Chapter Seven- Ethics in Photojournalism

In 1982 a Florida woman Hilda Bridges, brought suit charges against Florida’s Cocoa Today Newspaper after accusing them of invasion of privacy, trespassing and inflicting emotional distress. Prior to these accusations Hilda Bridges was kidnapped by her estranged husband at gunpoint and forced to her apartment, holding her captive. He then forced her to disrobe in the hopes she wouldn’t try to escape. Florida police were notified of the situation and surrounded the apartment. This of course brought attention to the community including, Cocoa Today’s photojournalist Scott Maclay, who waited outside with his 300mm lens.

After hearing a gunshot, police went in and rescued the frightened Hilda, who was photographed by Maclay, running with police partially covered in a dish towel, showing fear on both the officers and her faces. The photo eventually hit the front page of the newspaper, causing Hilda to feel like a victim all over again. It was said on The Leagle, “At some point the public interest in obtaining information becomes dominant over the individual's right of privacy. "It has been said that the truth may be spoken, written or printed about all matters of a private nature in which the public has a legitimate interest." Cason v. Baskin, 20 So.2d at 251. Within the scope of legitimate public concern are matters customarily regarded as "news." The idea that the public’s interest in what is considered news, seems to have its faults and really cause more harm on already termed victims.

Photo by: Scott Maclay

It was also stated,” Although publication of the photograph, which won industry awards, could be considered by some to be in bad taste, the law in Florida seems settled that where one becomes an actor in an occurrence of public interest, it is not an invasion of her right to privacy to publish her photograph with an account of such occurrence. Jacova, 83”. It seems very unethical to term a victim of such a crime to be considered an “actor”. The photograph published showed no moral remorse for the victim, and no respect to her feelings. It seems that Maclay had no interest in the respect of Hilda, just an interest in getting a front page story.

The images taken by photojournalists for news media purposes make what’s happening in the world far more real, but how far is too far? Ethical consideration in photojournalism has been a topic of discussion for some time. When a journalist captures a photo of a dying child and publishes to the public, is that considered ethical? Is the journalist showing respect, dignity to the individual? Are they showing signs of compassion? These are just some of the questions photojournalists need to ask themselves when they are on an assignment. In the case of Hilda Bridges, yes people had a right to know what was happening, but did Maclay have an option of another photograph? If he wanted to express in his photo the fear and distress she was in why didn’t he just capture her face? Her facial expressions alone showed that. If I was Maclay, I would have deemed the event news worthy and captured needed images, but maybe first giving her the shirt off my back to cover her up to contain her dignity. If it was a child running in her shoes, naked under that small towel could that have been published? Or would that have been deemed as child pornography? There seems to be no difference and I believe the coverage of this story could have been handled with more respect to the victim.

Photo by: Debra Sweet