The U.S. government has reinforced media restrictions at hospitals, reducing the flow of disturbing images of the pandemic.
via The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2020/12/27/covid-photography-hospitals/
The U.S. government has reinforced media restrictions at hospitals, reducing the flow of disturbing images of the pandemic.
At least 30 journalists were killed this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 21 slain as a direct result of their work.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/world/americas/mexico-journalists-killings-double.html
At least 30 journalists were killed this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, with 21 slain as a direct result of their work.
Jaime Castaño Zacarías is ninth journalist killed in Mexico this year after he was pursued by gunmen
via the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/11/mexico-journalists-killed-jaime-castano-zacarias
Jaime Castaño Zacarías is ninth journalist killed in Mexico this year after he was pursued by gunmen
Protests have erupted across France over a proposed security law that would greatly limit the publication of images of police officers. The controversial
The controversial Article 24 in the new Global Security Bill pushed by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and police unions would make it illegal to publish images of police officers with the intent to cause them harm. Offenders would face up to a year in jail and a fine of €45,000 (~$53,000).
A new law restricting what can be photographed is threatening the fabric of French democracy. It might snowball into other countries..
via Thoughts of a Bohemian: http://blog.melchersystem.com/protection-of-who/
Proscribing the photographing of people in public places, the depiction of the consequence of violent attacks, and the recording of abuse of power is dramatically limiting citizens’ access to information—the type of information needed to have a healthy democracy. If similar laws were considered in countries with an established fascist regime, it would not surprise anyone. They all start by suppressing access to information.
A video showing left-wing protesters attacking a right-wing activist spread across social media after the “Million MAGA March” in Washington DC. But did it tell the whole story?
via bellingcat: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/11/18/million-maga-march-unravelling-a-violent-viral-video/
While the daytime rally included several skirmishes, the number of violent incidents escalated significantly after sunset. There is ample evidence of violence from pro-Trump demonstrators. One assaulted freelance journalist Talia Jane, while a Proud Boy was filmed punching a French photographer in the face. At one point, a large group of Proud Boys and Trump supporters charged at counter-protesters en masse. To be clear, there was also evidence of assaults by left-wing demonstrators, as later highlighted by Trump. But the President’s framing of events erased the violence of his own supporters and painted a misleading, one-sided account.
A freelance photographer who has been working with the NBA for several years has been kicked out of the league’s Orlando “bubble” after he was called out
A freelance photographer who has been working with the NBA for several years has been kicked out of the league’s Orlando “bubble” after he was called out for re-sharing an offensive meme about Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris on his Facebook page.
Director Ramona Diaz and journalist Maria Ressa discuss their struggles to make A Thousand Cuts, a film about the autocratic president of the Philippines.
via Hyperallergic: https://hyperallergic.com/580647/a-thousand-cuts-documentary-philippines-journalism/
“It all goes back to Silicon Valley,” Ressa adds. A Thousand Cuts follows the Philippines 2019 legislative elections, when for the first time in 80 years, the opposition failed to secure even a single seat. It illuminates the Duterte government’s use of propaganda and social media to lie to their citizens, obscuring what many of them know to be the truth. This “post-truth” reality is one many people are now far too familiar with, even outside the Philippines. “When Facebook sells our most vulnerable data to the highest bidder, we no more have facts to hold each other accountable by. Accountability from the tech companies is a prerequisite to claim our democracies back. You do not have democracy if you don’t have facts,” Ressa asserts. In one scene, Duterte tells a Rappler journalist, “You will be allowed to criticize us. But you will go to jail for your crimes.” I was immediately reminded of the likes of Gauri Lankesh and Vikram Joshi, journalists back home in India who were murdered for speaking out against the country’s Hindu nationalist government.
Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020–The Libyan National Army should immediately release photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway, and stop prosecuting journalists in secret trials and in military courts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a
via Committee to Protect Journalists: https://cpj.org/2020/08/libyan-national-army-sentences-freelance-photojournalist-ismail-abuzreiba-al-zway-to-15-years/
Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020–The Libyan National Army should immediately release photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway, and stop prosecuting journalists in secret trials and in military courts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
The One Free Press Coalition Publishes its “10 Most Urgent” List.
NEW YORK – Aug. 3, 2020 – Freelance photojournalist Austin Tice, who went missing in 2012 while reporting on the civil war in Syria, tops the August ranking of the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases. The “10 Most Urgent” list, issued today by a united group of pre-eminent editors and publishers, spotlights journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or whose cases are seeking justice.
via Conscientious Photography Magazine: https://cphmag.com/power-consent-obligations/
One of photography’s most important problems is the power imbalance between someone operating a camera and someone finding her or himself in front of it. Unless there is an actual collaboration going on, it is the photographer whose decisions result in what the subject looks like in the picture(s). I used “actual” in front of “collaboration” on purpose: unlike many other people, I do not think that having some chit chat with a subject makes for a collaboration. A collaboration would be a joint making of the picture, in which photographer and subject talk about how the subject wants to be portrayed, what the photographers sees in her or him, etc.
This week Dave Miller, who hosts a daily talk show on Oregon Public Broadcasting, interviewed “two very tired people”: Tuck Woodstock and Sergio Olmos, both independent journalists. Since late May, daily protests in solidarity with Black lives and agai
via Columbia Journalism Review: https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/portland_trump_press_freedom.php
THIS WEEK DAVE MILLER, who hosts a daily talk show on Oregon Public Broadcasting, interviewed “two very tired people”: Tuck Woodstock and Sergio Olmos, both independent journalists. Since late May, daily protests in solidarity with Black lives and against police brutality have taken place in Portland. Local outlets have often sent reporters, but not to cover every protest; mainstream national outlets mostly ignored Portland until last week, when OPB reported that federal agents in unmarked vehicles were snatching protesters off the streets. By contrast, freelancers like Woodstock and Olmos have been out night after night, documenting the scene.
A legal expert said the ruling creates a ‘troubling precedent’ that could make news media unwelcome at future protests.
via Poynter: https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/seattle-times-judge-subpoena-protest-police/
A Seattle judge ruled Friday five news outlets must turn over unreleased photos and videos from a late May protest to local law enforcement. The Seattle Police Department believes the raw footage would help solve an ongoing arson and theft investigation, but First Amendment lawyers believe the ruling is troubling.
The Police Department’s proposed new rules threaten press freedom.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/opinion/nyc-police-journalists.html
“Let’s revoke the NYPD’s ability to issue press credentials entirely. They’ve repeatedly proven that they are unwilling and unable to oversee a legitimate process,” Scott Stringer, the city’s comptroller, tweeted. Keith Powers, a City Council member, tweeted that he was considering legislation that would move credentialing to a new agency.
A Photo Bill of Right’s language about “informed consent” has caused a stir among journalists.
via FAIR: https://fair.org/home/photographers-grapple-with-informed-consent-in-uprising/
A new Photo Bill of Rights, inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and the current uprising against police brutality, has caused fissures in the American photojournalism community and raised an important question about “informed consent” in photographing protesters.
After watching the gruesome killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police Department Officer Derek Chauvin — the officer who put his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost 9 minutes — the United States has broken out in a rage. Protestors are fillin
via bellingcat: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2020/06/05/visualizing-police-violence-against-journalists-at-protests-across-the-us/
We plotted all of this data onto an interactive map. You can use this map to visualize where these incidents happened in space and time, and notice some areas where multiple instances happened over the course of a protest. This indicates these were not “one time incidents” or accidents due to journalists getting in the way. There is evidence here of systematic and conscious repression of the press at these protests, in cities all across the country — and the data that has been collected is the proof.
Last month, while covering protests in Minneapolis sparked by the killing of George Floyd, photojournalist Linda Tirado was blinded by a foam bullet fired
According to court documents obtained by PetaPixel, Ms. Tirado “stepped in front of the protesting crowd and aimed her professional Nikon camera at the police officers to take a picture of the police line.” Despite the fact that she was wearing visible press credentials, the complaint claims that police first marked her using a bright green ballistic tracking round, before “[shooting] her in her face with foam bullets.”
As photographers responded to the controversial Poynter article entitled “Photographers are being called on to stop showing protesters’ face. Should they?” PhotoShelter co-founder Allen Murabayashi published a series of pieces that intensified the convers
As photographers responded to the controversial Poynter article entitled “Photographers are being called on to stop showing protesters’ face. Should they?” PhotoShelter co-founder Allen Murabayashi published a series of pieces that intensified the conversation around the First Amendment and the well-being of protesters and vulnerable populations.
A vigorous, sometimes vitriolic debate has erupted in photography circles around whether to photograph protestors’ faces.
via PhotoShelter Blog: https://blog.photoshelter.com/2020/06/on-ethics-the-first-amendment-and-photographing-protestors-faces/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotoshelterBlog+%28PhotoShelter+Blog%29
A vigorous, sometimes vitriolic debate has erupted in photography circles around whether to photograph protestors’ faces. As someone who’s written about the topic, I’m struck by the clumping together of disparate concepts and issues, which has made discussion difficult. People are arguing, but they are often arguing about different concepts simultaneously.