There are many scenarios in life where one is posed with challenging decisions. In certain careers, people are faced with rather different, yet difficult decisions they must make in the spur of the moment. Being an aspiring documentarian and filmmaker, it is inevitable that I too will be faced with these challenging decisions. In some instances, the perplexing choices made by individuals in my field have either made or broke their respective careers. I will examine and relate my career choice to a case study found in the textbook.
The case study I chose can be found in Chapter 1. Case 1-A deals with a photographer who was faced with an extremely trying decision at the spur of the moment. In 1976, Boston Herald photographer Stanley Forman won a Pulitzer Prize in the "Spot News Photography" category for a piece he covered of a young woman and a young girl falling from a fire escape during a city fire. As the story goes, Forman answered a call on a July afternoon about a fire in one of Boston's older city sections. Upon responding to the cal, Forman ran down an alley in the neighborhood to find a sight he didn't expect. He found the 2-year old girl and her 19-year old godmother trapped on a fifth floor balcony. Amidst the craziness, Forman noted a fire truck ladder being raised to the girls and another firefighter already in place on the roof. Before Forman knew it, the balcony had collapsed and the two girls fell to the ground. The entire time, Forman was shooting the scenario with his 135mm camera lens, capturing the entire ordeal on film.
I did some research on the situation and came across the NPPA's, or National Press Photographers Association, Code of Ethics. Being a photographer for the Boston Herald, a nationally recognized news publication, Forman would be expected to uphold the ethics set forth by the NPPA. After reviewing the broad (and noticeably short) code, I came across an interesting point set forth by the organization. The code states, "Strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of view." In relating Forman's work in this instance to the code, I noted that Forman, in fact, did what the code says. However, the question that I would like to raise is the idea of moral values. In saying that, I mean, if you are witnessing a tragedy in where someone's life is at stake, is there a certain point in which the camera should go down and the journalist should attempt to intervene and lend their services? In other words, does the price of a picture overpower the price of one's life?
In this specific situation, the code of ethics set forth by the NPPA covers the general issue. If Forman had a manual with this specific code on hand on that faithful day in July, he would've been able to turn to the code and read the "rule" I listed above and probably would've gone on with his photographing. The code is helpful in evaluating this situation on the level that it does state that the photographer should "strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of view." In taking a backseat look at what Forman shot, he did successfully follow the guidelines set forth in the code of ethics. He was able to capture a situation that most of the population would never encounter, or in other words unpopular, and he did give the public an unrestricted view to the subjects at hand, in this instance, a young girl and her godmother unfortunately falling from a fire escape. So, as I find, Forman acted accordingly with the code of ethics set forth by the NPPA.
In my personal opinion, this code of ethics seemingly fails Forman's and basic humanity's unstated moral code. Again, in my personal opinion, this code is not helpful in examining the ethical considerations of this case study. However, as opposed to the professional ethics discussion at hand, I believe that Forman should have acted accordingly with the moral code of all society. This code deals with the ethics of photojournalists strictly on a professional level. Yes, it is the duty of photojournalists everywhere to capture the shots that fall out of the realm of the "norm." By this standard, Forman did his job. However, as a human, I believe that Forman did not fulfill his duty to put his camera down and intervene, either lending a hand with the efforts to rescue the young girl and her teenage godmother, or with respecting the family's privacy and not, in my opinion, exploiting the loss of their loved ones. Like I previously stated, Forman acted as a professional, which is what the code outlines, but neglects the ethics and morals of humans and the respect of the subjects at hand. Some things are meant to be photographed, while others should be kept privately.
One in-class discussion and article that I can relate to this situation deals with the WikiLeaks situation. A NY Times article provided to us in class discussed the scrutiny which WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange came under regarding their releasing of top-secret, classified government cables. The scrutiny they faced was largely due to the idea of releasing very real, kept-as-a-secret information that they did not have permission to exploit. I think that this relates to this case study in the idea of, when is real too real? Much like the photographs Forman shot, the cables that were released, including a specific one of a video of U.S. military forces bombing in Afghanistan, were extremely graphic. A photo of two young people falling to their death and videos of lethal bombings in Afghanistan, to me, fall in the same category as being something that the public does not necessarily need access to. The fact that people died in both instances that were visually documented is something that should be kept in archives and private. While both acted as professionals and did adhere to the code set forth by the NPPA, I do believe that it is a little extensive and unnecessarily publicized.
A second in-class discussion that I relate to this case study to occurred during my group's discussion period. In discussing the Hayes Code, my group seemingly got a tad bit off topic and wound up on the topic of video games in America (I know...very weird). In speaking about video games, we got on the topic of the graphic nature of some video games and their relation to domestic violence in the U.S. I see how this relates to the topic at hand with Forman's graphic photographs in the fact that the real nature of the visuals is too much. In regards to the video games, the extremely realistic graphics in the game have been linked to the growing domestic violence among youths in America. While seemingly unrelated, I think the two can be linked due to the realness of both. In our discussion group, we talked about, while visually appealing, the graphic nature of visuals should be toned down and not involve so much detail. I think that Forman's photographs are of such a graphic nature that they should be kept private, much like the detailed nature of the visuals in video games should be toned down...obviously for different reasons.
In this particular case, I found that seeing the other side of topic was most helpful. In my first blog post, I wrote about how in my desired career path I won't experience ethical issues. However, seeing a case study like this, I understand more how going out to visually document real events could lead me to encounter ethical issues. When documenting real events, the issue of intervening or not intervening and valuing the privacy of the subjects before the price of a "getting the shot" does come up. Professor Bindig brought up while making a documentary, should the person intervene in certain situations that pose a threat to the subjects, does raise an interesting point. I could see myself running into this dilemma while filming a documentary, as I do consider myself someone with strict moral values. If there were a situation that posed a threat to a subjects life, I would find myself putting my camera down and either choosing not to film or looking to help with efforts to avoid serious injury to my subjects. This case study on Forman's professional devotion did open my eyes to the problems I could see myself facing.
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