantra should be considered: Do your job and don’t cause unjustifed harm. The job of many cartoonists is to make the powerful and hypocritical uncomfortable. If the work is sarcasm or parody, the harm it causes can be justifed and considered ethical.

COVID-19 Omissions In a time of crisis, the media should be showcasing model behavior. Just as commercials, television shows, and motion pictures that mimic the lives of people should refect the health advisories of medical experts, comic strips in newspapers should as well. But they generally don’t. For example, the August 27, 2021 issue of the Dallas Morning News features 24 comic strips in its “Comics & Puzzles” section. None of the cartoon character wears masks. Five of

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the strips are set outside so presumably a mask is not required. Two comics involve animals or prehistoric characters that don’t apply. But 17 of the strips happen indoors. With so many deaths and hospitalizations associated with the coronavirus reported by the media, it is a civic duty to call out such inconsistencies—even if cartoons are viewed by some as inconsequential.

Misogynistic, Violent, Racist, and Homophobic Games Technological and aesthetic innovations—including virtual reality—have brought a level of realism to video games to the point that media critics have taken notice (Painter, 2017). Misogynistic games include Bayonetta, the Dead or Alive franchise, any Grand Theft Auto edition, and Virtual Valerie. When the object of a cartoon-based game is to “kill” as many other characters as possible, children and others learn that conficts are easily resolved, not through compromise in a golden mean tradition but through direct, violent action—a hedonistic approach. After two young men killed 13 people and themselves at a Littleton, Colorado high school in 1999, it was discovered they obsessively played two “frst-person shooter” video games, Doom and Quake. Consequently, Disney banished all violent video games from its theme parks and hotels (Figure 12.3). Racist games consist of Shadow Warrior, Spanish for Everyone, and Freaky Fliers. A  major diference with homophobic video games is that users gain points when they kill characters such as with Transgender Kill and Kill the FaXXot. The Dark Web meets the Dark Soul.

FIGURE 12.3

This screenshot from the 2004 computer game “S.t.a.l.k.e.r.: Shadow of Chernobyl” is an excellent example of a shooter survival horror video game developed by the Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World. A second nuclear disaster in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone creates strange beings that only you can vanquish. Isn’t that always the way it goes?

Source: Courtesy of GSC Game World, GNU Free Documentation License.

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Praiseworthy Behavior The books by David Macaulay (2017), Cathedral and The Way Things Work, detail the mechanisms of simple tools to complex machines in a clear, diagrammatic style that is both entertaining and educational. In 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style Matt Madden (2005) brilliantly demonstrates how a simple account can be told with cartoons in almost any style. Steven Heller summed up the work with, “Its very subject is the language, style and rhetoric of comics and visual storytelling.” There seems to be nothing that cannot be communicated through creative collaborations and technological advances that connect users with stories in fundamental ways. However, creators need to be mindful that their presentations primarily come from motivations that illuminate, educate, and inspire rather than from proft that seeks to sensationalize, stereotype, and commodify. But when the point of a comic is to comment on the sensational, stereotypical, and commodifcation of mass media messages, the role-related responsibilities of a cartoonist are satisfed. Little is really known by the cartoonist who goes by the name of Banksy. Perhaps one guy. Maybe a team. Probably a White guy from Bristol, England. Possibly the creator of cartoons on public and gallery walls that can be seen throughout the world with global impact worth millions of dollars by collectors. Most likely documented in the movie Exit Through the Gift Shop. And the creator of an opening sequence of “The Simpsons” that is the only one out of the thousands produced I remember. An opening sequence for “The Simpsons” by Banksy and his crew is a harsh critique of the animation industry with sweatshops and a labor-intensive workforce slogging in the creation of merch (See https://bit.ly/3zCeoEj).

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FIGURE 12.4

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Grafti artist Eduardo Kobra created this photorealistic mural, “Memorial da Fé” in front of the São Paulo, Brazil cemetery. The work is a powerful statement of the desperation felt by hospital workers in combatting COVID-19.

Source: Courtesy of Parzeus, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Carlos Eduardo Fernandes Léo, professionally known as Eduardo Kobra, began as a grafti artist when he was 12 years old in São Paulo, Brazil. Since then, he has exhibited his unique style on walls throughout the world. Almost always political, his cartoons bring awareness to important issues for charities, memorials, and advertisers (Figure 12.4). Simply put, avoid works that are needlessly and unjustifably insensitive and vacuous. Make sure actions can be justifed. In other words, be ethical. As with all forms of visual communication, cartoons should be used to engage, entertain, and educate users.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One South Park, the Comedy Central cartoon series, made its name dragooning and satirizing everyone and everything. In 2010, during its 14th season and for its 200th episode, series’ creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker made an especially controversial episode when they parodied the Muslim Prophet Muhammad—and earned, in return, a threatening message from an Islamic group based in New York City and censorship from its home network (Itzkof, 2010). In the episode, Muhammad was confned frst to a U-Haul trailer and then to a bear suit, as Parker and Stone tried to be mindful that the Muslim faith prohibits depictions of the prophet. Even so, many thought the cartoon went too far. The next week, when Parker and Stone seemed to again be depicting Muhammad (although this time it turned out to be Santa Claus in the bear suit), he was hidden under a CENSORED graphic and his lines were all bleeped out. However, Comedy Central thought this was not enough—or was still a kind of “making fun”—and so they added other bleeps to the program. • • •

Do you think Comedy Central was too sensitive to criticism? Should Parker and Stone have resigned in protest? Should television channels be mindful of the religious beliefs of their viewers?

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Case Study Two After publishing an unfattering, but truthful, cartoon making fun of corporate farming companies, Rick Friday, an Iowa-based cartoonist lost his job of 22  years with Farm News (Munson, 2016). In 2016, local seed dealer and advertiser took ofense to the cartoon in the April 29 weekly issue, which prompted his fring (See https://bit.ly/38xEOuY). Monsanto, one of the companies named in the cartoon, issued a statement praiseworthy for its public relations response (but blameworthy for its use of chemicals on crops) saying that it values open discourse and conversation. We also believe that a little humor and the ability to laugh at ourselves goes a long way. We had no part in your departure from Farm News. We appreciate anyone who speaks out on behalf of farmers. Sixty days later, Friday was rehired by Farm News (on a Saturday) (“Monsanto,” n.d.). He released this statement After 60 days, Farm News has ofered me an agreement to return, as with an apology. Both of which I  have accepted and returned to submitting cartoons . . . By returning to Farm News this gives a strong statement to all who tried to censor the truth and that the voices of many people were heard. I encourage a correlation of rural and urban fellowship to better understand each other’s world, we owe this partnership to our future. I respect opinions and diversity and understand that to survive we each must make the best choices environmentally and economically. Most importantly we must be nice to one another. • • •

If you were the publisher of Farm News, would you have fred Rick Friday? What do you think of Monsanto’s response? Truthful or calculating? Should editorial content be related to advertising?

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Interviews with Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Jenny E. Robb, Curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library  & Museum at the Ohio State University Imagine having a job where you read cartoons for a living. Jenny E. Robb is a historian who curates the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library  & Museum, a research library of American comic art and cartoons at The Ohio State University. Her interest is “how cartoons can refect what’s going on in a society, in a culture and during a time period.” Cartoons can be viewed as a mirror. They refect who we are as a part of a culture. These visual artifacts show us, often rather starkly, our social reality. There was one cartoon that I often show when I when I give presentations of a woman who’s beat-up (See https://bit.ly/3zCQMhP). She’s got a black eye. She’s got a bandage over the other eye. She’s clearly lower-class. Her friends in the background are talking and the caption is: “What’s up with Sal?”—The other friend says “Oh, ain’t ya heard? She’s married again.” For me, it showed an example of how challenging people’s lives can be when that kind of presentation is considered humorous. Special considerations should be made when handling artifacts that depict, among other things, a society’s moral blunders over time. In Robb’s curation as well as her instruction, it’s often incumbent on her to give context to the artifacts being viewed and discussed. As Robb explained [S]ometimes in classes, I’ll give a trigger warning when we’re exhibiting certain pieces. We’ll sometimes put a notice in the beginning of the gallery to say that there may be images that are inappropriate for all audiences. We give people a heads-up in case they choose not to engage with those images. Whenever we’re curating an exhibition, we ask ourselves, “What’s the big idea of this exhibition? What is it we’re hoping people walk away understanding?” “Does this particular cartoon help us tell that story?” So, we’re looking at each individual item in relation to how it helps us tell the story of the exhibition. When it comes to items that might be controversial, we ask ourselves “what context, do we need to provide so that people can understand this cartoon?” We do that with labeling. Robb says that during teaching One of the frst things I do, especially when I’m using editorial cartoons, is explain what an editorial cartoon is. What is its purpose? Because a lot of younger people aren’t as familiar with editorial cartoons as some of the older generations. They probably don’t subscribe to a newspaper, and they don’t see editorial cartoons in the context of an editorial or opinion page of a newspaper. I try to explain to students that the purpose of an editorial cartoon is to express a particular point of view. It’s not intended to be a ‘here’s both sides of the issue.’ It’s supposed to be a visual editorial and it is commenting on something, somebody, a policy, or a world event.

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Because we’re not experts on everything, we try to seek other points of view to be sure that we don’t have blind spots we’re missing. We had some cartoons that were particularly ofensive Chinese stereotypes after the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed in 1882. We consulted with a professor of Chinese descent to try and help us understand what we need to provide in terms of context and what we might not want to include. (Drexler, 2021)

13 SCREENED MEDIA ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Screened Media Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • • • • •

A Lovely Tale of Candy and Chariots Movies vs. Television Screen Size and Content Acceptance Motion Picture Ethics Television Ethics Computer Ethics Web Ethics Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Ross Taylor, Photojournalist, Filmmaker, Author, and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado

A Lovely Tale of Candy and Chariots I was six years old living with my family in Tulsa, Oklahoma when I was invited on a date with my parents. I never found out why they took a boy so young to a downtown theater for an evening showing of the classic motion picture Ben-Hur. I must give my parents credit for the overly optimistic and risky decision to bring me along. I won’t take my kids to a movie until they’re at least 10. But perhaps a babysitter cancelled at the last moment or there was nothing good on television. Let’s check. In 1959, American television viewers had three options that night on ABC, CBS, or NBC. If my mom and dad stayed at home on Saturday night, they could have watched such classics as “Bonanza,” “Leave It to Beaver,” or “The Lawrence Welk Show.” Somehow, they passed on those viewing choices and decided to get of the couch, dressed up, and made their son watch an almost four-hour movie with an intermission. Insane. Their decision to take me along changed my life in a deeply, fundamental way. Without question the signature scene in the movie, the one everyone who has seen it remembers, is the chariot race (Figure 13.1). For a six-year-old, everything shown in the movie before the race is a colossal bore. Hours of unexplained and unintelligible talk, talk, talk with adults in funny costumes does not sit well with a kid. However, I was adequately compensated. My parents, bless their hearts, bought my proper behavior with a big cup of soda, candy, and DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-13

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FIGURE 13.1

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The 1901 theatrical poster for a production of William Young's adaptation of Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ naturally features the chariot race. “Go Ben. Go.”

Source: Courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

popcorn. It was like enjoying a bag of treats on Halloween without having to trudge around the neighborhood begging. Despite the dull show, I was content and, more importantly, quiet. And just before I was going to explode in rage, despite the perks at being stuck in this dark place, movie magic happened—the chariot race (See https://bit.ly/3lLkrBv). I perked up. I paid attention. I watched the movie. And I must believe that part of the appeal for me on that late Saturday night was the size of the screen. Ben-Hur was an epic appropriately shot in widescreen, and given my small stature, the picture was enormous and so were the actors, carts, and horses. The dimensions of the screen transported me to Rome. I was in the arena among the crowds and the competitors. I even got a laugh from my fellow audience members when during the race I uncontrollably yelled out, “Go Ben. Go.” [WARNING: Spoiler Alert]. I became anxious when the “bad guy” (Messala was played by Stephen Boyd) tried to destroy Ben’s chariot but overjoyed when the running horses trampled Messala and Ben won the race. And then, calamity struck. After the race, Messala is carried of into a side room. As he screams in agony, a doctor tells him that the only way to save his life is to amputate his legs. He convinces the surgeon to wait until he sees Ben. He doesn’t want his rival to see him without his legs. The screams, the grimacing, the blood, the candy, the popcorn, and the sugar drink all combined to make me feel hot and dangerous. In a panic, I tried to stife the natural urge to get relief, but once the feeling starts, not much can stop it. Sure enough, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I hurled a stream as straight and sure as any bullet out of a gun. All that sweet gunk from my restless tummy sprayed on the back of a woman sitting in front of me.

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I still recall her surprised and anguished cry. Horrible. Regrettably, I never had a conversation with my parents as to why they brought me along and if they regretted my extreme reaction to the bloody scene accompanied by the cries of a man about to lose his legs. But the experience has a positive spin—I am cautious about what my boys watch regardless of the media in play. Ethical behavior, then, is not a topic reserved for professional dilemmas. Considering your ethical responses helps with personal predicaments as well. But you should know that by now.

Movies vs. Television Prescient motion picture studio heads, producers, and theater owners knew that the medium had to keep up with technological advances and the approaching interest-sucking tsunami, television. After the public was introduced to “talking pictures” with the embarrassing and culturally insensitive The Jazz Singer in 1927 with its star, Al Jolson performing in black face make-up, Dorothy’s colorful walk on the yellow brick road in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz (who knew she wore so much make-up?), a flm as huge as the story it told in the 1953 religious classic The Robe, and James Cameron’s illusionary 3-D and performance capture megahit Avatar in 2009, audiences craved more movies with sound, color, wide screens, and a realistic depth perspective. The technological felines were out of the paper or plastic bag waiting for someone to make the ultimate cat video. And all this to prove to theater goers that those who created motion pictures could produce better entertainment options than television. Was it successful? Ultimately, yes, more or less. Although television beat motion pictures in almost every metric devised, it is television that is declining in viewer interest. Many are writing that the real technological tsunami is not motion picture innovations or bigger television sets but the web. Because soon, television, just as with movie theaters, desktop computers, and news on paper will cease to exist. These media will be overtaken by the almost infnite possibilities available on the web. Want to see a movie or watch television? Subscribe to Amazon Prime, AppleTV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, and others. And as an aside, what will eventually replace the web? Smartphone apps. And what will replace apps? They will be swapped with augmented reality glasses. And where will glasses go? Gone to fowers everyone. When will we ever learn? I’m convinced that my six-year-old brain would not have been so involved with the story cast on my six-year-old retinas if not for the action projected on a gigantic screen. Since 1959, screens have grown larger in direct proportion to the public’s interest in larger screens. Today’s IMAX screens are as big as 40 feet wide and 32 feet tall. However, they are dwarfed next to the over-the-feld monitor at the Dallas Cowboy American football stadium’s 160 feet wide and 72 feet tall screen (Shorr-Parks, 2014) (Figure 13.2). Early television and computer screens included 12-inch displays while today you can buy a 90-inch screen for either technology—if you have a room large enough. A 2009 research study confrmed that the larger the screen size the more respondents were aroused (Reeves et al., 2009). But you should ask yourself, why all this discussion on vomit and screens?

Screen Size and Content Acceptance Screen size is related to ethics. Since my Ben-Hur experience, I have had to leave a theater and my friends behind because of gruesome scenes shown in such movies as Bonnie and Clyde, Platoon, Dances with Wolves, and

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FIGURE 13.2

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Former Dallas Cowboy player Jason Witten is projected on one of the largest screens in the world at the AT&T stadium in Arlington.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

Reservoir Dogs. However, I learned that if I watched these pictures on the smaller screen of a television set, I could make it through the movie without discomfort. Interestingly, as screens get larger for public showings in multiplex theaters and private media rooms, the screens of computers shrink as we all get used to watching whatever disturbing content we want to—from beheadings to eyewitness videos—on our tablets and smartphones. Consequently, more of us can watch horrifc content, whether fctional or actual because the screens are smaller. And that’s an ethical issue. Screen size matters as much as the content within the frames. If you think of motion pictures, television, computers, and the web as tools for presenting images on a screen with some pictures we watch and others we manipulate and control, they nevertheless have similar technical and ethical considerations.

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Violent content is ameliorated, made more sensual, and can afect a viewer in the long-term because of the size of a screen. Large displays especially combined with 3-D glasses propel a viewer into action. Conversely, the same gruesome content is more easily visually digested when the monitor is smaller. And with that acceptance of the images there is a fear that repeated viewings will promote intolerance, callousness, dependence, and most troubling, indiference.

Motion Picture Ethics Ofering the simplistic argument that the violence seen in motion pictures is responsible for all the social problems in a society is always a political hot topic. Undeniably, action-adventure and horror movies are popular genres and flled with violent acts. Think of Clockwork Orange, Die Hard, Fight Club, The Passion of the Christ, Saw, and Scarface. Violence is a staple of American flms because they are enormously popular. One of the main reasons that the number of movies with gruesome content has increased is the economic situation of the major studios. Studio executives need big blockbuster hits to maintain the economic health of their enterprises. And because about 80 percent of all movies shown in Europe are from the United States, executives have learned that these movies are trendy throughout the world because violence translates across cultures. Everyone understands a bullet in fight or a punch about to land on someone’s face—no translation needed. For example, Resident Evil: Afterlife from the production companies Sony and Screen Gems earned $60 million in the United States and $236 million in foreign sales. The United States and many other countries have a strong tradition of free speech. Ironically, movie studios don’t make as much as they could on mayhem because governments of some conservative countries have banned violent (and overtly sexual) flms. One golden mean compromise ofered by many was the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), originally founded in 1922 to oversee the economic health of the fedging industry. Soon, it became a tool to control the content of movies by imposing a production code that prohibited so-called indecent language and images as well as political speech. If a motion picture failed to get a seal of approval, the movie would be banned from American theaters. Criticism of the MPAA’s rating system, frst established in 1968, became more public after two movies were given diferent ratings. A ticket buyer must be 17 years old to see an R-rated movie without an adult while many theaters will not show them. Bully a documentary that follows fve bullied children throughout a school year, was given an R rating because of its multiple use of the word “fxck” while The Hunger Games about teenagers who must kill to stay alive received a PG-13 designation (Zeitchik, 2012). Obviously, words are viewed as more dangerous than violence by the rating’s board. However, after much publicity, Lee Hirsch, the director of Bully edited some of the obscenities and the rating was changed to PG-13 to get a wider audience. Hirsch said, “I think this [controversy] has given fuel to a conversation that’s long overdue about the double standard when it comes to rating movies.”

Television Ethics As of this writing, television is still the most ubiquitous medium for mass communication, although the web is already challenging that distinction. Nevertheless, in one year, the average household will have a television set operating for almost 110 days continuously or 30 percent of the time. No other medium can claim that percentage. But there is a caveat to that statistic. The set may be on, but what is watched is not produced by the traditional, once broadcasted

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networks. The 2021 Emmy award program is a good example. Winners came from Netfix, AppleTV+, HBO, Showtime, and VH1. Only one winner was from one of the three original broadcast networks—NBC. Throughout television’s history there have been atrocious acts broadcast live to unsuspecting viewers at home. For example, the killing of Lee Oswald was played live on early television (“Oswald Shooting,” 2010). Because of unexpected and violent events on television, news directors eventually imposed a delay in live coverage—a golden rule reason with a golden mean solution. Nevertheless, the list is long of live events shown on television. School children watched the live launch of the space shuttle Challenger were excited that the “Teacher in Space,” Christa McAulife was on board until it exploded. Young viewers were at home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania watching television when their show was interrupted by a news bulletin. State Treasurer Budd Dwyer, convicted for bribery, gave a live press conference in 1987 and then killed himself with a 357 magnum, long-barrel pistol. In 1998, on a Los Angeles freeway Daniel Jones set his parked truck on fre that killed his dog. He then committed suicide with a shotgun. Before the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell in 2001, about 200 persons jumped to their deaths out of windows to escape the fre. Many jumpers were seen in news reports until news directors stopped showing them. The Boston Marathon terrorist bombing in 2013, in which three spectators were killed and more than 250 injured, was a gut-wrenching viewing experience. The 24-story Grenfell Tower fre in 2017 in West London, where 72 were killed and more than 70 injured, was a shock to see. The January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol building with its live shooting of a protester and violent acts against security ofcers made you angry or should have (Figure 13.3).

FIGURE 13.3

Domestic terrorists storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. News outlets, freelance visual reporters, and the insurgents themselves aired live and recorded videos.

Source: Courtesy of Tyler Merbler, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Some criticized the live showings with the golden rule philosophy, the one that advocates not adding grief to others. Because the videos were aired live, hedonism was employed to criticize the airers because it was assumed the event was sensationalized make more money. But the lessons learned from being confronted by violent visual news have a basis in the categorical imperative and utilitarianism philosophies—the role of a television station and its educational mandate to show all the news. Still, a time delay now imposed by station and network managers acknowledges the golden rule, golden mean, and the veil of ignorance philosophies.

Computers Ethics Try to fnd a copy of the frst John Madden football game released in 1988 and compare the graphic appearance to the latest edition. Technical innovations of the 1990s changed video games as they became more sophisticated in their storylines, included more interactive features, and improved their realism (“The Evolution of Video,” n.d.). Due to such games as “Street Fighter II” in 1991, “Doom” in 1993, and “Grand Theft Auto” in 1997, violent games were established as a popular and proftable staple of the industry. Especially during the COVID-19 era with few watching movies in theaters, games and e-sports are more popular than motion pictures. Part of the popularity can be attributed to the introduction of interactive “shooter” games after social critics raised important concerns about children and others who become obsessed with video game playing. The most popular games reward a player for committing violent acts that tacitly teach anyone under its infuence that conficts are easily resolved, not through compromise, but through direct, violent action. Violence has a higher potential for contributing to adverse personality disorders than do motion pictures or television because the user is responsible for the actions in the game rather than being a passive viewer (Figure 13.4).

FIGURE 13.4

Young participants play “Dead Island” during the New York Comic Con in 2011.

Source: Courtesy of Raf Asdourian, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Chinese government leaders are so concerned about video game addiction that they imposed a strict gaming curfew for minors. If you are under 18 years old, you can play games only from 8:00 pm until 9:00 pm on Fridays, weekends, and holidays. In a country where most of the games are produced, children spend too much time and money on their screens. Regulators urged gaming companies to “Always prioritize the social good and actively respond to societal concerns” (Ne, 2021). However, this extreme restriction may be an example when utilitarianism goes too far.

Web Ethics If, as predicted by most media experts, the web will eventually replace all other media including print, motion pictures, and television, violent visual messages will continue to be easily accessed through a few simple keystrokes and with smaller screens, violence is more tolerated. Justifcation for these images is based on the categorical imperative—it is their self-imposed duty to show images that “petty tyrants” don’t want you to see—and utilitarianism—users are educated by the content because “by not seeing things for yourself, you are opening the door to being lied to and persuaded in one direction or the other.” And, of course, hedonism should be included because of its array of explicit sexual advertisements (Reith, 2016). With such obvious website names as “Best Gore,” “Bloody Disgusting,” “LiveLeak,” and “Rotten,” these sites catered to those who sought extremely violent images from journalists, citizen eyewitnesses, and even murderers making video selfes, or vidsies, of their brutal acts as a form of entertainment. For example, “Best Gore” was largely a repository for images taken from news stories around the world. Journalists and their employers need to take some responsibility allowing access to pictures that most of the public would not see. Regardless, the site’s homepage warned those at least 18  years of age that they could see “beheadings, executions, suicides, murders, electrocution, stoning, torching, drowning, car crashes, motorcycle crashes, workplace accidents, sexual accidents, animal attacks” and, well you get the picture. Mark Marek, the owner of the Canadian website, “Best Gore,” pleaded guilty for violating an obscenity law in 2012 for hosting a video of a murder produced by the perpetrator (Reith, 2016). Either because of bad business decisions, legal hassles, or the outrage from citizens, of the four mentioned, only “Bloody Disgusting” remains because of its concentration on horror-based flms, television programs, and games—not actual news footage. For visual communicators, one of the most important issues is that of free speech versus governmental censorship. Social critics have sometimes described the web as a huge, unregulated video store in which children can suddenly wander into a back room where all the pornographic materials are shelved and all they need for access in many cases is a promise that they are at least 18 years old. Obviously, parents need to be responsible for the materials their children watch. But in a public setting—as in a university or library—adults should be given the opportunity to view a wide variety of materials available on the web. The web is also made more ethically challenging by small, ubiquitous, often unseen cameras that monitor our movements, help catch and convict criminals, and occasionally save lives and spur policy changes. Hidden cameras also record some of the darkest interactions between the powerful and the powerless. The Mother Jones website documents incidences with links to videos recorded by police dashboard and body cameras, store security cameras, and bystander smartphones of fatal shootings of suspects (Lee & Vicens, 2015). If seen on television, the clips are typically edited to about a minute with most of the gruesome content removed. The web, however, allows for the playing of videos in their entirety with the user able to enlarge the images, repeat the presentation as many times as desired, and

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pass them along through email and social media. Some of the videos begin with a message that warns the viewer of gruesome and disturbing content—clearly, a golden mean approach, but it’s an inefectual solution to the dilemma of showing scenes that may invoke objections. When violent content can be easily found, downloaded, repeatedly played, and shared on intimate hand-held devices, the impact of the gruesome scenes is lowered to the point of indiference. Such a mental state is alarming enough for fctional works, but the trend today includes actual news events. In addition to violence, screen size matters for the other issues for visual communicators— privacy, manipulations, persuasion, and stereotypes. The same work shown on a 50-foot width screen within most multiplex theaters and on a 4-inch smartphone display drastically afects a viewer’s experience whether it is composed of images that show violent content, violate the rights of privacy of innocent victims, alter reality through stage managing or computer manipulation, attempt to persuade users toward a way of thinking or a product to be bought, or perpetuate harmful stereotypical representations. A visual communicator needs to consider the needs of all possible users of the technologies of display. However, those needs should be balanced with what the public ought to know with what the public needs to know. A decision to show a potentially disturbing image should not necessarily be based on what the public wants to see.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One One of the most controversial issues in the 2016 American presidential campaign was that of the border between the United States and Mexico. Donald Trump portrayed the border as a space of lawlessness and danger and promised to build a giant wall between the two countries. “Build that Wall!” became a popular line associated with his campaign (Solórzano, 2017). However, statistics show that in the years leading up to the 2016 election, undocumented immigration to the United States over the Mexican border had been in decline. Also, fewer undocumented immigrants commit crimes than most people think. So why was it so easy for Trump to stoke fears about the border? One possibility is the typical portrayal of the border on television and in flm. Hollywood westerns, for example, almost always portrayed the border area as a place of lawlessness and danger. However, some recent productions programs, like the television program “The Bridge” and the flm Sicario, have tried to ofer a more complex portrait, where northern Mexico and the American south are shown to be full of contradictions, populated by individuals who sometimes make good choices, and sometimes not. • •

•

If you worked for a documentary flm company and were asked to edit a movie to make the U.S.—Mexico border seem more dangerous, would you? Would you work for a political campaign because you are loyal to a candidate and believe in the policies, or for yourself and/or your family because you need the money? What is your experience with those from diferent cultures than yourself?

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Case Study Two From the Guardian newspaper (Radford, 2000) On April 20, 1999 (on Adolf Hitler’s 110th birthday), Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before shooting themselves at the Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They were known to enjoy Doom, a video game licensed by the U.S. military to train soldiers to kill. In a classroom project, the pair made a videotape of their own version, in which they dressed in trench coats, carried guns, and killed school athletes. Researchers reported that in one study they questioned 227 college students about their aggressive attitudes and asked them to report on their own aggressive behavior—delinquency, vandalism, and so on—in the past. They also asked the students about their video game playing habits. We found that students who reported playing more violent ‘video games’ in junior and high school engaged in more aggressive behavior. Then, they had 210 students play either Wolfenstein 3D, a violent game, or Myst, a nonviolent one. Afterwards, the students punished their opponents with a noise blast of varying intensity. The ones who played the violent games spent longer punishing each other than those who had played the nonviolent game. • • •

Do you think the link is clear between playing violent ‘video games’ and violence in the real world? If you worked for a game company that made nonviolent games, but because of a new owner switched to frst-person shooter games, what would you do? As a gesture of empathy for shooting victims at schools, should game companies render their titles inoperative every April 20?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Ross Taylor, Photojournalist, Filmmaker, Author, and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Filmmaker Ross Taylor feels that the best ethical approach for interacting with people who are traumatized—quite simply—comes down to the way one moves. “I feel like I understand more clearly the call to move with great care with people in traumatic situations. It’s crystallized my understanding of that experience, and how to move with the utmost care.” Taylor directed a documentary titled The Hardest Day in which the flm’s topic concerns trauma (See https://bit.ly/3FzAnPo). “It’s a flm about the human animal bond and the last moment shared between them.” Taylor explained. It looks at the rise of pet euthanasia in the home atmosphere as well as a veterinarian community who supports people in that process. Working on a project like this is a reminder of the difcult nature that comes with the human experience. And must move with care and always think about someone’s condition when you document them. The technicality of doing a feature flm, both in the execution and carrying out or gathering the materials, is burdensome. We’re collecting audio. We have multiple cameras. We’re in the middle of intense situations. So, we must be mindful that we don’t increase any harm. As far as ethics go, whenever possible express your intent with people. Have clarity of purpose when you’re moving within people’s spaces. Whenever possible, I try to do that.

14 AUGMENTED, MIXED, AND VIRTUAL REALITY ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Augmented, Mixed, & Virtual Reality Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • • • • •

Goggle Movies Augmented and Mixed Reality Virtual Reality Ethically Problematic Uses Praiseworthy VR Uses Ethical Issues to Consider Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Healium

Goggle Movies When my twin boys were fve years old, they called the virtual reality system we have at home, “Goggle Movies.” Parker carefully slipped the Oculus Rift headset on his head, sat on the foor, and with a full-face grin attempted to grab a sea turtle that swam above him. Martin lost his patience and tried to grab the headset, eventually got his turn, and preferred a roller-coaster video (Figure 14.1). Just as Baby Boomers grew up with television and the Millennials the web, my sons’ generation (the Digitals?) will think nothing special of virtual reality news and entertainment programs that they watch while they sit in comfy chairs in the back of their self-driving cars on the way home. VR is not quite real—yet. Although with an Ocular Rift or an HTV Vive, you can pretend to fy above the rooftops of Oxford, England like a tech-savvy Mary Poppins. You are watching scenes as if inside an enhanced motion picture in which you can look side to side, behind, up, or down to get additional views through the array’s 720-degree viewport (a combination of two circles—one horizontal and the other vertical). Interactive VR, where you can manipulate objects with hand controllers, is a popular game feature as experienced in “Westworld Awakening,” based on the popular HBO series and “Obduction VR” from Cyan, the same shop that created the critically acclaimed “Myst” series.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-14

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FIGURE 14.1

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My son Martin remains dry as he watches sea life from an ocean perspective without a SCUBA outft but with a virtual reality system.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

Augmented and Mixed Reality Virtual reality’s siblings are augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR). VR transports you to a closed and controlled world outside of your reality while AR enhances your visual array with an overlay of software features and MR is a hybrid between the two. Examples of MR are the 2016 fad, “Pokémon Go” in which players walked to various locations to fnd and capture cartoon characters that show up on a smartphone’s screen (one user was hit by a car when she walked into trafc), “Harry Potter: Wizards Unite” introduced in 2019, where you become a wizard with powers, and the 2020 “Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit,” a racing game in which you use your home as a track. Augmented reality is a growing feld in which advertisers, publishers, gamers, and journalists print coded graphic designs that create 3-D objects and flms when viewed with a smartphone’s app. For example, a special issue of Esquire magazine featured Robert Downey, Jr. on its cover touting its AR content (“Esquire’s Augmented Reality,” 2012). David Granger, Editor-inChief of Esquire, indicated that there were “70,000 downloads of the software to have the AR experience” representing about 10 percent of the magazine’s circulation (See https://bit. ly/3kKHLy7). Topps introduced AR baseball cards while the U.S. Postal Service announced an application that let customers see if the contents to be shipped would ft within one of their fat rate boxes. Artist Lucas Blalock produced the frst photography book that uses AR to enhance a viewer’s experience in Making Memeries, a play on Richard Dawkins’ word creation, the meme (Stam, 2016). AR programs attract attention and give real-time information through smartphones, glasses, and front-facing displays. On occasion, AR content can be found in printed publications, as a part of

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arcade-style games, on business cards, and as thinly disguised sales gimmicks for shoppers. There should be no reason, other than a lack of creativity, that a newspaper or magazine page, a press release, an advertisement, or a website cannot include a 3-D informational graphic, an organization’s director introducing a new service, a behind-the-scenes look from a newly released motion picture, or an interactive map that pops up valuable information in the face of an engaged user. For augmented or mixed reality, the game changer was the Google Glass—the highly anticipated eyewear with see-through digital interfaces that blend with your location marketed with a commercial of a guy learning to play a ukulele to impress a friend (Bhutto, 2012). Users accessed the internet and other features through voice commands. However, there were concerns about • • • •

Privacy (hackers could steal passwords while facial recognition software could identify strangers on the street), Health (eye strain and distracted walking and driving), The price—too expensive, battery power—too short and hot, and Ethics (interviewees not knowing their words and actions were recorded by Glass journalists).

This last point is relevant for us. Although not AR technology, more like a smartphone on your face, Facebook, for example, was concerned about privacy and semi-informed consent with its 2021 release of Ray-Ban-style glasses with a reasonable price tag of about $300. It allows users to take pictures, record videos, and listen to music. From promotional material It might seem a little unsettling that wearers could go around with normal-looking sunglasses, secretly recording everyone around them. To combat this, a white LED will glow on the glasses when the camera is in use, so people around the wearer know a video is being recorded. (Heah, 2021) Provided, of course, that they understand what the light means. The Google Glass prototype was discontinued in 2015. Four years later, the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 was announced. According to Google, the Glass iteration seems more for professional markets as it is a wearable device that helps businesses improve the quality of their output, and help their employees work smarter, faster and safer. It provides hands-on workers and professionals with glanceable, voice-activated assistance that is designed to be worn all day with its comfortable, lightweight profle. (Glass, n.d.) The cost is about $1,000 per unit. Not to be outdone, in 2010, Microsoft introduced their version of AR glasses named HoloLens at about $1,000 a pair. The smartglasses are a holographic 2-D or 3-D platform for use with Windows. Through simple fnger movements, users can manipulate and work on any fle as well as watch movies and play games (Mackie, 2016). In 2019, the HoloLens 2 was announced with various technical improvements that upped the price to $5,200 for an integrated hardhat version for use in industrial settings (See https://bit.ly/3kKofS7). In 2021 HP announced xRServices that uses the HoloLens 2 for tech support for its high-end printers.

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Snapchat’s Spectacles 3 was also introduced in 2019 after poor sales from its previous versions. With two cameras, the visual array mimics a 3-D efect that allows for mixed reality integration. The pair of glasses retails for about $350. Amazon entered the smartglass market in 2020 with its Echo that allows users through the virtual assistant Alexa to make calls, set reminders, and listen to music or podcasts. The initial price is about $270. However, it does not include image creation or viewing options. Xiaomi, the Chinese consumer electronics giant hopes its smartglasses will replace smartphones. Introduced in 2021, promotional material states that “the glasses are able to display notifcations, make calls, navigate, take photos, and translate text ‘right before your eyes’” without the need for a smartphone in your pocket or bag. However, with a 2-D, monochrome green display, augmented reality features are limited (See https://bit.ly/39cO3kC). Whichever company’s product comes out on top, lightweight, stylish glasses with still photography and video capabilities will make it easier for eyewitnesses of news events to become citizen journalists.

Virtual Reality The primary commercial VR systems available to the public are Google VR in cardboard and headset versions, Sony’s PlayStation VR, codename “Project Morpheus” appropriately named after a character in The Matrix, Samsung Gear VR from the electronics giant and designed for the company’s smartphones, HTC Vive, introduced by the Taiwanese electronics company HTC and the Valve Corporation, a video game developer, and the Oculus Rift, introduced by Palmer Luckey in 2011 (Vincent, 2017). In the tradition of computer innovators of the past, he made his prototype as an 18-year-old working out of his parents’ garage in Long Beach, California. Luckey also received guidance and inspiration from Associate Professor Mark Bolas and his Mixed-Reality Lab at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies and Nonny de la Peña (Richmond, 2017). Three years after Luckey’s breakthrough, Facebook bought his company for $2 billion. Lucky indeed. In 2021 Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced the company’s new name— Meta—perhaps a reference to the future of social media that is combined with virtual reality (Isaac, 2021). Facebook changed the Oculus Rift to Meta Quest, with its latest iteration, Quest 2 available for $299 with a headset free from cables. The PlayStation, Vive, and Quest devices come with hand controllers that allow users to grab and move virtual objects seen through headsets. This additional feature is important as it clearly delineates the diference between watching and engaging. This hands-on feature separates static movies from real world interactive experiences. Recent and new VR game titles that transport a user into a fantasy, digital world can communicate feelings of admiration, surprise, wonder, and curiosity—all vital components of the chief marketing element that keeps consumers and major corporations interested—magic. When viewing a well-designed VR world for the frst time, the simplest description is often the best—it is a vivid, dream-like enchantment unlike any existing experience you might have without a headset.

Ethically Problematic Uses Violence, pornography, and sexual assault are popular topics with the VR format. Dan Griliopoulos of Techradar lists the best VR games currently available. “Elite: Dangerous,” a

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massively multiplayer combat game, a frantic bomb-defusing challenge, “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes,” the blood-flled “Surgeon Simulator” (relax—the patients are space aliens), the dogfghting space adventure, “Eve: Valkyrie,” the frst-person shooters, “Half-Life 2” and “Shooting Showdown 2.” Notice a pattern in these choices? Violence sells. It is a variation of the old journalism, television, and motion picture mantra, “If it bleeds; it leads.” Not surprisingly, the porn industry has developed VR titles for obvious reasons. Google the keywords “VR porn” and then explain to your partner that you accessed the websites purely for research purposes. If you have the inclination, time, and funds, you can purchase a full body “sex suit” and experience VR intercourse from a device developed by the Japanese company Tenga (vrXcity, 2020). More insidious are titles that promote stereotypes, sexism, and misogyny. For example, Sean Buckley of Engadget writes that “Dead or Alive Xtreme 3” rewards users for committing sexual assaults (Buckley, 2016). As reported by media critic Anita Sarkeesian, there are many other games that promote harmful female stereotypes and violence toward women (Feminist Frequency Website, 2017). She became known after she criticized the gaming industry for its male-dominated storylines under the banner heading, “Gamergate” (Hathaway, 2014). Her feminist perspective on misogynistic games as expressed through her video blog and speeches is an important voice that provides an ethical foundation for digital productions. This concern is amplifed with immersive VR systems and content. Amy Westervelt (2016) writing in Elle magazine understands that thoughtful creators should tread carefully in this medium because “VR experiences are so immersive that people often confuse virtual reality with actual reality.” She also notes, “harassment in VR is far more traumatic than in other digital worlds” because of the unsettling combination of unfamiliar circumstances, often-powerless response capabilities, and a heightened realism.

Praiseworthy VR Uses Fortunately, not all the popular titles involve gore, guts, and grabs. “Everest VR” and “The Climb,” simulate mountain ascents, “Lucky’s Tale” is similar to a classic arcade game, and “Shufepuck Cantina Deluxe VR” and “Pool Nation VR” ofer gaming amusements. “Minecraft VR” is based on the popular digger program. It is quite possible that AR will eventually overtake VR, but in the meantime, virtual reality dominates news stories and the public’s imagination. Media entities such as “Frontline,” ABC, and many newspapers as well as many educational institutions have VR programs. Most notably, “Harvest of Change” detailed life on a family farm in Iowa produced by staf members of the Des Moines Register. The New York Times distributed more than one million Google cardboard virtual reality viewers to subscribers and smartphone users to watch documentaries such as “Walking New York,” a tour of the wonderfully crowded streets of my hometown and “Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart,” a view of the dwarf planet from the New Horizons spacecraft. Film director Spike Jonze worked with the United Nations for a documentary titled “Clouds Over Sidra,” that featured a 12-year-old Syrian girl’s experience at a refugee camp in Jordan (Gutelle, 2015). The New York Times was one of the frst media entities to use virtual reality technology with a smartphone app to immerse viewers into news stories. In its 11-minute flm, “The Displaced” (2017), three children from South Sudan, the Ukraine, and Lebanon are “driven from their homes by war.” The experience of riding a bicycle from the perspective of a child is exhilarating and emotionally connecting. Rawls’ empathic philosophy, the veil of ignorance, is again invoked. However, the current interest by members of the academic and journalism professions to produce news-oriented VR programs would have been delayed several years if not for the eforts

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by an innovator dubbed the “Godmother of VR,” Nonny de la Peña. As a former Newsweek reporter, de la Peña combined her journalism skills, interested in engaging technology, and dynamic personality while at the USC School of Cinematic Arts to produce some of the frst animated VR programs based on actual events. Whether you see her 2015 TED talk, “The Future of News? Virtual Reality” or are lucky enough to see her in person, Nonny de la Peña inspires immersive media like no other advocate. She plainly states that VR “Creates a real sense of being present on the scene. It puts the audience in a place where they can experience the sights, sounds and even emotions as events unfold. This is unlike any other medium” (See https://bit.ly/3kLCpCz). VR is engaging because of its immersive experience. You experience the sights. You experience the sounds. But more signifcantly, you experience emotions. But sometimes the sights, sounds, and emotions can be jacked and seem manipulative. A news report of a VR experience of a South Korean mother playing with her deceased child perhaps has golden mean and veil of ignorance justifcations (Kim, 2020). Nevertheless, the reaction of the mother is disturbing and without therapeutic assistance might be less helpful in her grieving process than the producers might desire. Jang Ji-sung’s daughter, Nayeon died from blood cancer in 2016 when she was 7 years old. The South Korean television documentary, Meeting You features their virtual reunion through VR technology produced through six studios. The mother’s anguish should be of concern (See https://bit.ly/2WESQsA). In the 2014 documentary Life Itself about the infuence of the Chicago Sun-Times cinema critic Roger Ebert famously said that flm is a machine that generates empathy. If that is true, and I have no reason to doubt the concept that John Rawls would have no doubt supported, then a VR system in which the user has the illusion of being surrounded by the persons and events that compose a news story or social problem is a machine that generates empathy on crack. In other words, being surprised how a machine can make you care is powerful and should be carefully considered by creators. We all have been raised diferently with a staggering variety of experiences that make each one of us unique. Some can handle intense VR experiences while others get nauseous and alarmed by the powerful visual messages.

Ethical Issues to Consider One of the frst to write about the ethics of VR was Tom Kent (2015), the Standards Editor for the Associated Press and an instructor at Columbia University. In his article, “An Ethical Reality Check for Virtual Reality Journalism,” Kent lists several factors for maintaining ethical standards. His primary basis that starts a discussion about VR ethics is that “Viewers need to know how VR producers expect their work to be perceived, what’s been done to guarantee authenticity and what part of a production may be, frankly, supposition.” Ethical issues include • • • • • •

Situations may be too real for some, Full disclosure to viewers about technical considerations and limitations, Perspective choices should be available, Privacy issues for those who are part of a presentation, Intellectual property concerns, and Production techniques that are diferent from traditional still and motion cameras.

The role-related responsibility of a VR producer should be to communicate full disclosure to a user about any potentially upsetting content. That duty is at the center of ethical VR production. This need for an honest admission of the nature and specifcs of a presentation is unique to VR animations. The potential for harm is greater with VR than with traditional

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media. Vulnerable users may watch an intense experience that places them within a situation that triggers a suppressed memory. Imagine if there were visual reporters or citizen journalists with virtual reality cameras flming the aftermath of the terrorist bombing at an arena in Manchester, England in 2017. Watching the carnage though a head-mounted display might be too much for most users. There are also technical manipulations that are often employed by VR producers that are necessary to consider. For example, if cartoon avatars within a situation are based on still photographs and/or video and a user is allowed to walk around a scene, assumptions about the sides and backs of characters and objects need to be made by graphic artists since a 2-D camera records the event from only one perspective. Tom Kent suggests that contrived graphic images remain out of focus with a note to users at the start of a program to inform them of the meaning of this technical contrivance. A VR presentation is contrived by the creator of the piece and is a tightly controlled program. Consequently, there are details easily missed as you experience the digital environment. Also, because the flm is based on real events, some facts will not be shown. Once again, full disclosure is a solution. Users should be given all the information related to an event before the headsets are mounted with sound clues and graphic symbols to make them aware of signifcant directions to view a scene and as choices within a program, additional photographs, text, and videos provided to give a more complete understanding. Another challenge is the one-sided nature of news coverage. Should a VR package show only one view of a news event, or should the user be allowed to see multiple angles and perspectives of a controversial story? Kent thinks users should be given the choice of several angles from diferent witnesses. However, this recommendation is a technical challenge during a spot news event but perhaps necessary given the nature of the enhanced realism available by the technology. Kathleen Culver (2015) is concerned about privacy and intellectual property issues when avatars and objects look too much like the real thing—a common criticism of Nonny de la Peña’s productions. Margaret Sullivan (2015), public editor of the New York Times wrote about VR ethics after her newspaper made “The Displaced.” She reports one user’s reaction as Five seconds into the flm, I  was struck by the immediacy—and the intimacy—of the images. These aren’t computer-generated faces and landscapes; they’re real people in real places, and I felt like I was standing there myself, not just observing from afar. Once again, the realness of a VR experience is a response seldom felt with motion pictures, television, and the web regardless of how large a screen is or with 3-D glasses. The immediacy and the surrounding nature of the medium enhance the illusion of truth and not the suspension of disbelief. Therefore, creators, as never before, should be aware of empathic responses from users and the need to be as real as possible within the unreal world of virtual reality. Virtual reality has been employed by entrepreneurs to help prepare and train individuals from the felds of mechanics to medicine. Most notably, in 2019 two experienced foreign correspondents, Kate Parkinson and Aela Callan, founded a VR company, Head Set with a grant from the British government to train journalists. Their current ofering for newsroom personnel is on the topics of stress management and civil unrest. With headsets provided to participants, scenarios are made realistic with motion capture and computer-generated images (Iscoe, 2021). The immersive nature of a VR protest that turns violent is described by a user as “an incredibly realistic experience of dealing with threats in a safe classroom environment” (See https://bit. ly/3n6Dnvv).

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The major takeaway for this chapter should be that immersive media are no longer in the fad stage of development but are becoming established mainstream methods of presentation for persuasive, entertainment, and journalism endeavors. As such, the rules for ethical behavior, although inspired from traditional news values, loyalties, and procedures, have yet to be written in full. Hopefully, you will be part of a team of communicators responsible for codifying the ethics of this powerful and little understood technology.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One One of the most common, and most invisible, injuries soldiers face when they return from war is post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. It is especially likely to strike individuals who witness symptoms include nightmares, insomnia, and feelings of isolation, irritability, and guilt. Individuals who witness sudden and unexpected traumatic events are, including those that happen on battlefelds, especially prone to developing PTSD. The condition is hard to treat and even harder to cure. For soldiers with PTSD, it can be even harder because many believe that admitting they need help, counseling, or psychiatric intervention are signs of weakness (“How virtual reality is helping heal soldiers,” 2017). In recent years, however, researchers have begun to use virtual reality (VR) technology to treat PTSD. Now, soldiers can safely re-expose themselves to their trauma, to re-live their memories and slowly discharge them of their power. The goal is to allow those who are struggling with the condition to fnd a way through it, rather than hiding it away because of stigma. The RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank, estimates that nearly half of all veterans with PTSD resist getting help, and that the military doesn’t do enough to try to change their minds. • • •

How would you report on the cognitive dissonance between those wanting to help and those resisting that help? Do you think virtual reality technology can improve upon traditional counseling sessions? Should active soldiers asked to volunteer for a research study be considered moral agents?

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Case Study Two Because VR is getting less expensive all the time, it is possible for journalists to use it as part of their story. With the advent of Google Cardboard, for example, individuals can get VR goggles for just a few dollars online. In 2016, The Guardian created a VR story called 6 × 9. The point of the story was to let viewers get a sense of what it felt like to be in prison, in solitary confnement, in a cell that was six feet wide by nine feet long. The hope was that those who took the time to look would experience a sense of empathy that went beyond what is possible in more traditional media formats (“How virtual reality is bringing journalism to life,” 2017). But this raises the question as to how much more advanced VR will have to get before this is really the case. As it is, a viewer can experience being in a jail cell and perhaps feel what it’s like to be confned. • • •

Should producers of VR programs be concerned that viewers might be disturbed by the enhanced realism of VR? If you were asked to create a VR “snuf” flm—a pornographic movie of an actual murder—would you salute and do the job or resign and perhaps tell a reporter? Which philosophy of the six best describes the use and reaction to VR programs?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Healium Sarah Hill wants to be in your head (“How virtual reality will change us,” 2006). Hill describes herself as a “journalist with a little j.” The Missouri-based immersive media entrepreneur had her professional origins well established in more than two decades of broadcast experience. Nonetheless, the veteran journalist and lecturer self-describes as ‘little j’ because as a VR storytelling innovator, she is willing to push boundaries and conventions to explore the potentials of a new and rapidly evolving way of storytelling. The experiences we make are creating meditative experiences and mindfulness experiences in VR, combined with story. When we do stories, we don’t stage or tell individuals, you know, what to say or anything like that. But we’re kind of a blend of flmmaking and nonfction storytelling. So, ‘nonfction storytelling’ is probably a better way to describe what we do. All of the tenets of journalism still apply. This is just a diferent medium. You still need fairness, impartiality, humanity, and accountability. Nothing has changed. But VR is a bit like playing with fre. With her signifcant journalism background, Hill talked about how she had to shift her own thinking about the dynamics of this kind of storytelling. We had to totally shift our approach, because in a fat world, the storyteller was in control. They had the ability to control the frame. The frame was how we directed attention. But inside these immersive environments, when the user can look all the way around, the storyteller is no longer in control. So, we must use specifc storytelling inputs, if you will, to control that frame that is moving inside the sphere. You can use positional audio to get someone to turn their head—a clap or something in the back of the room—and you can use color, shading, and everyone in the room is looking in one certain direction. But from a storytelling perspective, you’ve totally given up that control and you must place it in the hands of the user and trust that they will be able to see those certain things. Story has depth. It’s not necessarily linear, but you can go deeper into stories. It’s not just a fat environment. Hill is excited about this promising and rapidly evolving medium. “Among other things, the rapid evolution has improved the quality of the product and made some parts of the production easier.” Hill concludes, VR is diferent than the fat world. We know that from research. It creates unique memories in the brain. That’s why this platform is a valuable tool for empathy because you can create those memories. After someone sees an empathetic experience, it’s more engaging.

15 SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Social Media Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • •

• • • •

My 100-Friend Rule A History of Social Media The Web and Social Revolution Fake News and Conspiracies Other Ethical Issues of Note: Artifcial Intelligence (AI) and Ethics, Public and Anonymous Threats, Privacy, Censorship, Suspension, and Banishment, Gruesome Content, and Doxing The Power of Infuencers The Golden Rule Abides Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Beth Nakamura, Emmy Award-Winning Visual Reporter

My 100-Friend Rule As opposed to my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts in which I accept all connections and followers, I have a cap on the number of “friends” I admit into my Facebook world—100 (Figure 15.1). Admittedly, it is an arbitrary number, but it allows me to make sure that whatever I share on the Book of Face gets to persons I know and trust. Those with thousands of friends astonish me. I fnd it difcult enough to keep track of 100. Of course, if I ever took a picture, recorded a video, or wrote a comment that I want the social media world and not just my friends to know, I might consider using the status update menu choice of “Public” so that “anyone on or of Facebook” can see the post. It is that simple act of clicking and sharing—to your friends and the world—that makes social media unique among other forms of communication. It dates from when Sumerian scribes thousands of years ago pressed carefully conceived marks into moist clay. It is doubtful if more than fve individuals saw a cuneiform account of a rich person’s inventory of beer—one of the most common inventory items preserved through the millennia. Jump ahead to today and the mass distribution of messages by anyone with a smartphone, computer, a Wi-Fi connection, and a free social media account has the unmistakable power to shape public opinions, afect business markets, and alter social customs and cultures. You might even be able to sway a presidential DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-15

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FIGURE 15.1

Really. How many friends do you need? With 100, I  can reasonably keep up with people I know well. The only downside is when someone requests my friendship that I want to add, and I must let one go.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

election with entries that contain alternative facts or fake news. Naaaaa. That could never happen.

A History of Social Media However, are social media new? In 1517, about 70 years after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the commercial printing press, an ordained priest, Martin Luther supposedly hammered printed fyers on the wooden doors of religious institutions. He condemned the Church’s pay-to-play practice of indulgences so that the wealthy could pay to enter Heaven despite their earthly sins. He was also a rabid anti-Semite and advocated setting fre to synagogues, forbidding rabbis from preaching, and seizing Jewish property and money (“How Luther Went Viral,” 2011). Herbert Hoover’s campaign for president was called “the frst modern presidential race” as the relatively new medium of motion pictures was employed for the frst time to promote a candidate. One 43-minute silent flm, Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies was “played in communities across [the] country to remind voters of all that Hoover had done to make life better for those in need” (Lester, 2009). After the frst American radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania began its broadcasts in 1920, President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 bypassed politicized newspapers largely owned by his opponents who controlled the slant of news stories and published critical editorial columns to speak directly through the radio medium to the American public in 30 “freside chats” (“The Fireside Chats,” 2017). Although the ability to send crude facsimiles or “fax” messages predates telephone technology, it wasn’t until the Xerox Corporation, in 1964, introduced telephone-based fax machines that the communication device started to become commercially viable. Also, politically savvy

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fax users realized that substantial messages could be sent and received around the world. By 1989, the technology had advanced far enough so that student organizers used fax machines to communicate China’s antidemocratic policies and gathering times for protests. The futurist David Houle (2009) noted that In ofces near Tiananmen Square and in universities there were fax machines. Demonstrators used the technology to get the word out to the world. Much more importantly, the world responded, sending faxes by the hundreds, letting the demonstrators know that the whole world was watching. As the Chinese government controlled traditional broadcast and print outlets, leaders failed to realize the impact of an analog print sending device connected to a landline telephone combined with activists who understood the power of crowdsourcing. Another technology used to circumvent traditional media outlets was email. After World War II, a political “Cold War” between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics commenced. With the help of the RAND Corporation, the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) started to discuss a communications network via computers. In 1969, the frst email message was sent between researchers at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto using a computer network called the ARPANET. Detailed at the beginning of Werner Herzog’s 2016 documentary flm Lo and Behold Reveries of the Connected World UCLA Computer Science Professor Leonard Kleinrock wanted to send the message, “login,” but he was able to enter only the frst two letters before the system crashed (See https://bit.ly/3DgLcUt). In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau used a NeXT computer while working for the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland (“History of the Web,” 2017). They developed a computer language called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that created fles that could be accessed from the internet. In 1991, HTTP was used for the frst browser that Berners-Lee called the WorldWideWeb. By 1993, interest in the internet expanded tremendously because of what was called its killer app—the Mosaic software program. Marc Andreesson and Eric Bina developed the browser while students at the University of Illinois and made accessing and downloading internet fles that contained still and moving pictures with audio as simple as clicking a computer’s mouse. Given the history of attempts at social communication through the technology available at the time, it can be argued that our use of social media is revolutionary, not evolutionary. The way we use this communication technology and the messages’ efect on worldwide culture is a logarithmic leap. The fact that someone with a computer, an account, and an opinion can mass communicate an idea and infuence hundreds of thousands of others can be looked as a gift or burden makes social media an unexpected by-product of the technological transformation known as the internet and the web.

The Web and Social Revolution “Social” relates to an informal gathering of like-minded individuals who are part of a particular group with cultural participation that might include persons by class, education, gender, ethnicity, interest, race, politics, religion, and others. “Media,” the plural form of “medium,” is also a common word that relates to print, broadcast, and screen forms of mass communication— such as magazines, movies, newspapers, radio, television, and computers. With traditional media outlets, the cost in time and money that it takes to have a major infuence over the public’s mind is enormous and largely prohibitive. However, when the terms

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social and media are combined with the web, the concept of individuals within a discrete group based on a particular cultural topic can have an unexpected impact on the rest of society simply because the barriers of mass distribution of a message are lifted—almost anyone with web access, a computer, and an opinion can become a social media star. Even a former reality television personality with a Twitter account, a penchant toward self-aggrandizing, and a habit of waking early in the morning can be president. Nevertheless, as shown by the 2016 and 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, the 2017 Women’s Marches in Washington, DC and throughout the world, demonstrations at several airports in response to Trump’s controversial executive order on Muslim immigration and the role of social media in organizing presidential campaigns, the protests for justice for George Floyd, and the terrorist insurrection on January 6 should not be denied or discounted.

Fake News and Conspiracies Social media staples such as texting to friends, sharing pithy observations, updating a status, uploading a picture, and so on are almost always noncontroversial and ethical. Unfortunately, the 2016 presidential campaign and the 2020 “Stop the Steal” efort demonstrated how fabricated posts easily manipulate the media and the public as Trump repeatedly labeled traditional news sources, without evidence, as phony and “enemies of the people.” And yet, many news reports were fabricated. Fake news accounts from some social media websites comprised fctionalized accounts and contained invented quotations, digitally altered photographs and video, and presented within a graphics layout made to appear credible. For hedonistic, attention-getting, and non-satiric purposes, these politically motivated producers created “news” to sway public opinion. What would motivate someone to go to the trouble to create a constant stream of fctitious stories? To be clear, fake news whether from established journalism entities or from the mind of an entrepreneur-minded blogster is ethically blameworthy. The reason accuracy is not a treasured value is because reporting falsehoods may be true—the source made the statement—but what was said is not true. Picture and caption manipulations have a long history of contributing to the fake news genre. How do ethical communicators respond to such behavior? Recent examples do not ofer much consolation that this issue is easily resolved. Nevertheless, the correct ethical response to an unethical action is one of the most interesting aspects about studying ethics—what individual cultures and whole societies judge as positive or negative changes throughout time and because of technological innovations. In our attention culture sparked by the widespread use of smartphones with alerts that impel us to check compulsively our collection of social media apps, the fact that the image or story is true or false is less important than if it gets us to view a page with advertisements. Unproven theories include such diverse topics as water fuoridation, genetically modifed crops, climate change, and QAnon absurdities that include a Democratic party-led gang of Satanists that runs child pedophile and sex trafcking operations (Figure 15.2). The Just Security website, co-founded by Ryan Goodman, a Professor of Law at NYU, uses a timeline to chart the “Stop the Steal” Trump-sponsored protest movement concerned with the 2020 presidential election that is still contested as of this writing. From a tweet by One America News Network (OANN), a media entity known for its pro-Trump reporting, correspondent Jack Posobiec on September 7, 2020 wrote, “#StopTheSteal 2020 is coming.” Until January 6, 2021 when the U.S. Capitol building was invaded by violent domestic terrorists, hundreds of social media messages were produced by conservative infuencers to millions of supporters (Holt, 2021).

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FIGURE 15.2

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A QAnon supporter stands in line with others waiting to attend a Trump rally.

Source: Courtesy of Marc Nozell, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Another insidious and dangerous example of misinformation spread by social media sites relates to COVID-19. Political, hedonistic, and dishonest social media reports have surfaced since the start of the pandemic that included stories that the virus comes from mosquito bites, mailed packages from China coated with the virus, large drug companies out to make money, 5G networks, and masks in which the virus gets trapped in the fabric and infects the wearer. The internet and traditional media outlets blew up over a tweet from Trinidad-born singer known as Nicki Minaj when she wrote that after taking a coronavirus vaccine shot, her cousin’s friend’s testicles enlarged and he became impotent (Nicki Minaj, 2021). The controversy ended when the Trinidad Health Minister proclaimed that the story was false (Reuters, 2021). There were also false reports that the ingredients used for the vaccine include aborted fetal cells and bioweapons created by the Chinese, George Soros, or Bill Gates with nano or bioluminescent markers to record your movements, as espoused by the right-wing’s Newsmax reporter, Emerald Robinson (Wemple, 2021). In addition, some believe that COVID-19 is a diabolical plan by a

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cabal of evildoers to reduce the world’s population as in the plot of the 2020 Amazon-produced episodic show, “Utopia.” Not surprisingly, “President Biden said that mis-information about COVID-19 on Facebook ‘is killing people.’” Jill Lapore (2021) reported that research studies found, ironically, that the more time spent on social media the less social a person becomes. With more Facebook use, sedentariness increases while mental health, “meaningful face-to-face relationships,” and social activities decrease. Opinions, then, become intractable despite accurate pictures accompanying news feeds. Some of the discounted yet believed cures for the coronavirus communicated through social media sound like advice from a Middle Ages physician. The therapies include ingesting bleach, taking a bath with Epsom salt, baking soda, and the caustic mineral borax, animal dewormer, surgical antiseptic, garlic, or onions, gargling iodine or a common mouthwash, nebulizing hydrogen peroxide, using strong light or extreme localized heat, smoking marijuana, washing your hands with urine from a child, a transfusion of blood plasma from a COVID survivor, and rubbing sesame seed oil all over your body (Glez, 2020). From a Canadian peat bog, gullible patrons for $110 dollars plus shipping are drinking, cooking, snorting, and smearing “Magic Dirt” (AKA dirt) on themselves, families, children, and pets. Independent chemical tests found unhealthy levels of lead and arsenic in the magic mud. Boo. Not surprisingly, YouTube executives announced in 2021 that misinformation about the coronavirus are banned from its platform (Alba, 2021). With sophisticated, graphically rich websites combined with social media messages, evidence comes in the form of still and moving images, testimonials from seemingly knowledgeable and credible experts (“The Conspiracy Blog,” 2017). Conspiracy theories aside, instances of phony news reaching the social media mainstream are far too common and have become normative. One of the most egregious examples occurred in 2016. As Jodi Jacobson (2016) reported on Rewire, an online publication During the [presidential] election, sites like True Pundit, State of the Nation, and the New Nationalist were responsible for creating vicious conspiracy theories, and releasing them to be picked up and amplifed on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and other channels by the countless followers of these and other shadowy sites. So, which is worse: Creating a false account or passing it along? For visual communicators, fake news should be a major concern because images are often used to support biased and untrue views. Months after the election, Hillary Clinton revealed that one of the main reasons she lost was because fake stories were shared through Facebook that were provided by the Russian government in collusion with Americans (“Hillary Clinton says,” 2017). “The other side was using content,” she said in a speech, “that was just fat-out false and delivering it in a very personalized way.” And yet, co-founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, in a story published in the Telegraph newspaper noted that he thought it was “ ‘crazy’ to think that fake news on the site had infuenced the election in any way” (Wagner, 2016). Nevertheless, in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview in 2021, whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former product manager for Facebook, admitted that the company realized that divisive hate speech and false information kept users on the site longer so that the advertisements could be noticed. “Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an emotional reaction,” she said. “And the more anger that they get exposed to, the more they interact and the more they consume” (Duffy, 2021).

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Perhaps to avoid negative connotations from upset users and damaging media publicity, in 2021 Facebook was rebranded as Meta Platforms, Inc, or Meta—a nod to an early cyberspace designation known as the “metaverse,” a term popularized in Neal Stephenson’s science fction dystopian novel, Snow Crash from 1992 (Isaac, 2021). The change signals the merger of social media and virtual reality. Editors, reporters, social media managers, and readers should be more vigilant in their factchecking skills so that fake news and “alternative facts” are exposed for what they are—lies. As a member of the public one of the best sources to discover the truth about questionable stories and images is Snopes Website (2017). Known as the “Urban Legends Reference Pages,” the website identifes facts from fction in news accounts and popular myths as it debunks rumors and fake news reports. Begun in 1995 by David and Barbara Mikkelson and named after characters in William Faulkner stories, Snopes receives an estimated eight million visitors a month. An editorial in the Dallas Morning News included a fve-point checklist that should be used to resist fake news items (“Tips for Telling Truth,” 2016). According to the Texas journalists, “before you share a juicy Tweet” • • • • •

Make sure the source is credible, Use Snopes or Politifact to check the facts, Question if the information seems too unusual to be true, Seek new sites for news, but always question their veracity, and Conduct a critical analysis of every news story you read.

Other Ethical Issues of Note Unfortunately, fake news is not the only concern of social media. Examples of poor etiquette, unethical behavior, and illegal activities are almost the norm whenever users evoke a hedonistic rather than a utilitarian, veil of ignorance, golden rule, or golden mean philosophy. When personal, economic, and/or political motivations dictate the content and tone of a message, intimidation and violent acts dominate critical discussions of the media. Other ethical issues that involve social media include the use of artifcial intelligence, cyber threats, censorship, disturbing content, and doxing.

Artifcial Intelligence (AI) and Ethics Everyone has noticed that if you look up or buy a product through Amazon, similar items show up on your social media feed. Likewise, if you watch a YouTube video, the next day similar clips will be ofered. How does that happen? Artifcial Intelligence. Through the customization possible through AI algorithms, “Platforms tailor the social media experience specifcally to the user’s interests and behavior. Everything that you see on social media is determined by your online activity” (MacRae et al., 2021). Recommendation engines flter your links and likes— past and present—to send similar accounts of interest while chatbots simulate conversations to save time and money for a corporation. All well and good for products, I suppose, but AI algorithms are also used for •

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News stories. What clickbait works for you? If you are enticed by pictures of tattoos gone wrong, you will receive more because you may notice the advertisements that are shown next to the content. Facial recognition. Can security cameras spot you? When you use a camera instead of a password, someone has a copy of your face. You better behave or you may get an unfriendly

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knock on your door from a police ofcer. How does the Chinese government know if you are spending too much time playing videos? Tencent Games uses facial recognition (May & Chien, 2021). Facial creation. Why pay for high-priced models with their complicated release forms and personal issues when a computer can create realistic faces? Generated Photos fashions realistic facial facsimiles from parameters you choose—gender, race, ethnicity, age, hairstyle, and so on for about $10 each (See https://bit.ly/3miCTkp). From the company’s website, “All images can be used for any purpose without worrying about copyrights, distribution rights, infringement claims, or royalties.” Any purpose? Suppose you want more protesters at a rally? Image copies. AI can send pictures and videos you might like based on your past selections. Again, this concern is spurred by marketing motivations. Deepfakes. From the phrase, “deep learning,” deepfakes manipulate audio, still, and video to make anyone say anything and appear to perform any action. For personal entertainment purposes the software technique might be acceptable, but for journalism, political and economic reasons, deepfakes are an unethical use of technology. Little known is that the vast majority of deepfake users clone celebrities onto pornography stars thereby adding to the degradation of women (Sample, 2020). Sentiment or opinion recognition. The time you spend watching a powerful video and how many times you watch it becomes data that comprises your emotional quotient that can be tweaked and marketed. Political information. Are you blue, red, or purple? What you read, watch, and retweet reveal your positions on issues. That personal information can be used to send you supporting and contrary news sites as well as provide valuable consumer marketing data that commodify your choices.

Google, Amazon, and Facebook have been criticized for bias related to race and AI technology. For example, facial recognition software has a more difcult time identifying the features of a Black person leading to discrimination. In 2015, Google Photos labelled a group of Black men as “gorillas.” Google’s solution? It banned the words “gorilla,” “chimp,” “chimpanzee,” and “monkey.” Facebook was in the news in 2021 when a video of a Black man asked, “Keep seeing videos about Primates?” The social media platform called the question “an unacceptable error,” but AI-induced blunders keep happening (Mac, 2021). In 2021 the United Nations Educational, Scientifc, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) completed ethical guidelines for the use of AI technology that was agreed by 193 member countries. The three-year project was initiated because of “increased gender and ethnic bias, signifcant threats to privacy, dignity and agency, dangers of mass surveillance, and increased use of unreliable AI technologies in law enforcement” (UNESCO, 2021). However, because the United States is not a UNESCO member (along with Israel and Lichtenstein), social media titans Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta do not have to abide to the guidelines (Ko, 2021). As John Prine sang in “Hello in There,” “All the news just repeats itself like some forgotten dream that we’ve both seen.” AI is the reason your social media seems familiar. The hedonism philosophy is not employed for your beneft but for the corporate do-re-mi (Wang, 2019).

Public and Anonymous Threats Text messages have been known to cause harm and even death to others (O’Hara, 2017). Upset over the way journalist Kurt Eichenwald covered stories, ex-marine John Rivello sent a tweet that included a pulsating, epilepsy-inducing image that induced a seizure in Eichenwald.

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In 2017, a Texas grand jury labeled the GIF picture as a “deadly weapon.” In 2020, Rivello agreed to pay Eichenwald $100,000 to settle the civil case. In 2017, a Massachusetts judge found Michelle Carter guilty of involuntary manslaughter after text messages she sent to her former boyfriend convinced him to commit suicide. She was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison (Sanchez & Lance, 2017). U.S. Capitol police ofcer Lt. Michael Byrd defended members of Congress during the January 6 riot by shooting and killing Ashli Babbitt who attempted to climb through a broken window despite numerous warnings. He sat with NBC news anchor Lester Holt for his frst interview. He described the anonymous death threats and racist (he’s African American) emails he received (Wu & Tully-McManus, 2021). Social media not only allows users to send instant messages from a single target to an untold number of followers but also hide behind fake names and accounts.

Privacy Imagine all your browser searches, images and videos, and passwords stored on your computer accessed by unethical accomplices. Spyware, the ability for a nefarious user to gain hidden and private information from a computer or smartphone, is one of the main concerns of parents or guardians whose child plays games with friends down the street, corporations that wish to keep their marketing information secret, and governments that need to protect its procedures and data. In 2021, Apple announced, a day before, ironically, introducing its iPhone 13 line, that users need to upgrade their systems to prevent spyware developed by Israeli’s NSO Group from infltrating their computers. Most spyware infects a computer by a user clicking on a link that seems known or is interesting. The unique feature of the NSO Group’s spyware is that it doesn’t require a user’s click. Fortunately, a software upgrade prevents the intrusion (Perlroth, 2021). As part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019 Facebook executives promised to give clear notice if users’ “photos and videos were subjected to facial recognition technology.” In 2021 the company did one better. It shut down the entire system and removed more than one billion pictures of user faces. There was a fear among experts that face-scanning software by unscrupulous companies and law enforcement agencies could violate the privacy of individuals (O’Brien and Ortutay, 2021).

Censorship, Suspension, and Banishment Since the early days of the web, media entities, to attract users to their online sites, provided ways for readers to express their comments about a particular story or topic. This noble and utilitarian feature was produced with good, yet naïve, intentions. Many editors eventually shut down the service after comments and images from anonymous posters turned hateful. For example, many view the hard-hitting, investigative reporting online and television news service Vice Website (2017) as an example of the future of journalism. And yet editor-in-chief Jonathan Smith (2016) decided to remove the comment section from online stories because of their divisive content. “Too often they devolve into racist, misogynistic maelstroms,” Smith admits, “where the loudest, most ofensive, and stupidest opinions get pushed to the top and the more reasoned responses [are] drowned out in the noise.” Perhaps a solution to bad behavior is to prevent it from happening, and yet such a drastic action seems antithetical to a philosophy that embraces a free exchange of opinions no matter how uninformed or cruel. A golden mean or middle way compromise might include a restriction in which commentators and image uploaders must employ their actual names. The vetting of

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user accounts to assure compliance is possible with advances in security software. Knowing that an infammatory comment or image, whether still or moving, can be traced to its source would be an incentive, perhaps, to play nice. And then I woke up. Trump’s fascination with Twitter is well documented as he sidestepped the media and communicated to the public to ofer his opinions, often critical, of events and individuals (Donald J. Trump, 2017). Many journalists decried his 140-character missives as uninformed at best and outright lies at worse. Trump texted more than 15,000 false or misleading social media messages to his 90 million Twitter followers. But when he made false and incendiary claims about how his election was stolen and President Biden’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis and the economy, he was banned from Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Instagram, LiquidWeb, Reddit, Shopify, Snapchat, Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube. A private company has the right to not publish material that goes against its corporate mission. That’s why you don’t see ads for Ku Klux Klan rallies in newspapers. Because of a crackdown of misleading, false, misogynistic, racist, stereotypical, and violent messages on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, far-right activists and followers have flocked to other, more accepting social media. MeWe and Parler are alternatives to Facebook. Gab and Gettr are popular substitutes for Twitter. Rumble is a replacement for YouTube. There are free apps such as Signal and Telegram that permit encrypted downloads. Zello is a push-to-talk communication app without a phone log trace (Ray, 2021). Former President Trump through his company Trump Media & Technology Group is set to introduce in 2022 Truth Social, an app with the tagline, “Follow the Truth,” another conservative Twitter alternative with $1 billion from anonymous investors (“Trump media partner,” 2021). Governmental censorship is another matter and one of great concern. I  have a Chinese academic friend who asked about my family. I told him we should become friends on Facebook, but he said China doesn’t allow access to that platform. After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey in 2021 complained of the “immorality” on websites and social media, his government passed restrictive internet use legislation that resulted in the removal of more than 450,000 websites, a ban of Wikipedia, and content removed from Facebook and Twitter (Yackley, 2021). Be on alert whenever a democratic government tries to ban a social media entity for political reasons.

Gruesome Content The list and description of all the gruesome images available through social media could fll several chapters in this book. Photographs of celebrity autopsies, suicide victims, gruesome car accidents, and despicable videos that show beheadings, immolation, and torture are easily found on social media sites with a few well-chosen keywords. In fact, try this yourself. Type “beheadings, immolation, and torture” in Google and you will have the opportunity as of this writing to see more than a million results. In 2021 a Republican representative for a district in Arizona, Paul Gosar released an animeinspired video from his ofcial Twitter account that, among images of border guards and immigrants, showed himself as a fying avenger killing a likeness of Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with blood-soaked swords. Gosar’s character is last seen fying toward President Joe Biden’s head with swords drawn (See https://bit.ly/2YUgzG2). Although Gosar removed the video from the social platform, he didn’t apologize for its violent content. Consequently, the House of Representatives voted to censure Gosar, an action taken against a member only 23 times since 1832.

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But hey, it’s the world we have inherited, inhabit, and impart. If you want to see the worst behavior humanity has to ofer, be my guest. However, the ethical dilemma comes when the images show up without a warning about their content. Twitter ofers a blanket warning for all who have an account: Beside the restriction that users “may not use pornographic or excessively violent media in your profle image or header image,” anyone can post “infammatory content” if the “graphic content” is marked as “sensitive media.” Furthermore, “When content crosses the line into gratuitous images of death, Twitter may ask that you remove the content out of respect for the deceased.” Therefore, Twitter may or may not ban content that a reasonable person may fnd upsetting. As a golden mean solution, Twitter advises that a user simply “block and ignore” the ofensive account. For Facebook, the warning procedure is a little diferent. Although the social media site bans material “shared for sadistic pleasure or to celebrate or glorify violence,” news and documentary videos that depict gruesome content are included with the sentences, “Videos that contain graphic content can shock, ofend and upset. Are you sure you want to see this?” Although Facebook allows members as young as 13 years old, the content of these videos is restricted to those who have self-identifed as being at least 18. That works to ban the young’uns, right? Psychologist Dr. Arthur Cassidy evokes a categorical imperative perspective as he advocates a total ban on such videos (“Facebook restricts,” 2015). He reasons those resourceful younger users will fnd ways to circumvent such restrictions and that the watching of such material “has the potential to infuence maladaptive behavior in those who might have the potential to become aggressors themselves.” As with an electric light shining on a moonless night, the moth is compelled to pursue its destructive behavior.

Doxing I know. It’s one of those words that looks as ugly as the practice it defnes. From hacker culture in the 1990s in which “docs” were read or downloaded, the term evolved into “dox.” Doxing became the act using a computer to display personal information for playful, political, conceited, and criminal intent (“What Is Doxing,” 2020). There are at least seven kinds of doxing. •

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Celebrity Doxing: Personal information such as home addresses are made public. TMZ reported that a hacker “posted social security numbers, mortgage amounts, credit card info, car loans, banking and other info” of several famous persons including Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, and Joe Biden (“12 Huge Celebs,” 2013). Another form of celebrity doxing is criticizing an actor’s abilities or choices. After Leslie Jones starred in the all-female Ghostbusters remake in 2016, she received vile and violent racist messages on Twitter. Jack Dorsey the co-founder of the social media platform asked her to speak about hate speech (Hitchens, 2021). Erroneous Doxing: Identifying the wrong person as a perpetrator of an unsavory act. During a neo-Nazi, White nationalist rally at the University of Virginia in 2017, a picture was taken of a tiki torch carrying man with “Arkansas Engineering” printed on his t-shirt. Someone misidentifed him as an assistant professor at the College of Engineering. Thousands shared his image and he received hate email. No apology for the error was ofered. Revenge Doxing: Getting back at someone you feel wronged you is a common revenge tactic best served cold. After former baseball great Curt Shilling learned of social media messages about his daughter, he discovered the cyberbullies and posted their identities. In addition, deepfake videos of ex-partners to extract a sense of superiority because of a failed relationship are common.

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SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) Doxing: Like a prank, it refers to calling the police about a person with a gun to send a SWAT team. Tyler Barris was asked by friends to swat a rival. Trouble was, he was given the wrong address. Barris called the police to say the person had killed his father and held his family hostage. A SWAT team arrived. When the innocent Andrew Finch came outside on his porch, he was shot and killed. After discovering Barriss had made prank calls and bomb threats to a Los Angeles television station, the FBI headquarters, and many others, he was sentenced to 20 years at a federal prison outside Phoenix, Arizona. He is scheduled for release in 2035 (Mehrotra, 2021). Who’s laughing now? Criminal Doxing: The 2019 motion picture The Gentlemen featured the kidnapping of a media mogul and the threat of revealing a drug-induced night “with an impressively sized farmyard pig” according to Colin Farrell’s character. To prevent “this little video from becoming a social media sensation,” the journalist needs to lose interest in publishing any information about the protagonist played by Matthew McConaughey. Although fction, this type of doxing is no less a risk in this social media era. Sadly, an actual example comes from news reports. After the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito in 2021, her fancée, Brian Laundrie was the prime suspect until he was found dead from a selfinficted gunshot wound. The tragic story of the young White couple was reported by daily national broadcasts, newspapers, and on social media. The doxing “generated a whirlwind of armchair detectives and others sharing tips, possible sightings and theories by way of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube” (“Police Seek,” 2021). Ignored by the media frenzy were thousands of African and Native American women and teens missing, some for years, without police investigations or publicity. A more sinister type of criminal doxing is posting personal information in the hope that someone will kill the victim. Neal Horsley posted names, photographs, and home addresses of abortion providers on his hit list. Eight of the doctors on the roll were murdered. Horsley was on a diferent list. He died in 2015. Shame Doxing: Despite almost 200  million Americans getting doses of Johnson  & Johnson, Moderna, or Pfzer vaccines, entrenched anti-vaxxers refuse to take the jab. With that decision they endanger themselves, family members, and strangers. During the summer of 2021 the Delta variant of COVID-19 was primarily the cause for hospitalizations and deaths among those who declined the shot. In an efort at shaming, the website Sorry Antivaxxer lists pictures of anti-vaxxers who have caught or died from the coronavirus. The site’s mission is stated on the homepage, “The goal of this list is educational. Please share to help keep more people from making the same mistake.” Despite its plea toward utilitarianism, the efect of seeing all the smiling faces of those killed is devastating (See https://bit.ly/3AnbQtZ). Self Doxing: Perhaps an unusual addition that may be somewhat controversial, but those who made embarrassing or criminal photographs or videos of themselves and shared with family members and friends for bragging rights can be classifed as self-doxing. Most notably, pictures of university parties in which guests dress as Black and Latinx stereotypes, tortured victims by American military personnel of the Abu Gharib prison in Afghanistan, and many of the terrorists who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 were caught because of videos they shared with friends on social media.

The Power of Infuencers Social media celebrities with commercial, public, or political sponsorships are known as infuencers. TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram users closely follow the posts and advice given via text, podcasts, and videos from corporate spokespersons, personal guidance individuals, and

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politically driven sites for the left and the right. Obviously, the more followers an infuencer has, the more, well, infuence that person possesses. For example, in 2021 on Instagram, Huda Kattan’s makeup line, Huda Beauty has 49.3 million supporters, Venezuelan fashionista Lele Pons has 45.4 million admirers, and magician Zack King who posts videos has 24.3 million fans. To put their numbers in perspective, my Twitter account is followed by a surprisingly high 634 users. All well and good if infuencers were only trying to be popular, but the commodifcation of their admiring followers is their actual goal. As John Herrman (2021) of the New York Times writes It’s almost quaint to think about the early days, when Facebook was seen as a place where friends could connect; Twitter was a news source; YouTube was a funny-video site; and Instagram was for sharing nice photos. Those days are long gone. TikTok with its digital storefront of infuencer-hawked products and events is a model for the other social media for how to persuade its more than 500 million users worldwide to show interest in product videos and click on advertisers such as Amazon and Wal-Mart. Infuencers selling products is not unethical, but if their pitches include false and stereotypical presentations, the line is crossed. Kubbco, a blog that concentrates on marketing issues, lists 28 infuencer fails with most using visual messages in exploitive ways. Number one on the list is Kendall Jenner’s commercial in which she calms the civil unrest from the Black Lives Matter movement with a Pepsi. Bernice King, a daughter of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, “If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi.” Number two also involves Kendall and her sister Kylie over t-shirts they produced of deceased musicians such as Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., and Jim Morrison. Finally, just to keep this paragraph in the Jenner/Kardashian family, number nine found Kim include a picture that promoted the morning sickness drug Diclegis without revealing all its negative side efects. Consequently, the FDA ordered her to remove the post (Kubbernus, 2020). In 2021, Instagram, owned by Facebook since 2012, announced it would look “at new ways to discourage users from focusing on their physical appearance.” This mandate followed a Wall Street Journal story that reported body comparisons afected millions of young users and resulted in mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. In its defense, an Instagram spokesperson said that the social platform also “gives a voice to marginalized people and helps friends and family stay connected” (Riley, 2021). Between eliminating all infuencers who stress high-priced fashion, excessive exercise, and expensive beauty products and continuing to promote these lifestyle choices, a middle way or golden mean approach is contemplated by Instagram insiders. Colin Gautrey (2017), a corporate leadership blogger notes fve rules to help insure ethical behavior among infuencers • • • • •

Help others to come to intelligent decisions (Golden Rule), Product recommendations should include positive and negative benefts (golden mean), Reveal your infuences (categorical imperative), Support those who willingly want to be a follower without coercion or pressure (golden rule), and Never promote a product or activity that could cause harm to a follower (categorical imperative).

Giving uncommodifed advice or sharing entertaining stories with pictures and videos falls within the utilitarian philosophy of educating others. However, if unrevealed commercial,

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personal, or political interests control a message, the infuencer may be engaged in unethical, hedonistic behavior.

The Golden Rule Abides Social media were originally created so that the public could easily share personal stories, opinions, and pictures and (let’s get real) as a mechanism for corporations to gain marketing information about consumers to better sell their products and services. And as with all communication media, the initial conception morphed into an uncontrollable, unregulated, and uncomfortable collection of raves, rants, and rudeness. What is a grown-up to do? Simple. Do not contribute or share examples of bad behavior. Avoid creating or sharing unsubstantiated and questionable alternative facts in the form of art or copy. And do not keep silent if you are ofended by someone else’s post. Contact the social media administrator. Simple? Kant’s categorical imperative is never an easy philosophy to follow. Perhaps another perspective is required. Use the golden rule philosophy and treat others, as you would like to be treated. Simple.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One When it comes to news, what’s most important? Getting the story to readers as quickly as possible or making sure users read only the story written by your own journalists? Newsrooms around the world must face that issue. The problem is that when one reporter gets a scoop or writes an interesting story, a tweet about it is sent out that other reporters retweet. Consequently, the prestige of a scoop is lost. The fastest way to share the story is to retweet the news. But that means sending readers or viewers to the competition, potentially losing audience. Reporters for Sky News, London were told to stick to their own beat and share only their own stories or those of other Sky reporters (Cellan-Jones, 2012). • • •

Do you side with a utilitarian or hedonist philosophy when it comes to this issue? If your news director asks you not to tweet a story, would you argue for a golden mean approach? If you received a tweet about a story from another news media entity, would you credit the original source and report the story to your users?

Case Study Two According to the InfoSec Insights website, “in 2013, some vigilantes on Reddit misidentifed an innocent student, Sunil Tripathi, as a suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing. Tripathi went missing and, according to his family’s social media page, his body was found in the water near a park in Rhode Island. His cause of death was ruled a suicide, which was believed to be the result of public shaming caused by faulty doxing” (“What Is Doxing,” 2020). • • •

Should those who post false information on social media be held responsible for any tragic results of their error? Should the commentary site, Reddit, be blamed for posting false information by its users? If you worked for Reddit in its public relations department, would part of your strategy be to contact the grieving Tripathi family?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Beth Nakamura, Emmy Award-Winning Visual Reporter In the beginning of May  2020, the citizens of Portland, Oregon joined others across the country in protests over the murder of George Floyd. A  lifetime of visual storytelling in communities across the country didn’t prepare Beth Nakamura, who worked for the Oregonian newspaper, for the violence she documented on the streets of the city where she lived (See https://bit.ly/3aEv3MN). “I’ve never had an interest in being a confict photographer,” Nakamura admits. “I sort of knew early on that I wasn’t interested in bouncing from confict to confict. In fact, I was somewhat confict adverse. To be honest, that’s not my thing, but the confict came to me.” “There were residual efects,” Nakamura shared that had to do not with what I physically experienced, which was grueling. There was a lot of tear gas. I got shoved around. My body was bruised in a lot of locations from impact munitions from our government. I can deal with all of that. But what I had a hard time with was the level of hate that I experienced online. The hate came in the form of targeted harassment from social media. The hate was personal and vile. I got trolled. As a female, we’re the Twitter reply guys’ punching bags. They don’t like women in a position of agency. So, they’ll do what they can to shut us down. Because I used Twitter, I was more vulnerable to this kind of vicious trolling from people who thought of me as a scapegoat. People like to blame women journalists. I work with a guy who barely received a word from trolls. That really put my situation into sharp focus—the engenderment of social media. So much of it is pure misogyny. “It’s so sad,” Nakamura refected. I never thought about this stuf coming up [in the profession]. I just wanted to do good stories and be a truth-teller. I never thought about how dark it could be or how much evil there was. But I had to confront it. In a lot of ways—beginning in 2020—I stared evil in the face. I had to confront the reality of it so I could heal. But that’s not good for my tender heart. Consequently, Nakamura adopted a lowered profle on social media. I’ve been relatively quiet for many months. But it’s not a great feeling because I feel I had a natural feel for social platforms and ways to connect with people on them. I see these platforms as powerful. I  don’t want the trolls to win, and I  don’t want to be silenced. So, I need to reset my connection to these platforms because I think they are potentially powerful. I do have some modest infuence. And I would like to be able to use that for good. Nakamura’s advice to visual journalists and all media makers in a hostile social media environment is to maintain a perspective of purpose and mindfulness. “Don’t let critics take your voice away. Don’t let anyone take your voice away. Know your power, your gifts, and your center. Cultivate your own strength in your own voice. Tend to that.”

16 EDITING ETHICS Paul Martin Lester Editing Ethics

Chapter Topics • • • • •

A Confict of Storylines Why End with Editing? The Ethics of Image Selection Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Judy Walgren, Photojournalist, Visual Artist, Editor, Producer, Editorial Director, and Professor

A Confict of Storylines On Easter Sunday, 2000, I was enjoying a fresh squeezed orange juice from a diner near the campus in Berkeley. It was a typical California morning with clear, cyan sky just starting to get hot. I used to tell my friends who lived in tornado- and hurricane-tormented states and worried that I lived in earthquake country that “the world might end, but at least it’ll be a sunny day.” Well, the world didn’t end that day, but one of the most notorious news stories for that year concluded. Early the previous morning, six-year-old Elián González was snatched from a home in south Florida by INS federal agents and returned to his father (Zimmerman, 2017). Alan Diaz, working for the Associated Press, won a Pulitzer Prize for his picture of a terrifed Elián taken by a long gun toting Border Patrol agent from his uncle’s house. Editors in print and screen media were faced with an ethical dilemma (“Raid Reunites,” 2000). With such a complex and political story, editors had three image choices: Emphasize the taking of Elián, the reunion of the boy with his father, or refect a golden mean compromise (Figure 16.1 and https://bit.ly/3BcHsCW). Wendell Cochran (2000), a Freedom Forum Fellow analyzed front page newspaper coverage of the event collected by the Newseum, a Washington, DC area museum devoted to journalism history and current practices provided by the Gannett newspaper chain. Cochran reported that at 32 of the newspapers that the Newseum received for its front-pages display, the decision was made to run both the gun picture and the father—son reunion portrait. But at most

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FIGURE 16.1

Early Saturday morning on April 22, 2000 in Miami, a Border Patrol agent with an automatic weapon seized six-year-old Elián González from the home of his Miami relatives. Alan Diaz won a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph.

Source: Courtesy of AP Photo and Alan Diaz.

papers, such as The State of Columbia, S.C., the picture of the gun-brandishing agent got by far the most space. Only a few papers, notably The Washington Post and the Newark Star-Ledger, ran the two images at nearly the same size. Six of the Newseum papers ran the father-with-Elián picture but not the gun photo. Three of the newspapers ran the gun picture alone, but not the father—son picture, on page one. The New York Times employed a creative alternative approach to Aristotle’s golden mean philosophy when it ran the gun photo on page one in its early edition, but moved it inside for later runs, putting the father—son picture at the top of the page and running the photo of the agent carrying Elián out of the house. Finally, El Nuevo Herald, the Miami Herald’s Spanish-language daily exhibited the least objectivity that refected the high emotions of their readers and the community when editors decided to produce an “extra” edition that featured Diaz’s powerful photograph large with the headline, “¡Que Vergüenza!” or “HOW SHAMEFUL!” Although popular with the Cuban-American residents of Miami, this editorial decision was controversial among many staf members of the newspaper writes Bárbara Gutiérrez (2001), a former executive editor and reader representative

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for the Miami newspapers. Gutiérrez wrote, “some observers in the Herald newsroom were appalled at its brazen editorial tone. They also questioned why El Nuevo Herald chose not to run columns by those who wanted the child to be returned to his father.” The reason was most likely hedonism. Editors had a difcult choice—emphasize the taking of Elián in a large photograph, as on the cover of Newsweek magazine; feature his reunion with his father, as on the Time cover, or try to balance the two storylines with images about the same size side by side, as on the front pages of the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. Whichever choice is made, an editor should decide after a reasoned discussion with fellow journalists and not for sensational, economic, or political considerations.

Why End with Editing? Editing concludes this book devoted to visual ethics because it is the most complex issue that visual communicators face. Regardless of whether the purpose and outcome of the visual presentation is for advertising, graphic design, data visualizations, journalism, motion pictures, public relations, television, and the web, it is an editor’s role-related responsibility to make choices that involve • • • • • • • • • • • • •

The decision to initiate a story with details, What special equipment is needed, How much time and funds should be devoted to the project, What special needs are required to keep the visual reporters safe, How the story or illustration will be recorded, The selection of audio and images, The piecing together of storytelling elements into a coherent account or design, How the resulting efort will be shown and with what media, Who will be the audience, What additional stories are needed for context, What, if any, will be a response if all those decisions are criticized, Whether to adhere to the suggestions of the “Photo Bill of Rights,” and The decision to defy or comply with a court order to give images to the police.

That last point needs clarifcation. With the civil and destructive unrest during the summer of 2020, a Superior Court judge in Seattle ordered four television stations and the Seattle Times newspaper to deliver all images of the incident. Worried that such an action might be made public by protesters, an assistant managing editor for the Times wrote, The perception that a journalist might be collaborating with police or other public ofcials poses a very real, physical danger to journalists, particularly when they are covering protests or civil unrest. Enforcing the subpoena also will aggravate the distrust journalist already face in covering protests. Despite a Washington state shield law that is supposed to protect journalists from revealing sources, the judge ruled for the police. The next month the state’s Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of the request (Elfrink, 2020). As of this writing, that is the status of the case. Photojournalists are often called upon to record the darkest moments in people’s lives that include the most horrifc visual messages one can imagine. Ordinarily, the frst editing choice

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for a photographer arriving at such a scene would be whether to take or not take a picture. There are many reasons why a journalist would not take a photograph of a news story. One of the most humanitarian reasons would be if it were possible for the photographer to help those in need of immediate assistance. If it were possible for the journalist to help, knows how to help, and is not told to stay out of the way by rescue workers on the scene, it is a moral duty of that journalist to render aid. After such care is given, it is professionally acceptable to resume the role-related duties of a photographer and record the scene. Of course, a photographer might be sensitive to the anguish of the victim and decide not to record an image out of respect for decency or privacy. There may be homeland security restrictions imposed by a government. Another reason for not taking a picture might be if specifcally asked to not make a recording. Although most news stories occur in full public view, and it is legal to take such pictures in almost all cases, some photojournalists might respect the wish of the source and refrain from taking a picture. There may also be other reasons for not taking pictures: a camera might be defective, a memory card might be full, it might be too dark, bystanders might be in the way, and the visual reporter’s life may be in danger. However, technical problems, either from a broken camera or a lack of experience, are not considered part of an ethical dilemma’s decision-making process. If after all the previous reasons are considered and a decision to take the photograph is made, the only choices available to a photojournalist are whether to give the images to an editor or not. In attempting to decide whether images should be made available to a media organization, a question should be asked: Does the action fulfll the journalist’s role-related responsibility? A photojournalist is employed by a news organization for the specifc purpose of providing facts in (mostly) a visual format (visual reporters are sometimes asked to provide caption information— names, titles, and sometimes observations and quotations). Not providing an image to an editor violates the contract the journalist has with the news entity. Therefore, the only possible action that satisfes the journalist’s role-related responsibility is to give pictures to an editor. From that point on, the ethical dilemma is lifted from the photojournalist and given to the editor who must decide whether to publish the picture and how it should be presented to the news organization’s audience. In many enlightened news outlets when a potentially controversial picture is being considered a visual reporter is asked to participate in a newsroom discussion that might include other photographers, the principal reporter of the story and other journalists, and the editor-in-chief and publisher, if they are available. Regardless, the fnal decision to use the image is, in most cases, up to an editor and not the photographer. An editor, then, has two choices: to publish the picture or not. Any decision to publish or not publish a picture should not be only based on the story of the day. Perhaps there is a larger context for this story that readers and users should know. Perhaps the picture involves a house on fre. The fre might be one of several recently started within the city limits. Fire and police ofcials might suspect an arsonist. Perhaps there is a problem with the electrical grid or natural gas lines within the city that are causing numerous fres. Perhaps no other photograph taken during previous fres were of high quality. Perhaps children and others in the house were killed or seriously injured. Maybe with high winds the house set other homes in the neighborhood ablaze and caused millions of dollars in property damage. Suppose a mother left her children alone in the house and went next door to drink in the neighborhood bar. Maybe there was a domestic argument and the estranged father set the fre deliberately in a murder–suicide plot. With such larger contexts for a news story, an editor might be inclined to include this strong visual message along with a story on the front page. If the decision by the editor after consultation is to not publish the picture, the authors’ qualms about the scenario—the mother’s plight

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and the (assumed) negative reaction if she were to see her image published in the next day’s news—are alleviated (although she might react negatively to a story about the incident). Photojournalist Lynsey Addario specializes in war and human rights photography in some of the most dangerous places in the world. She regularly works for the New York Times and Time magazine, among others. She has won a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Fellowship “genius” award. Her book, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War was published in 2015. That same year she was interviewed for a Radiolab episode, “Sight Unseen” (2015), about a decision she made with her editors at Time in 2009 to not publish photographs that showed the death of a U.S. soldier in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. It’s almost considered a journalist’s maxim, but it’s probably not written down anywhere, that you never ask permission from a source if you can take or publish a picture. Part of being a professional is that you develop a keen sense of news judgment, especially if the story involves government employees who conduct actions on behalf of its citizens. Addario took photographs of an unsuccessful attempt by a U.S. medevac team to save the life of Lance Corporal Jonathan Taylor. She knew the pictures were important for the public to see because they showed the ultimate sacrifce soldiers make. Nevertheless, as part of the condition of being an embedded journalist with the medical team, she needed permission from the dead soldier’s family to publish the photographs. Having no alternative, she traveled to Florida to meet with Taylor’s family where she had a heartfelt conversation, but permission was not granted. Still, Addario feels she did the right thing by respecting the family’s wishes and not pushing for publication. Sometimes, ethical behavior is favored over a professional’s role-related responsibility (“Afghanistan,” 2016). However, if the choice is made to publish an image, an editor must now decide how it should be presented. An editor has many choices The image can be published in print, shown on television, or on a website • • • • •

On the front page, cover, or the lead story, On an inside page, frame, or later in a broadcast, With a data visualization, With a detailed description of covering the story by the reporter and photographer, and With a warning for readers and viewers that the image might be disturbing.

In print or the web only • • • • • • • •

With only a caption, With a caption and a story, In color, In black and white, Large, Small, With other images in a picture spread, and To allow or disallow comments from others.

If this story were a “one-of” event, a tragedy, but not one within a more complicated context, an editor might be inclined to downplay the story graphically but still report it visually. The justifcation might be that the unusual nature of the strong photograph requires publication so that readers and viewers know in words and images the victim’s pain and perhaps think of their loved ones (veil of ignorance) and make sure to check the smoke detectors in their own homes

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(utilitarianism). In that way, the aggregate good is served more by the publication of the image than without it. However, regardless of the best intentions by an editor, critics may complain if • • • • • • • • • • •

The image was taken by a staf member, If the story is local in its origination, If the still or video is in color, If a viewer sees the image during the morning hours, If the image is shown on a front page or leads a newscast, If there was no context given for the picture or video either through copy or a voice-over, If the image shows people overcome with grief, If a victim’s body is shown, If a body is clearly physically traumatized, If the victim is a child, and If nudity is involved.

If fve or more of these conditions apply, editors should prepare themselves for a reader/viewer frestorm. Editors should write a column that justifes the decision to use the pictures and the way they were displayed. As many letters to the editor and telephone transcripts as possible should be printed or put on a website. Readers may not agree, but most will respect the decision if the response to the controversy is prompt, and the justifcation is consistent.

The Ethics of Image Selection In 2017, the social media platform Facebook struggled with a series of gruesome and unforeseen uses of what was thought to be an innocent and entertaining feature introduced to users (“Thai Man,” 2017). Facebook Live was meant to display birthdays, weddings, and walk in the woods (no double rainbows please) recorded by users wanting to share these moments with their friends. However, within a week, police reported that Steve Stephens killed a random man walking by his car in Thailand, a man mad at his wife hanged their 11-month-old daughter and then killed himself. Both videos were posted live on Facebook. Words alone are disturbing enough as a Reuters’ reporter describes the Thai murder, “The harrowing footage from Thailand showed Wuttisan Wongtalay tying a rope to his daughter Natalie’s neck before dropping the child, dressed in a bright pink dress, from the rooftop of a deserted building in the seaside town of Phuket.” As a result of the controversy, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would hire 3,000 employees in addition to the 4,500 already on staff to review the millions of videos uploaded daily by users—a daunting editing chore (Guynn, 2017). Previously, the company relied solely on its two billion members to report objectionable videos, but obviously, such a procedure depends on the kindness of strangers, a not altogether satisfying procedure. Editing is a professional’s job and should not be left to new hires or the public. Tim Frances (n.d.) writing for the Ethical Journalism Network begins his piece with a strong statement Image selection has always been a tricky ethical dilemma for journalists and editors, but in the last few weeks the complex issues arising from several high-profle cases have led to criticisms of the media from a wide variety of groups and commentators.

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Frances concentrates on horrifc video produced by a media-savvy terrorist organization of the brutal murders of James Foley, Steven Sotlof, and David Haines. Frances writes of the decision to make the footage available through a website. Frances noted that Journalists need to do more to avoid unwittingly contributing to the spread of objectionable content, and to think more carefully about the hidden messages that the images they publish may be sending and how it may afect the objectivity of a story. He concludes that some stories with powerful and upsetting visuals should not be made available to the public. “There are clear ethical lines that need to be drawn,” Frances writes, “and should never be crossed.” Discretion is often in short supply by editors who are urged to produce viewers of sensational stories by economically driven publishers and owners, to compete with other outlets no longer confned to cross-town rivals, and to fll the 24/7 news cycle in which the concept of a deadline is as dated as the smell of ink on your fngers after reading a printed newspaper. Nevertheless, some stories are too important to leave in a digital cloud without being seen by the ordinary public. In the case of military malfeasance, wrongful actions committed in the name of its citizens, the public has the right and editors have the duty to show its leaders and others at its worse. Christopher Massie (2014) writing in the Columbia Journalism Review interviewed David Remnick, long-time editor of the New Yorker magazine after his decision to run photographs three weeks in a row of Iraqi prisoners tortured by American soldiers within the Abu Ghraib prison. Massie reported that Remnick knows he made the correct decision to devote that much space to the story that was accompanied by the words of Pulitzer Prize journalist Seymour Hersh. Admits Remnick, “If I have any regrets about it, it’s that we didn’t make the space to run more of them.” For Massie, “History appears to have vindicated his decision. The Abu Ghraib photographs and the stories they illustrated became symbols of the corruption of the Bush administration’s ‘war on terror,’ and contributed to the ongoing debate about America’s use of torture.” When confronting situations and photographs of accident and tragedy victims, journalists are torn between the right to tell the story and the right to not tell the story. Arguments by well-meaning professional journalists can be made for and against the taking and publishing or the not taking and not publishing of almost any photograph. Curtis MacDougall (1971) in his visually graphic book, News Pictures Fit to Print . . . Or Are They? argued that news pictures sometimes need to be ofensive to better educate the public. He wrote, “If it were in the public interest to ofend good taste, I would ofend good taste.” The problem comes, of course, when communicators disagree on what is in the public’s interest. In 2011 I was invited to Istanbul, Turkey to speak to a group of photojournalists during a conference concerned with ethical issues. Almost as soon as I arrived at my hotel a photographer gave me a copy of the Haber Turk (“Turkish News”), a local newspaper that featured a large, color photograph at the top of the front page of a woman on her stomach killed by her husband. A  carving knife was still stuck in her bloody back. Note: The image is disturbing (See https://bit.ly/3jB2Uva). My time at the conference was dominated by questions as to whether the photographer should have taken the picture and if it was ethical to publish the gruesome image. I concluded that a visual reporter probably would have taken the picture (categorical imperative), but I couldn’t imagine an editor using the image in a similar layout (golden rule). At most, an editor who might be inclined to use the photograph would take a golden mean approach and show it small on a website with a strong disclaimer about its content. As MacDougall points out,

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sometimes the public needs to be ofended but sometimes not. Interestingly, most readers were not upset by the graphic elements of the photograph. Readers complained that the woman was shown without wearing a hijab. Such an omission was considered highly disrespectful. The newspaper quit publication in 2018. The reason editing is the fnal chapter in this textbook is because the decisions made by a visual communication professional determine whether a still or moving image in print or for a screen resides on a cloud account or is seen by readers, viewers, and users. Such a decision should not be made quickly as most hedonistically inspired judgments are criticized for, but over time, with rationality, and in discussion with others. Considering the purpose and impact the images might have on the public and particularly vulnerable populations should be one of the tools used toward ethical decision-making. Regardless of technology and intent—whether through a single photograph, an advertising campaign, a two-hour motion picture, or a twominute virtual reality report for persuasive, entertainment, or educational reasons—society deserves judicious deliberation that hopefully guarantees that a presentation is not based solely on hedonistic motivations. The challenge during this highly technical and political time is that anyone—everyone—can be thought of as an editor and make pictures, with little context and explanations, available to friends, family, and the world. From a kid pretending to be Luke Skywalker in his house to a gruesome murder shown live on Facebook, we live in an age of digital image freedom without restraint or ethical considerations. But that’s a given. Live with it. Now what? Do what has always been done—edit yourself. Choose carefully what you show and what you visually digest. And always consider the anonymous, faceless, and little understood “other.” In this current era, there is no longer a separation between you and the media—we are all the media. As editors of what we produce and what we experience, how we use technology has always determined how cultures communicate values and how societies are judged by historians as positive or negative infuences upon future generations.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One In 2015, judges disqualifed 20 percent of the entries from the “World Press Photo Competition” due to concerns that the photographs showed “excessive—and sometimes blatant—post-processing.” For example, in studying the pictures and comparing them with their original fles, judges noticed that sometimes so much black toning had been used that objects disappeared from the frame. So, while digital pictures are not flm—they are data—the judges felt these photos had to be disqualifed for dishonesty (“Debating,” 2015). In response to the controversy, the New York Times ran an online discussion among judges and photographers (a Times editor had been Chair of the contest). The following are some of their thoughts. Michele McNally, the director of photography and an assistant managing editor at the Times, said Once we saw the evidence, we were shocked. Many of the images we had to disqualify were pictures we all believed in and which we all might have published. But to blatantly add, move around or remove elements of a picture concerns us all, leaving many in the jury to feel we were being cheated, that they were being lied to. Melissa Lyttle, president of the National Press Photographers Association and a contest judge explained It’s a dangerous and slippery slope to travel down when altered work is lauded, and other photojournalists see that as the ideal. It sets a bar that is unreal, unhealthy, and unattainable. It also reminds me of something I was told as a kid: lying is easy, telling the truth is the hard part. • • •

Which argument resonates most with you? What are the ethical considerations at stake? Which post-production manipulations should be ethical and which not?

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Case Study Two Steve McCurry, who took one of the most famous photographs of all time, the “Afghan Girl” cover that appeared once on National Geographic, is famous for something else: Faking content and manipulating his pictures (See https://bit.ly/2V8ZAhx). Many people became especially upset when they discovered this about McCurry precisely because he is so famous and has taken photographs that people credit with helping them understand the world. They looked to his work to help them see into places they would never go and achieve insight about people they would never meet. The controversy began when Paolo Viglione noticed an anomaly—a yellow signpost that faded into a passerby’s leg. It had clearly been altered (Letzter, 2016). An outcry ensued because McCurry had never presented his pictures as being subject to digital altering. In response, McCurry explained that rather than being a strict photographer, he defned his work as visual storytelling, because the pictures have been shot in many places, for many reasons, and in many situations . . . My photography is my art, and it’s gratifying when people enjoy and appreciate it. I have been fortunate to be able to share my work with people around the world. In other words, he is not trying to be an objective journalist but rather present a story with his own point of view and this includes editing. • • •

If you were McCurry’s editor, how would you handle his manipulation of his pictures? Would it be better if McCurry had admitted the alteration immediately? What is your defnition of storytelling? Should an accurate recording of a scene with people be considered fction, nonfction, or somewhere in the middle? Did McCurry’s credibility and reputation sufer from this incident?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Judy Walgren, Photojournalist, Visual Artist, Editor, Producer, Editorial Director, and Professor of Practice at Michigan State University. Judy Walgren considers herself a “digital frst” photo editor and approaches the editing workfow from that perspective since her time at newspapers. She was the editorial director at ViewFind.com. She has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Vermont College of Fine Art. She was the Director of Photography at the San Francisco Examiner and the SFGATE for more than fve years. Before that, Walgren was behind the camera and/or editing for more than 23 years at the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Dallas Morning News, and as part of her own freelance business. She is now an associate director and professor of practice in the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. We were always thinking digitally frst because the image can appear in several diferent ways. A lot of times the audience is confronted with an image in an online setting with text around it and a caption. It gets to be complicated. But more times than not, you’re dealing with an audience that has a short attention span. And the goal of photography— now more than ever—is to be that element that grabs the audience. As a photo editor, my initial response to an image is from aesthetics. I’m not just talking about designing graphic aesthetic qualities—I’m also looking for impact. I’m an emotional photographer. My work is based on interaction—and moment—and expression—and in mood and impact. Along with her mission as a visual editor and leader, Walgren feels a social mission too that she incorporates into her decision path in photo editing. A whole new emphasis of the work that I  do as a photo editor is to try to consider break down the stereotypes that have emerged through photography. I feel strongly that photography has been the main component that can be aligned with the construct of race and gender and bigoted stereotypes. And so, now, that is literally the frst thing I consider, along with the impact of the photograph. Being able to thoughtfully discuss an image’s visual meaning is key to a photo editor’s skills. Other than visual literacy that a photo editor brings to the table, an expert eye that image fts into this idea of visual culture, being able to articulate why that photograph does those things is half the job. I think so often than not photo editors are not trained correctly in the ability to articulate. For me, I’m passionate about photographs, about the power of visual communication, and the importance of visual storytelling. As Walgren talks about how and when to make arguments on behalf of images, she advocates an “egoless photo editing” approach. It’s always the greater good for me [a utilitarianism approach]. I feel strongly that it’s not only the greater good for the subject, but it’s the greater good of the audience. How do I serve the audience the best way possible? I’m always thinking about the audience and how content is integrated into their life and into their visual history.

CONCLUSION Let Empathy Be Your Guide Paul Martin Lester Conclusion

Chapter Topics • • • • •

Walk a Mile in Someone’s Shoes The Pros and Cons of Empathy Lessons Learned from Random Encounters Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Interview with Reverend Kenny Irby, an afliate of the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida and a media consultant

Walk a Mile in Someone’s Shoes In John Rawls’ thought experiment for his veil of ignorance philosophy, no one class of people is entitled to advantages over any other. Not knowing the demographic and cultural specifcs of another should result in an attitude of mutual respect. Practically, the phrase “walk a mile in someone’s shoes” is a popular adaptation of that philosophy (Figure 17.1). American songwriter Joe South introduced the phrase to a popular audience with his 1970 hit, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” later covered by such diverse singers as Bryan Ferry, Harry Belafonte, and Elvis Presley (Boyd, 2014). Although a simple sentiment plainly articulated, South’s song speaks to how most confrontations and ethical dilemmas should be resolved—by reducing the self and considering the other. Although never mentioned, the song was popular because it expressed a value necessary in private and public interactions—empathy. As with the tune, John Rawls’ work is considered an answer to prejudice and discrimination as it too is a call for empathy. Nevertheless, empathy is controversial. If you have too much of it, you might be patronizing toward those who need assistance and not regard another as an equal. But if you have too little, the stories told through the media regardless of production values and technologies may be viewed as merely objects for entertainment purposes. What is needed from visual producers are thoughtful and ethical productions so that presentations act as catalysts for empathetic understanding of complex social issues within a networked culture. If an ethic of empathy is considered, viewers and users will care about those they meet on the printed page or through head-mounted displays with the same level of concern as reporters and producers who research and make the presentations.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003243045-17

Conclusion

FIGURE 17.1

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“A Mile in My Shoes” presented by the Empathy Museum as part of the Migration Museum in London, 2018. Visitors are encouraged to literally walk in someone else’s shows inside a giant shoebox. As explained, “From a Syrian refugee to a sex worker, a war veteran to a neurosurgeon, visitors are invited to walk a mile in the shoes of a stranger while listening to their story.”

Source: Courtesy of Al Primrose, CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

The Pros and Cons of Empathy Empathy is a recent concept. It comes from the German, Einfühlung literally meaning “feeling in.” In 1908, the English word, empathy, came from the Greek pathos for feeling and em for in. Initially, “feeling in” was not thought of to imagine being in another person’s place. A 1955 Reader’s Digest magazine article defned it for the public as the “ability to appreciate the other person’s feelings without yourself so emotionally involved that your judgment is afected” (Lanzoni, 2015). Social psychologist Dan Batson (2011) identifed eight aspects of empathy • • • • • • • •

Knowing another’s thoughts and feelings, Imagining another’s thoughts and feelings, Adopting the posture of another, Feeling as another does, Imagining how one would feel or think in another’s place, Feeling distress at another’s sufering, Feeling for another’s sufering, and Projecting oneself into another’s situation.

“Feeling in” is now legitimized.

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Some social critics have noted that empathy has become the buzzword of the twenty-frst century. It is the defning trait of our social and political evolution. Empathy may be to this century what “rights” was to the twentieth century, “equality” was to the nineteenth century, and common sense was to the eighteenth century. As a word, a concept, and a goal, empathy is everywhere. New parents, college students, doctors in training, and employees of corporations learn of empathetic responses to produce personal, political, and social change. Organizations, such as the Roots of Empathy (n.d.), teach school children to have more empathy. Much of the initiative for these programs is needed because of verbal, cyber, and physical bullying. Political theory students study Franz de Waal’s, The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society (2010). Author and political advisor, Jeremy Rifkin (2010) encourages empathy to improve our world through his writings and a TED talk. Empathy has entered the workplace with books such as Dev Patnaik’s Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy (2009) that note how the value is good for business. And empathy becomes a theme in memoirs as in a book by Sherry Turkle, Professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, The Empathy Diaries (2021). Carol Gilligan said the work, “Shows us how empathy is a lifesaving necessity in human relations and, potentially, a key to our survival as a species.” The link between fction and empathy has been long established. In Harper Lee’s 1960 classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch says, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that through motion pictures “We search for fgures in the light whom we can anchor our empathy to, and swivel our lives accordingly”(Holmes, 2014). Quentin Tarantino explained the importance of empathy as a one-to-one, known personal experience (Ansen, 2003). “A beheading in a movie doesn’t make me wince. But when somebody gets a paper cut in a movie, you go, ‘Ooh!’” Mother Teresa put it in another, more thoughtful, way, “If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will” (Slovic, 2007). Anecdotes or personal stories are inherently more persuasive than statistics. Aristotle’s pathos at work. The video game company Electronic Arts started a revolution in game culture with its debut magazine in 1983 that asked the intriguing question, “Can a computer make you cry?” The advertisement included a promise to produce “Software worthy of the minds that use it” (See https://bit.ly/333k2Ut). Thus began a quest to inculcate Rawls’ concept of empathy—one of the most important emotions humans possess—into the world of gaming. Although stimulating a discussion on the importance of engaging stories, the efort produced little results from other companies. The ad also didn’t prevent EA from being rated “The Worst Company in America” in 2012 (See https://bayareane.ws/3za6bYq). EA Founder Trip Hawkins subsequently raised about $10 million for the organization, “Teach Empathy Through Games” for ten-year-old children (Wan, 2014). In the game, “IF . . . The Emotional IQ Game,” Hawkins explains IF  .  .  .  which was inspired by the Kipling poem of the same name, takes place in a game universe where everything is connected through The Energy Field (so you really need empathy) and where rival dogs and cats are fghting over control but really need to understand and accept each other. Sounds highly evolved. However, the EA (2017) games that sell the most do not necessarily teach empathy. Since 2021, titles include “Battlefeld 2042,” “Dead Space,” and “Madden NFL 22.”

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Nevertheless, “Games for Change” is an organization dedicated to promoting social advancement using video games. Its website lists numerous games that teach empathy and understanding. For example, in the news games category, players can imagine being Syrian refugees, help solve climate change, or be a reporter in Darfur. In Nonny de la Peña’s immersive storytelling virtual reality productions such as “Hunger in Los Angeles,” “Project Syria,” “Out of Exile,” and “Kiya,” you suspend your disbelief and become a passive witness of people’s lives at a food bank, in an Aleppo neighborhood, intolerance that someone from the LGBTQIA+ community faces, and a violent altercation between a woman and her ex-boyfriend (See https://bit.ly/3rzL2Fd). But as well produced as these programs are, cartoon animations have a limited appeal. Some of the most powerful productions are live-action documentary portraits and stories. “After Solitary” is a man’s downward spiral after being subjected to solitary confnement while in prison. This kind of immersive journalism is the future for the profession. There are hundreds of 360-degree virtual reality stories produced by such news organizations as Riot, Frontline, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Guardian, the Associated Press, ABC News, BBC One, the Hufngton Post, and Buzzfeed. Plus, there are countless pieces produced by innovative amateurs and university students seen on YouTube. As traditional print outlets gradually fade and become replaced by online media, many visual reporters and producers have found ways to tell insightful and moving stories through a combination of still and moving images, audio, and interactive features. Newspapers, magazines, and television stations throughout the world ofer viewers a chance to test their level of empathy by the content presented. The National Press Photographers Association and other organizations reward creators with accolades for their eforts. One of the best showcases for high-quality productions as well as ofering opportunities to fne-tune the skills necessary to create work is the flm, design, and educational studio MediaStorm founded by Brian Storm in 2005 (“MediaStorm Website,” 2017). In-depth, long-term, and classic photojournalism documentary productions on serious social issues are the organization’s hallmark. Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, and Alfred Dupont awards and nominations have been given to Storm’s producers for such titles as “Marlboro Marine,” “The Sandwich Generation,” “Never Coming Home,” and “Crisis Guide: Darfur.” In the end, do media productions, whether through traditional or emerging media, make a viewer and/or user more empathetic? When visual productions are most immersive, many think so. For example, as a tool in public relations, Cathe Neukum of the charity organization, International Rescue Committee (2016) believes virtual reality technology aids in education and leads to donations. Neukum says We can’t bring donors or people to the feld, but we bring the feld to donors and our constituents and our supporters. That’s what’s so great about VR, that’s what makes it, I think, such an important tool for charities. The VR experience puts you in the shoes of someone who goes through a journey that ends in homelessness. The description is the personifcation of the veil of ignorance philosophy. Jeremy Bailenson, the founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab has been studying VR since its earliest iterations. He says there is increasing evidence that VR can be more efective than other media in evoking empathy (Novacic, 2015). But it must be done right What we know how to do well is to create these experiences that really leverage what’s called embodied cognition, which is moving through a space, looking around, using your eyes, using your body to interact with the scene and that’s what makes VR special.

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Virtual reality productions are not the only sources for teaching empathetic responses because whether through flm, television, photographs, or augmented devices when technology is combined with compelling stories and have empathy as a guiding principle, the result is a visual ethic that is based on mutual respect between creator and consumer. However, using VR to promote empathy has its skeptics. Paul Bloom (2016), a Yale psychology professor and author of Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, thinks that if these kinds of VR experiences become common, they will be no more efective than any other media Feeling the sufering of other people is fatiguing. It leads to burnout. It leads to withdrawal. The best therapists, the best doctors, the best philanthropists are people who don’t feel the sufering of others. It’s just people who care about others and want to help, but do it joyously. Bloom says he may be old school, but he thinks if you really want to get into the head of another human being and understand them, “try reading a good novel.” Many advocates of immersive storytelling disagree with Bloom as they equate a good novel with a well-produced experience. As a counterargument to Bloom, Professor of Psychology Richard Beck (2007) believes that empathy is the greatest virtue for humans. He writes The only way to create a just and fair society is to imagine what it is like to be other people. What is it like to be poor with kids who need fu shots? What is it like to be born with a mental illness? Or prone to addiction? The list goes on and on. In the end our ability to create a just and fair society is directly tied to how fully we empathize with others. If we can’t empathize with the poor or the mentally ill how could we possibly begin to know what they fairly and justly need and require to thrive and fourish. He argues that empathy is a complicated topic that should be considered carefully by producers. He writes, “You can’t just blandly say ‘empathy’ without some pragmatic considerations about how to implement it on a practical scale.” Professor of law and ethics and philosopher Martha Nussbaum at the University of Chicago argues that immersive stories—whether from books or through head-mounted displays—have the potential to invoke empathetic responses (Conde, 2016). For Nussbaum, schadenfreude, feeling joy at someone else’s pain—the opposite of empathy—is reduced by exemplary productions by those who understand that caring for others is a trait that needs to be carefully nurtured and practiced on a regular basis (Aviv, 2016). Australian author Rachel Hennessy (2016) known for her novels, The Quakers and The Heaven I Swallowed, wrote Creating empathy allows a user to enter the mind of someone whose situation is dissimilar to their own. It is one of the primary functions of storytelling. Through the simple act of stepping into the shoes of another, you the user, can experience a fundamental change in yourself as a person. (Carson, 2017) Again, Rawls’ veil of ignorance is referenced. With the COVID-19 variants, Delta and Omicron in 2021 afecting mostly the unvaccinated, news editors and directors assign reporters to cover patients in the hospital, their nurses and doctors, the deceased, and the families left behind.

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The coverage has its roots in the veil of ignorance—feeling sympathy for others—and utilitarianism—to educate readers and viewers who don’t wear masks and/or who are not vaccinated.

Lessons Learned from Random Encounters It was the type of assignment that makes cynical reporters and photojournalists outwardly groan: Go to the airport and meet 80-year-old twin brothers—one local and the other fying in from Ireland. They hadn’t seen each other in more than 40 years. There were many reasons for not wanting to go on the job. Most reasons come down to the greatest detriment a journalist can exhibit—previsualization. To cement the buzzkill while driving to the airport, Jack, the reporter, and I  discussed what we would experience at the reunion—a long wait at the gate (Note: This anecdote happened before the airport restrictions mandated by 9/11 in 2001), an excited family, the ancient brothers seeing each other and giving a quick hug, and inarticulate or cliché explanations of how it all felt to them. As a photojournalist, my role-related responsibility was to make sure I visually recorded the reunion, I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to sum up the situation in a single frame because the lighting at the airport would be poor and there would be too many friends and family members crowded around the two men to get a clear composition and a candid moment. Terrible quotes and awful photographs—a challenge for both of us. Jack and I couldn’t wait to get what we needed and get out so we could go to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Sure enough, the reunion ended up just as we had imagined. But the unexpected airplane traveler haunts me to this day. Consequently, I always start a mass media ethics class I teach with the story and what I consider to be one of the most unethical actions I ever took. At the airport, I stood in front of a roped area next to the local brother and his family. I wore my usual array of cameras for this situation—one around my neck with a 35mm lens and an electronic fash attached and another with an 85mm lens hanging of my right shoulder. My left shoulder carried my camera bag. I looked like a photojournalist ready for anything. But I wasn’t ready for what happened next. After about 30 minutes, the plane taxied to the gate. Well-dressed frst-class passengers walked past my vantage point. I knew it would be several minutes before the brother would come from the gangway, so I was relaxed. But then I caught sight of someone famous. Inexplicitly walking toward me was the actress Faye Dunaway. Before her airplane trip, she was in three critically acclaimed and internationally infuential motion pictures. She starred in Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown and was honored with Academy Award Best Actress nominations for both roles. For Network she won an Oscar for her performance. She was a huge, worldwide star. She was about 20 feet from me when our eyes briefy met. I  could tell she noticed my cameras. I was a bit stunned at seeing such a famous person unexpectantly, but I was snapped out of my awe by an agonizing scream she directed at me. She turned toward a wall, hid her face, and sobbed uncontrollably. It was awful. I wanted to go to her and let her know I wasn’t there to photograph her, but I froze. Incredibly, the departing passengers didn’t seem to notice this distraught woman on the side as they moved quickly past her. Several moments passed. Most of the passengers were of the plane. Dunaway remained against the wall with her hands on her cheeks. No one went to her to ask if she needed help including myself. She then suddenly became erect, wiped her face, and started to walk toward me. Without thinking, I picked up the camera with the fash around my neck. As she walked pass, she covered her face with a hand. I took a picture (Figure 17.2).

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FIGURE 17.2

The actress Faye Dunaway obviously did not want her picture taken. Without empathy as a guiding principle, you may regret an action for the rest of your life.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

This book detailed historic and current ethical dilemmas in various media and for numerous purposes and included as its base a ten-point systematic ethical analysis (SEA) that help guide whether actions should be considered ethical. Without a SEA to guide me, my action was abysmal. It wasn’t my job to document Faye Dunaway’s visit. In fact, it was no concern of anyone. There was nothing newsworthy about Dunaway’s arrival at the airport (categorical imperative). By taking a harshly intrusive fash picture I caused emotional harm to the actress. Her privacy was violated. She was harmed without justifcation (golden rule). The fact that the picture may aid an ethical discussion is no excuse. Such a rationalization might be acceptable if I were thinking that way at the time. I wasn’t (utilitarianism). Instead of impulsively pressing the shutter button, I might have frst explained to her the situation and ask her if I  could take a photograph. She would have said no, of course, but I would feel better about myself (golden mean). Would I want to be photographed in such a manner given a similar situation and do you think someone needs to see it? No and no (veil of ignorance). I took Faye Dunaway’s picture simply because I could. I misused my power as a journalist and a casual observer to satisfy my own momentary and feeting desire for attention. My ego got in the way of my better judgment (hedonism).

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My excuses? I was inexperienced, egotistical, and untrained. Although my major in college was photojournalism, I had been a newspaper photographer for less than two years. I had photographed indicted persons paraded in handcufs known as “perp walks” for the beneft of the media by police personnel, but I never encountered a famous person so distressed about me performing my professional duty. Because I was 20-something with a good paying job and a privileged position I thought I could do no wrong. My attitude at the time was that anyone on the other side of my lens was fair game for my photographic prowess. I was the hunter and everyone else the prey. But perhaps the most telling excuse was that during my time as a student, I  never took an ethics course. I only had classes that taught me how to use the equipment and techniques necessary to become a professional photographer. As I recall, ethical considerations were never emphasized in any of my instructions. I  also completed liberal studies classes necessary to graduate, but I didn’t take a single course on ethics. In addition, after being hired, there were no opportunities for learning about ethics. The good news—this memory of the brothers’ reunion and Ms.  Dunaway’s surprising reaction started me on a path of learning and writing about ethical behavior with this textbook being the latest installment of my journey—an after-the-fact utilitarian justifcation. On the frst and last days of my visual ethics class I convey this charge to my students Avoid any action in which others ask, “What were you thinking?” I wish early in my college career someone had said that to me. One last personal story. When I  was a photojournalism student, I  covered a rally on my own that took place in downtown Dallas. I forget now what the protesters were upset about, but I remember a large group carrying signs, listening to speakers, and loudly voicing their support on the steps of the landmark Dallas Municipal Building (in the basement Jack Ruby shot Lee Oswald). I took many pictures of all these activities.

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FIGURE 17.3

Two views. A man sits on the steps of the Dallas Municipal Building during a protest and is photographed without and with empathy.

Source: Courtesy of Paul Martin Lester.

Suddenly, an older gentleman sitting on the steps surrounded by the legs of those standing caught my attention. I focused my 135mm lens on him. When he saw me, he looked, as anyone would, bewildered and curious. He no doubt wondered why I was taking a picture of him. Noticing his discomfort, I moved my camera from in front of my face and nodded at him. He smiled, brought a hand-crafted cross from under his shirt, and posed for another picture (Figure 17.3). The diference between the frst and second photographs taught me more about ethics and empathy than any other experience or class. Although a camera captures light at 1/500th of a second, the image it records can last a lifetime. There is a fully realized person behind every image and tweet. That revelation requires us all to take the time to go beyond what is expected. In the end, a study of visual ethics teaches you to care. Care what you experience, care about your actions, and care what you produce. My great-grandmother, who was a life-long educator and lived to be 100, once told me, “Paul, we are put on this Earth to love and to learn.” Don’t argue with Grandmama.

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Case Studies to Practice Your Analytical Skills Stephanie A. Martin Case Study One One of the most haunting and sometimes life-changing questions that someone in your personal or professional life could ask about some decision you made is “What Were You Thinking?” This second edition is written with that question in mind so maybe you will never hear it asked of you. Whenever you are faced with a dilemma • • • • • • •

Learn all the facts, Know who are the moral agents and stakeholders and their RRRs, Identify conficting values and loyalties, Justify actions with philosophies, Think of several credible alternatives, Have the courage to question authority, and Try to understand why someone else acts the way they do.

Although not a sure-fre vaccination from bad behavior, if you think of these items through a systematic ethical analysis before you make a poor decision, you might not hear that question. • • •

Which of the items listed earlier do you think is the most and least important? Why? From your own experiences, what is missing from the 10-step SEA? How do you resolve a personal or professional dilemma?

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Case Study Two In a National Public Radio (NPR) report, “Does Empathy Have a Dark Side,” the positive and negative aspects of empathy are described (Lambert, 2019). The good aspects begin the story Empathy seems like a good quality in human beings. Pure and simple. It allows us to consider the perspective of others—to put ourselves in their shoes and imagine their experiences. From that empathetic vantage point, only good things can come. However, from author Fritz Breithaupt If you are a medical doctor who sees a lot of sufering and pain every day, it can very quickly become too much. Something like a third of medical doctors sufer from “empathy burnout” that is so severe that it afects their functioning as doctors and their personal life. They become the victim of feeling empathy. • • •

Do you think there is a golden mean compromise between the two points of view? Have you ever had a role in which you felt burnout and didn’t care about your customers, clients, or classes? Any philosophy or way of being has its limitations. If empathy wasn’t a human trait, what would take its place?

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Interviews With Professionals Martin Smith-Rodden Reverend Kenny Irby, an afiate of the Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida and a media consultant The notion that journalists should embrace empathy as a core professional value is nothing new to Reverend Kenny Irby (2010). He is a nationally known veteran journalist, editor, and newsroom leader as well as a consultant and an afliate at the Poynter Institute on topics including diversity, ethics, and visual journalism. From contributing to Pulitzer projects in the newsroom of Newsday, to being a juror on a Pulitzer committee in 2007, Irby in 2016 was appointed by the mayor of St. Petersburg to be a Community Intervention Director. From journalism to a police department, he creates solutions for young people who are at risk of ending up in jail or worse. Irby appreciates that the concept of empathy has gained some traction in recent times in the dialogue among journalists. I think that a conversation about empathy has become a richer conversation and a more relevant conversation in contemporary times—particularly in journalism circles and social services circles. I think for journalists, the idea of empathy helps us get closer to truthtelling by way of accuracy. Irby feels that there “has been a major disconnect between the journalists who are covering the news and transmitting that news with the audiences, and many of the communities that they are that they’re covering.” Irby wholly rejects the notion that journalists can go too far or get carried away with empathy. I don’t think we talk about it enough. I  think you know the Zeitgeist that is being acknowledged here and the “buzzword” is one that still is very much inside journalism, and maybe inside some halls of academia. Where we really need to expand that conversation is amongst the masses. And you do that through media, through social media, through traditional journalistic media, and the like. According to Irby, the reluctance to engage in empathy has led to “great vulnerability in terms of its accuracy and its authenticity.” He elaborates There has been the lack of empathy, a lack of appreciation of diversity. So, there’s a direct corollary that I’ve taught to all my career and experience that when we are talking about fnding truthfulness and reporting greater accuracy and validity to our coverage, it moves us in that place where it’s not just about a racial conversation in terms of black and white, or black and Hispanic, or Asian and Hispanic or whatever. It is about perspective worldview and ability to appreciate that “your opinion is no match with somebody else’s experience.” Irby coined the quality of understanding in a journalist as an “empathy quotient,” and should be considered key to any journalist’s success. “to be able to appreciate that because you have not experienced something,” Irby explains, [I]t doesn’t devalue the authenticity of that of the other person’s point of view, or life experience to be more intelligent about and more receptive to empathic engagement. It

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allows the journalist, the reporter, and the reader/viewer to have a better appreciation and understanding of really what that experience that you’re reporting about is. You know I think that the realities of empathic connections and sincere understanding of otherness is a good thing, and it helps us build bridges, gain perspective, and insight and to report information across disciplines, about complex subject matter and topics. Irby thinks that the road to a higher empathy quotient starts with a strong efort in refective thought, self-examination, and an efort to burst out of one’s protective bubble. You know, I  think the biggest impediment to empathy is a lack of relationship and a lack of connectedness. We don’t know our neighbors anymore. We don’t recognize that America is a nation of immigrants. We are a nation where people are valued because of who they were, not from where they came from. Now we’ve become so disconnected in our relationships. We drive into our communities. We go into our homes. We spend time in those homes and rarely discuss with our neighbors or people who have any level of diference from us. Because of digitization, we go online and we’re more inclined to seek afrmation to our point of view, as opposed to being open to this great serendipity of learning from other perspectives, other worldviews, and other intellectual articulations about the issues. Ultimately, Irby maintains that the road to empathy begins with a look inward—an “examination of self.” Then, he adds, look at “the manifestations of oneself or one’s occupation of one’s heart and then, in that examination, have an honest willingness to evaluate.” “It is through dialogue that you build relationships, not diatribe.”

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Chapter 1: Philosophical Underpinnings for Visual Ethics Bhattacharyya, R. (2020). 8 of the oldest religions in the world. Travel Earth. Retrieved July 30, 2021, from https://travel.earth/oldest-religions-in-the-world/ Braiker, B. (2012, May  10). Time breastfeeding cover ignites debate around ‘attachment parenting.’ The Guardian. Retrieved August  1, 2021, from www.theguardian.com/world/us-news-blog/2012/ may/10/time-magazine-breastfeeding Brown, M. J. (2020). Science and moral imagination: A new ideal for values in science. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. Coles, S. (2012, October 23). War memorial in Gefen, NL. Fonts in Use. Retrieved August 1, 2021, from https://fontsinuse.com/uses/2274/war-memorial-in-gefen-nl Ebert, R. (1990, February 11). Attacks on ‘Roger & Me’ completely miss point of flm. Rogerevert.com. Retrieved August  1, 2021, from www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/attacks-on-roger-and-me-completely-misspoint-of-flm Elliott, P. (2009). AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image. Associated Press. Retrieved August 1, 2021 from https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/2009-02-04-AP-obama_N.htm “Ethics of Care.” (2002). Online guide to ethics and moral philosophy. Retrieved August 5, 2021, from http:// caae.phil.cmu.edu/Cavalier/80130/part2/II_7.html Fung, B. (2021, January 9). Twitter bans President Trump permanently. CNN. Retrieved August 1, 2021, from www.cnn.com/2021/01/08/tech/trump-twitter-ban/index.html Gilligan, C. (2016). In a diferent voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. “Golden Mean.” (2007, July 25). American Nihilist underground society. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www. anus.com/zine/articles/draugdur/golden_mean/

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Chapter 2: Visual Ethics Analytical Procedures Bok, S. (1998). Mayhem: Violence as public entertainment. New York, NY: Basic Books. Bok, S. (1999). Lying: Moral choice in public and private life. New York, NY: Vintage. Brislin, T. (2004). Empowerment as a universal ethic in global journalism. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 19(2), 130–137. Christians, C., Fackler, M., & Rotzoll, K. B. (2001). Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning (6th ed.). New York, NY: Longman. Cohen, J. (n.d.). Bok’s model. Washington State University. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://dtc-wsuv. org/jcohen/tools-for-ethical-decision-making/boks-model.html Elliott, D. (2017). Systematic moral analysis. Ethics Unwrapped. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from http:// ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/systematic-moral-analysis Elliott, D., & Lester, P. M. (2000, December). To shoot or not to shoot: When is it not okay to take a picture? News Photographer. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from http://paulmartinlester.info/writings/ nppacolumn4.html Gert, B. (2007). Common morality deciding what to do. London: Oxford University Press. Gladwell.com. (2017). Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://gladwell.com/ Lester, P. M. (2012). On foods and photo ops: How Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush exploited catastrophes. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas: Lex Publishing. Long, J. (2011, September). Readers depend on a free press to help make democracy work. NPPA. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from https://nppa.org/page/8600 Nathanson, S. (n.d.). Act and rule utilitarianism. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/ Ozbilici, B. (2016, December 20). Witness to an assassination: AP photographer captures attack. AP News. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.apnews.com/eadca282d5d341a79bb464bbadc4fa11 Plaisance, P. L.,  & Skews, E. A. (2003). Personal and professional dimensions of news work: Exploring the link between journalists’ values and roles. Journalism  & Mass Communication Quarterly, 80(4), 833–848. Sisak, M. R. (2021, June 30). AP sources: Trump company, executive indicted in tax probe. Associated Press. Retrieved August  1, 2021, from https://apnews.com/article/trump-organization-investigation-charges8b2deb72f74ef13e0d45a69ee7118261 Winston, M. (2008). An ethics of global responsibility. Retrieved August 1, 2021, from http://ethicsofglobal responsibility.blogspot.com/2008/02/role-related-responsibilities.html

Chapter 3: Cultural Awareness and Visual Ethics Capa, C. (1968). The concerned photographer. New York, NY: Grossman Publishers. Chapnick, H. (1994). The concerned photographer. In Truth needs no ally: Inside photojournalism (pp. 20–28). Columbia, MO. Constantine, G. (2021, September  14). Seven doors—Stories of immigration detention. Retrieved September 20, 2021, from http://7doors.org Fajardo, S. (n.d.). About. Retrieved August 28, 2021, from www.sarafajardo.com/about Goldberg, S. (2018, March  12). For decades, our coverage was racist. To rise above our past we must acknowledge it. National Geographic. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from www.nationalgeographic.com/ magazine/article/from-the-editor-race-racism-history?loggedin=true Heider, D. (2014). White News: why local news programs don’t cover people of color. Oxford: Routledge. Hertzberg, M., & Loundy, M. (n.d.). Resolution—In re the Photo Bill of Rights. Retrieved August 29, 2021, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oZSYqLPpoEHkaTx-hx4xofXC7qCzaGWYZeBxoT2iBCI/ edit Jirousek, C. (2004). Islamic clothing. In Encyclopedia of Islam. New York, NY: Macmillan. Lester, P. M. (1983). Belfast, Northern Ireland: The hunger strike summer, 1981 (MA Thesis). The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

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Miller, E., & Asbury, N. (2020, June 4). Photographers are being called on to stop showing protesters’ faces. Should they? Poynter. Retrieved August  31, 2021, from www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2020/ should-journalists-show-protesters-faces/ NPPA Board of Directors. (2020, June  24). Amid today’s turmoil, Photo Bill of Rights ofers guidance. Retrieved August  29, 2021, from https://nppa.org/news/amid-today%E2%80%99s-turmoil-photobill-rights-ofers-guidance “Photo Bill of Rights.” (2020, June 22). Retrieved August 29, 2021 from www.photobillofrights.com/ Randazzo, C. (2016, June 3). How to create dignifed photography for your nonproft. NGO Story Telling. Retrieved August 28, 2021, from www.ngostorytelling.com/blog/2016/06/03/dignifed-photography Rony, F. T. (1996). The third eye: Race, cinema, and ethnographic spectacle. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press. Vonnegut, K. (2007). A man without a country. New York: Random House.

Chapter 4: Visual Reporting Ethics Ahmed, A., & Semple, K. (2019, June 25). Photo of drowned migrants capture pathos of those who risk it all. The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/us/fatherdaughter-border-drowning-picture-mexico.html Associated Press. (2020, June 14). Fox News removes altered photos of Seattle protest zone. Retrieved August 4, 2021, from www.snopes.com/ap/2020/06/13/fox-news-removes-altered-photos-of-seattle-protest-zone/ Callahan, M. (2012, June 17). The true story behind the iconic V-J Day sailor and ‘nurse’smooch. New York Post. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://nypost.com/2012/06/17/the-true-story-behind-the-iconic-v-jday-sailor-and-nurse-smooch/ DeGhett, T. R. (2014, August  8). The war photo no one would publish. The Atlantic. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/the-war-photo-no-onewould-publish/375762/ Donadio, R. (2015, March 4). World Press photo revokes prize. The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/arts/design/world-press-photo-revokes-prize.html “Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’ photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection: An overview.” (2013, January 24). The Library of Congress. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.loc.gov/rr/ print/list/128_migm.html Dunlap, D. W. (2013, March 28). Photo that was hard to get published, but even harder to get. The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/a-photo-that-washard-to-get-published-but-even-harder-to-get/ Featherstone, D. (Ed.). (1991). Observations: Essays on documentary photography. New York, NY: Friends of Photography. Firozi, P. (2016, June 4). Trump shared a photo of a black family, but they don’t support him. The Hill. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/282234-trump-shareda-photo-of-a-black-family-on-the-trump-train Gefter, P. (2006, March  17). Street photography: A  right or invasion? The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/arts/street-photography-a-right-or-invasion.html Gould, L. L., & Grefe, R. (1977). Photojournalist: The career of Jimmy Hare. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Hare, K. (2015, September 3). Front page of the day: ‘Somebody’s child’. Poynter. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.poynter.org/2015/front-page-of-the-day-somebodys-child-warning-disturbing-image/371092/ Harte, J. (2014, December 10). The Hart Park drowning photo. John Harte Photo. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://johnhartephoto.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/the-hart-park-drowning-photo/ “Isidore Niépce and Daguerre.” (n.d.). Maison Nicéphore Niépce. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www. photo-museum.org/isidore-niepce-daguerre/ Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. “Nick Ut.” (n.d.). World Press Photo. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.worldpressphoto.org/people/ nick-ut Ozbilici, B. (2016, December 20). Witness to an assassination: AP photographer captures attack. AP News. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.apnews.com/eadca282d5d341a79bb464bbadc4fa11

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Ozbilici, B. (2017). World Press Photo. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.worldpressphoto.org/people/ burhan-ozbilici Perlof, J. (2020). Four students were killed in Ohio. America was never the same. The New York Times. Retrieved August  3, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/opinion/kent-state-shootingprotest.html “Photography and the Civil War.” (2017). Civil War Trust. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.civilwar. org/learn/articles/photography-and-civil-war “The Pulitzer Prizes.” (2012). Pulitzer Organization. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.pulitzer.org/ winners/massoud-hossaini Rohter, L. (2009, August 17). New doubts raised over famous war photo. The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/design/18capa.html Rosenberg, J. (2017, April  3). Prisoners who were killed. ThoughtCo. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.thoughtco.com/prisoners-who-were-killed-during-holocaust-1779701 “Saigon Execution: Murder of a Vietcong by Saigon Police Chief, 1968.” (2014, May 13). Rare Historical Photos. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/saigon-execution-1968/ Scheer, R. (2016, December 20). Scheer: Why photojournalism matters. IndyStar. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.indystar.com/story/opinion/2016/12/20/scheer-photojournalism-matters/95666494/ Walters, S., Smith, A., & Chuck, E. (2015, August 26). Marcy Borders, 9/11’s iconic ‘Dust Lady,’ dies after cancer battle: Family. NBC News. Retrieved August 3, 2011, from www.nbcnews.com/news/ us-news/macy-borders-9-11s-iconic-dust-lady-dies-after-cancer-n416121 Willette, J. (2015, January 2). Hippolyte Bayard (1801–1887). Art History Unstufed. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://arthistoryunstufed.com/hipployte-bayard-1801-1887/ Witty, P. (2012, August 28). Malcom Browne: The story behind the burning monk. Time. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from http://time.com/3791176/malcolm-browne-the-story-behind-the-burning-monk/

Chapter 5: Documentary Ethics Bell, D. (2018). Documenting World War I: Women photographers on the front lines. Retrieved August 8, 2021, from https://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2018/06/documenting-world-war-i-women-photographers-on-thefront-lines/ Farm Security Administration. (n.d.). “Photographers of the FSA: selected portraits.” Library of Congress. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/sampler.html Hawking, S., & Mlodinow, L. (2010). The grand design. New York, NY: Bantam. Lifreing, I. (2020, November 18). Fox News says new campaign, ‘standing up for what’s right,’ is not a reaction to Trump’s tirades. AdAge. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://adage.com/article/media/ fox-news-says-new-campaign-standing-whats-right-not-reaction-trumps-tirades/2295666 Mayer, J. (2021, August 9). The big money behind the big lie. The New Yorker. Retrieved December 3, 2021 from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie Meyer, P. (1995). Public journalism and the problem of objectivity. University of North Carolina. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.unc.edu/~pmeyer/ire95pj.htm Milman, O. (2020, April 28). Climate experts call for ‘dangerous’ Michael Moore flm to be taken down. The Guardian. Retrieved August  9, 2021, from www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/28/ climate-dangerous-documentary-planet-of-the-humans-michael-moore-taken-down Morris, T. (2013). David Hume’s life and works. The Hume Society. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www. humesociety.org/about/HumeBiography.asp “Nick Oza Website.” (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.nickoza.com/index Newton, J. (2000). The burden of visual truth: The role of photojournalism in mediating reality. New York, NY: Routledge. Plaisance, P. L., & Skewes, E. A. (2003). Personal and professional dimensions of news work: Exploring the link between journalist’ values and roles. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 80(4), 833–848. Price, D. (2004). Documentary and photojournalism: Issues and defnitions. In L. Wells (Ed.), Photography: A critical introduction. New York, NY: Routledge. Pruitt, S. (2018, August 22). The Lumière brothers, pioneers of cinema. History.com. Retrieved December 2, 2021 from https://www.history.com/news/the-lumiere-brothers-pioneers-of-cinema

208

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Schleifstein, M., Robinson, N., & Mackel, T. (2021, August 7). Hurricane Katrina: A look back at reporting and how the storm changed. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Online through Zoom. Shefeld, M. (2017, June 15). Fox News no longer ‘fair and balanced as network sheds longtime slogan. Salon. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from www.salon.com/2017/06/15/fox-news-no-longer-fair-or-balancedright-wing-network-sheds-longtime-slogan/ Shteir, R. (2021, March 14). Derek DelGaudio’s biggest trick: To claim he’s not doing magic. American Theatre. Retrieved August  7, 2021, from www.americantheatre.org/2021/05/14/derek-delgaudios-biggesttrick-claiming-hes-not-doing-magic/ “SPJ Code of Ethics.” (2014, September 6). SPH.org. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.spj.org/ethic scode.asp Steel, E., & Schmidt, M. S. (2017, October 21). Bill O’Reilly settled new harassment claim, Fox renewed his contract. The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/2017/10/21/ business/media/bill-oreilly-sexual-harassment.html “Stephen M. Katz Website.” (2021). Retrieved August 9, 2021 from www.pilotonline.com/vp-stephenkatz-staf.html

Chapter 6: The Ethics of Citizen Journalists “Amateur Who Took Pulitzer-Winning Winecof Fire Photo Dies.” (2007, December 7). Ledger-Enquirer. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://web.archive.org/web/20071221085402/www.ledger-enquirer. com/251/story/194225.html Chapnick, H. (1994). Truth needs no ally. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. Ciobanu, M. (2015, October 15). Citizen journalists in Syria ‘start writing history.’ Journalism. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.journalism.co.uk/news/writing-history-training-citizen-journalists-in-syria-/ s2/a574666/ Crandell, B. (2016, May 13). Unlikely Pulitzer winner Charles Porter IV to speak in West Palm Beach. SouthFlorida.com. Retrieved September  13, 2017, from www.southforida.com/theater-and-arts/ sf-charles-porter-iv-pulitzer-palm-beach-photographic-centre-20160513-story.html Daragahi, B. (2009, June 23). Neda an international martyr. SFGate. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www. sfgate.com/politics/article/Neda-an-international-martyr-3294784.php Dhaliwal, R. (2013, June 12). Rescue on Pit River bridge. The Guardian. Retrieved from www.theguardian. com/artanddesign/picture/2013/jun/12/rescue-on-pit-river-bridge-photography Dirks, T. (2017). Citizen Kane (1941). AMC Filmsite. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.flmsite.org/ citi.html Dudley, B. (2021, June 4). Washington court decides who’s a journalist, for now. Seattle Times. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from www.seattletimes.com/opinion/washington-court-decides-whos-a-journalist-for-now/ “Emmanuelle Saliba Twitter Page.” (2017). Retrieved June  30, 2017, from https://twitter.com/_ esaliba?lang=en Evangelista, B. (2010, February 20). Amateur video wins prestigious journalism award. SFGate. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.sfgate.com/business/article/Amateur-video-wins-prestigious-journalismaward-3198685.php Eversley, M. (2015, April  19). Iconic Oklahoma City photo caused twists and turns. USA Today. Retrieved June  28, 2017, from www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/18/oklahoma-city-photo/ 25957831/ “Fatal Force.” (2021, August 10). The Washington Post. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from www.washington post.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ Feinstein, A. (2016, February 3). The accidental photographer. The Globe and Mail (Canada), p. A6. Frazier, D. (2021a). Darnella Frazier. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from www.pulitzer. org/winners/darnella-frazier Frazier, D. (2021b). Darnella Frazier. PEN America. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from https://pen.org/ user/darnella-frazier/# Gillmor, D. (2014, August 16). Ferguson’s citizen journalists revealed the value of an undeniable video. The Guardian. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/16/ fergusons-citizen-journalists-video

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Holland, E. (2008, December  30). From 2008: Finding meaning in fre—and photo. St.  Louis PostDispatch. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.stltoday.com/from-fnding-meaning-in-fre-and-photo/ article_719a7fdb-d96c-56e9-b721-91e9e7b60429.html Kobe’s widow “tormented.” (2021, December 8). The Dallas Morning News, p. 6C. Krinsky, A. (2009, May  21). Morley Safer: ‘I would trust citizen journalism as much as I  would trust citizen surgery.’ TVNewser. Retrieved December  3, 2021, from www.adweek.com/tvnewser/ morley-safer-i-would-trust-citizen-journalism-as-much-as-i-would-trust-citizen-surgery/29479/ Levenson, E. (2021, April  21). How Minneapolis Police frst described the murder of George Floyd, and what we know now. CNN. Retrieved August  10, 2021, from www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/us/ minneapolis-police-george-foyd-death/index.html McGreal, C., et  al. (2021, April  21). Derek Chauvin found guilty of murder of George Floyd. The Guardian. Retrieved August  10, 2021, from www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/20/derekchauvin-verdict-guilty-murder-george-foyd NPPA Board of Directors. (2020, June 24). Amid today’s turmoil, Photo Bill of Rights ofers guidance. Retrieved August  11, 2021, from https://nppa.org/news/amid-today%E2%80%99s-turmoil-photo-bill-rightsofers-guidance “Oklahoma City Bombing.” (2013, May 14). Famous picture collection. Retrieved September 13, 2017, from www.famouspictures.org/oklahoma-city-bombing/ Pawlowski, A. (2017, March  29). ‘I struggled a long time’: Oklahoma frefghter in iconic photo retires. Today. Retrieved October  6, 2021, from www.today.com/health/oklahoma-city-frefghterholding-baby-iconic-photo-retires-t109746 “Photo Bill of Rights.” (2020, June 22). Retrieved August 11, 2021, from www.photobillofrights.com/ Queary, P. (1997, January 18). Judge rules against bombing photographer. AP News. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from https://apnews.com/article/3e2e3dac39a80342b07085df7394ea85 Risen, C. (2021, September 22). George Holliday, who taped police beating of Rodney King, dies at 61. The New York Times. Retrieved December 7, 2021 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/us/ george-holliday-dead.html Rosenbaum, R. (2013, October). “What does the Zapruder flm really tell us?” Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved December  2, 2021 from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-does-thezapruder-flm-really-tell-us-14194/ Silverman, E. (2021, September 6). Jordan White recorded the D.C. police shooting of An‘Twan Gilmore. Here’s how it changed her. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2021, from www.washington post.com/dc-md-va/2021/09/06/jordan-white-antwan-gilmore-dc-shooting/ Topping, S. (2017). Biography of Joseph Pulitzer. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www. pulitzer.org/page/biography-joseph-pulitzer Troy, G. (2016, March 3). Filming Rodney King’s beating ruined his life. Daily Beast. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.thedailybeast.com/flming-rodney-kings-beating-ruined-his-life Wierichs, J. (n.d.). William Randolph Hearst. The Spanish American War Centennial Website. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from www.spanamwar.com/Hearst.htm Yan, H. (2021, April  21). A  teen with ‘a cell phone and sheer guts’ is credited with Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction. CNN. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from www.cnn.com/2021/04/21/us/darnellafrazier-derek-chauvin-reaction/index.html “The Yellow Kid.” (n.d.). The Ohio State University. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://cartoons.osu. edu/digital_albums/yellowkid/ Zhou, K. (2005). A basic Confucius: An introduction to the wisdom and advice of China’s greatest Sage. San Francisco, CA: Long River Press.

Chapter 7: Advertising Ethics “1947 Texas City Disaster.” (2017). Texas City Library. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.texascitylibrary.org/disaster/frst.php Appelbaum, Y. (2016, July  10). A  single photo from Baton Rouge that’s hard to forget. The Atlantic. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/07/a-single-photo-that-capturesrace-and-policing-in-america/490664/

210 References

Bahadur, N. (2014, January 21). Dove ‘Real Beauty’ campaign turns 10: How a brand tried to change the conversation about female beauty. Hufngton Post. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.hufngtonpost. com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html Baker, S., & Martinson, D. L. (2001). The TARES test: Five principles for ethical persuasion. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 16(2–3), 148–175. “Brooke Shields in the Calvin Klein Jeans Commercial 1981.” YouTube. Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2VZgJ4AoM “Code of Ethics.” (2019). NPPA. Retrieved August 13, 2021, from https://nppa.org/code-ethics Davies, M. (2013, March 13). Put it in my mouth: A history of disgusting Carl’s Jr. ads. Jezebel. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://jezebel.com/5990397/put-it-in-my-mouth-a-history-of-disgusting-carls-jr-ads “Dior Addict Fragrance.” (2003). Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgOoj W7qlx4 “The Evolution of Speed.” (2021, August  22). The New York Times. Retrieved August  22, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/paidpost/verizon-5g/the-evolution-of-speed.html Fernando, C. (2021, May 20). ‘Everyone is awesome’: Lego announces frst LGBTQ set ahead of Pride Month. USA Today. Retrieved October 18, 2021, from www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/05/20/ lego-announces-lgbtq-set-ahead-pride-month-everyone-awesome/5179622001/ Gillespie, E. (2021, April 30). “Facebook has been accused of approving of ‘inappropriate’ advertisements targeting teens interested in ‘extreme weight loss’, gambling, alcohol and vaping.” The Feed. Retrieved October 29, 2021 from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/facebook-approves-ad-targeting-teensinterested-in-extreme-weight-loss “IABC Code of Ethics for Professional Communicators.” (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www. iabc.com/About/Purpose/Code-of-Ethics Kaplan, D. (2004, January 23). Sulcer, 77, former DDB Needham exec. Dies. AdWeek. Retrieved December 3, 2021 from https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/sulcer-77-former-ddb-needham-exec-dies-69864/#: ~:text=NEW%20YORK%20Frederick%20D.,He%20was%2077 Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. Mikkelson, D. (2003). Abercrombie & Fitch ‘Christmas Field Guide’ nudity. Snopes. Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www.snopes.com/fact-check/christmas-feld-guide/ Mitchell, H. (2017, May 24). 21 times ’90s fashion brands went way, way too far. BuzzFeed. Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www.buzzfeed.com/hilarywardle/times-90s-fashion-went-way-too-far?epik= dj0yJnU9N3dUZE9Ib3BHbUx6QmFjc09sSnZ0WG9MQkJXb1hHeXUmcD0wJm49eGdnZEZYS khJbHQwQ3NfTHUwLXczQSZ0PUFBQUFBR0VXTXdN “NCA Credo for Ethical Communication.” (1999, November). Retrieved August  13, 2021, from www.natcom.org/sites/default/files/pages/1999_Public_Statements_NCA_Credo_for_Ethical_ Communication_November.pdf The Neon Demon. (2016). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ the_neon_demon/ NPR Staf. (2014, November  22). After backlash, computer engineer Barbie gets new set of skills. Retrieved October  18, 2021, from www.npr.org/2014/11/22/365968465/after-backlash-computer-engineerbarbie-gets-new-set-of-skills Raychoudhury, P. (2012, September  26). “What our research really says about teen well-being and Instagram.” Meta. Retrieved October  29, 2021 from https://about.fb.com/news/2021/09/ research-teen-well-being-and-instagram/ “Speed Dressing: The Controversial Fake Ad.” (2008, July 8). YouTube. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjQzD6mx4g8 “SPJ Code of Ethics.” (2014, September 6). Retrieved August 13, 2021, from www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp Stampler, L. (2013, April 22). Why people hate Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’video. Business Insider. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.businessinsider.com/why-people-hate-doves-real-beauty-ad-2013-4 Treisman, R. (2021, October 12). Lego says it will work to rid its toys of harmful gender bias. National Public Radio. Retrieved October  18, 2021, from www.npr.org/2021/10/12/1045244110/lego-toyssurvey-gender-bias-stereotypes Watercutter, A. (2017, April 5). Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner ad was so awful it did the impossible: It United the internet. Wired. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.wired.com/2017/04/pepsi-ad-internetresponse/

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Wells, G., Horwitz, J., & Seetharaman, D. (2021, September 14). “Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show.”The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 29, 2021 from https://www.wsj.com/ articles/facebook- knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739.

Chapter 8: Public Relations Ethics Beers, L. (2015, April 20). Farmers furious at anti-cruelty ad showing man holding up a blood-drenched lamb with the slogan ‘here’s the rest of your wool coat.’Daily Mail Australia. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3047244/Farmers-furious-PETA-ad-shows-man-holding-blooddrenched-lamb-slogan-s-rest-wool-coat.html “Case Study: Facebook  & Burson-Marsteller ‘Smear Google’ Campaign.” (n.d.). The Arthur W. Page Center. Retrieved September 2, 2021, from www.pagecentertraining.psu.edu/public-relations-ethics/ introduction-to-public-relations-ethics/lesson-1/case-study/ “Controversial Ads: 10 of PETA’s Worst Brain Farts.” Who Approved This? Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://whoapprovedthis.com/controversial-ads-10-of-petas-worst-brain-farts/ “Ethos, Pathos & Logos.” (n.d.). European Rhetoric. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.european-rhetoric. com/ethos-pathos-logos-modes-persuasion-aristotle/ Greve, J. E. and Borger, J. (2020, June 11). Top US military general Mark Milley apologizes for Trump church photoop. The Guardian. Retrieved December 8, 2021 from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/ jun/11/top-us-military-general-mark-milley-issues-public-apology-trump-church-photo-op Lester, P. M. (2009). On foods and photo ops: How Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush exploited catastrophes. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. Lippmann, W. (1922). Public opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Website.” (2017). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.peta. org/ Ralph, E. F. (2013, November  15). Photo oops: History’s worst political photo ops. Politico Magazine. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2013/11/photo-oops-historysworst-political-photo-ops-000157?slide=0 Warner, J. (2010, June  18). The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is bad, but BP’s PR is even worse. The Telegraph. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.telegraph.co.uk/fnance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/ 7839136/The-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-is-bad-but-BPs-PR-is-even-worse.html

Chapter 9: Typography Ethics Friedman, V. (2021, December 3). Virgil Abloh, path-blazing designer, is dead at 41. The New York Times. Retrieved December  8, 2021 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/28/style/virgil-abloh-dead. html Heller, S. (2005, March  5). Typographica mea culpa, unethical downloading. Typotheque. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.typotheque.com/articles/typographica_mea_culpa_unethical_downloading Hill, K. (2010, August 30). Use Comic Sans to get people to reveal their most sensitive private information online. Forbes. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2010/08/30/ use-comic-sans-to-get-people-to-reveal-their-most-sensitive-private-information-online/2/#40b2c 2ab33be “History of Printing Timeline.” (2017). American Printing History Association. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from https://printinghistory.org/timeline/ “Johannes Gutenberg.” (2016). Biography. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.biography.com/people/ johannes-gutenberg-9323828 Johnston, C. (2013, June  20). Hate Comic Sans? Blame this Microsoft virtual assistant. Ars Technica. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from https://arstechnica.com/staf/2013/06/hate-comic-sans-blamethis-microsoft-virtual-assistant/ Kadavy, D. (n.d.). In defense of Papyrus: Avatar uses the world’s second-most-hated font to signal the downfall of civilization. Design for Hackers. Retrieved August 17, 2021, from https://designforhackers. com/blog/papyrus-font/

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Leow, M. (2021, June 16). Facebook debuts typography deepfake AI that uncannily mimics fonts from photos. DesignTAXI. Retrieved October  3, 2021, from https://designtaxi.com/news/414354/FacebookDebuts-Typography-Deepfake-AI-That-Uncannily-Mimics-Fonts-From-Photos/?utm_source=DT_ Newsletter&utm_medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_Newsletter_16062021&utm_ term=DT_Newsletter_16062021&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_16062021 Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. Morris, E. (2015, May 18). How typography shapes our perception of truth. Co.Design. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.fastcodesign.com/3046365/errol-morris-how-typography-shapes-our-perception-of-truth Quito, A. (2021, April 8). Karate, Wonton, Chow Fun: The end of ‘chop suey’ fonts. CNN Style. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from www.cnn.com/style/article/chop-suey-fonts-hyphenated/index.html “The Gutenberg Bible.” (n.d.). Harry Ransom Center. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.hrc.utexas.edu/ exhibitions/permanent/gutenbergbible/

Chapter 10: Graphic Design Ethics Cartwright, M. (2015, April 22). Vitruvius. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://www.ancient.eu/Vitruvius/ Evans, D. (2016, July 29). Talking with Tuesday Bassen about her David vs. Goliath battle against Zara. The Cut. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.thecut.com/2016/07/tuesday-bassen-on-her-work-beingcopied-by-zara.html Hepting, D. (2021). A picture’s worth. Retrieved August  19, 2021, from http://www2.cs.uregina. ca/~hepting/projects/pictures-worth/ Leow, M. (2021, September  30). Copy/paste keyboard meant as April Fool’s joke is now real after popular demand. DesignTAXI. Retrieved October  3, 2021, from https://designtaxi.com/ news/415991/Copy-Paste-Keyboard-Meant-As-April-Fools-Joke-Is-Now-Real-After-PopularDemand/?utm_source=DT_Newsletter&utm_medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_ Newsletter_03102021&utm_term=DT_Newsletter_03102021&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_ 03102021 Lester, P. M. (2021). Visual communication images with messages (9th ed.). Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. Mark, J. J. (2009, September 2). Plato. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www. ancient.eu/plato/ Mark, J. J. (2016, March 24). Egyptian book of the dead. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Book_of_the_Dead/ Miranda, P. (2020, June 27). David Carson: Surfng the unconventional waves of Zapfs Dingbats. Medium. com. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://medium.com/@yopaulmiranda/david-carson-surfngthe-unconventional-waves-of-zapfs-dingbats-52a520186c64 Nini, P. (n.d.). In search of ethics in graphic design. AIGA. Retrieved December 3, 2021 from https://www. csus.edu/indiv/e/estiokom/EthicsinDesign.pdf “Obey Giant/The Art of Shepard Fairey.” (2017). Obey Giant. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from https:// obeygiant.com/ Repka-Franco, V. (2020). The history and story behind the Sherwin Williams logo. Money Inc. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://moneyinc.com/sherwin-williams-logo/ “Shepard Fairey, Creator of Barack Obama ‘Hope’ Poster, Admits Destroying Evidence.” (2012, February 25). The Telegraph. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ barackobama/9105364/Shepard-Fairey-creator-of-Barack-Obama-Hope-poster-admits-destroyingevidence.html Sofa, I. (2017a, June  23). Gucci under fre for ripping of two artists’ designs in its latest collection. DesignTAXI. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://designtaxi.com/news/393825/Gucci-Under-FireFor-Ripping-Of-Two-Artists-Designs-In-Its-Latest-Collection/?utm_source=DT_Newsletter&utm_ medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_Newsletter_23062017&utm_ter m=DT_ Newsletter_23062017&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_23062017 Sofa, I. (2017b, June 5). Snapchat accused of ripping of an artist’s design for one of its flters. DesignTAXI. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from http://designtaxi.com/news/393423/Snapchat-AccusedOf-Ripping-Of-An-Artist-s-Design-For-One-Of-Its-Filters/?utm_source=DT_Newsletter&utm_

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medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_Newsletter_05062017&utm_ter m=DT_ Newsletter_05062017&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_05062017 Sofa, I. (2017c, June  2). Forever 21 is under fre for copying iPhone case design from indie brand. DesignTAXI. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from http://designtaxi.com/news/393396/Forever21-Is-Under-Fire-For-Copying-iPhone-Case-Design-From-Indie-Brand/?utm_source=DT_ Newsletter&utm_medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_Newsletter_02062017&utm_ term=DT_Newsletter_02062017&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_02062017 “Use of Third-Party Trademark Names and Logos.” (2017). Little League Baseball. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.littleleague.org/learn/rules/positionstatements/UsingTrademarkedNamesLogos.htm

Chapter 11: Data Visualization Ethics Gillman, T. J. (2021, December 7). DOJ sues Texas over new maps. The Dallas Morning News, pp. 1A, 6A–7A. Grimwade, J. (2016, October 3). Nigel Holmes on humor. Infographics for the People. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.johngrimwade.com/blog/2016/10/03/nigel-holmes-on-humor/ Harris, J., & Kamvar, S. (2009). We feel fne: An almanac of human emotion. New York, NY: Scribner. Kienzler, D. S. (1997, April). Visual ethics. The Journal of Business Communication, 34(2). Robison, W., Boisjoly, R., Hoeker, D., & Young, S. (2002). Representation and misrepresentation: Tufte and the Morton Thiokol Engineers on the Challenger. Science and Engineering Ethics, 8, 59–81. Routley, N. (2021, November 11). The problem with our maps. Visual Capitalist. Retrieved December 7, 2021 from https://www.visualcapitalist.com/problem-with-our-maps/ Shur, R. (2011). Ethical standards for infographics. Occasional Planet. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http:// occasionalplanet.org/2011/11/10/ethical-standards-for-infographics/ Skau, D. (2017). Drew Skau blog. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from https://visual.ly/blog/author/drew/ page/3/ Stromberg, J. (2012, December  5). Cavemen were much better at illustrating animals than artists today. Smithsonian. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ cavemen-were-much-better-at-illustrating-animals-than-artists-today-153292919/ “Tattoo Infographic by Paul Marcinkowski.” (n.d.). Design Boom. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www. designboom.com/design/tattoo-infographic-by-paul-marcinkowski/

Chapter 12: Cartoon Ethics Drexler, K. (2021, June 1). Chinese Exclusion Act: Primary Documents in American History. Library of Congress Research Guides. Retrieved from https://guides.loc.gov/chineseexclusion-act Itzkof, D. (2010, April  23). ‘South Park’ episode altered after Muslim group’s warning. The New York Times, p. 3. Jensen, J., & Case, J. (2011). Green River killer: A true detective story. New York, NY: Dark Horse. Lester, P. (2021). Visual communication images with messages. Dallas, TX: Writing for Textbooks. Lewis, J., & Aydin, A. (2016). March (Trilogy slipcase set). New York, NY: Top Shelf Productions. Macaulay, D. (2017). The way things work now. Houghton Mifin Harcourt. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://hmhbooks.com/davidmacaulay/ Madden, M. (2005). 99 ways to tell a story: Exercises in style. New York, NY: Chamberlain Bros. Maglio, T. (2015, July 8). ‘South Park’ renewed for 3 more seasons. The Wrap. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.thewrap.com/south-park-scores-3-season-renewal-set-to-top-300-episodes/ McGraw, P.,  & Warner, J. (2012, November  25). The Danish cartoon crisis of 2005 and 2006: 10 things you didn’t know about the original Muhammad controversy. Hufpost. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.hufngtonpost.com/peter-mcgraw-and-joel-warner/muhammad-cartoons_b_1907545. html “Monsanto Mocking Cartoonist Rick Friday Rehired by Farm News. (n.d.). Cartoonists Rights. Retrieved August  21, 2021, from https://cartoonistsrights.org/monsanto-mocking-cartoonist-rickfriday-rehired-by-farm-news/

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Munson, K. (2016, May 13). How Iowa’s farmer cartoonist became a national free-speech martyr. Des Moines Register. Retrieved August  21, 2021, from www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/ kyle-munson/2016/05/13/iowa-cartoonist-farm-news-rick-friday-free-speech-proft/84243968/ Painter, L. (2017, January 4). 11 best frst-person shooter games 2017. TechAdvisor. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.techadvisor.co.uk/buying-advice/game/11-best-frst-person-shooter-games-2017-best-fpsgames-from-doom-csgo-3648797/ “The Simpsons.” (2017). Everything Simpson. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.simpsonsworld.com/ Slotnik, D. E. (2008, April 28). Cartoons of a racist past lurk on YouTube. The New York Times. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from https://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/cartoons-of-a-racist-pastcontinue-to-lurk-on-youtube/ Taibi, C. (2015, January  7). These are the Charlie Hebdo cartoons that terrorists thought were worth killing over. Hufpost. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.hufngtonpost.com/2015/01/07/charliehebdo-cartoons-paris-french-newspaper-shooting_n_6429552.html Tolmie, J. (2009). Modernism, memory and desire: Queer cultural production in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 22, 77–96. “Will Eisner.” (2017). WillEisner.com. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.willeisner.com/

Chapter 13: Screened Media Ethics ABC News busted Faked crime scene for live shot. (2016, November 4). TMZ. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.tmz.com/2016/11/04/abc-news-linsey-davis-fake-crime-scene/ “The Evolution of Video Game Violence.” (n.d.). NAG. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from http://n4g.com/ user/blogpost/abizzel1/526296 Lee, J.,  & Vicens, A. J. (2015, May  20). Here are 13 killings by police captured on video in the past year. Mother Jones. Retrieved June  29, 2017, from www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/ police-shootings-caught-on-tape-video/ Ne, V. (2021, August 30). China cuts amount of time minors can spend playing video games. The Guardian. Retrieved August  30, 2021, from www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/china-cutsamount-of-time-minors-can-spend-playing-video-games Oswald shooting. (2010, September 27). Totally Amazing Videos. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www. youtube.com/watch?v=3n9VQ-dXrwQ Radford, T. (2000, April 23). Computer games linked to violence. The Guardian. Retrieved September 3, 2021, from www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/24/timradford Reeves, B., Lang, A., Kim, E. Y., & Tatar, D. (2009). The efects of screen size and message content on attention and arousal. Media Psychology, 1(1), pp. 49–67. Reith, T. (2016, January  25). Mark Marek, who posted Magnotta murder video, pleads guilty to corrupting morals. CBC News. Retrieved August 23, 2021, from www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ marek-trial-opens-1.3416408 Shorr-Parks, E. (2014, November 27). How big is the Dallas Cowboys’ massive screen in AT&T Stadium? NJ.Com. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2014/11/how_big_is_the_dallas_cowboys_massive_screen_in_att_stadium.html Solórzano, F. (2017). Trump’s border, as seen on TV. Americas Quarterly. Retrieved June 29, 2017, from www.americasquarterly.org/content/trumps-border-seen-tv Zeitchik, S. (2012, March 28). “The Hunger Games,” “Bully” prompt MPAA ratings fght. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 19, 2017, from www.deseretnews.com/article/765563935/The-HungerGames-Bully-prompt-MPAA-ratings-fght.html

Chapter 14: Augmented, Mixed, and Virtual Reality Ethics Bhutto, H. (2012, May 7). Google glasses project. YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.youtube. com/watch?v=JSnB06um5r4 Buckley, S. (2016, August 29). “Dead or alive” VR is basically sexual assault, the game. “The displaced.” (2017). The New York Times. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from www.nytimes.com/video/magazine/ 100000005005806/the-displaced.html.

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Culver, K. B. (2015, February 11). Virtual journalism: Immersive approaches pose new questions. Center for Journalism Ethics. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/category/ virtual-reality/ Esquire’s augmented reality issue: A tour. (2012, March 27). YouTube. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www. youtube.com/watch?v=LGwHQwgBzSI Feminist Frequency Website. (2017). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://feministfrequency.com/ The Future of News? Virtual Reality. (2015, May). TED. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.ted.com/ talks/nonny_de_la_pena_the_future_of_news_virtual_reality Glass. (n.d.). Retrieved August 25, 2021, from www.google.com/glass/start/ GoPro VR Website. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://shop.gopro.com/virtualreality Gutelle, S. (2015, January 23). Spike Jonze directs Vice’s frst ever virtual reality feature. Tube Filter. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.tubeflter.com/2015/01/23/vice-news-vr-millions-march-spike-jonze/ Hathaway, J. (2014, October  10). What is Gamergate, and why? An explainer for non-geeks. Gawker. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-fornon-geeks-1642909080 Heah, A. (2021, September 10). Facebook debuts Ray-Ban smart glasses with 5MP cameras & in-frame speakers. DesignTAXI. Retrieved September  10, 2021, from https://designtaxi.com/news/415675/ Facebook-Debuts-Ray-Ban-Smart-Glasses-With-5MP-Cameras-In-Frame-Speakers/?utm_source=DT_ Newsletter&utm_medium=DT_Newsletter&utm_campaign=DT_Newsletter_10092021&utm_ term=DT_Newsletter_10092021&utm_content=DT_Newsletter_10092021 How virtual reality is bringing journalism to life. (2017, April  5). Media update. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/133189/how-virtual-reality-is-bringing-journalismto-life How virtual reality is helping heal soldiers with PTSD. (2017, April 3). NBC News. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/how-virtual-reality-helping-heal-soldiers-ptsdn733816 How virtual reality will change us. (2006, May  17). TEDxCosmoPark. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO--K7z-oxE Isaac, M. (2021, October  28). “Facebook renames itself Meta.” The New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2021 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/technology/facebook-rebrand-meta. html Iscoe, A. (2021, November 1). “Ready, headset, go.” The New Yorker, pp. 24-26. Kent, T. (2015, August 31). An ethical reality check for virtual reality journalism. Medium. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://medium.com/@tjrkent/an-ethical-reality-check-for-virtual-reality-journalism8e5230673507 Kim, V. (2020, May 27). Virtual reality, real grief. Slate. Retrieved August 25, 2021, from https://slate. com/technology/2020/05/meeting-you-virtual-reality-documentary-mbc.html Mackie, J. (2016, July  21). Microsoft HoloLens review, mind blowing augmented reality! Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihKUoZxNClA Richmond, T. (2017). Mixed reality. USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://ict.usc.edu/groups/mixed-reality/ Stam, A. (2016, October 30). The world’s frst augmented reality photobook. Huck. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/worlds-frst-augmented-realityphotobook/ Sullivan, M. (2015, November 14). The tricky terrain of virtual reality. The New York Times. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/public-editor/new-york-times-virtual-realitymargaret-sullivan-public-editor.html?_r=0 Vincent, J. (2017, May  5). Palmer Luckey returns to public life sporting a new goatee. The Verge. Retrieved June 30, 2017 from www.huckmagazine.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/worlds-frstaugmented-reality-photobook/ vrXcity. (2020). Twitter. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from https://twitter.com/vrxcity?lang=en Westervelt, A. (2016, June 22). Will virtual reality be just another way to objectify women? Retrieved December  3, 2021 from https://www.elle.com/culture/a37146/will-virtual-reality-just-be-anotherway-to-objectify-women/

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Chapter 15: Social Media Ethics 12 huge celebs hacked fnances exposed. (2013, March 11). TMZ. Retrieved August 27, 2021, from www. tmz.com/2013/03/11/12-joe-biden-ashton-kutcher-jay-z-beyonce-hillary-clinton-celebs-hackedcredit-report-fnances-exposed/?adid=hero3 Alba, D. (2021, September  29). YouTube bans all anti-vaccine misinformation. The New York Times. Retrieved September  29, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/technology/youtube-antivaxx-ban.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210929&instance_id=0&nl=breakingnews&ref=cta®i_id=138853813&segment_id=70173&user_id=c0f53c386851dab51c8436d8cb0a8 37a Cellan-Jones, R. (2012, February). Tweeting the news. BBC News. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www. bbc.com/news/technology-16946279 The Conspiracy Blog. (2017). Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://theconspiracyblog.com/ Donald J. Trump. (2017). Twitter. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from https://twitter.com/realDonald Trump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Dufy, C. (2021, October 4). Facebook whistleblower revealed on ‘60 minutes,’says the company prioritized proft over public good. CNN Business. Retrieved October 5, 2021, from www.cnn.com/2021/10/03/ tech/facebook-whistleblower-60-minutes/index.html Facebook restricts violent videos and clips. (2015, January 13). Goobjoog News. Retrieved December 16, 2021 from https://goobjoog.com/english/facebook-restricts-violent-video-clips-and-photos/ The Fireside Chats. (2017). History. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.history.com/topics/freside-chats Gautrey, C. (2017, August 8). The ethics of infuencers: Five rules to live by. The Infuence Blog. Retrieved September 17, 2021, from www.learntoinfuence.com/the-ethics-of-infuence-fve-rules-to-live-by/ Glez, D. (2020, March 17). Top ten coronavirus fake news items. The Africa Report. Retrieved September 5, 2021, from www.theafricareport.com/24698/top-10-coronavirus-fake-news-items/ Herrman, J. (2021, October 3). Will TikTok make you buy it? The New York Times, p. ST11. Hillary Clinton Says Facebook “Must Prevent Fake News from Creating a New Reality.” (2017, June 1). The Telegraph. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/31/ hillary-clinton-says-facebook-must-prevent-fake-news-creating/ History of the Web. (2017). World Wide Web Foundation. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ Hitchens, A. (2021, September 27). Face-of. The New Yorker, p. 27. Holt, J. (2021, February 21). “#StopTheSteal: Timeline of social media and extremist activities leading to 1/6 insurrection. Just Security. Retrieved September 17, 2021, from www.justsecurity.org/74622/ stopthesteal-timeline-of-social-media-and-extremist-activities-leading-to-1–6-insurrection/ Houle, D. (2009, June  3). Tiananmen square and technology. David Houle. Retrieved June  30, 2017, from https://davidhoule.com/evolutionshift-blog/technology/cell-phones/2009/06/03/tiananmensquare-and-technology How Luther went viral. (2011, December 17). The Economist. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from www.economist. com/node/21541719 Isaac, M. (2021, October  28). “Facebook renames itself Meta.” The New York Times. Retrieved October 28, 2021 from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/technology/facebook-rebrand-meta.html Jacobson, J. (2016, December 4). Gunman acts on conspiracy perpetuated by Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Rewire. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from https://rewire.news/article/2016/12/04/ gunman-acts-conspiracy-perpetuated-trump-adviser-michael-fynn/ Ko, E. (2021, December  6). Nearly 200 UNESCO countries adopt new ethical artifcial intelligence guidelines. DesignTAXI. Retrieved December 6, 2021 from https://bit.ly/3Dw6ZHL Kubbernus, C. (2020, November 6). 28 epic infuencer marketing fails of all time. Kubbco. Retrieved September 17, 2021, from www.kubbco.com/epic-infuencer-marketing-fails-of-all-time/ Lapore, J. (2021, August 2). Mission impossible. The New Yorker, pp. 74–77. Lester, P. M. (2009). On foods and photo ops: How Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush exploited catastrophes. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. Mac, R. (2021, September 3). Facebook apologizes after A.I. puts “primates” label on video of black men. The New York Times. Retrieved September 5, 2021, from www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/technology/ facebook-ai-race-primates.html

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INDEX

Note: Page numbers in italics indicate a fgure on the corresponding page. 9/11 36, 62 99 Ways to Tell a Story (Madden) 134 100-friend rule 163–164, 164 10,000-hour rule 19 Abu Ghraib prison 185 activism 23, 54 act utilitarianism 8 Adams, Eddie 36 Addario, Lynsey 183 adult themed cartoons 132 advertising 70–81; cartoons in 131; personal story 70–72; REACTS test 72–75; social good and 78–79; stereotypes 75–78 advertorials 77 advocacy 23, 54 “Afghan Girl” 188 Afghanistan 29 Age of Empathy, The (de Waal) 192 Agha-Soltan, Neda 64 Ahmed, Azam 37 Ailes, Roger 47 Akbari, Tarana 36, 37 Almon, Aren 57 Almon, Baylee 56, 57 alternative facts 164, 169 amateur photography see citizen journalists analytical procedures 13–23; Common Morality 14–15; Gert, Bernard 13–15; Systematic Ethical Analysis (SEA) see Systematic Ethical Analysis (SEA) Andreesson, Marc 165 animated flms 130–131 anti-racist work 27 appropriation 97–98, 108 Arbery, Ahmaud 66

areas of ethical concern xv–xvi Aristippus 6 Aristotle: golden mean and 7, 110; on persuasion 82–83 ARPANET 165 arrest of murder suspect xiii artifcial intelligence 169–170 art movements 106 AT&T stadium 143 augmented reality 153–155 authenticity 74 awards: citizen journalism 59–62; Eisner Award 130; George Polk Award 64; list of 61; Peabody Award 62; PEN/Benenson Courage Award 66; Pulitzer Prize 56, 57, 58, 59–61, 66, 179, 180 Aydin, Andrew 130 Babbitt, Ashli 171 Bachman, Jonathan 80 Bailenson, Jeremy 193 Baker, Sherry 72 Banksy 134 Barnard, Fred R. 106 Bassen, Tuesday 108 Bass, Saul 109, 109 Batson, Dan 191 Bayard, Hippolyte 39 Bechdel, A. 130 Beck, Richard 194 Belfast 24–26, 25, 26 Benetton 10, 77–78 Ben-Hur (movie) 140–142, 141 Bentham, Jeremy 8 Bernays, Edward 84 Berners-Lee, Tim 165

Index

bias 25, 28, 45, 45–46, 170; see also cultural awareness; subjectivity Biden, Joe 87, 117, 168 bill of rights for visual reporting 26–28 Bina, Eric 165 Black Lives Matter protests 40 Blitt, Barry 132 Bloom, Paul 194 Bok, Sissela 16 Bolas, Mark 155 Bonaparte, Napoleon 117 Books of the Dead 105 Borders, Marcy 36 Brady, Mathew 35 Breithaupt, Fritz 200 British Petroleum oil spill 90 Browne, Malcolm 36 Brown, Matthew J. 11–12 Bryant, Kobe 66 Bryant, Vanessa 66 Bryan, William “Roddie” 66 Buckley, Sean 156 Buddhism 5 Buddhist parable on objectivity 44–46, 45 Burden of Visual Truth, The (Newton) 48 Bush, George W. 87, 88 Bush, Laura 96 Byrd, Michael 171 Byrne, Patrick 50 Cailliau, Robert 165 Cairo, Alberto 119 Callan, Aela 158 calligraphy 97 Cameron, James 100 Capa, Cornell 32 Capa, Robert 35 caricatures 128 Carson, E. 109 Carter, Michelle 170–171 cartoons 119, 126–139; blameworthy behavior 131–133; humorous 128; introduction 126–127; multi-frame 128–131; praiseworthy behavior 134–135; single-frame 127–128 Case, Jonathan 130 case studies; ABC’s undercover investigation 53; baseball trademarks 111; Benetton 10; BP oil spill 90; Challenger launch 122; charts/ graphs 123; Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign 80; empathy 200; Facebook 91; “fxing” quotes 53; Friday, Rick 137; Gutenberg, Johannes 101; injured athlete photo 21; Islamic dress 31; McCurry, Steve 188; Monroe, Montinique 31; mother protecting daughter 42; news scoops 177; Of-White 102; Overman, Tony 20; Pepsi’s Kendall Jenner flm 80; photo permissions 111–112; police encounters with Black citizens 68; PTSD 160; social media 177; South Park 136; strangers kissing 42; Syria 68;

221

U.S.—Mexico border 149; violent video games 150; VR in journalism 160–161; Walker Wear 102; “What Were You Thinking?” 199; women writers 10; “World Press Photo Competition” 187 Cassidy, Arthur 173 Castile, Philando 63 categorical imperative 7–8, 35 Cathedral (Macaulay) 134 cave drawings 116 censorship 171–172 Challenger launch 122 Chapnick, Howard 58 Charlie Hebdo 132 “chartjunk” 120 Chauvin, Derek 65, 120 children 36–37 “Children at War” (Lester) 25 Christianity 5 citizen journalists 56–69; awards and 59–62; credibility and 58–62, 64–65; LaRue, Lester E. “Bob” 56–57, 58; Porter, Charles “Chuck” 56, 58; professionalism and 64–65; video recordings 62–64; websites 62 Citizen Kane (movie) 59 Clinton, Bill 9 Clinton, Hillary 168 Cochran, Wendell 179 codes of ethics 73, 110 Cohl, Émile 130 Collins, Jim 69 comic books 130 Comic Sans 99, 100 comic strips 129–130 Committee on Public Information (CPI) 84 Common Morality (Gert) 13–15 “Composition with Yellow, Red, Black, Blue, and Gray” (painting) 107 computer ethics 146–147 conceptualization 15 Confucianism 5 Confucius 58, 106 Connare, Vincent 99 consent 27, 111–112, 154 conspiracies 166–169 Contagion (movie) 3 Conway, Mike 104 corporate persuasion 85 Corrigan, Mairead 24 COVID-19 118, 119, 132–133, 167–168 Crandell, Ben 58 creativity 74 credibility 58–62, 64–65 Creel, George 84 Critique of Pure Reason (Kant) 8 cultural awareness 24–32; blameworthy examples 28; letter from Belfast 24–26; praiseworthy practices 28–30; visual reporting bill of rights 26–28; Culver, Kathleen 158

222

Index

Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé 39 Dallas police shootings 63 Dallavalle, Jonathan 120 Darnton, John 64 data visualization 115–125; history 115–116, 116; problematic and exemplary examples 116–122; tattoo graphics 115 Đức, Thích Quảng 36 deception xvi, 40 Declaration of Principles (Lee) 84 deepfakes 40, 170 Deep Rig, The (documentary) 50 DeGhett, Torie Rose 36 de la Peña, Nonny 155, 157, 158, 193 DelGaudio, Derek 44–45 Demir, Nilüfer 37 descriptive ethics 2 de Waal, Franz 192 Diaz, Alan 179, 180 DiCampo, Peter 28–29 diCorcia, Philip-Lorca 39 Disney, Walt 130 documentaries 44–55; examples 50–52; fact-based subjectivity 51, 52; objectivity, myth of 48–50; values 46–48 documentation 33, 35 Dove 80 doxing 173–174 Dunaway, Faye 195–196, 196 Eastman, George 37 Ebert, Roger 157, 192 Echo 155 editing 179–189; decisions to be made 181–184; factors afecting 181; image selection 184–186; introduction 179–181 editorial cartoons 128 Eichenwald, Kurt 170–171 Eisenstaedt, Alfred 42 Eisert, Sandra 113–114 Eisner, Will 130 email 165 empathy 11, 190–202; aspects of 191; importance of 55; lessons learned 195–198; “A Mile in My Shoes” 190; pros and cons of 191–195 Empathy Diaries, The (Turkle) 192 equity 74 Erhaim, Zaina 68 ethical philosophies 5–9, 18 ethics: defnition of 3; values and 46–48 “ethics mantra” xv Ethics Unwrapped website 15 ethos 82 Evangelista, Benny 64 Facebook 91, 99–100, 168, 171, 173, 184 facial creation 170 facial recognition 169–170 fact-based subjectivity 51, 52 Fairey, Shepard 107–108

Fajardo, Sara A. 29–30 fake news 166–169 Famous Funnies (comic book) 130 fax machines 164–165 Feinstein, Anthony 58 Fields, Chris 56, 57 Filo, John 38 Fishing for Goldfsh (documentary) 51 Flaherty, Robert J. 28, 51 Fleischman, Doris 84 Floyd, George 65–66, 88, 120 Ford, George W. 104 “Fourteen Against One” image 34 Fox News 47–48 Frances, Tim 184–185 “Frankie and Johnny” xiv–xv Frare, Theresa 77 Frazier, Darnella 65–66 Freud, Sigmund 84 Friday, Rick 137 Fun Home (graphic novel) 130 Fust, Johann 95, 96 Gaines, James 36 Gaines, Max 130 Gamergate 3, 156 games 133, 133, 192–193 Garcia, Manny 108 Gardner, Alexander 35 Garland, Merrick 117 Garner, Eric 63 Gautrey, Colin 175 George Polk Award 64 Gert, Bernard 13–15, 14 Gilligan, Carol 6 Gillray, James 132 Gilmore, An‘Twan 67 Giner, Juan Antonio 119 Gladwell, Malcolm 19 Glaser, Milton 109 goggle movies 152, 153 Goldberg, Susan 28 golden mean 7, 109, 144 golden rule 6, 176 González, Elián 179, 180 Goodman, Ryan 166 Google Glass 154 Gosar, Paul 172 grafti 94, 95 Grand Design, The (Hawking and Mlodinow) 48 Granger, David 153 graphic design 104–114; ethically questionable behavior 107–108; history of 104–107; introduction 104; loyalties 109–110 graphic novels 126, 130 graphs 123 Green River Killer (musical) 130 Griliopoulos, Dan 155 Groening, Matt 131

Index

gruesome content 172–173 Gucci 108 Gutenberg, Johannes 95, 96, 101 Gutiérrez, Bárbara 180–181 Hardest Day, The (movie) 151 Hardy, Arnold 59 Hare, James “Jimmy” H. 35 harm xv, 4, 27 Harris, Jonathan 120–121 Haugen, Frances 168 Hawking, Stephen 48 Hawkins, Trip 192 Hearst, William Randolph 59 hedonism 6–7, 72 Heider, Don 27, 41 Heiss, Brian 120 Heller, Steven 97–98, 103 Hennessy, Rachel 194 Herbert Hoover (movie) 164 Herriman, George 129 Herrman, John 175 Hersh, Seymour 185 Hertzberg, Mark 27 Hill, Sarah 162 Hinduism 4 Hogarth, William 128 Holliday, George 62 Holmes, Nigel 121, 124–125 Holo-Lens 154 Holt, Lester 62, 171 homophobia 133 Honda, Stan 36 Hoover, Herbert 164 Hossaini, Massoud 36–37 Houle, David 165 Howard, Tom 85 Hume, David 48 humorous cartoons 128 image copies 170 image manipulation xvi In a Diferent Voice (Gilligan) 6 infuencers 174–176 infomercials 77 inspiration vs. appropriation 97–98 International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) 73, 110 International Council of Societies of Industrial Design 110 interviews: Brislin, Tom 22–23; Brown, Matthew J. 11–12; Collins, Jim 69; Constantine, Greg 32; Eisert, Sandra; 13–114; Heller, Steven 103; Hill, Sarah 162; Holmes, Nigel 124–125; Irby, Kenny 201–202; Katz, Stephen 54–55; Lange, Lisa 92–93; Nakamura, Beth 178; Nick Oza 54; Paquin, Denis 43; Robb, Jenny E. 138–139; Saliba, Emmanuelle 69; Sparks, Johnny 81; Taylor, Ross 151; Walgren, Judy 189 Irby, Kenny 201–202

223

Islam 5 Itchõ, Hanabusa 45 Jacobson, Jodi 168 Jainism 5 January 6, 2021 145, 171 Jarecke, Kenneth 36 Jay, Bill 37 Jenner, Kendall 79, 80 Jensen, Jef 130 Johnson, Sidney 63 Jonson, Ben 6 Jonze, Spike 156 Jorgensen, Victor 42 journalism persuasion 85 Judaism 4 justifcation 15 justifed harm 4 Jyllands-Posten 132 Kadavy, David 100 Kamvar, Sep 120 Kant, Immanuel 7–8, 35 Karlov, Andrei 43 Katz, Stephen 54–55 Kennedy assassination 62 Kent, Tom 157, 158 Kienzler, Donna 121 King, Rodney 62 Kirby, David 77 Kleinrock, Leonard 165 Kobra, Eduardo 135, 135 Kolbert, Elizabeth 28 Kovach, Bill 64 Kramer, Stella 36 Kunuk Uncovered (parody) 51 Kurdi, Aylan 37 Kurtz, Adam J. 108 Lange, Dorothea 38 Lange, Lisa 92–93 Lapore, Jill 168 LaRue, Lester E. “Bob” 56–57, 58 Lasswell, Harold 84 Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me (graphic novel) 130 Le Duc, Julia 37 Lee, Harper 192 Lee, Ivy 84 Lego 78 Lester, Tom Martin 71 Lester, Tom Martin Jr. 71 Lewis, John 130 Life magazine 36 Lippmann, Walter 84, 85 logos 82 Long, Adam 60–61 Long, John 20 Loundy, Mark 27 loyalties 109–110

224

Index

Luckey, Palmer 155 Lumière, Auguste and Louis 51 Luther, Martin 164 Lying (Bok) 16 Lyons, Sara M. 108 Lyttle, Melissa 187 Macaulay, David 134 MacDougall, Curtis 185 Mackel, Travers 49 Madden, John 146 Madden, Matt 134 manipulation: deepfakes 40, 170; of images xvi, 39–41; psychological 99 Mann, Michael 50 March (graphic novel) 130 Marcinkowski, Paul 115 marketing techniques, cartoons and 131 Martinson, David L. 72 Massie, Christopher 185 Mayhem (Bok) 16 McBride, Kelly 37 McChord Commissary Club Store 83 McCumber, Daisy 59, 60 McDonnell, Joe 24 McMichael, Greg 66 McMichael, Travis 66 McNally, Michele 40, 187 MEGACON 127 Mercator, Gerardus 117 Merrill, Austin 28–29 Merrill, John 84 “metaverse” 169 Meyer, Philip 49 Microsoft Corporation 99 “Migrant Mother” portrait 38 “A Mile in My Shoes” 190, 191 Miller, J. Howard 86 Mill, Harriet Taylor 8–9, 10 Mill, John 8–9, 10 Minaj, Nicki 167 Minard, Charles 117 misogyny 133, 156 mixed reality 153 Mlodinow, Leonard 48 Mondrian, Piet 107 Moore, Michael 50 moral agents 18 moral imagination 11–12 morality 3–4, 13–15 moral philosophies 5–9, 18 “morgue” 33 Morris, Errol 99 Mother Teresa 192 Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) 144 motion picture ethics 144 movies vs. television 142 Murdock, Rupert 47

Nakamura, Beth 178 Nanook of the North (documentary) 28, 51 Nast, Thomas 128 National Communication Association (NCA) 73 National Geographic 28 National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) 26, 51, 73, 193 Neon Demon, The (movie) 75 Neukum, Cathe 193 News Pictures Fit to Print . . . Or Are They? (MacDougall) 185 Newton, Julianne 48 Nick Oza 54 Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle) 7 Niépce, Isidore 39 Niépce, Joseph Nicéphore 39 Nike 79 Nini, Paul 110 normative ethics 3 not taking a picture, reasons for 182 Nussbaum, Martha 194 Nussenzweig, Erno 39 Obama, Barack 108 objectivity 44–46, 48–50, 51 Of-White 102 Olshwanger, Ron 60–61 On Liberty (Mill) 8 opinion recognition 170 O’Reilly, Bill 47 Orta, Ramsey 63 Ortiz, Erik 62 Outcault, Richard 59, 131 Outliers (Gladwell) 19 Overby, Paul 61 Overman, Tony 20 Ozbilici, Burhan 43 Papyrus (typeface) 100 Paquin, Denis 43 Parker, Trey 132, 136 Parkinson, Kate 158 pathos 82 Patnaik, Dev 192 Peabody Award 62 People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) 92–93 Pepsi 79, 80 Perlmutter, David 17 permission 27 Perry, Eddie 39 persuasion xvi; in advertising 72, 77; corporate 85; journalistic 85; political 85; vs. propaganda 82–84 Pettus, Patricia 60 philosophical underpinnings 1–12 photo op 85–89 photo permissions 111–112; see also consent Phuc, Kim 36

Index

Plaisance, Patrick Lee 47 Planet of the Humans (Moore) 50 Plato 105 political persuasion 85, 132, 170 political photo op 85–89 Pollio, Marcus Vitruvius 105 Popper, Ben 108 Porter, Charles “Chuck” 56, 58 Posobiec, Jack 166 Potter, Ralph B. Jr. 16 Powell, Nate 130 Priestley, Joseph 8 Prine, John 170 privacy rights xvi, 37–39, 171 professionalism 64–65 propaganda 82–84 Prosser, William xvi PTSD 160 Public Opinion (Lippmann) 85 public relations 82–93; corporate persuasion 85; history 84–85; journalism persuasion 85; persuasion vs. propaganda 82–84; political persuasion 85; political photo op 85–89 Pulitzer, Joseph 59 Pulitzer Prize: citizen journalism 56–58, 57, 60, 66; origins of 58; violence and 40–41; war photography 36 QAnon 167 racism 27, 99, 131–132, 133, 170 Ramírez, Óscar Alberto Martínez 37 Ramírez, Valeria 37 Rawls, John 9, 37, 74, 89, 119, 121, 190 REACTS test 72–75, 110 reasons to not take a picture 182 recent ethical dilemmas 1–3 Refn, Nicolas Winding 75 religion 4–5 Remnick, David 185 respect 73–74 Reynaud, Charles-Émile 130 Reynolds, Lavish “Diamond” 63 Rifkin, Jeremy 192 Rivello, John 170–171 Robb, Jenny E. 138–139 Robinson, Emerald 167 Robinson, Norman 49 role-related responsibilities 4, 18 Roosevelt, Franklin 164 Rosen, Jay 58 Ross, Harold 128 Roussimof, André René 107–108 rule utilitarianism 8 Ryder, David 40 Safer, Morley 64 Saliba, Emmanuelle 69

225

Sands, Bobby 24 Santana, Feidin 63 Sarkeesian, Anita 156 “Saturday Night Live” 79, 100 Schau, Virginia 59, 60–61, 61 Scheer, Robert 43 Schiavo, Terri 123 Schleifstein, Mark 49 Schoefer, Peter 96 Schröder-Köpf, Doris 96 Schuster, Joe 130 science 11–12 Scott, Walter 63 screened media 140–151; computer ethics 146–147; introduction 140–142; motion picture ethics 144; movies vs. television 142; screen size and content acceptance 142–144; television ethics 144–146; web ethics 147–148 Seeing with Fresh Eyes (Tufte) 117 Semple, Kirk 37 sentiment recognition 170 Sherwin-Williams 104, 105 shield law 181 Shinto 5 shock advertising 75–76, 76, 78 Shur, Renee 119 Siegel, Jerry 130 Simpson, O. J. 120 “Simpsons, The” 131, 134 Skau, Drew 120 Skewes, Elizabeth A. 47 Slager, Michael 63 “Small Dada Evening” 106 Smith, Jonathan 171 Smythe, Stuart 108 Snyder, Ruth 85 social good 78–79 social media 163–178; 100-friend rule 163–164; artifcial intelligence 169–170; censorship, suspension, and banishment 171–172; conspiracies 166–169; doxing 173–174; ethical issues 169; fake news 166–169; golden rule and 176; gruesome content 172–173; history of 164–165; infuencers 174–176; privacy 171; threats 170–171; WorldWideWeb 165–166 social responsibility 74–75 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) 73 Sofa, Izza 108 sources, protecting 181 South, Joe 190 South Park 136 Sparks, Johnny 81 Spectacles 3 155 stage-managing 40 stakeholders 18 Stephenson, Neal 169 stereotypes xvi, 75–78, 99, 131–132, 156 Stone, Matt 132, 136

226

Index

“Stop the Steal” 166 Storm, Brian 193 Story Telling website 29–30 strangers kissing 42 Strock, George 36 subjectivity 48, 49, 51, 52 Sullivan, Margaret 158 Sullivan, Timothy H. 35 Syria 68 Systematic Ethical Analysis (SEA) viii, 15; eight-step model 17; four-step model 16; six-step model 17; ten-step model 17–19; three-step model 16; two-step model 15 Tamaki, Mariko 130 Taoism 5 Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu) 5 Tarantino, Quentin 192 TARES 72 tattoo graphics 115 Taylor, Jonathan 183 Taylor, Ross 151 television ethics 144–146 Theory of Justice, A (Rawls) 9 Thompson, Florence 38, 38 threats 170–171 Tobin, Martin 120 Toscani, Oliviero 77, 78 trademarks 111 Troilo, Giovanni 40 Trump, Donald 39, 50, 87, 87–88, 149, 166, 172 truthfulness 74 Truth Needs No Ally (Chapnick) 58 Tufte, Edward 118–119 Turkle, Sherry 192 Turner, Ted 131 Tweed, William “Boss” 128, 129 Twitter 173 typeface families 98 typography 94–103; inspiration vs. appropriation 97–98; introduction 94–95; loyalties 95–97; questionable typeface uses 98–100, 100 Ukiyo-e 45 Unilever 78–79 unjustifed harm xv U.S.–Mexico border 149 utilitarianism 8–9, 35, 109 Utilitarianism (Mill) 8 Ut, Nick 36 Valero-O’Connell, Rosemary 130 Valfre, Ilse 108 values 4–5, 46–48 van Doesburg, Theo 106 Vecchio, Mary Ann 38

veil of ignorance 9, 37, 63, 74, 89, 119, 121, 190 Verizon 78 victims of violence xv, 35–37 Viglione, Paolo 188 violence 133, 133; in computer games 146, 146, 150; screen size and 144; in virtual reality 156; war photography 51; on the web 147–148 violent images xv; of children 36–37; war photography 35–37 virtual reality; augmented reality 153–155; empathy and 193–194; ethical issues 157–159; ethically problematic uses 155–156; goggle movies 152, 153; in journalism 160–161, 162; mixed reality 153; praiseworthy uses of 156–157; primary systems 155 Visual Communication (Lester) 17 visual reporting 33–41; “Fourteen Against One” image 34; manipulation of images 39–41; privacy rights 37–39 visual reporting bill of rights 26–28 Walgren, Judy 189 Walker Wear 102 Walz, Tim 65 war photography 35–36, 51 Way Things Work, The (Macaulay) 134 web ethics 147–148 We Feel Fine (Harris and Kamvar) 120 Weisselberg, Allen 18 Westervelt, Amy 156 White, Jordan 66–67 White News (Heider) 27 Will, George F. 86 Williams, Betty 24 Williams, Donald 65 Winston, Morton 18 Wired to Care (Patnaik) 192 women-as-object commercials 76–77 women writers, case study 10 Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory (documentary) 51 “World Press Photo Competition” 187 World War II recruitment poster 86 WorldWideWeb 165–166 Xiaomi 155 Yanez, Jeronimo 63 yellow journalism 59 “Yellow Kid, The” (cartoon) 59, 131 YouTube 168 Zapruder, Abraham 62 Zara 108 Zoroastrianism 5 Zuckerberg, Mark 155, 168, 184