Visual Journalism

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• Visual Journalism
• By Zhuang Pinghui

2
Milestones

• 1839, the word photography was first used by
  Sir John Herschel.
• 1861-65, Mathew Brady and staff (mostly staff)
  covers the American Civil War, exposing 7000
  negatives.
• 1907, first commercial color film, the Autochrome
  plates manufactured by Lumiere brothers in
  France.
• In the 1920s, American engineer, Philo Taylor
  Famsworth devised the television camera, an image
  dissector, which converted the image captured
  into an electrical signal.
• 1936, First television broadcast made available
  in London.
• World War II, development of multi-layer color
  negative films
• 1953 Color broadcasting officially arrives in the
  U.S. on Dec. 17, when FCC approves modified
  version of an RCA system.
• 1991, Kodak released the first professional
  digital camera system (DCS), aimed at
  photojournalists.

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To shoot or not to shoot
Photographing is essentially an act of
non-intervention. The person who intervenes
cannot record the person who is recording cannot
intervene. -- Susan Sontag
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Balanced or biased
I'm ashamed of Oregon's largest daily newspaper
NOT fair and un-balanced during this war." -- An
American readers
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To show or not to show

• Victims of tragedy
• Blood
• Nudity
• Embarrassment
• Traumatized body
• Suicide

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HKJAs guidelines on coverage of suicides

• HKJA recommends that the press should follow the
  principles stated below, unless overriding public
  interest is involved
• a low-key approachinside pages of newspapers,
  and in less prominent positions in radio and
  television news bulletins
• avoid a detailed description of the suicide
  method.
• use of a victim's full name and photograph is
  discouraged.
• respect the privacy of family members and avoid
  imposing on the grief of those affected.
• http//www.freeway.org.hk/hkja/ethics/index.htm

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Right to privacy

• Public figures / their family
• Juvenile
• Complaint / victim of sexual offence
• Offender / victim of crime and tragedy
• NB
• Beware the context even in public place
• Get valid consent for shooting when ask
  permission in private place.
• Intrusion of privacy starts from shooting the
  picture, not necessarily from publishing.

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Imaginary credibility
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Photo editing policy

• It is our policy never to alter the content of
  news photographs. This means that nothing is
  added or subtracted from the image such as a hand
  or tree limb in an inopportune position. Normal
  adjustment to contrast and gray scale for better
  reproduction is permitted. Washington Post
• The content of a photograph will NEVER be
  changed or manipulated in any way. Only the
  established norms of standard photo printing
  methods such as burning, dodging, toning and
  cropping are acceptable. Retouching is limited to
  removal of normal scratches and dust spots.
  Associated Press
• Journalists should process pictures on the basis
  of the actual scene that they have seen. Any
  re-processing before and after the pictures are
  taken are unacceptable. -- HKJA

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Conclusion

• Every image is a choice.
• Every image is a statement.
• Visual journalism is more than an image to be
  focused, a picture to be published, a video to be
  aired. Humanity should be its primary concern.

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The end. Thank you.

• Picture attribution (from left to right, up then
  down)
• S.1 Alfred Eisenstdaet, Slava Vedar, Bill Foley,
  Adem Nadel, L. A. Times, Reuters
• S.3 Kevin Carter, Nick Ut
• S.4 CNN, Al-Jazeera, L.A. Times
• S.8 Robert Capa, Joe Rosenthal, L.A. Times