Photo Developments

In the aftermath of yesterday's post about the New York Post's digital doctoring of a photo from the Virginia Tech massacre, a number of things have come to my attention.

First of all, it turns out an award-winning photographer at the Toledo Blade, Allan Detrich, resigned from the staff earlier this month after admitting he did the exact same thing, digitally altering the content of a photograph that was published on The Blade's front page. A subsequent investigation found he'd altered 79 photos since January '07. The Blade's executive editor, Ron Royhab, took a strong stance on what Detrich did, even while many saw no problem with it:

Royhab wrote: Readers have asked us why this was such a big deal. What's wrong with changing the content of a photograph that is published in a newspaper? The answer is simple: It is dishonest. Journalism, whether by using words or pictures, must be an accurate representation of the truth. ... Honesty is the fundamental value in journalism. When a Blade reporter or photographer covers a news event, the newspaper and its readers expect an accurate record of the event. Reporters and editors are not allowed to change quotes or alter events to make them more dramatic. Photographers and photo editors cannot digitally alter the content in the frame of a photograph to make the image more powerful or artistic. ... This principle is widely recognized. In 1991, at the dawn of the digital age, the National Press Photographers Association adopted a "Digital Manipulation Code of Ethics," which all members are required to sign. ... It's impossible to make sense of why this happened, and we are embarrassed by it. But it is important that we are up front and honest with our readers.

(See examples of the digital alterations here.)

Next, I saw the mother of the young man in the now-famous photograph and learned that he is Kevin Sterne, 21, who is scheduled to graduate next month. Kevin is credited with saving his own life by employing his Eagle Scout skills to fashion a tourniquet on his twice-shot leg. Here's wishing him a speedy recovery. His remarkable story was detailed in an Associated Press article that ran in the Times Reporter yesterday (read here), which carried a big editor's note regarding public outcry over that photo of Kevin being carried away to safety. Ironically, the complaints had nothing to do with his exposed bits:

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some Times-Reporter readers complained about the use of the Kevin Sterne photo in Tuesday’s paper, believing that it was too graphic, or that the victim was dead, or that it was simply not in good taste. The photo, used on front pages around the world, also sparked reader concerns at other newspapers. The photo was examined carefully by editors at the Roanoke (Va.) Times and the Associated Press before it was cleared for use nationally and internationally to help tell the story of tragedy at Virginia Tech.

I wonder what the New York Post has to say about that.