Truth Has Consequences: Thoughts and Comments

Documentary Photographer Robert Gumpert has responded with some thoughts  about my article on how digital cameras and digital technology is changing photojournalism. Read an earlier post (2004) about Robert .

Bob starts off with a critique of a quote from Washington Post Magazine photo editor Keith Jenkins, suggesting that "With the technology now, the amateur photographer is as capable as a professional journalist and is operating with the same tools: Digital camera, laptop and an Internet connection."

RG:

"What is the point of you teaching what you teach?  Of course I don't believe that the above is true but is only a reflection of a growing trend - namely that technique and equipment are all that is needed to do images/journalism.  Sort of like now that there is spell and grammar check anyone can write.  Or because there is now simple but powerful desktop publishing software everyone is a graphic designer.  This is a phenomena that has hit us everywhere - the idea of everyone can do everything - from "professional movie making to journalism to teaching"  It isn't so. 

Further, responding to an assumption I apparently made that disregards the historical context in which photography has not solely been the exclusive domain of professionals Robert points out.

RG:

The Abu Ghraib photos weren't something new, these kind of images have been around for a long time.  The fact that they were digital only made it quicker and easier for them to hit the general public.  The Mai Lai images, as I recall, were not taken by a professional photojournalist and the sinking of the Argentine battleship was taken by a soldier. There have been for a number of years, images of plane crashes taken by passersby.

The camera phone or for that matter the tiny still/video digital that everyone now carries are, I think, powering an accelerated change, a change that had already hit the "news desks" years ago.  We live in a time that values reaction over thought.  A time that seems to increasingly distrust education, professionalism, specialists and value speed and technique.

Is this new? No.  Has the electronic information age sped it along? Yes.  Does the dumbing down of images affect the way photojournalists work and current styles of "journalism", "reporting", portraits? Yes. The fact is given the right circumstances anyone can take "good" images.  Years ago, to prove a point, an editor of one the Sunday magazines in London ran a cover taken by a gorilla in the zoo.  It was as good as about 75% of the covers they ran.  The camera did the work and since the gorilla was being "paid" with food, she (I think it was a she but I really don't know) took hundreds of shots.  All that was needed was one. 

We are living in a time where the old adage give a monkey a typewriter and enough time and Shakespeare will appear has sort of come true. Unfortunately we are confusing every image with greatness and news value.  First because we marvel at the technology (live remotes on local news 20 years ago, live, real time images from the battle field in Iraq.  And now camera phone images/video from tunnels in London) and then because they have become the standard.  Local news goes to a live remote all the time not because it adds anything to the story or is needed but because it is convention. 

Technology for a long time now hasn't been aiding in news gathering, it has been shaping what is news.  Not every car chase is news but you wouldn't know that from the way such "events" are covered in most news markets around the country.

We talk and pundit far too much about the technology and not enough about the use and what "journalism" is or should be.

With regard to privacy and the ubiquitous presence of cameras in society Robert observes.

RG:

Just one last thought:  Privacy.  Camera phones and other small imaging devices in the hands of what you call CSers have and are going to increasingly make the job of journalists and photojournalists more difficult.   As the "citizens" become more intrusive and the "reporting" they do becomes less and less trustworthy, it is not they that will pay the price but the professionals who will find getting the image harder and harder.

The quote from the Washington Post photo editor really does sum it all up: Form over content.  Content over thought.  Technology over everything. Once I took a workshop from Don McCullin and he was asked what kind of camera he used.  His response:  "It wouldn't matter if I used a pinhole, the pictures would look the same because I took them".  Way too many in the business, at the papers, magazines, agencies and schools, have forgotten that the camera doesn't take the photo, the photographer/journalist does. 

Robert's note brings up some of the things I have been wrestling with lately as I prepare for a pre-conference workshop in San Antonio next month as the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. I would like to think that many if not most journalism educators are concerned with how best to teach both new media skills as well as common core values.

The impact of the visual in society is undeniable. Media, from print, broadcast, film, digital video and the Internet, increasingly rely on images to tell stories. Effective teaching in Journalism and Mass Communications suggests the conviction that students toward critical and sophisticated visual thinking along with other communicative skills, such as writing and developing healthy interpersonal relationship in the newsroom and beyond. In addition to understanding new media skills influencing traditional routines and rituals in visual journalism today, educators must continue to emphasize core competencies and values –– components which are inextricably bound to the visual storytelling, writing and editing process.

For Dates (2001), “As technology advances, our graduates must be prepared to hold onto core values, using the basic foundations we have built with them to help share media to meet society’s needs” (Janette L. Dates, “Symposium: Journalism and Mass Communication Education at the Crossroads”. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Autumn 2001, Vol. 56/3, page 21).
   

For Mitchell (2002), “Instructors need to teach new media skills in the context of being tools to get journalism done. I think they probably get that; where I have some concerns is when traditional journalistic courses are aced out to make way for new media skill courses - taught, at some times, by professors who know less about new media than the students” (Poynter Online Discussion Thread).

In a recent address to members of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Mary Alice Shaver, emphasizes how educators must continue to teach toward the traditional core values of truth-telling, accuracy, public service as well as minimizing harm. Further, Shaver suggests that educators need to ensure that’s “today students have the skills to meet today’s employment requirements,” but she also cautions that students must be prepared to “adapt and thrive in tomorrow’s marketplace” (AEJMC News, May 2005, page 2).

Last summer (2004), the Carnegie Corporation sponsored a study inviting journalism deans from across the country to consider the role of the higher education in revitalizing journalism program in order to strengthen the profession and its obligations toward an informed citizenry in a democracy. In the study, more than 40  news industry leaders were interviewed about the state of journalism education and how journalism schools could elevate the profession’s standards and status (Improving the Education of Tomorrow’s Journalists, 2005, Carnegie, page 2).

The Carnegie study showed agreement among news industry leaders that changes in the news business brought about by the drive for profit, diminished objectivity and a trend toward “entertainment” content seriously challenges journalists and the organizations they worked for. Findings of the study suggest that educators must be dedicated to “emphasize the basics of the journalism craft, along with analytical thinking and a strong sense of ethics” (Improving, page 3).

The Carnegie study examines the shared concerns of news industry leaders pertaining to journalism education. For example, “The majority of interviewees agreed that the most critical responsibility of journalists is to serve the public interest and protect our democracy.” Further leaders expressed opinions suggesting that may journalism schools may not fit into the changing media environment -- one in which readers admit to having far less free time to consume news in a progressively interconnected world (page 5).

How are visual journalism educators expected to respond to the demands of an ever-changing media environment? How can a balance be struck between teaching new media skills and core journalistic values?

In a recent study exploring the perceptions photo managers and photo editors hold toward the adoption of new technologies, Michelle Sellig (2005) explicates the concerns professionals have about journalism education.

Sellig’s research suggests that professionals expect students not only to be competent in the producing news images, but also understand how to generate story ideas, gain access to and build rapport with subjects, demonstrated solid news judgment and ethical decision-making, write clearly and cohesively, as well as have a mastery of editing images for visual impact. Photo managers and photo editors, according to Sellig, want students to have good people skills, show compassion and respect for others, possess a good work ethic, show that they are able to listen and learn, demonstrate solid news reporting skills, and understand the importance of fairness and accuracy in journalistic practice.

For visual journalism educators one of the present challenges appears to be finding ways in which to demonstrate inter-connectivity between the art of photography and the science of journalism. 

Last year I wrote about one of the most important gift teachers can  leave with students  -- empathy. I am not sure I am always successful at teaching this quality but I recognize how critical it is in making meaningful and socially relevant images.

One of the most important skills we can learn from photojournalism is empathy. As photojournalists our strength comes from the ability to communicate honestly through our images. Communication is all about making connections. As photojournalists, we are not mechanics fixing broken parts. We are storytellers communicating about what it is like to be in the world.

Every time we go out into the world with a camera to interpret and record what we experience through seeing we become participants in a very human drama. Our images must reflect the contingencies of human experience at a given time and place.