History of Photojournalism: Chapter Seven: Ethics of Photojournalism

When it comes to publishing a photo, you already know some people will love it and some will hate it. Many people have different opinions on things based on their ethics or their views on life and society. No one is ever right or wrong, but it seems to this day people tend to have the final say or feel the need to always be right.

I found an article on the web and I stated on Tuesday December 6^th 2012, the New York Post ran a cover page of a photo taken by R. Umar Abbasi. This photo showed a man about to get hit by a subway train. 58-year-old Ki Suk Han had been pushed into the tracks moments before. That was not all though, the “The bold, underlined letters printed over the photo read “Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die,” and in larger all-capital letter below, “DOOMED.”

The main reason why this became such a controversy was because Abbasi “defended his decision to photograph the man, instead of helping him.” People were saying, if he say the man get pushed into the subway track, why not help him get up? Instead he chose to try and get a great photo and be known because of it. Also a lot of people felt that yes it was a good photo and caused come controversy, but the New York Post didn’t make it any better by stating that Abbasi was “doomed,” and also finding a better photo would of made photojournalist Abbasi look less guilty.

Personally, if I was Abbasi I would of chosen a different photo to send out to the New York Post mainly because one of the words I chose for my ethics was respect. With the posting of a man getting hit by a subway train, it did not respect him as a person or to his family, which happened to another one of my words I chose for my ethics. No family member wants to see an image of another family member getting hit by a train, and they defiantly don’t want it being on the cover of a huge magazine. I understand that getting a story on something this big would do great for publicity and your career as a photojournalist and I would of tried to get a story like this as well, but I wouldn’t of waned to post such a graphic image of it.