The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is a “society that promotes the highest standards in visual journalism”. They set the code of ethics for photojournalists and is considered like their ten commandments that they must follow. They are easy to interpret and are direct. The following three out of the 9 codes are talking about not manipulating any images, whether by staging, altering the image, or altering the image to mislead viewers. It is pretty straight forward and any respected professional photojournalist should have no problem abiding with these “rules”.
Image source: http://www.eldiario.es/cultura/Narciso-Contreras-muestra-mediante-Siria_0_331767470.html
Yet despite how clear the rules are, so many have fallen from grace. One example of a respected photojournalist, is the case of Pulitzer prize-winning freelance photographer Narciso Contreras, which a single image, ruined his respected career. His crime? Violating the ethical standards by altering a photo he took while covering the war in Syria in 2013. What he did wasn’t major, he didn’t change the image to mislead or misrepresent his viewers. He manipulated the image to remove his colleagues camera out from the lower left hand corner of the picture. Here is the thing, Narciso actually turned himself in to the Associated Press and the AP, and according to the New York Time, "decided to review nearly 500 images that had been filed since he began working for them, but they found no other alterations to his images". The AP fired him, because according to the AP, they didn’t want to tarnish the AP’s reputation by allowing photojournalists that do not uphold the code of ethics.
Photo by: Narciso Contreras
Image Source: http://www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2014/AP-severs-ties-with-photographer-who-altered-work
Contreras admits to feeling ashamed and regrets his decision of removing the camera out of the frame, he told the AP. He knew the camera was in the frame when he took the picture, but he thought it might detract the viewers from the war tension of the image. He was torn on what to do and chose the wrong decision which he has to live with now. If he would have stayed quiet, he would have put in doubt his credibility and the AP for distributing it, so he does not regret his decision of speaking up.
Photo by: Judith Soto
My personal view on this issue is they should have given him another chance. He admitted before getting caught of what he did and what he did alter was minute in comparison. The way I would interpret his decision to speak up by using my personal ethics map, is by establishing his core foundations. He has the morals and values, the wisdom to know what he should do after that lapse in judgement, respect and loyalty to his craft, strength to speak up and say something, and integrity to do what is right. Which in this case, was admitting he made a mistake. His career ended with the AP, but he still managed to walk away with his head held high for owning his mistake. If I was him, I would have done exactly what he did and in many different occasions, have owned up to my mistakes and accepted whatever consequence. Nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, and by having integrity, your reputation would not be affected as much.
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