I never really looked deep into what my first amendment rights were. I knew it was freedom of speech and religion and that is where my knowledge ended. All those boring social studies classes taught me things that happened in history repeatedly but none really went into detail about what our basic rights are. To refresh your memory, the first amendment states that, basically, you have a right to speak freely, practice whatever religion you want and the government cannot take that away from you. I am not a journalism major but since I am taking this class, I realized that freedom of press is very important to me at this point as a collegiate photojournalism student. Did you know college journalists got arrested for exercising their right to free speech on multiple occasion? I certainly did not and now that I have to go out and write my own stories, it makes a bit apprehensive that something like that could happen to me. So, being ignorant in knowing my rights is not an option anymore. Knowing what you can and cannot do will help me when I am out on the field. If someone were to cause problems then I know who is in the right and who is not and what correct action to take.
According to my textbook, Photojournalism: The Professional’s’ Approach by Keneth Kobre, there are three different foundations of ethical decision-making and they include utilitarian, absolutist, and the golden rule. Utilitarian’s believe in the greater good and they are easily able to document anything because they see it as an opportunity for the world to learn from that situation. Absolutist’s believe everyone has the right to privacy and taking and publishing pictures that violate that privacy is not okay. The golden rule basically is a mix of the two and states to treat others how you would want to be treated and do what is right for the world.
Prior this class, I would say I am an absolutist. I respect people’s privacy because I want them to respect mine which also kind of ties into the golden rule. My professor told me that being an absolutist is not an option for a journalist. I really cannot see myself taking pictures of other people’s tragedies because it feels wrong to invade that moment and publish it to the world. I understand that tragedies can help others in avoiding them and it is for the greater good but it still makes me hesitate. But for the purposes of this class, I will have to be more open and willing to get in people’s business and take shots of them. I am also shy and kind of introverted so the concept of taking pictures of strangers and going up to them and actually talking to them is terrifying.
I think to be a journalist you need to have a utilitarian’s mindset because your job is to inform the truth to the public so you would need to do what it takes to make that message heard.
No matter what foundation you relate to, I think it is very important to use common sense and make the right and conscious decision that will benefit most. It is so easy to cross to line and journalists need to be aware of what is okay and what is not okay depending on the situation. I hope to put my brain to full use when I am capturing these stories and pictures and hopefully it all goes well.
Wish me luck!
Everything & Nothing 