After significant backlash, the Associated Press pulled plans to offer a video of a boat overcrowded with migrants as an NFT. The situation has called into question the ethics of selling photojournalism at all.
As a child during the 1980s, I grew up with a weekly diet of TIME magazine and the evening news. The famine in Ethiopia during the decade generated an endless stream of news filled with images of Black bodies, so much so that my entire conception of the c
For many years, the photo contest industry has contended with accusations of racism and classism for awarding and promoting “poverty porn.” Although many contests have worked to diversify their juries and tried to attract a broader field of entrants, barely a year goes by without a major issue or scandal.
There obviously is a topic here that extends beyond this particular case in question. Last year, I wrote an article about consent that focused on what I see as photographers’ obligations. It might be worthwhile, though, to approach the subject matter from the other side: from the vantage point of those find themselves on the other side of the camera.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions....so is the road to fake news apparently.
The latest and probably most potent existential rain dance is Magnum’s own Jonas Bendiksen Veles experiment. Using a mixture of AI, computer-generated content, real photos, and GPT 3, he put together what he hoped would be a self-destroying fake photo essay
Photojournalist and new addition to the Canon Philippines “Crusaders of Light” ambassador program Jilson Tiu has called it quits after Canon failed to apologize for what he and many others viewed as a lack of diversity within its program.
Seven photographers share some of the ethical considerations that are most present in their minds when working on stories close to home.
While turning the camera inward may alleviate ethical qualms about positionality, the influence of one’s identity on the way that we see (and thus represent) the world, photographing the people closest to us is not without ethical considerations of its own. As photojournalist and filmmaker, Amanda Mustard explains: “It’s a gift to have the perspective and personal experiences that allow access to important stories that may not be told with depth otherwise. But with greater depth comes the need for greater ethical care.”
Years of complaints from colleagues and freelancers preceded the recent departure of a New York Times photo editor
The New York Times quietly parted ways with international picture editor David Furst in April after an investigation into his treatment of colleagues and freelancers, leaving many at the paper asking why his departure had taken so long.
David Furst, who served as international picture editor at the New York Times, had power. And he misused it.
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the Times, told the Erik Wemple Blog via email in April, “David Furst is no longer with The New York Times. As a general matter of policy, we do not comment on personnel matters.” Pressed further, the Times refused to answer all but the most basic questions and didn’t grant an interview request with a manager to discuss standard practices for assigning and editing photojournalism, inviting emailed questions instead. The institutional reticence may stem from the public tussles of previous months on the personnel front: When it commented on the departures of freelance editor Lauren Wolfe and longtime science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr., the newspaper dug deeper public-relations trenches for itself.
Attempting to interrogate its own lens, the documentary Stop Filming Us mixes sharp insights with disappointing shortcomings.
Sembène, meanwhile, offered an eviscerating criticism of both, famously accusing them of looking at Africans like insects. Sembène’s opening question to Rouch was: “Will European cinematographers, you for example, continue to make films about Africa once there are a lot of African cinematographers?” Regrettably, they do
In the mid- to late-70s, the Khmer Rouge committed a heinous genocide in Cambodia that killed 25% of its population. The government infamously photographed many of these victims at Tuol Seng, a school which was converted into a torture facility. Inexplica
Magnum’s announcement that it has been cleared of wrongdoing here was recently called into question. The organization should complete its review later this year.
We’re back after a long COVID hiatus. We’re kicking off a new season with Benjamin Chesterton, @duckrabbitblog on Twitter, and his open letter to Magnum concerning years of photographing child abuse and other controversies surrounding the iconic photo agency. Trigger Warning: sexual assault, child abuse. This is a harrowing episode. Read his letter to Magnum here. The Statement with over 600 signatures calling on Magnum Photos to demonstrate accountability can be read here.
In the latest in the ongoing saga involving Magnum Photos, the company has made good on its promise to publish its previously-private Code of Conduct. In
It should be noted that Magnum’s President, Olivia Arthur, is quoted as saying the agency’s code was a “six-page long internal HR document that we are not looking to put on trial by Twitter.”
Magnum Photos has continued to come under fire for its response to allegations of the treatment of women by one of its photographers, David Alan Harvey.
In the nearly three years since the #MeToo movement transformed journalism, Magnum Photos, the world’s most prestigious photo agency, has portrayed itself as an industry leader. Magnum issued a code of conduct for its members in 2018, and its CEO boast
But even as Magnum touted its efforts to confront the industry’s abuses, women who worked with one of the agency’s best-known photographers were telling a different story. Eleven women have described to CJR inappropriate behavior from David Alan Harvey over a span of 13 years, ranging from suggestive comments to unwanted sexual advances to masturbating without their consent on video calls. His behavior was reported to Magnum as early as 2009, but the agency sat on the information for more than a decade. It finally took action in August of this year, but only after the allegations spilled into public: a story published on the website Fstoppers reported that Magnum was selling explicit photographs of sexually exploited minors on its website, including photographs from a series taken by Harvey in Bangkok in 1989. That led photojournalist Amanda Mustard to write a Twitter thread about Harvey, alleging that sexual misconduct allegations against him were an open secret in the industry.
As more people gain access to the tools to manipulate images – and as those tools become more accessible – a new study says that the public's trust in the